"On May 14, 1920, a small article appeared in the Lynn, Massachusetts, Daily Evening Item announcing that two young men, H. Allen Durkee and Fred L. Mower, both graduates of Swampscott High and veterans of the United States Infantry in World War I, had formed a partnership in the manufacture of Marshmallow Fluff. The actual date that they started working together is hard to pin down, because they had been making candies together before they started making Fluff. The company numbered two men in those days, and they started out cooking their confections in the kitchen at night and selling them door to door in the daytime."
What would you have done if two greying, middleaged men showed up at your door selling a sticky white concoction they had made in their kitchen?
All things being equal, and given the 1920's hyper- awareness of murderous hoboes, it's a wonder that anybody bought enough of the marshmallow "Spread " for it to even have the history it now enjoys.
The people of Somerville, Massachusetts. welcomed the viscous snack with open mouths and wallets.
This weekend there was a "What the Fluff?" festival to honor the one thing that makes Somerville exiting.
Weekend America did a story on it.
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