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| G.A.
Schimpff's Confectionary began in it's present location on April
11, 1891. Started by Gus Schimpff Sr. and Jr., the business has
survived wars, floods, depressions, and recessions through four
generations.
The
Schimpff family has been making candy in Jeffersonville since 1871
and in Louisville since the 1850's. The 1860 census shows various
Schimpffs making candy on Preston Street in Louisville. Magdalene
Schimpff, a widow, brought five of her eight children from Bavaria
to settle in Louisville, where the eldest son had already settled.
The two youngest children were to join them in a few years. Magdalene
and daughter, Augusta, did embroidery in their home while the sons
went into the confectionery business. |
Gustav Schimpff, Sr. |
Gustav Jr. & wife Louisa |
One
son, Charles, decided to open a candy store across the Ohio River
in Jeffersonville in 1871. He located at the corner of Spring and
Chestnut. After running a successful operation for many years, he
decided to take over his father-in-law's wallpaper/stationery business.
He wrote to his brother Gus in Louisville that the City of Jeffersonville
needed a confectionery to replace his and suggested that Gus move
to Indiana.
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Gus
Schimpff Sr., wife Catherine Huber Schimpff, and son Gus Jr. took his
advice and, in 1891, rented a storefront at 347 Spring Street. A tin shop
was located in the rear and the family lived upstairs. The two generations
of family ran the business jointly until Gus Sr. died in 1918, leaving
Gus Jr. and wife Louisa Weber Schimpff the primary owners. Their children,
Wilbert (Wig), Christine, Weber, Catherine, and Charles helped with the
business.
Wig with the delivery wagon.
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the 1940s, Catherine, Wig, and his son, Sonny, became the working
partners. Wig was the candy maker and Catherine the manager and
lunchroom cook.
In the 1950s, Sonny developed an area of the store as
a hobby business, specializing in model trains and planes.
His mother, Vivian, became the bookkeeper.
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After
Wig's death in 1952, Sonny took over as the candy maker and for forty
years he and Aunt Catherine built a reputation known widely throughout
Southern Indiana. Sonny's death in 1988 and Catherine's in 1989 forced
another change in the ownership of Schimpff's Confectionery.
Sonny and Catherine
Warren and Jill Schimpff |
In
1990, Warren Schimpff, one of Weber's sons, and his
wife, Jill Wagner Schimpff, bought the candy business
from Catherine's estate in order to be able to celebrate
the centennial anniversary and to maintain the Schimpff
family's candy legacy.
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