The
Oh Henry Bar is a straightforward, delicious candy bar with a somewhat complicated history. As opposed to Snickers that was named after Forrest Mars' beloved racehorse, no one is 100% certain where the name for Oh Henry came from.
Theories abound but one thing that almost everyone agrees upon is that this is a delicious candy bar and has been for close to 100 years. And no, this candy bar is not named after the baseball great Hank Aaron.
Spark your curiosity? Read on…
Lore has it that the name was derived from that of a randy young man who made frequents visits to the original manufacturers – the Williamson company – less for sugary sweets and more to flirt with the eye candy who worked on the assembly line. This leaves us to assume that the young man’s name was -- you guessed it -- Henry. But certain proof eludes us.
Perhaps a more credible theory is that the candy bar was named after the owner of the now defunct Peerless Candy company. The owner's name was Tom Henry and in a vainglorious move, created the Tom Henry Bar. It was a short-lived venture as he sold the rights to the candy bar in 1920 to the Williamson Candy who changed the name to Oh Henry.
Oh Henry was also one of the first examples of “guerilla marketing” as an employee of Williamson Candy Company was determined to make the Oh Henry Bar famous. Lacking the funds to launch a full frontal Madison Avenue advertising campaign, this wily salesman had bumper stickers printed with only two words – Oh Henry. Curiousity didn’t kill the cat and this candy bar quickly made a name for itself.
The candy bar is also sold in Canada but distributed by Hershey with the difference being a "chocolately" coating as opposed to milk chocolate.
Things remained much the same for close to 65 years until 1984, when
Nestle acquired the rights to distribute Oh Henry in the United States but, alas, not everything lasts forever.
In 2018, Nestle sold the rights to Ferrara Pan and the candy bar has curiously disappared from the shelves. As of October 2019, it has not been confirmed that these beloved candy icon has been discontinued. Stay tuned...
This story is true I was born and raised in Winfield and have always read same story. Tom Henry created the Oh Henry bar. He was from Arkansas City.
When my youngest son Henry was born, instead of cigars I proudly passed out O’Henry bars that were a big hit! Year 2000
I grew up in Kansas. I was always told that the home of the oh henry candy bar came from a small town in Kansas. Dexter, Kansas to be exact. The candy store is still there and still claims the original oh henry candy bar came from there.
Cool story and we would love to see some pictures!
I don’t know what the real story is on who the ohenry bar was named after but recently during renovations on our old home an ohenry bar box was discovered inside a wall. When it was shown to my sister in law by the
workman who found it (he said wow this may be valuable!) To which she replied " it would have been worth more had you not eaten the bar!"…we got a big chuckle out of this but realistically is this box of any interest? Is there a museum for such things? The box is in really good shape especially considering where it’s been all these years!😀have pictures if interested.