The summer of 1989 a friend and I were walking up Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge from Central Square to M.I.T. when I stopped and inhaled deeply. “Mmmmmm. Buttermint!” I said. “Buttermint?” he responded skeptically. “There’s no such thing as buttermint. You just made that up.” I was indignant. “That’s what it smells like. Buttermint!”

Situated just off the M.I.T. campus is the yummy smelling factory of the New England Confectionary Company, makers of NECCO wafers and Valentine’s Day hearts. A set of old train tracks wends into the loading docks, and only the often present smell of sweetness divulges the activity that takes place inside the covered windows. But after almost 75 years, Necco is consolidating its operations in Revere, MA. Biotech is moving in. Novartis has taken a 45 year lease on the building and is investing hundreds of millions on renovations. The smell of buttery, minty goodness will rise no more.

And, by the way, I did not make up the term buttermint.