Katharine Beecher started a small candy company in the 1930s. Defense contracts in World War II helped her company, as it did many York County businesses. Katharine Beecher's son, Henry Beecher, kept the business in the family for 22 years after his mother's death in 1952. In 1974, he sold the factory's assets to Pennsylvania Dutch Candies. Today, the company, now in Cumberland County, still bears her name. Background posts: "Little Johnny" called for Allies in World War II and Edith Barber: 'She wanted to save humanity'.
A small road called Butter Mint Lane in Manchester explains the product made in the factory on that road.
Manchester was where Katharine Beecher Candies operated for decades before owner Pennsylvania Dutch Co. arranged for its move to Camp Hill in 1999.
Katherine Beecher, who started the business in her kitchen in 1930, became one of the most visible female industrialists in York County in the middle years of the 20th century... .
