Schimpff's Candy (Healing Testimony of Sonny Schimpff)

Schimpff's Candy (Healing Testimony of Sonny Schimpff)
Cinnamon Red Hots are Schimpff's signature piece and have been made here since opening day in 1891. Gus Schimpff Sr. included the directions for making his Red Hots in his hand-written recipe book from the 1880s. Traditionally a common hard candy, hand made in households throughout Kentuckiana and further south, red hots have become particularly popular at Schimpff's Confectionery.
In the late 1950s Brother Billy Branham, founder of Jeffersonville's Branham Tabernacle, visited candy maker, Sonny Schimpff, when Sonny was very ill in the hospital. He assured Sonny that he would again sell him Red Hots across the counter. Sonny made a complete recovery and indeed sold many more batches of his famous Red Hots. Presently members of the Tabernacle come from all corners of the globe to buy Schimpff's Red Hots and
commemorate the promise that Billy Branham made.
Schimpff Confectionery Candy Store History
In 1891, Charles Schimpff wrote to his brother Gus, in Louisville, that he thought the City of Jeffersonville needed a confectionery to replace the successful one that he had opened years before and decided to close. He suggested that Gus move to Indiana and start a candy store of his own.
Gus, wife, Catherine Huber Schimpff, and son, Gus Jr., took his advice, and, in 1891, rented a storefront at 347 Spring Street. The rent was $25.00 per month. A tin shop was located in the rear and the family lived upstairs. The two generations of family ran the business jointly until Gus Sr. died in 1918, leaving Gus Jr. and wife Louisa Weber Schimpff the primary owners. Their children, Wilbert (Wig), Christine, Weber, Catherine, and Charles helped with the business.
Wig with the delivery wagon.
In the 1940s, Catherine, Wig, and his son, Sonny, became the working partners. Wig was the candy maker and Catherine the manager and lunchroom cook.
In the 1950s, Sonny developed an area of the store as a hobby business, specializing in model trains and planes. His mother, Vivian, became the bookkeeper. After Wig's death in 1952, Sonny took over as the candy maker and for forty years he and Aunt Catherine built a reputation known widely throughout Southern Indiana. Sonny's death in 1988 and Catherine's in 1989 forced another change in the ownership of Schimpff's Confectionery.
www.schimpffs.com