Charles Cretors, a candy-store owner born in Lebanon, Ohio, in 1852, helped proliferate what would become one of America’s most popular snacks by improving the automated process of popcorn popping through steam engine power. Unsatisfied with a peanut roaster he had acquired in the late 1800s for his bakery and confections shop in Illinois, Cretors revised the design and created his own contraption that could roast 12 pounds of peanuts and 20 pounds of coffee, as well as pop corn and bake chestnuts. Being fully mechanized, it provided more consistent quality than roasting by hand, while the operation itself—on full display and replete with Tosty Rosty the peanut roaster figurine cranking away—offered entertainment for the customer. With his invention patented in 1893, Cretors transfixed the public at that year’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the smell and taste of delectable free snacks from his hand-drawn cart drawing droves. Sales immediately took off and his Chicago-based company, still in operation today, continued to evolve, ever expanding its product line with larger horse-drawn wagons, electric power, and units designed for use at movie theaters.

This lovely Model No. 2 Sidewalk Cart is incredibly rare and has been expertly restored to how it likely would have looked when new, replete with its original steam popper and correct gold-leaf lettering, polished nickel trim, beveled-edge glass, signage with beveled-edge mirror and reverse-etched decoration, and replacement wheels. Ideal for use at events or a home movie theater, this charming and rare machine is sure to please Cretors collectors and bring as much enjoyment today as it did more than 120 years ago.