Sweets

State Street was once the place to go for Madisonians with a sweet tooth. Alice Meloche and Myron Stevens recalled, in an oral history recorded by Historic Madison:

“In those days they used to have the Palace of Sweets at the head of State Street. As you went toward the Capitol it was on the left-hand side. It was very fancy. It opened up on State Street and you could also get into it from Carroll Street on the back. It was filled with places to sit down and have ice cream sodas and things like that. Waltzinger’s was like the Palace of Sweets, an ice cream and candy shop. Al Schwoegler had a candy shop in the 400 block on State Street. That later developed into the Chocolate Shop. We used to go to the Chocolate Shop for ice cream sundaes and lunches. There was also Dad Morgan’s. Dad Morgan’s were the best malted milks you could get anywhere. Of course, women never went in there. It was a man’s retreat. If a woman went in there, you snuck in. Three of us were going to have a picnic, ride our bicycles out around the lake and the campsite and have breakfast, and we were going to take malted milks. I was going to get the malted milks. I called up to order them because I knew I couldn’t go in there. I said, ‘Now, we’ll come at such-and-such time and come to the door and get them.’ I think I stepped just inside the door and I felt as though I were stepping into a dreadful place. I got the malted milks and got them safely home.”

Similarly, Emilie Wiedenbeck remembered: “Every Sunday my father would take us up to the Square and to Waltzinger’s. That was a candy and ice cream place. It was just beautiful. It was all gold and white. It was on two levels. The candy was on the first level, and then there were booths on the second level and you went up there and you had ice cream. We were allowed to buy any candy that we wanted. They had molasses taffy, cream candy, and strawberry taffy. We always chose one of those, and then we bought some chocolates that were so much better than the ones we get now that they don’t compare.”

Mark Gajewski