In Days Gone By: Charles and Adda Bienz and the Bienz Confectionery – Part 1

Owned and operated by Charles H. and Adda Bienz for 36 years, Bienz Confectionery was a landmark and favorite store for people frequenting downtown Edmonds.

Charles Hoyt Bienz was born on June 6, 1898, in Rockford, Mercer County, Ohio, the fourth of six children of Charles Martin Bienz and Henrietta Geraldine Bienz.  In 1923, 25-year-old Charles arrived in Edmonds and went to work as a truck driver for the Standard Oil Company.

Adda Wilson also moved to Edmonds in 1923. Born in 1902, she was one of six children who were raised on a ranch near Waterville in Eastern Washington by her mother. In her first three years in the Edmonds area, Adda taught sixth, seventh and eighth grades at the elementary school in Alderwood Manor.

Charles and Adda both resided at Mrs. Schmitt’s boarding house after becoming acquainted. Romance developed and they were married on June 6, 1926.

After their wedding, the young couple moved into the Robertson apartments on Dayton Street. Charles went back to work for Standard Oil, but Adda was no longer able to teach as marriage bars prevented married women from being teachers.

Looking at their early married life, Charles and Adda must have been a popular couple as a group of 25 of their friends descended upon their apartment house, causing minor damage to the apartments’ doors and stairway while serenading them loudly on Aug. 30, 1926.

According to Bienz family records, Adda and Charles soon after moved to an apartment on the second floor of the Beeson building at 4th and Main Street   The second floor contained other apartments, a dentistry and a doctor’s office.  Below was a cafe, a drugstore and several other businesses. The couple reportedly became well known quickly as Adda liked to roller skate up and down the hall for exercise. 

In the spring of 1927, the young couple realized that Adda was pregnant with their first child. Wanting to raise their child in a house, they moved into a rental home and Adda gave birth to Patricia Lou Bienz on Oct. 23, 1927.

Through 1927 and in early 1928, Charles continued to work as a truck driver for Standard Oil. In April, it was announced that Charles was purchasing the confectionery on Main Street that had been previously owned and operated for eight years by Mrs. S.J. Mothershead, who retained ownership of the building. 

When the purchase was finalized on April 16, Mrs. Mothershead posted the following thank you in the April 27, 1928 issue of Edmonds Tribune-Review.

Launching Bienz Confectionery

With the purchase, Charles and Adda acquired a mildly successful confectionery business inside the wooden building with a false second-story front, displaying a large Sunfreeze ice-cream sign. Inside was a long, old-fashioned solid marble-topped counter and soda fountain. Other features included a huge solid-oak cabinet and mirrors.

Author’s note: Western Dairy Products was a dairy cooperative that operated across Washington, Oregon and California. The “Sunfreeze” name itself was the winning entry in a 1927 naming contest held by the company.

But Charles had bigger ideas regarding expanding the business’s offerings and attracting younger people to the store. The first product expansion was into school supplies.

By summer 1928, Charles had added a wide variety of school products and had come up with an unusual idea to attract students to his store.

This Sept. 7, 1928, advertisement outlined the fact that any student purchasing school supplies at the confectionery had the opportunity to win a cash prize of $2.50 if they could guess the number of candies in a jar. That $2.50 in 1928 would be worth $40 today. Smaller cash prizes were also going to be paid out to an additional nine students based upon the accuracy of their guesses.

The top of the ad also stated that all students would receive free ice cream on the first day of school.

According to all reports, the contest was wildly successful, and the winners were announced on Sept. 21.

Furthering his campaign to attract students to the store, Charles announced that Bienz Confectionery was becoming the primary sponsor for Edmonds High School’s football team, and pennants that could be waved at the games were available for purchase at the store.

Charles also became involved in organizing the Edmonds Strawberry festivals in 1928 and 1929. Working with community leaders, he jointly promoted the festival and the store’s wares via a variety of advertisements in the Edmonds Tribune-Review and posters displayed around town.   

Charles builds a reputation for leadership, enters local government

In 1928, articles in the Edmonds Tribune Review documented that Charles became active in the Kiwanis and Masonic Lodge, helping organize community-based events. He was also elected to the City Council in November 1928. 

By October 1930, Charles’ growing influence can be seen as he was able to get a motion passed by the City Council that amended the local parking ordinance in front of the confectionery. According to the prevailing ordinance, parking was not allowed on Main Street between 3rd and 5th Avenues. However, Charles’ request for a change in the parking regulation in front of his store was approved.

Author’s note: By the end of 1930, two years after purchasing the confectionery and due to his community involvement, Charles was running the store on a part-time basis with help from Adda and two employees. 

Charles as Edmonds’ city attorney (1930-38)

In 1930, the job of City Attorney in Edmonds, Washington was a part-time job, handled on a contractual or as-needed basis as opposed to a full-time municipal employee. 

Edmonds was a small city, and it was common practice for smaller Washington cities and towns to obtain legal services through a part-time arrangement or contract with an individual or law firm. State law at the time recognized that cities and towns would need legal services, allowing mayors or city councils to appoint an attorney, which implicitly allowed flexible arrangements based on the city’s size and needs.

Despite the lack of evidence that he had any legal education or expertise, Charles was elected city attorney in November 1930, based apparently upon his business acumen and energy.

In essence, Charles’ part-time city attorney role was broad, covering both advisory and litigation functions to ensure the City’s operations complied with state and local laws, which was particularly important during the Great Depression when federal programs, like the Works Progress Administration (WPA), initiated various local projects and required proper legal procedures. There are no known records indicating that the City reached out to any additional lawyers or law firms, but that may have been the case.

Charles apparently did a creditable job during the difficult Great Depression years as he was reelected in 1932, 1934 and 1936.

Beginning to build a landmark business (1930-35)

In 1930 and 1931, the confectionery continued to expand its product offerings.  Possibly due to Adda’s teaching background, a lending library was added to the store’s operations.

The Edmonds Tribune-Review occasionally ran little quips in their “Humor Section” regarding the Bienz’s growing business, possibly illustrating how much Adda and Charles were liked.

An example from 1931 read:

Ms. Hammond: “I would like to get one of your loaner books.”

Mr. Bienz: “Something light?”

Ms. Hammond: “That won’t be necessary, I drove my truck.”

Soon after the lending library was introduced, Adda realized she was pregnant with their second child. Despite the trials that went along with pregnancy, Adda continued to work part-time at the confectionery while tending to the needs of their 3-year-old daughter.  

Fortunately, Adda received welcome help in late 1931 and the first part of 1932 as the Edmonds Tribune-Review reported that her mother, Mrs. Wilson, was often traveling from Eastern Washington to assist her.

On Jan. 27, 1932, adding to their successes, Adda and Charles welcomed their second daughter, Beverly, to their family.

After a postnatal period, Adda returned to the confectionery part-time, working behind the counter and helping Charles run the operation.   

Soon after their second daughter’s birth, the Bienz family moved to a larger rental house. Later that year, Adda’s mother moved from Waterville and lived with them. Mrs. Wilson had previously raised three boys and three girls, so tending Adda’s two young girls while Adda was at the confectionery was reportedly an easy task for her. 

June Sorensen Crump, who was born in Edmonds in 1925, fondly remembers how patient Adda was with her and other young children who frequented the candy store in the early 1930s.

June recalled: “Ms. Bienz ran the store, and she seemed to know all of us kids. The store had a soda fountain and a big candy case with penny candy and where you could buy two chocolate squares which sold for a nickel. As kids we loved the candy case. It would take forever to make your big purchase with your penny or two.

“We could go to the Princess Theatre for ten cents and get our candy at Bienzes.  What could be better!”

Quality reputation grows during the difficult late 1930s

During the mid- to late 1930s, Charles, as the city attorney, worked closely with Edmonds’ Mayors George Durbin and Fred Fourtner to secure much-needed WPA funding for local construction projects. As the Depression had deepened, Charles was required to spend more time on the city’s affairs and less time at the confectionery.

Adda, however, proved to be a solid, no-nonsense businesswoman. June Sorensen Crump said, “Mrs. Bienz was a very patient woman and ran a good store. Later, when I was in high school, it was a treat to get an ice cream sundae or milk shake there. Also, if I remember correctly, it was the only store in Edmonds that sold fireworks in celebration of the Fourth. Nothing spectacular like today but that too took a lot of thought before spending your money.”

But sometimes the confectionery experienced problems, too. Adda later reflected on the 1930s, recalling that a fire had broken out in several buildings along Main Street, and their roof had been burnt, which required them to shut the store for a week. Shortly after the fire, the store was also robbed twice.   

But Adda also fondly recalled, “During the Depression, people had more leisure time. There was almost always an unfinished jigsaw puzzle in at least one of the booths. A customer would work on it for a while, then he would leave and another would take up where the first left off. Eventually someone would finish the puzzle.”

In late 1938, as the country was coming out of the Great Depression, Charles returned to the family business on a full-time basis after serving eight years as the city attorney. In several historical memoirs, there are mentions that during the Great Depression, there were small groups of boys at times who were deemed “troublemakers” in the community. When asked about them, Adda said, “They were all good boys, and she had never had any problems with them”.  

People who remembered the confectionery said it had more to do with the boys’ respect for Adda rather than their good character.

End Part I. Full credits will be given at the end of Part 2.