Toll House Inn - History

History

The original toll house had been built in 1709 and had a rich history of providing a night's solace to weary travelers. Located on what is now Route 18 about halfway between Boston and New Bedford, Massachusetts, it was a place where passengers historically paid a toll, changed horses, and ate home-cooked meals. Today, all that remains of the Toll House is its sign, still standing near the site of the inn.

The Wakefields upheld the lodge's tradition. Ruth cooked all the food served and soon gained local fame for her desserts. In 1937, while adapting her butter drop dough cookie recipe, she became the inventor of the first chocolate chip cookie using a bar of semi-sweet chocolate made by Nestlé. The new dessert soon became very popular. Ruth contacted Nestlé and they struck a deal: The company would print her recipe on the cover of all their semi-sweet chocolate bars, and she would get a lifetime supply of chocolate. Nestlé began marketing chocolate chips to be used especially for cookies. Ruth wrote a cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes, that went through 39 printings starting in 1940.

Ruth died in 1977, and the Toll House Inn burned down from a fire that started in the kitchen on New Year's Eve 1984. The inn was not rebuilt. The site is marked with a historical marker, and that land is now home to a Wendy's restaurant and Walgreens pharmacy. Although there are many manufacturers of chocolate chips today, Nestlé still publishes the recipe on the back of each package of Toll House Morsels.