Sitting in his workshop one day,tired and discouraged, he popped a piece of surplus stock into his mouth.  Shortly, he opened the world’s first chewing gum factory making Adams New York No. 1.. 

RELATED INFORMATION:
Invention of Bubble Gum   from The Great Idea Finder
History of Snacks and Food    from The Great Idea Finder

ON THE BOOKSHELF:
The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle: And Other Surprising Stories About Inventions
by Don L. Wulffson / Paperback - 128 pages (1999) / Puffin
Brief factual stories about how various familiar things were invented, many by accident, from animal crackers to the zipper.
Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things
by Charles Panati / Paperback - 480 pages Reissue edition (September 1989) / HarperCollins
Discover the fascinating stories behind the origins of over 500 everyday items, expressions and customs.
Bubblemania: A Chewy History of Buble Gum
by Lee Wardlaw, Sandra Forrest (Illustrator) / Paperback: 176 pages / Simon & Schuster; (1997)
Discusses bubble gum, including important people in the world of bubble gum, its invention and history, how it is manufactured and sold today, and gives advice on how to blow really great bubbles.

ON THE WEB:
Thomas Adams History of Chewing Gum
Adans Gum company is now part of Cadbury-Adams Company. Read this brief history pageand company timeline..
(URL: www.cadburyadams.com/AboutUs/History/tabid/68/Default.aspx)
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
One day in 1891, Mr. Wrigley got the idea to offer merchants free chewing gum with each can of baking powder they purchased. Today, there are about 20 chewing gum manufacturers, with the Wrigley Company being the largest.
(URL: www.wrigley.com/wrigley/about/about_story.asp)
History of Chewing Gum and Bubble Gum Gumballs
By the early 20th century, Americans could not get enough of the confection called chewing gum invented by Thomas Adams. Includes extensive timeline of gum.
(URL: www.gumballs.com/history.html)
Baseball Cards and Gum
The Topps Company, Inc. entered the baseball card field in the post-World War II period with its first series in 1951. Actually, the first baseball cards were issued in the 1880s, some 20 years before the American League was organized in 1901. The early baseball cards were included with cigarettes, and they dominated the trading card field through the early part of the 20^th century.
(URL: www.topps.com/)
National Association of Chewing Gum Manufacturers
You will find everything there is to know about gum. So, come on in ... browse around and enjoy the world of gum.
(URL: www.nacgm.org/)
Stupid Candy Museum
Check out the Richard Nixon Bubble Gum, Ant Hill Gum and Snot candy.
(URL: www.stupid.com/museum.htm)
Unwrap This Site
The history of Topp's trading cards.Which ball players card is in the package.
(URL: www.topps.com/SportsCollect/spc_history.html)
William Wrigley Jr.
Life and times of Wm. Wrigley.
(URL: www.wrigley.com/wrigley/about/about_story_wm_wrigley_jr_bio.asp)
Candy USA
Estimated Year 2000 Retail Sales - Total - $23.8 Billion; Chocolate - $13 Billion; Non-chocolate - $7.5;  Billion and Gum - $2 Billion. from the National Confectioners Association * Chocolate Manufacturers Association.
(URL: www.candyusa.org)

WHERE TO FIND:
Black Jack Chewing Gum
The first flavored chewing gum.Thomas Adams, Sr. introduced Black Jack gum, the first manufactured, flavored chewing gum, in 1870.
(URL: www.sweetfactory.com/)

HOW IT'S MADE:
How do they make Gum?
A detailed explanation of how it is done at Wrigley.
(URL: www.wrigley.com/wrigley/about/about_story_plant.asp)

DID YOU KNOW?

• Today, the average American chews 300 sticks of gum a year.
• Did you know that chewing gum has been around for over 900 years?
• A vast area of farmland is required to raise all the mint plants necessary to meet the Wrigley Company’s annual needs for mint oil. If added together, this farmland would equal 53 square miles, or approximately 30,550 football fields.The leading mint producing states are Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin.
• Many doctors, however, said it was unhealthy.  In 1869, one wrote that chewing gum would "exhaust the salivary glands and cause the intestines to stick together." 
• A leading columnist on the subject of etiquette tells a reader asking about chewing gum in public that it is perfectly all right to do so as long as it isn’t done with too much gusto.
• A manufacturer orders his workers to stop chewing on the job—but they go to the National Labor Relations Board and win the right to do so.
• Teachers who used to admonish their students not to chew in class now use gum to reward good work.
• In the United States alone, there are about 20 chewing gum manufacturers, with the Wrigley Company being the largest.
• In the United States, total retail sales of chewing gum (including bubble gum) is over $2.0 billion.
• They can't make chocolate-flavored chewing gum.   Unfortunately,  the cocoa butter in chocolate acts as an emulsifier on chewing gum base, making it extremely soft, negatively affecting the chewing quality of the product.
• To remove chewing gum from hair.Try using peanut butter or vegetable oil to soften the gum. This should make removing it a bit easier.
• Candy consumption:1997 U.S. per capita confectionery consumption increased to a new all-time high of 26.7 pounds per person, a 1.8 percent increase over 1996, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce figures. Americans enjoyed a total of 7.1 billion pounds of sweet treats last year, led by non-chocolate candies, which posted a 2.3 percent gain to 12.3 pounds per person.
• Chocolate consumption was up 1 percent, to 11.7 pounds per person. The remaining 15 pounds consumed includes gum and unspecified candy.
• Candy retail sales in 1997 added up to an estimated $22.7 billion, a $1.3 billion increase over the previous year.
• While Americans enjoy their sweet treats, they are no match for the Danes. In Denmark, per capita confectionery consumption tops an estimated 33 pounds per person, earning them number one position in candy consumption worldwide. Americans, overall, rank eighth. October 15, 1998
• Holiday sales in 1998, in millions of U.S. dollars: Valentine’s Day $1.033; Easter $1.670; Halloween $1.767; and Christmas $1.418.