Chewing gum was invented in the late 1800’s and we have the Alamo to thank. That’s right. .. Remember the Alamo? After General Lopez de Santa Anna lost the Alamo to the Americans, he figured that he could sell the Americans enough Chicle to raise an army to take back his power in Mexico. Santa Anna teamed up with an American inventor Thomas Adams who tried unsuccessfully to turn chicle into a new rubber for tires. Adams later figured out that with added flavour, chicle was an enjoyable substance to chew and could be sold for little money but big profit to children. He opened the first gum factory in 1871. And by the 1880’s, the entire United States was stuck on chewing gum.
Two other Americans are responsible for the popularity of chewing gum around the world. The first is another inventor, Walter Dimer. According to the book Pop, it is Dimer who dreamed of blowing bubbles with chewing gum. He invented a gum that had the texture that makes blowing bubbles possible. In 1928, the invention of bubble gum catapulted the popularity of chewing gum. The other American responsible for solidifying the popularity of chewing gum is Wrigley, who used advertisement to popularize gum. However, during WWII, the Wrigley Company heard that soldiers used their gum to overcome dry mouths on the battlefield. Wrigley pulled all of its gum off the shelves and donated them to the war effort. Americans returned victorious and after the war it was an everyday event to chew gum.
Now that the history is unwrapped, we should chew on the importance of gum.