Lowney’s Chocolates – Apprentice to a Great Confectioner

Lowney’s Chocolates is a brand of chocolate that was founded by Walter M. Lowney in 1892 in Boston, Massachusetts. Lowney had a history as a confectioner who had previously worked for the Walter Baker & Company, a well-known chocolate manufacturer.

Early Training

Lowney was born in Bangor, Maine around 1856. He died in an Atlantic City hotel in 1921 of a heart attack at age 65. After working for Baker, he had started his own chocolate business in Boston around 1892. He must have been successful, because in 1903 he moved the business to a large tract of land in Mansfield, just south of Boston.

Influence on Mansfield

The property was convenient to rail traffic. Walter built several buildings on the site. He even made a landing strip available near the factory, which the local citizens appreciated. Lowney remained civic-minded throughout his life. He sponsored the Mansfield Boys Club and assisted in development of the town’s water and sewer works.

Product and Process

Lowney’s Chocolates produced bon bons, chocolate cherry blossoms, and cameos. He maintained a herd of milk cows in order to locally source his milk chocolate. Lowney used Italian immigrants as workers. Some people thought he was of Italian descent himself.

Evidence of his success are advertisements and pictures depicting his business being in Boston, Montreal, and Chicago. The Montreal business also sold ice cream. For the chocolates, he advertised their “Name on Every Piece”. Impressions of the company name appeared on every morsel.

In 1907, Lowney even published a confectionary cook book along with Maria Willet Howard.

Death and Succession

Following Lowney’s death, the company passed through a number of owners. Eventually, Archer Daniels Midland took over and continued to roast cocoa in the same factory until 2010, when it closed for good. ADM became one of the largest cocoa roasters in the world. Mansfield residents savored that roasting smell for over a century. It was a fond reminder of what Walter Lowney had meant to the town.