History

The Candy Man Who Made Nyack Smile

Published

June 25, 2025

For 63 years, Tom Vasilow and his brother Chris churned out oceans of ice cream and rivers of chocolate at the Eagle Confectionery at 106 Main Street in Nyack. But it wasn’t the daily scoops or sweets that earned Tom the nickname “Nyack’s Candy Man.” It was his monumental chocolate sculptures—works of edible art he displayed each Easter in the store window. From the George Washington Bridge to the Parthenon to the Nyack Library, his creations amazed and delighted generations.

Vasilow putting the finishing touches on his chocolate culture of the Nyack National Bank (now the Key Bank).

A major fire in 1971 destroyed the Eagle and three neighboring Main Street businesses. Though no lives were lost, the fire marked the end of an era. At 99, Tom continued making Greek candies for a local bazaar, but the shop was never rebuilt. Instead, he and his son Chris donated the property to the Greek Orthodox Church and relocated to Phoenix. Tom Vasilow died there in 1980 at the age of 105. Apparently, chocolate and his daily two-mile walks to and from work had paid off.

A Sweet Tradition in Nyack

Nyack has always had a sweet tooth. Since the Civil War, downtown Nyack has been home to dozens of confectioners and soda fountains. Ice cream was especially prized during summer months, when ice was expensive and hard to come by.

Schmitt’s Confectionery store and delivery truck in 1914. Courtesy of the Nyack Library.

Before the Eagle, the best-known confectionery was owned by Robert Schmitt, a German immigrant who opened a grand shop at 84 Main Street in 1888. His three-story building featured a soda fountain, candy counter, and an ice cream parlor in the rear, accessible from New Street. Schmitt made ice cream in the basement—up to 3,000 quarts per day—including flavors like tutti frutti and Roman punch. Two delivery wagons serviced homes, even on Sundays. The store operated until 1958, when it became the Clock diner, later renamed the Skylark. Today, it houses the Breakfast and Burger Club.

The Vasilow Brothers

Born in 1876 in Sparta, Greece, Tom Vasilow came to America at 19 with his brother Chris. Neither originally set out to make sweets. That changed in 1904 when Tom found work at a confectionery in the Catskills. Four years later, they opened the Eagle in Nyack.

“Nyack was a remote and rural town, and few people knew where it was—just somewhere up the Hudson.”
Tom Vasilow

They named their shop “Eagle” to honor their new country. Chris managed wholesale distribution, while Tom ran the retail operation. Open from 7 a.m. to midnight—and often Sundays—the Eagle offered five-cent ice cream sodas or two cones. They delivered treats by horse and buggy as far as Hackensack, NJ, and even opened several branch stores. After World War II, they added a lunch menu.

The brothers also supported the community. During World War I, they led local fundraising efforts for Greek War Relief.

Beer, Bottled Water, and Business Ventures

From 1932 to 1966, the brothers operated the Vasilow Distribution Company, which began with candy and ice cream but expanded to become the local distributor for Ballantine Ale. Starting with three employees, they grew to 15. Chris’s wife ran the company after his death. They were among the first in New York State to receive a wholesale license after Prohibition ended in 1933.

The Cascadian Springs bottling plant in Grand View. A spring from behind the building provided the water. The plant became a residence and has recently been renovated.

Chris also co-owned the Cascadian Water Company, which sold carbonated and flavored spring water sourced from Grand View. Tragically, he died of a heart attack in 1950 while driving home with his wife.

Home in Upper Nyack

In the 1930s, Tom, then widowed, moved with Chris and his wife to 315 North Broadway in Upper Nyack. Their home had its own legacy: designed in 1897 by Horace Greeley Knapp for New York City businessman Edward DeNoyelles. It was Knapp’s final residential commission in Nyack.

315 North Broadway, Upper Nyack. Watercolor by Beverly Bozarth Colgan.

Unlike his earlier Queen Anne homes—like those at 309 N. Broadway or 18 Castle Heights—this house reflected the Adamesque Revival style, popularized by 18th-century Scottish architect Robert Adam. Its symmetrical facade and bold corner bays gave it a more restrained elegance.

Tom walked two miles each day from the Broadway house to the Eagle—except on rainy days, when he took the bus.

The Eagle Confectionery

Opened in 1908, the Eagle featured a soda fountain along one side of the shop and a candy counter along the other. At the rear, separated by an ornate bamboo screen, sat a cozy ice cream parlor with small tables and chairs. Waiters delivered orders directly to guests.

Customers could also order ice cream, water ices, and fruit-flavored sodas for home or hotel delivery. Seasonal treats for Thanksgiving included California glazed fruits, stuffed dates, after-dinner mints, and chocolate-covered nut meats.

Eagle ads from two different eras, 1922 on the left and 1968 on the right.

The Chocolate Sculptor of Nyack

Tom Vasilow turned chocolate into art. He claimed to have made over 100,000 chocolate Easter eggs by 1963. While many of his confectionery skills were self-taught or observed from others, his chocolate sculptures were uniquely his own.

Tom Vasilow with some of his chocolate sculptures during the 1960s. Photos from the Journal News.

Every Easter, Tom crafted elaborate chocolate models of well-known buildings. In 1962, he spent two weeks building a chocolate replica of the Nyack Library, using 80 pounds of chocolate and white icing for trim. Other subjects included the Tappan Zee Bridge, Rockland County Courthouse, Nyack High School, the White House, and the Parthenon. His Lincoln Memorial in 1965 used 200 pounds of chocolate.

Each sculpture was proudly displayed in the shop window. After Easter, Tom broke them apart and donated the chocolate to local orphanages.

Fire on Main Street

In 1969, the fire department responded to a small blaze on the store’s grill. It was a sign of things to come.

1960s photo of Main Street. The stores from left to right-Peterzell’s, Mae Moon, Eagle Confectionery, National Shoes, and Nyack Five and Dime.Notice the antique street lamp in front of the Eagle. Vasilow purchased this himself and later gave it to the town. Photo courtesy of the Nyack Library.

On the morning of January 22, 1971, while working in the balcony kitchen, manager Mike Toukis heard crackling from the adjacent chocolate room. When he opened the door, flames burst out, burning his face and hands. He rushed to shut off the gas in the basement.

Next door, Theodore Peterzell, owner of a card and toy shop, initially wasn’t concerned. But as smoke filled his store, he fled—just as an explosion shattered the windows, cutting his face with flying glass.

The ladder tucks working on the fire. Notice the firemen on the roof at the right. Eagle Confectionery is to the left of the National Shoes sign. Photo from the *Journal News*.

Flames shot 50 feet in the air. Firefighters from eight companies, including Chelsea and Empire Hook and Ladder, quickly responded. They used ladder hoses to douse the flames.

“The Nyack sky looked like a furnace”
Tarrytown fire fighters

Smoke and destruction caused by the fire. Photo by the *Journal News*.

Despite their efforts, the fire destroyed four businesses: the Eagle, Peterzell’s Toy Shop, Mae Moon Dress Shop, and National Shoe Store. Two others—Suburban Jewelers and Nyack’s Five and Dime—suffered damage. A city planner later recommended apartments instead of stores for the site, but a two-bay retail building eventually replaced them. Even today, the newer building seems oddly out of place.

A graphic showing the stores involved in the fire. From right to left-the Nyack Five and Dime, National Shoes, Eagle Confectionery, Mae Moon, Peterzell’s Cards, Suburban Jewelers, and Rainbow Dress Shop.

Nyack’s Tragic Ice Cream Trilogy

The Eagle fire marked the third tragedy in a devastating stretch for Nyack’s ice cream shops.

In 1968, McDermott’s Milk Bar—an ice cream and lunch spot on Route 59—burned down in a dramatic blaze. In 1969, a fire destroyed Hearne’s Confectionery at the corner of Midland and Main streets, where locals flocked for black-and-white sodas and “Country Club” ice cream—served in a paper cone with a rounded top. The Eagle fire completed the triangle of loss.

The fire at McDermott’s Milk Bar. The Thruway is to the left obscured by smoke.

The Legacy of a Candy Man

A photograph of 96-year-old Tom Vasilow standing beside the charred ruins of his store remains one of the most poignant images in Nyack history. Too old to rebuild, he donated the land to the Greek Orthodox Church and gave an antique streetlamp to the village for its new park. Then he moved to Phoenix to be with his son.

A stunned Vasilow looks at the scene of firemen attempting to put out the fire in his beloved store. Photo by the *Journal News.*

He passed away in 1980 at 105.

Today, more than fifty years later, Nyack has largely forgotten its Candy Man. But in losing the Eagle, the village didn’t just lose a beloved soda fountain—it lost a true chocolate artist, whose legacy remains unmatched along the Hudson River Valley.

Tom Vasilow in 1974 at age 99 making candy at a Greek festival three years after the loss of his confectionery.

Mike Hays lived in the Nyacks for 38-years. He worked for McGraw-Hill Education in New York City for many years. Hays serves as President of the Historical Society of the Nyacks, Vice-President of the Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center, and Upper Nyack Historian. Married to Bernie Richey, he enjoys cycling and winters in Florida. You can follow him on Instagram as UpperNyackMike.

Editor’s note: This article is sponsored by Sun River Health and Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty. Sun River Health is a network of 43 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) providing primary, dental, pediatric, OB-GYN, and behavioral health care to over 245,000 patients annually. Ellis Sotheby’s International Realty is the lower Hudson Valley’s Leader in Luxury. Located in the charming Hudson River village of Nyack, approximately 22 miles from New York City. Our agents are passionate about listing and selling extraordinary properties in the Lower Hudson Valley, including Rockland and Orange Counties, New York.