Russell William Stover and his wife Clara started the company that would bear their name in 1923. According to company annals, they began the business in their Colorado bungalow home, experimenting with new recipes and concocting new confections in their kitchen. They soon started selling their candies locally under the name "Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Candies." It was during the start-up of the enterprise that they established the tenets that guided the company throughout the twentieth century: quality, service, and value.

Legend connotes an enthusiastic couple starting a candy company in their kitchen and building it into what would become one of the largest confectioners in the country. But the Stovers were not neophytes to the candy industry. By the time Russell and Clara Stover began experimenting with their own recipes, Russell Stover had spent several years working for other candy manufacturers and had gained a strong grip on the business side of the candy industry.

Russell Stover's ancestors came to the United States from Prussia in 1728. John and Sarah Stover, Russell's parents, settled in Alton, Kansas. Russell Stover was born on May 6, 1888, in a sod house. The Stover family soon moved to an Iowa farm, where Russell Stover was raised and attended Iowa City Academy. Russell Stover studied chemistry at Iowa State University after high school. After only a year of college, he left to take a job as a sales representative for the American Tobacco Co. In 1911, one year after taking his first job, he married Clara Lewis, a farmer's daughter. The newlyweds settled on a 580-acre farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, that they had received as a wedding gift.

Russell and Clara Stover tried their hand at raising wheat and flax for less than a year. But bad weather and a rotten crop convinced Russell Stover that his future would not be in farming. The couple moved to Winnipeg and Russell Stover accepted a job with a Minnesota candy company. He gained four years of experience with the confectioner before they had a falling out. Russell Stover had received some faulty inventory and wanted the company to replace it with high-quality goods. Headquarters refused. Frustrated, Russell Stover resigned and accepted a position with candy maker A.G. Morris in Chicago, Illinois.

Russell Stover worked with A.G. Morris for one year before getting a better offer from Bunte Candy. He gained three more years of experience at Bunte before switching jobs again. This time, Russell Stover moved back to his native state, Iowa, where the Des Moines-based Irwin Candy Co. was floundering. Russell Stover went to work at Irwin in 1918 and was eventually able to turn the operation around. The Stovers had settled in nearby Omaha, Nebraska, by that time. While Russell Stover worked at Irwin, Clara began experimenting with her own creations at home.

At the same time that Clara was trying to fashion some new confectionery sensations, another inventor, Christian Nelson, was at work in the nearby town of Onawa, Iowa. His creation would soon become famous, and would also lead to the founding of Russell Stover Candies. Nelson was a part-time Latin teacher in Onawa who moonlighted as a soda jerk. One day in 1919 a local schoolboy entered the shop. With only a nickel to spare, the boy agonized over whether he should buy chocolate or ice cream. Nelson was intrigued by the dilemma. His solution?--the "I-Scream Bar," a sandwich with vanilla ice cream filling and a coating comprised of chocolate and cocoa butter.

Nelson introduced his treat at the Onawa Fireman's Tournament. It was well received. Confident that his idea was a winner, Nelson approached several confectioners about the possibility of making and selling his I-Scream Bar. Seven companies rejected the concept as implausible, citing the bar's propensity to melt, lack of long-term consumer interest in such novelty items, and other potential flaws. Finally, Nelson presented his treat to Russell Stover in Omaha on July 31, 1921. Nelson's proposal piqued Russell Stover's interest. He was also inspired by the 25-year-old entrepreneur's enthusiasm. Russell Stover went into partnership with the aspiring inventor. Russell Stover made several changes to the I-Scream Bar, changing its name to Eskimo Pie and removing the superfluous stick which Nelson had inserted at the base of the bar to hold it. Nelson patented the Eskimo Pie on January 24, 1922. The patent documented the creation as "an ice cream confection containing normally liquid material frozen to a substantially hard state and encased in a chocolate covering to maintain its original form during handling."

Nelson and Stover's venture was an instant success. To even Nelson's surprise, people rushed to buy the Eskimo Pie. In Omaha, a quarter of a million pies were sold in a single 24-hour period. As an Eskimo Pie craze swept the nation, the excited partners scrambled to keep up with the demand. Unable to serve the entire market themselves, Russell Stover opened a Chicago office and began licensing other companies to produce the treat. Within a year more than 1,500 manufacturers had been licensed to make and sell Eskimo Pies. In return, they agreed to pay Russell Stover and Nelson four cents for every dozen pies that they sold.

Russell Stover and Nelson initially profited handsomely from their flourishing enterprise. Unfortunately, many other companies began making their own versions of the Eskimo Pie without the originator's permission. As the market became overwhelmed with Eskimo Pie look-alikes, Russell Stover and Nelson struggled to protect their patent. They were soon doling out more than $4,000 daily in legal fees. In 1923, moreover, jealous competitors succeeded in having the patent declared invalid, thus placing Russell Stover and Nelson's operation at a distinct disadvantage to more established manufacturers. Disillusioned by the whole ordeal, the Stovers sold their interest to a lawyer for $30,000 and moved to Denver.