During the 1930s, Bellevue resident Mina Schafer entered the candy business. She was known for her delicious candies and she did a great deal of experimenting until she produced the product that she wanted. Her husband, Louis, built the cottage shop which she named for her mother, Jenny (Jane) McDowell. (In the late 1800s her mother changed her name to Jenny because the name Jane had the connotation of a “loose” woman.) The shop was connected to the house by a bell system so that when a customer entered the shop Mrs. Schafer was alerted by the bell and could run down to the shop to wait on her customer.
