03/05/2024
When folks learn that one of cotton candy’s creators cleaned teeth for a living, jaws inevitably drop. Born in 1860, dentist William J. Morrison became president of the Tennessee State Dental Association in 1894. But Morrison was something of a polymath and a dabbler, and his varied interests also included writing children’s books and designing scientific processes: He patented methods for both turning cottonseed oil into a lard substitute and purifying Nashville’s public drinking water. In 1897, Morrison and a fellow Nashvillian — confectioner John C. Wharton — collaborated on an “electric candy machine,” which received a patent within two years. Their device melted sugar into a whirling central chamber and then used air to push the sugar through a screen into a metal bowl, where wisps of the treat accumulated.
Morrison and Wharton debuted their snack, “fairy floss,” at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 (better known as the St. Louis World’s Fair). Over the seven-month event, at least 65,000 people purchased a wooden box of the stuff, netting Morrison and Wharton the modern equivalent of more than $500,000. Despite the financial success, Morrison soon returned to dentistry. In the early 1920s, with the original patent expired, another dentist — Josef Lascaux of New Orleans — tried to improve on their rattling, temperamental gadget, but his lone contribution was the name “cotton candy.” Gold Medal Products finally made a more reliable machine by adding a spring-loaded base in 1949, and the Cincinnati-based company remains the top manufacturer of cotton candy machines today.
Dr Pepper from Waco, TX and hamburgers from Athens, TX also made their 🌎 debut at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Oddly, neither were mentioned in the movie "Meet Me in St. Louis".
