<P> Contrary to its name and the sign, which still stands despite the building burning down in 1984, the place was never a toll house and it was built in 1817, not 1709 . The "toll house" and the "1709" was a marketing strategy . </P> <P> Ruth Wakefield cooked all the food served and soon gained local fame for her desserts . In 1936, 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 . Wakefield 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 . Wakefield wrote a cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes, that went through 39 printings starting in 1940 . </P> <P> Wakefield 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, at 362 Bedford Street, 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 . </P>

Where did toll house cookies get their name