Cracker Jack

During the 1870s, the German immigrants Frederick and Louis Rueckheim sold popcorn on the streets of Chicago. They began to experiment with combining popcorn with several other products. When the Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago in 1893, they sold a confection composed of popcorn, molasses, and peanuts, which they prepared in a small factory. After the exposition, orders for the confection rose. The Rueckheims increased production, repackaged the product so that it would stay fresh, named it Cracker Jack, and promoted it nationwide. Conflicting stories as to how “Cracker Jack” acquired its name have surfaced. The most commonly told story goes as follows. While sampling and tasting the new confection, John Berg, a company salesman, purportedly exclaimed: “That’s a crackerjack.” Frederick Rueckheim looked at him and said, “Why not call it by that name?” Berg responded, “I see no objection.” Rueckheim’s decisive reply was “That settles it then.” The story is probably apocryphal as, at that time, the term “cracker jack” was commonly used slang that meant “first-rate” or “excellent.”