The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-10-04
NJ. f. Rigby. One of the Oldest Con-
fectioners in Kansas, Who Has Re-
signed Control of His Business to
Take a Long Vacation.

Mr. -Rigby recently sold his shop, 609
Kansas avenue, to the Capital City
Candy company, with a board of di-
rectors headed by George w. Hackney
and DR.. L. Anton Smith. The business
was turned over to the new proprietors
Oct 3, but Mr. Rigby spent yesterday
in the store settling accounts, stroll
ing among the ice-cream freezers and
trays of bonbons.
Had $500 Stock in 1873.
When Mr. Rigby owned a counter in
the postoffice located in the old ST.
Nicholas hotel, his business was worth
$500. In the So years that followed he
multiplied his capital by twenty. He
was brought up in the trade-assiste ed
his father in Indiana before he came to
Kansas
There's no comparison between the
candy business now and % years ago.
Mr. Rigby observed Everything is
different Candies have seen the big
gest change. They used to be made
from the same fondant-stick candy
was the greatest delicacy in the shop.
We had chocolates, but not such fill
ings as We have now. I've seen the ad-
vent of marshmallows, fancy nuts anG
preserved fruits. In fact, L believe T
brought the first preserved fruits to
Kansas. Ice cream sodas were a nov
city in 'S5. Sundaes became popular
ten years ago. You have to keep up
todate. It's like the dressmaker's
business declared Mr.. Rigby, and
laughed.
The small boy always wants to be a
candy merchant. It's one of the stages
of his ambition. usually comes between
his desire to be an engineer and his
passion for the brass buttons of the
army. He pictures himself in white
Jacket. wandering among his choco-
Iates and nougats and bonbons like a
bee lost in a clover field.
But Mr.. Rigby asserts the trade
isn't an idle dream. It's an energetic
reality. 1t requires some skill to di-
rect the packing of $500 pounds of
candy a week in season, and to SUI
perintend the mixing of 1000 drinks
OH a hot summers day.
He Likes to Eat Candy.
Yes, it's a hard business said Mr..
Rigby, but it's a good one. And, by
theway, 1 belle one of the traditions
of the trade-I still like candy I've
had all 1 wanted all my life, but I like
it as well as I ever did,
Mr.. Rigby. who remembers when
Kansas avenue was lined with saloons,
has seen the rise and fall of many To-
peka shops
Believe mine is about the oldest bus
mess in town." he hazards, weiss &
Co, grocerS, may be as old-Crosby
Brothers and Hindman's have been in
business a long time. Most of the
shops have changed hands during the
years I've been in Topeka"
Came to Topeka in 1876.
NJ. F. Rigby was born in Center
vile, Ind. January &c, 1853, and came
to Kansas in rs, simply because, to
quote himself. "he didn't have sense
enough to stay at home But he's
glad he came to the capital city-it
has treated him well. He started bus
mess in the postoffice-had a stand
stocked with papers, candies and gum.
Later he moved across the street,
then had a corner in Constitutional
Hall in the same block. He has been
in his present location for IS years,
and has built up a large trade.
His sons. Will Rigby and Emmett
Rigby. who have been assisting him,
are directors in the new company.
Mr.. Rigby expects to spend a year
travelling, and will probably go to Cal
ifornia this winter with his wife.