125 Years of Idaho Candy, 250 Years of America: A Sweet Anniversary

On July 4th, 2026, America turns 250. It's a milestone that has people thinking about history, heritage, and the things that have lasted. Idaho Candy Company is turning 125 the same year - exactly half America's age - and that kind of symmetry is worth celebrating.

While the country marks two and a half centuries of independence, Idaho Candy marks a century and a quarter of making candy in the same Boise building, for the same community, one bar at a time.

A Company Born in a Young State

Idaho didn't become a state until 1890. Idaho Candy Company was founded just eleven years later, in 1901, when Boise was still a frontier city finding its footing. T.O. Smith started making candy from his home and selling it door to door. By 1909 he had built a proper factory at 412 South 8th Street - a building that's been running ever since.

The company has outlasted two world wars, the Great Depression, and more than two decades of the 21st century. It's currently veteran-owned, which feels right for a company celebrating alongside America's 250th birthday. According to the Smithsonian Institution, businesses that survive a century or more represent some of the most resilient threads in American economic history. [External: smithsonianmag.com]

The Idaho Spud Bar (1918)

The Idaho Spud Bar was introduced in 1918 - the same year World War I ended. It's a cocoa-flavored marshmallow center coated in dark chocolate and sprinkled with coconut, shaped like a potato. Over 100 years later, it's still made in the same Boise factory. 

The Old Faithful Bar (1925) and Cherry Cocktail Bar (1926)

The Old Faithful Bar and Cherry Cocktail Bar followed in the mid-1920s, during one of America's most optimistic decades. The Old Faithful Bar - vanilla marshmallow, whole peanuts, milk chocolate - has been going strong for over a century. The Cherry Cocktail Bar, with its whole cherry center surrounded by cream, freshly roasted peanuts, and premium milk chocolate, has been a regional favorite since 1926. 

Two Anniversaries Worth Marking

America at 250 and Idaho Candy at 125 share something in common: both have survived long enough to mean something. This July 4th, celebrating with a candy bar that's been made in Idaho since before most living Americans were born feels like exactly the right call.

Browse the full Idaho Candy lineup at www.idahospud.com and raise a Spud Bar to both birthdays.