Like to Chew Gum? Thank Santa Anna for That

That's right, the 11 time president/dictator of Mexico, the scourge of the Texas revolution, the "Napoleon of the West" is why we chew gum today.
Santa Anna was exiled from Mexico and, after a stay in Cuba, ended up living in Staten Island, New York from 1866-1874.

In a little-known chapter of Big Apple history, the Mexican villain of the infamous battle, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, lived in exile for nearly a decade in the future Big Apple borough.

NY Post

He spent his time there trying to raise money to return to Mexico and lead an army to regain Mexico City (this guy just couldn't take a hint). One of his plans was to import Mexican chicle for use as a replacement for rubber.

In an attempt to raise funds, he had brought with him to Staten Island a large quantity of chicle hoping it could be used to replace rubber for tires. Instead, his secretary, Thomas Adams, after noticing that Santa Anna would occasionally chew the substance, conducted a series experiments with the chicle that lead to the development of chewing gum. “Adams sold the gum with the slogan ‘Adams’ New York Gum No. 1 – Snapping and Stretching.’ …The firm was the nation’s most prosperous chewing gum company by the end of the century; it built a monopoly in 1899 by merging with the six largest and best-known chewing gum manufacturers in the United States and Canada, and achieved great success…” (The Encyclopedia of New York City). It was later renamed the American Chicle Company, maker of “Chiclets.”

Source

End result? Santa Anna made it back to Mexico penniless and died a few years later. Adams became extremely wealthy and we get to smack our gum and blow bubbles to this day.

a reply to: quercusrex
Nice thread. Thank you. S&F.

Hmmmm. So Chiclet could have been a chewing gum, AND a tire manufacturer.

a reply to: Klassified

When I was younger and growing up around San Antonio I loved Big League Chew and then Bubble Yum when it came out.

As I grew older I enjoyed studying Texas history. Little did I know that a coup forming despot who I had learned to loathe caused one of my favorite childhood things. Strange how the universe works.

And then I discovered Copenhagen, but that's a whole 'nother topic!

Is the irony of children selling gum by the cadenced cry of "Chicle, chicle!" to raise money for themselves at our only entrance points in to their country weighing as heavily upon anyone else here as it is on me?

Just curious.

Good #, OP.

a reply to: Bybyots

actually....thats pretty astute.



the lesson to be learned here: generals are not entrepreneurs. Reminds me of a joke:

The accountant will tell you the glass is half full still
The crackhead will tell you that the glass is half empty, and you are about to run out
But an engineer will tell you that your glass is twice as big as it needs to be

a reply to: quercusrex

Not to burst the bubble,

This was an Aztec practice and possibly older. They would mix in herbs into it and chew it.

There are accounts of conquistadors noticing that Aztec prostitutes would chew it. They would leave half their hair well kept and the other half all wrangled to signify they were working. Nothing much has changed huh.

The practice wasnt limited to them, though the prostitutes often would chew gum to skip meals. It was a way to kill hunger until they had a client.

It is actually a general south American practice from pre-Colombian times. Modern gum may have been invented as you say, but chewing gum has been chewed since times immemorial.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

actually....thats pretty astute.

You ain't seen nothin' yet, Bubba.

I miss the Gatorgum that was like Gatorade, but gum. Was SO good.. mid 80's... gone now.
And Lemonade Bubblicious (Not Lebron's version). That was good too..

Bazooka was the best though.. original and cherry. and then Double Bubble (Original) Peppermint like...
Don't chew anymore. just grew out of it...

a reply to: Pharyax

No, You had it right: Gatorgum was it. But I have to admit that I'm kind of terrified that Google doesn't record a reason that the stuff was discontinued,

Yes, Lemonade Bubbaliciuos, in fact Bubbaricious in general, it was and continues to be a textural-thing; the stuff has superior textural quality. I think it's the first couple of minutes of this sort of sugar-crunch quality found nowhere else,

So: No. Bazooka always sucked. What it was? is that nasty-chemical-bubble-gum-flavor-that-our-kidneys-had-a-certain-time-span-in-relation-to-age-within-which-it-could-possibly-process-the-crap-knowledge that drove us to chew the stuff.

No adult brain would concede to chew that stuff.

Double Bubble was merely a knock-off of Bubblepersnicious.

I no longer chew. I'm developing a mean coffee-breath.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

the lesson to be learned here: generals are not entrepreneurs.

But apparently their secretaries are

a reply to: Bybyots
We used to chew roofing tar as kids.
Builds character.

a reply to: Phage

We used to chew roofing tar as kids.

Roofing tar!? roofing tar!!

Ha! Phththhhh!

When I was a lad, all we had was bitumen!

We chewed bitumen. And we liked it!

a reply to: Bybyots

Revisiting this thread after posting on another and wanted to say you bring up a very good point.

Irony indeed.