By Bronwyn Page
From the Archives
Halloween is a season filled with ghosts, legends and candy. While most people know where to find candy today, few realize that Hutchinson once had its own candy factory, a place where chocolates, peppermints and sweet treats were made by the thousands. Yet behind the sugary aroma and childhood memories lies a story that is equal parts local history and Halloween legend.
At the corner of Second Avenue and Elm Street stands the former Richards-Scheble Candy Company, a building that has watched over Hutchinson for more than a century. While the candy-making days are long gone, the privately owned structure remains remarkably unchanged, serving as a woodworking shop and residence. Its weathered brick walls still bear the painted company name, a ghostly reminder of the chocolates, peppermints, and caramels that once filled the air with their sweet aroma.
The candy company was founded in 1902 by Alfred Ruben “Rube” Scheble Jr. and D. Earl Richards. For more than 50 years, the factory produced chocolates, hard candies, peppermints and caramels that were distributed throughout Kansas and beyond. Among its most popular products were Donatti Chocolates, a name still remembered by some longtime Hutchinson residents. In an era before national candy corporations dominated the market, local manufacturers like Richards-Scheble supplied treats for holidays, celebrations, and everyday indulgences.
One can imagine what the neighborhood might have been like during those years. Workers arrived each morning to make candy while the scent of chocolate drifted through the surrounding streets. For local children, it must have seemed like the closest thing Hutchinson had to a real-life Willy Wonka.
But unlike a fairy tale, the story took a tragic turn.
On Jan. 30, 1934, Rube Scheble was killed in a terrible accident involving the factory’s freight elevator. According to reports from the time, he became trapped as the elevator descended. The accident shocked the community and became one of Hutchinson’s most talked-about industrial tragedies. After his death, his widow reportedly requested that the original elevator never be used again. The elevator was permanently retired and left in place.
Over the decades, stories have circulated about the old candy factory. Some point to the abandoned elevator shaft and wonder whether the building still holds echoes of the tragedy that occurred there. Others simply note the atmosphere of the century-old structure and the lingering presence of a business that shaped generations of local memories. There is no documented proof that the building is haunted, but like many historic places associated with a tragic death, the Richards-Scheble factory has become the subject of local speculation and ghostly whispers.
Whether visitors believe in ghosts or not, the building remains an important part of Hutchinson’s history. It represents an era when local businesses created products that became part of people’s lives, from holiday celebrations to everyday treats.
This Halloween, as children fill their bags with candy, take a moment to remember Hutchinson’s own candyman. His factory may be silent now, but its story, and perhaps a few of its mysteries, still linger at the corner of Second and Elm.
Bronwyn Page is the director of operations at the Reno County Museum. She can be reached at bronwyn@renocomuseum.org.