by Pam North

Every town has its unique business establishments that become popular places to frequent.  Of the 130 businesses that existed in Central City in 1897, one was held in particularly high regard by local citizens.

James Couch, a Cornish miner, had immigrated from England in the mid-1870s, becoming a naturalized citizen in Central City in 1882.  In an unfortunate fireworks accident one Fourth of July, Couch lost his right forearm, and for the next forty years or so he relied upon the use of an artificial hand.  Economic necessity dictated that Couch make a living, and so he pursued the less physically strenuous occupation of opening a confectionery in a store building on Lawrence Street.  Although modest in its beginning, consisting of the sale of cigars, tobacco, stationery, school supplies, toys and paper, the business soon began to prosper.  Couch, in an effort to add to his store's offerings, learned to make candy and also installed a soda fountain.  By the early 1900s he had moved his store to a better location on Central City's Main Street, occupying a room in the Oddfellows Building, and it was here that he was able to expand and diversify the stock of items desirable to a public that was refining its tastes and demanding more sophisticated choices of wares.  He added phonograph records, sporting goods, cameras, books, seasonal items and countless  other things.

It was the soda fountains and glass cases filled with candy that became a major focus, however, contributing greatly to the success of his business.  Soda fountains were becoming an alternative institution to the saloon, available to women and children as well as men for refreshment.  The soda fountain was evolving into a characteristic feature and social center of many drug stores in the country by the end of the nineteenth century, doing a brisk trade in concoctions of carbonated water, syrups and ice cream.
Couch's soda fountain, used until around 1920, was high-quality and marble-countered, accompanied by high wire stools for the seating of customers.  An ornate back bar stored the essential flavorings and extracts, and upon the back bar was the fountain, resplendent with 25 to 30 individual syrup receptacles topped with silvery spigots for the dispensing of all the syrups and both plain and carbonated water.  Crushed ice was stored behind the syrup containers, and was used for drinks and for cooling the ice cream (which was Bauer's, the best in the West).  Ice cream sodas and sundaes sold for ten cents; nut sundaes and malts went for fifteen cents.

The candy selection boasted every variety on the market, from penny candy to fine national brands of chocolates.  Couch also made his own taffy in many flavors (sarsparilla and blackberry brandy were two), and his specialty was his log cabin candy.  The latter consisted of a creamy yellow filling encased in a reddish coating, shaped in 4-to-5-inch-long pieces, which when stacked resembled the logs of a cabin.  Supposedly Couch had been given the recipe for this distinctive confection by an itinerant candy-maker who, after an evening in a local saloon, found himself without lodging for the night, and who had received shelter from Couch until the next morning.   Couch's taffy and log cabin candy became popular enough to merit shipping out of the county to satisfy the addictions of former residents who had moved away.

A life-long bachelor, Couch devoted all his time and effort to his business, and its immense  stock of quality wares attracted the
enthusiatic and loyal support of the local townsfolk.  The store's atmosphere, while business-like, nevertheless conveyed welcome and appreciation for the patronage of its customers, and the store was a place where social pleasantries could be exchanged.  Tradition mandated that a walk along the Casey was followed by a visit to the soda fountain at the Confectionery.  No matter the age, gender, social standing or ethnicity of its patrons, all succumbed to the  special magnetism that established Couch's Confectionery as an institution in Central City.

James Couch died on May 8, 1924, and although efforts were made by several people to continue the business, Couch's essence,
pivotal to the substance and success of the Confectionery, was gone forever, and with him a special Central City institution.
 

Resource:  Yesterday Was Another Day, by Louis J. Carter