Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Who Invented Lollipops?
National Lollipop Day
Reading Comprehension for July 20
Many inventions have an unknown creator. Such is the case with lollipops. These sweet treats on a stick have no clear-cut inventor. Oh, there are people who claimed to be the first to put hard candy on a stick. But the true origin remains surrounded by controversy.
Somewhere the first lollipop was created. George Smith claimed that he was the first. In 1908, he had an idea to put hard candy on the end of a stick. He liked the idea so much that he named his invention after a racing horse named Lolly Pop. However, the term lollipop was documented in England in 1769. Was George Smith really the first? Or, had lollipops been around since before he was born? We don't know for sure because there are no definite records.
Automating the production of lollipops is also surrounded by controversy. California and Wisconsin both take credit for having the first machines. The Racine Confectioners Machinery Co. of Wisconsin claims it created a machine in 1908. That machine could make 40 lollipops each minute. A man named Samuel Born also claimed to have mechanized the process in California in 1916. He invented the Born Sucker Machine. It was able to add a stick to hard candy automatically. Did one of these actually invent lollipops? We will probably never know for sure.
