Mrs Baird's Home

Pages 12 - 16 of The Mrs Bairds Story

2009-01-27T18:51:00.045-06:00

This post contains the last five pages of The Mrs Baird's Story, and wraps up the transcription of the document except the photo captions. Again, the original Mrs Baird's Story post has been updated to contain the new material.

...

From 1919 to 1928, the new bakery was enlarged nine times. This was one addition each year. Competitors in the Fort Worth market were Reich's B & B (Biggest and Best), Walker's Big Dandy Bread, and Doherty's Butter Krust.

About 1920, the family induced Mrs. Baird to quit working in the bakery. They thought she had worked long enough. The family built a two-story home on the corner of Scott and Beach Streets. Mrs. Baird moved there and quit working in the retail sales room. Later she moved to 2429 Rogers Road. She continued as active head of the business until her death in 1961.

With the bakery at 6th Avenue and Terrell doing well, Roland suggested expanding to Dallas. Mrs. Baird could have said, "Let's just stay the size we are." The business could really be hurt if the expansion failed. "But she never batted an eye," Hoyt Baird recalls. She gave her approval for that expansion to Dallas and for the others that followed.

This willingness to take on new challenges was, he feels, the most important single factor in the growth and success of the business. It was this readiness to move ahead that helped to eventually create more than 2,500 jobs and make Mrs. Baird's the outstanding organization it is today.

Family Supervision

As the Dallas plant was being planned, the family adopted a concept that would prove wise in the years ahead. A member of the Baird family would head the new plant for the family. He would represent the family, supervise each day's bake, and assume personal responsibility for the quality and freshness of the products that would bear the family's name. This concept of family supervision was a logical development. Since the very beginning, Mrs. Baird and her family had been closely involved in business. When they did all the baking and delivery, they had guarded quality and freshness as though their very future depended on it - and it did. When they hired people to help them with the baking and delivery, the family continued to be closely involved and personally responsible for the products they baked. In their growth, family supervision had been a way of life. Now, as they contemplated new frontiers, it would continue to be.

The Dallas plant opened in 1928, with son Roland Baird heading up the plant for the Baird family. In 1938, a plant was opened in Houston with Dewey heading the plant for the family and B.J. Barr as General Manager. Later Mr. Barr became a Vice President and member of the Board of Directors. That same year the Fort Worth operation moved into a new bread plant on Summit. The plant at Sixth and Terrell was now devoted exclusively to cakes. Hoyt Baird now headed the Fort Worth bread plant for the Baird family, with A. D. Gillespie, Sr. as General Manager. C. B. Baird headed the Cake plant with Dudley Johnson as General Manager.

During these years of growth for Mrs. Baird's, changes were also taking place in the way the products they were baked were being marketed. In the early 20's, wrapping was introduced for bread. The first wrapping machines were semi-automatic, with the operator doing part of the folding. Sliced bread was introduced in 1927. In November 1936, Mrs. Baird's began hand-twisting bread. This procedure, in which two half-loaf pieces of dough were intertwined to form one dough piece, continues today at all Mrs. Baird's plants. Twisting improves flavor, texture, and keeping qualities of the loaf.

In 1949, a new plant was built in Abilene. William D. (Bill) Baird headed the plant for the Baird family with A. D. Gillespie, Sr., as General Manager.

Plans were also underway to build a new plant in Dallas to match that growing market. In 1950, the continuous mix process was introduced to the baking industry. It offered a short cut in production time and a considerable saving in cost. The planners of the new Dallas plant carefully considered the revolutionary new process and decided to stay with the yeast-raised baking method they had used since the business began. They felt the consumer would prefer bread baked the yeast-raised way. They have never regretted the decision.

In 1953, Mrs. Baird's of Dallas moved into a huge new plant recognized by the industry as the nation's largest automatic bread plant.

Roland Baird, who helped his mother and older brother Dewey with baking and later headed the Dallas plant for the family, retired in 1954.

The business expanded again in 1959. Bakeries were purchased in Lubbock and Victoria and, early the next year, bakeries were also acquired in Austin and Waco. In 1969, a pie plant was purchased in Abilene.

But while the passing years brought growth, they also brought sadness. Mrs. Baird died June 3, 1961 after a long, eventful, and certainly gratifying life. She had often said she was far prouder that her children had grown up to be good citizens than she was of the fact that she had founded a successful business. At her funeral, the officiating minister described Mrs. Baird as "an ideal woman in the eyes of God." He said Mrs. Baird had fulfilled the highest traditions of American life but, in all the fullness of her work, she had always been a devoted mother and family woman. In Mrs. Baird's memory, the Texas Senate passed Senate Resolution No. 13. In the Resolution, the Senate said that Mrs. Baird has been "a living example for mothers, wives, business executives, Christians and good people the world over." Copies of the Resolution were sent to her family with deep regard of the Texas Senate.

Dewey Baird died March 25, 1965. Dewey was the oldest son and had been active in the business from the very beginning. He had been his mother's first assistant and, during the years, had gone on to become President and eventually Chairman of the Board.

C. B. Baird, Mrs. Baird's youngest son, died May 27, 1969. When the business started, C. B. had been only 5. But he soon took an active part in the young business, became an officer and member of the Board of Directors and, until his death, headed the Fort Worth Cake Plant for the Baird family.

Others who played vital roles in the growth of the business are also gone. Charlie Longguth, the iceman who became the Company's first route salesman, died in 1956. C. C. Gressett, who joined the company as a bookkeeper in 1924 and rose to Vice President and General Manager of the Dallas Plant, also a member of the Board of Directors, died in 1962. A. D. "Tiny" Gillespie, Sr., who joined the Company as a relief driver and later managed two bakeries, died in 1967. He had risen to Vice President and member of the Board of Directors. Dudley Johnson, who was the Cake Plant's first general manager and whose career spanned from route salesman to Vice President and member of the Board of Directors, died in late 1967.

B. J. Barr, who played a major role in establishing Mrs. Baird's products in the Houston market, died in 1975 after a long and colorful career in the baking industry. He joined Mrs. Baird's in 1938 and went to Houston as General Manager. He was later named Vice President and General Manager of the Houston plant. In 1957 he was named Executive Vice President. He retired in 1959 but continued as a member of the Board of Directors until his death.

Lillian Hughes started as a cashier in July, 1925 and during the ensuing years saw the organization grow from one plant to eleven. "All through the years," she said, "I learned one very important thing. Any employee who enjoys his or her work and does it well can expect advancement. The opportunity is there for everyone." When she retired on July 31, 1975 - the first employee to log 50 years of continuous service - Mrs. Hughes held the top level position of Corporate Secretary of Mrs Baird's Bakeries Inc.

William D. Baird, Chairman of the Board and grandson of the founder, died in 1976. When Bill was born the family business was housed in a two-room wooden building at 1811 Washington. He started working in the bakery as soon as his parents would let him, later supervised design and construction of bread plants at Fort Worth, Abilene, and Dallas, and for many years headed production for all Mrs. Baird's plants. There were and are many others in every area of the business, who have made lasting contributions to Mrs Baird's Bakeries.

In February 1970, Mrs. Baird's announced another expansion. Land was purchased for a new Cake Plant. The site was a 30-acre tract in South Fort Worth on Interstate 35, ideally suited for statewide distribution. Ground was broken September 28, 1970. The plant was completed in 1971 and production began early in 1972. The former Cake Plant at 6th Avenue and Terrell was closed in September, 1972, and all production moved to the new Cake Plant. In May, 1976, a bread plant was acquired in San Antonio, bring the total number of plants to 11.

As Mrs Baird's Bakeries moves toward the 80's, the same ingredients that brought the organization this far are still at work. It is still a family-owned business with W. Hoyt Baird as Chairman of the Executive Committee. Vernon Baird is President, Allen Baird is Executive Vice President, Clayton Baird is Senior Vice President, and Carroll Baird is Vice President of Operations. Three grandsons, Bob Baird, Bryon Baird, and Arthur Baird, and one great granson, Scott Baird, also hold top level positions. There is still the dedication and respect for baking a good product that Mrs. Baird instilled in her family at 512 Hemphill and 1811 Washington. The business that started in a home kitchen has grown until more than 2,500 families have joined the family that started it all. W. Hoyt Baird evaluates the contribution of this ever-growing team of employees this way: "There is no way this business could have succeeded without the cooperation and dedication of our employees. The secret of success in any business is people, and we have had - and still have - the very best!"

This, then, is the story of Mrs. Baird's until the present. But time does not stand still, and neither will this business. This Company's history has been a story of vitality, of teamwork, of growth, and of progress. Its future will be the same.

- end -

Pages 8 - 11 of The Mrs Baird's Story

2009-01-25T20:37:00.003-06:00

Continuing the transcription with pages 8 through 11, I've posted the new material here and once again updated the original Mrs Baird's Story post.

Pages 8 and 9 contain a large image of the Bud Briggs painting of the Baird home at 512 Hemphill. The text continues on page 10.

...

While they were chatting and deciding what they wanted to buy, the horse would most likely be sampling a customer's lawn. "Sampling" meant grabbing a mouthful of grass and pulling it out by the roots. If the conversation at the back of the wagon lasted too long, Ned the horse might step up on the lawn with both front feet for a better go at the grass. Lawn owners didn't like this. A housewife, at the back of the wagon, would suddenly yell, "Get that horse of my lawn!"

When a group of customers had been served, the driver would quickly close the wagon's rear doors. The moment Ned heard the doors close, he took off. He was on his way to the next customer, and some greener grass in the next block. Ned knew all the stops. He would stride down the street and, when he came to a customer's house, wouild stop abruptly. There were times when Hoyt would be off the route for a day or two. When he returned, Ned might suddenly stop in front of a strange house. Sometimes it took a lot of urging to get Ned to move on. Later, Hoyt would learn the house was a new stop added while he was gone.

As Hoyt drove his wagon along the sales route, he often saw Bruno Reich, who operated a wholesale bakery route, serving stores with a truck. He could not help envying Bruno and longed for the day when he could have a truck for his route. That day came sooner than he expected.

In 1917, the family bought a Ford car. They had a panel body built for it, took off the passenger seats, and bolted the panel body in place to make a panel truck. The truck was painted a cream color and "Eat More Mrs. Baird's Bread" was lettered on each side. About this time the Bairds took on three wholesale accounts. These were the Telephone Exchange at Rosedale and Jennings, which bought only pies; the Telephone Exchange at Lamar and 10th, which also bought pies; and the Sandegard Grocery at 10th and Houston.

Sandegard's was a large store that also had a delicatessen. The delicatessen served sandwiches and lunches. At first the store took only cakes, and built a special case for these. The store was served daily, with delivery twice on Saturday. Later bread was added. It was displayed on top of the cake display case. People would often stop Hoyt when he came in with a basket of bread and take the freshly baked loaves out of the basket before he could put it on top of the display case. No one back at the little bakery realized, as the first grocery store was added to the sales route, that this was a most significant event. For it was with the grocer and his customers, not house to house, that the organization's future would lie.

Wholesale Begins

In September of 1918, Hoyt entered the army and the sales route had no driver. The family decided to discontinue the retail route and go wholesale. Dewey hired the bakery's iceman, Charlie Longguth, to operate the new wholesale route. Longguth was to remain the bakery's No. 1 route salesman for many years. (He retired in 1951.)

By this time Sandegard's had 15 or more small stores and had become a sizable local chain. Apparently Manager Harry Adams had been impressed with the way folks in his first store liked Mrs. Baird's Bread. He put Mrs. Baird's Bread in all Sandegard stores. This took amost all the bread the little Washington Street bakery could bake. But not for long.

In early 1919, the family bought a lot at Sixth Avenue and Terrell from a Mr. Casey, who operated a drug store across the street. They built a brick building on the lot. It was the first bakery they had built themselves and they were justly proud of it. The building was 30 feet wide and 72 feet long. The family installed a Peterson Peel gas-fired oven. The oven had a capacity of 400 one-pound loaves. They also purchased a hand wrapping machine.

Total investment for the 6th Avenue and Terrell bakery was $8,800.00. The oven cost about $3,500.00. It was purchased on credit from the Peterson Oven Company.

In June 1919, the bakery began operating in the new building. The business continued to grow. The family bought a second truck, also a Ford, and put on a second sales route.

Shorty after, two routes increased to four, and Fort Worth distribution looked like this:

Route No. 1 - Charlie Longguth, serving the South side.
Route No. 2 - Ben Dollins, who operated the downtown restaurant route.
Route No. 3 - Howard Townsend, whose route reached from Rail Road Avenue to Magnolia on the South side.
Route No. 4 - Arlie Whitley, who served the North side.

These four routes covered all of Fort Worth except for the East side. Route No. 5 was later added to serve the East side, which included Polytechnic area. Claude Leath was hired as salesman for this new route.

Page 1 of the Mrs Baird's Story

2009-01-25T19:56:00.002-06:00

This a transcription of page 1 of the Mrs Baird's Story. I've also updated the original Mrs Baird's Story post with page one.

The Mrs Baird's Story

They came to Texas in a chair car and brought Fort Worth its first steam popcorn machine. The story of the Baird family and the baking business they started.

In 1901 William Allen Baird, then a young man of 33, came to Texas to "look around" and see what kind of opportunities the Lone Star State might hold. Back in Tennessee he and wis wife Ninnie had operated a bakery and restaurant at Trenton and later a bakery at Covington. He liked what he saw in Fort Worth, decided to introduce the first steam popcorn machine in the city, and called his wife in Tennessee and told her to bring the family.

The family boarded the train for Texas in May, 1901. The steam popcorn machine had cost $425, so the family rode in the chair car section. Mr. Baird and his wife Ninnie had four children then. They were Bess, 11; Dewey, 9; Hoyt, 4; and Roland, 1.

Arriving in Fort Worth, the family moved into rented quarters on East Belknap. Mr. Baird set up his steam popcorn machine at the corner of 7th and Main in downtown Fort Worth. Painted bright red and fitted with lots of brass, the popcorn machine had a clown and a steam whistle on top. It was quite an attraction. Eight months later, Mr. Baird bought a second machine and put it at 5th and Main. Dewey, the oldest son, operated this machine.

A restaurant on Exchange Avenue was put up for sale. Mr. Baird, who had operated restaurants in Tennessee, con-

Cochran Renamed to West Tucker

2009-01-23T20:37:00.004-06:00

According to the Sanborn Fire Maps, in Fort Worth, Texas, Cochran was renamed to West Tucker. I researched this because the publication The Mrs. Baird's Story says, on page 3 of the publication.

The family now lived at 512 Hemphill, on the corner of Hemphill and Cochran.

The address of 512 Hemphill today is still in the same place. I just wanted to verify the renaming of the street.

Ninnie Baird Becomes an Orphan

2009-01-23T20:30:00.000-06:00

Ninnie Baird's father, Elisha Harrison was killed in May of 1882 leaving her an orphan, her mother having passed away in 1874. I received a newspaper article that details the story of the killing.

From an unknown newspaper, dated May 6, 1882.

Shot Dead in the Road.

Last Monday evening, three miles north of Trenton, Elisha Harrison was found dead in the Trenton and Dyer Station road, about 7 o'clock, with a pistol shot wound in the left side. A coroner's jury was summoned, Esq. H. C. Pearce presiding, and the following state of facts was developed: Elisha Harrison had been postmaster at Dyer Station for some years past and up to last winter and fall, when he ws removed. He had made threats before the day of the killing against all concerned in having him removed, and on that day said in Trenton that he intended "cursing out the whole set," and mentioned the name of H. J. Marcum as one of those he intended cursing out. Late in the evening, Harrison left town on horseback and is supposed to have stopped on the road where the killing took place and he hitched his horse and then went to meet Marcum as he came up. and he was found about fifty yards from his horse, back towards Trenton, and his hat was found midway between his horse and his body. Harrison was found with an open knife in his pocket with the point down. Suspicion pointed at once to Marcum. He left Trenton with some plow handles he had bought in town, was overtaken by a man named Kelly, who took him in his buggy until their roads separated, about half a mile from the place where Harrison was found dead. A gentleman living near the place of the killing heard some loud talking and soon afterwards, heard a pistol shot. He went down the road and saw a man he didn't know walking rapidly away with plow handles on his shoulder. Marcum has since given himself up, but we have not heard the result of the trail.

Concho Street Renamed to East Myrtle

2009-01-23T20:11:00.003-06:00

According to the Sanborn Fire Maps, Concho Street was renamed to East Myrtle in Fort Worth, Texas. Theodore A. Lipps, the first non-family employee of Mrs. Baird's Bread lived on that street. I've updated the post, The First Baird Employee with this information.

Pages 2 and 3 of The Mrs. Baird's Story

2009-01-23T19:22:00.000-06:00

I stumbled upon another researcher of the Baird family and was provided with pages two and three of The Mrs. Baird's Story. I've transcribed those pages here, and have added them to the original post of The Mrs. Baird's Story.

...
sidered going back in the restaurant business. He decided this one was a good buy. It might also be good business, he reasoned, to buy "run down" restaurants, fix them up, operate them, and then sell them. So he sold his popcorn machines and bought the restaurant. In those days of slow transportation, you had to live near the place you worked. So the family moved to Rosen Heights.

Santa Fe Restaurant

In 1903, Mr. Baird sold the Exchange Avenue restaurant and began operating the Santa Fe Restaurant across from the Santa Fe Depot. It was here, Dewey Baird often recalled, that as a boy of 12 he stood on a box to help his father make nickel pies. Then he and his father hauled the pies 8 or 10 miles in a lunch wagon to the Swift and Armour packing houses on Fort Worth's North Side. The family lived next door to the restaurant. Later that year, Mr. Baird sold the Santa Fe Restaurant and began operating a bakery on Jennings Avenue. The family moved to Daggett Street. The old Fort Worth (Central) High School was on the next block where the Justin Boot Company is now located.

With Mr. Baird now operating a bakery, his wife could take a short rest from her own baking chores. Usually she baked all the bread for her family and did it very well indeed. She had often helped her husband with the baking back in Tennessee. But now one of the boys could bring bread home each day from the bakery.

Her "vacation" from baking did not last long. The Little Chicago Restaurant, between 10th and 11th Streets, was put up for sale. Mr. Baird sold the bakery and bought the Little Chicago. The family moved to West Broadway. At the Little Chicago in 1904 you could get a full meal for 15 cents. Dewey helped his dad at the restaurant.

512 Hemphill

The First Baird Employee

2008-07-28T19:00:00.001-05:00

Mr. Lipps being the first driver for the Baird business is referenced in a few articles about Mrs Baird's Bread.

On the Mrs Baird's Bread website in the story "Meet Mrs. Baird", it refers to him as the company's first employee. The hiring of Mr. Lipps happens on or after 1915 in the inferred timeline.

The first company employee, Mr. Lipps, who was not a Baird family member, was hired to drive the wagon.

In the Star-Telegram in 2002 the article "Bread Firm Asks Texas, Oklahoma Route Drivers to Buy Their Sales Territories" states Mr. Lipps was hired in 1915.

Mrs Baird's announced Wednesday what could be the most radical change in the way it distributes bread since 1915, when deliveries got too much for the founder's four sons and the first nonrelative, a Mr. Lipps, was hired to drive the wagon and its horse, Ned.

Finally, the document "The Mrs Baird's Story" says

A Mr. Lipps was hired to drive the wagon. Whenever he was ill, 13-year-old Hoyt relieved him as driver. Later Hoyt became the regular driver.

Hoyt was born in October of 1896, and would have been 13 in 1909, when the document says he relieved Mr. Lipps as a driver This infers that Mr. Lipps was hired on or before 1909.

As I'm finding with a lot of Baird history, there's conflicting evidence yet again. Two articles, including the official Mrs Baird's Bread web site state Mr. Lipps started around 1915. Then an official document, "The Mrs Baird's Story" shows him starting on or before 1909. The city directories infer him being a driver on or before 1911, and definitely driving for the Bairds by 1914, leading one to believe the old document "The Mrs Baird's Story" was more correct.

Curiosity drove me to check the Fort Worth City Directories to see if I could turn him up. I found his name to be Theodore A. Lipps, and in 1911 he lived at 517 Hemphill, which would have been across the street and a couple of houses down from where the Baird's lived at 512 Hemphill a few years before. The 1911 directory lists him merely as a "driver", but by the 1914 directory, he's listed as a driver for Mr. N. L. Baird. He is shown as living on Concho Street, which was renamed East Myrtle Street. The house would have been near East Myrtle and Yuma today (Allen Street turns into Yuma a few blocks after you cross I35 today).

By 1916, there is no entry for Mr. Lipps, which is also when the city directory lists Hoyt as the driver for Mrs N L Baird.

1909-1910
Lipps Theodore A., r. 1502 E 2th 3.

1911
Lipps Theodore A., driver, r. 517 Hemphill. 4.

1912-1913
Lipps Theodore A., r. 1412 E Myrtle. 3. Ph. Rose-
dale 1960

1914
Lipps Theodore A., driver Mrs. N. L. Baird, res
1412 Concho

1916
No entry for Theodore Lipps

Bairds in the City Directories

2008-07-23T19:00:00.005-05:00

I finally made time to go through the Fort Worth City Directories to document the Baird names associated with the home at 1015 Cactus and the bakery at 1811 Washington. They are in five directories, 1911, 1912-1913, 1914, and 1916, and 1918. They are listed in the 1909-1910 directory as living at 512 Hemphill and the business is not listed under the Bakeries section.

Some interesting notes from this compilation are

The first time the bakery shows up in the business listings is 1911.
The bakery at 1811 Washington shows up in the 1914 directory, with the name of the bakery being "Mrs. Ninnie L. Baird".
Bessie Baird works at the E. E. Fosdick company, matching a section about Bessie in "The Mrs Baird's Story".
Deward Baird moved out of the house, two streets over and a block south by 1916.
W. Hoyt Baird was a clerk at the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway.
A "Norman Baird" shows up in the 1916 directory.
By 1916, W. Hoyt Baird quits his job at the railway and becomes a driver for the bakery.
The name of the bakery in 1916 and 1918 appears to be "Mrs N L Baird".

1911
Baird Bessie Miss, steganographer, E. E. Fosdick & Co.,
h. 1015 Cactus
Baird Deward, hlpr, h. 1015 Cactus
Baird Ninnie (Mrs. W. A.), bakery, 1015 Cactus, r.
same, Ph. Rosedale 1511
Baird William A., r. 1015 Cactus. 8

Business Section

Bakeries

Baird Ninnie Mrs., 1015 Cactus

1912-1913
Baird Bessie O. Miss, steganographer, E. E. Fosdick &
    Co., h. 1015 Cactus.
Baird Deward C., baker, h. 1015 Cactus.
Baird Hoyt, clk, Ft. W. & D. C., h. 1015 Cactus
Baird Ninnie (wid. W. A.), bakery, 1015 Cactus, r.
    same, Ph. Rosedale 1511

1914
Baird Bessie O. Miss, steno E. E. Fosdick & Co.,
    bds 1015 Cactus.
Baird Deward C., baker Mrs. Ninnie L. Baird,
    res 1015 Cactus
Baird Ninnie L. (wid Wm. A.), baker, 1811
    Washington, res 1015 Cactus.
Baird W. Hoyt, clk Ft. W. & D. C. Ry, bds 1015
    Cactus

Business Section
Bakers
Baird Ninnie L., 1015 Cactus

1916
Baird
" Deward C. baker Mrs N L Baird, res
    1917 S Henderson
" Ninnie L. (wid Wm A), bakery 1811
    Washington av, res 1015 Cactus
" Norman, baker, bds 1015 Cactus
" Roland, baker Mrs N L Baird, bds 1015
    Cactus
" W Hoyt, driver Mrs N L Baird, bds 1015
    Cactus

Business Section
Bakers
Baird Ninnie L. Mrs. 1811 Washington

1918
Baird
" Deward C, baker Mrs N L Baird, res
    1106 W Bois d'Arc
" Ninnie L (wid Wm A), bakery 1811
    Washington, res 1015 Cactus
" Roland, baker h 1015 Cactus
" W Hoyt, driver h 1015 Cactus

Business Section
Bakers
Baird N. L. Mrs. 1811 Washington

George W. Blue's Plastering Business

2008-07-20T19:00:00.001-05:00

George W. Blue ran a plastering business from his home and office at 1015 Cactus in Fort Worth from about 1901 until perhaps has late as 1906 when the Blue family moved out.

These two ads are from the classified section of The Dallas Morning News. I don't have a publication date, but I suspect it may have been around 1903, give or take a couple of years.

The ads read:

WANTED - Ten union plasterers, three months' work. Apply 1015 Cactus-st. Fort Worth. GEO. BLUE.

and

WANTED - Two plasterers at once. union or non-union. Apply or address GEORGE BLUE, 1015 Cactus-st., Fort Worth, Tex.

Read more about George W. Blue on these posts:

Fort Worth Society: Bessie Baird

2008-07-17T23:45:00.001-05:00

Published in The Dallas Morning News on February 16, 1913, Page One, Page 10.

Fort Worth Society

...

The Jinx Club met Tuesday afternoon with Miss Bessie Baird of Cactus street. Refreshments were served the following guests: Misses Beatrice Allen, Bessie Baird, Myrtle Edsall, Pearl Smith, Hattie Voight, Estelle Pfantz, Kate Harrison, Fay and Ray Nance, Messrs B. F. Brewer, Henry Marsh, J. R. Griffin, C. K. Bullard, Eugene Ward, M. M. Slagle, Hoyt Baird, Atkin Harris.

Miss Ray Nance will be next hostess.

...

Mrs. Baird, Founder of Bakery, Dies at 92

2008-07-17T23:30:00.001-05:00

Published in The Dallas Morning News on Sunday, June 4, 1961, Page 16, Section 1.

Mrs. Baird, Founder of Bakery, Dies at 92

Mrs. Ninnie L. Baird, 92, from whose modest kitchen of 1908 grew the nation's largest independent baking company - Mrs. Baird's Bakeries, Inc. - died Saturday morning in a Fort Worth hospital after a long illness

Mrs. Baird, a resident of Fort Worth since 1901, opened her first commercial bakery in Fort Worth in 1908, when she organized her "brood" into bakers, businessmen, and route men. Today, her bakeries are sprinkled throughout Texas, including Dallas, Houston, Abilene, Victoria, Lubbock, Waco, Austin and Fort Worth.

Born May 23, 1869, near Trenton, Tenn., she was orphaned while a young girl and reared by an aunt who taught her a unique skill - how to bake a loaf of bread people would pay money for.

The skill remained latent until the age of 17, when she married W. A. Baird and moved to Fort Worth.

Here, she baked all the family's bread. The oversupply she gave to neighbors. The neighbors liked it and asked if they could buy it from her regularly.

Mr. Baird became too ill to work in those days, but requests for bread continued. It was then that Mrs. Baird, to support the family, organized her home into a bakery.

Her eldest son, Deward, 16, became first assistant baker to his mother, and the three younger boys, Hoyt, Roland and C. B., became the "route men" - they delivered their first loaves piping hot in baskets.

The family's daughters kept the household running.

The customers named the bread by requesting "Mrs. Baird's Bread, please."

In 1912, Mr. Baird died.

"If we're going to get along, we've got to bake more," the young widow said, then purchased a second-hand wood-burning commercial oven. The bakery was in big business with an oven capacity for 40 loaves.

She didn't have enough cash for the oven's price, $75, so she paid $25 cash and the rest in bread and rolls.

From the beginning, the bread firm grew under the management and direction of Mrs. Baird. A horse and delivery wagon were purchased to peddle the bread which came from a small wooden building in the back yard of the Baird home on Fort Worth's Washington Street.

By World War I, demand sparked the firm's moving to a large bakery. The bread was then sold through the grocery stores for the first time.

Today, the firm is still a family operation, with sons and grandsons managing the business operation and supervising the baking.

Surviving are four sons, Deward C. Baird of Houston, W. Hoyt Baird of Fort Worth, Roland W. Baird of Dallas, and C. B. Baird of Fort Worth; three daughters, Mrs. A. H. Beitman, Mrs. E. C. Cummins and Mrs. Edd Hyde, all of Fort Worth; two sisters, Mrs. Curtis Sargent of San Francisco and Mrs. E. M. Townsend of Parsons, Tenn.; 23 grandchildren; 48 great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. Monday in University Baptist Church, 2221 Wabash in Fort Worth, with burial in the Greenwood Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be her grandsons, William D. Biard, Vernon Baird, C. B. Baird Jr., R. W. Baird Jr., Clay Cummins, and Baird Tripp.

Bairds at 1015 Cactus on a State Document

2008-07-17T22:00:00.001-05:00

It's been a busy week of discoveries about the Cactus home. After a couple of months of back and forth emails, I finally obtained an official Texas state document showing the address of the Bairds at 1015 Cactus in 1911. It's probably the most official document that we've found so far and it brings the total number of documents showing this to be the Baird home to six. The list includes this state document, several Fort Worth City Directories, two Star-Telegram articles, a reference in the book, Sweetie Ladd's Historic Fort Worth, and "Page 6" from "The Mrs Baird's Story".

The section of the state document showing the address of 1015 Cactus accompanies this post. I didn't want to include the full document because of privacy reasons, even though it is a public domain document. I may change my mind about this in the future.

Origin of Page 6 Discovered

2008-07-17T21:30:00.002-05:00

I've finally found at least part of the document that "Page 6" belongs to. I visited the Fort Worth Planning Department to take care of some business and I showed them Page 6 and asked if they had seen it. They did - it was part of a larger document (which in turn, is part of an even larger document) that is in the city file for the house.

The document is titled "The Mrs Baird's Story" and they only had a copy of the cover page and pages four through seven of it. I'm not sure what the document really is, or when it was published. It looks to be some sort of pamphlet or handout used at the bakery.

If you know of a full copy of this document and can somehow connect me with it, or you know what the document is or what it was used for, please let me know.

I've updated the original "Page 6" post with information that states I've found the source.

The Mrs Baird's Story

2008-07-17T21:00:00.011-05:00

The Mrs Baird's Story

They came to Texas in a chair car and brought Fort Worth its first steam popcorn machine. The story of the Baird family and the baking business they started.

Santa Fe Restaurant

512 Hemphill

In the early part of 1905, Mr. Baird sold the Little Chicago Restaurant and began operating a restaurant on 15th Street. Hoyt, who was now 8, picked up the meat for the restaurant early each morning at H. E. Sawyer Grocery on South Main and took it to the restaurant on his bicycle. He started the fire in the stove and made hot cake batter. When his father arrived to start serving breakfasts, Hoyt went on to school.

The family now lived at 512 Hemphill, on the corner of Hemphill and Cochran. Mrs. Baird was once more baking all the bread for her family. She often baked more than she needed and gave the extra loaves to her neighbors. They liked her bread and she soon gained quite a reputation around the neighborhood for baking good bread. In fact, her neighbors urged her to bake enough for them too whenever she baked. And even in those days they referred to her bread as "Mrs Baird's Bread."

Finally, in 1908, Mrs. Baird decided to take her neighbors' suggestion. She would bake bread to sell. Her husband was still operating the restaurant, but his health was not good. He suffered from diabetes, and this was long before the discoveries were made that would mean so much to people with this illness.

Mrs. Baird started baking in her small four-burner wood-fired kitchen range. At first the boys delivered the freshly baked bread on foot after school. They carried the loaves in baskets. The baskets had hinged tops, which raised at each end, much like modern picnic baskets. Mrs. Baird put a clean flour sack in the bottom, put in the loaves of still hot bread, and then covered them with another clean flour sack. Each basket held about 6 one-pound loaves of bread. Later the boys used a bicycle to make deliveries.

As more people wanted to buy her bread, Mrs. Baird remembered the small one-room house behind her rented home. It was unused. So she remodeled it and moved her baking there from the family kitchen. To bake more, she bought a commercial oven from the Metropolitan Hotel. This oven baked 40 loaves at a time and was gas-fired. It burned the artificial "Pintsch" gas then used in a number of homes and businesses. Walls of the oven were filled with sand to help keep the heat in. Mrs. Baird paid the hotel seventy-five dollars for the oven. She paid twenty-five dollars in cash and traded out the balance in bread and rolls. Dewey now helped his mother with the baking and the other boys delivered the bread. The girls helped by taking care of the housework so their mother could spend full time baking.

Sales Wagon

With more production, the delivery system now had trouble keeping up. Mr. Baird, who was a good mechanic, turned to the family buggy. It was a Phaeton and, with a little modifying, might well solve the delivery problem. He took off the seats and built a wooden panel body. He put this on the buggy chassis. This made an excellent delivery wagon and greatly increased the little bakery's capacity for route service. The family owned two horses, Ned and Nellie, and they now joined the firm.

The sales wagon had three shelf areas. Merchandise was carried in large flat wire baskets with sides about 4 inches high. Clean flour sacks were first placed in the baskets. Then bread was placed on end in these baskets, 4 loaves wide, 6 loaves deep, for a total of 24 loaves in each basket. In those days, loaves were all one-pound size.

A Mr. Lipps was hired to drive the wagon. Whenever he was ill, 13-year-old Hoyt relieved him as driver. Later Hoyt became the regular driver.

A Mrs. Weston helped care for the younger children while Mrs. Baird worked in the bakery. Mrs. Weston had the first phonograph the Baird children had ever seen. It was an Edison, with thick cylinder-shaped records. "The Preacher and the Bear" was one of the records that helped make the baby sitter's chore easier. The Baird family liked music. Mr. Baird played the harmonica, Dewey played the piano and mandolin, and all the family liked to sing along.

1015 Cactus

In 1910 the family moved again, this time to 1015 Cactus. The house was on the corner of Cactus and Washington. (Today Cactus is called Jefferson. The name was changed in 1924.) The lot was 50 feet wide and 150 feet deep. The family rented the house from a Mr. Hogg of Decatur. It also had a small one-room house in the back yard. Mr. Hogg agreed to remodel this. Mrs. Baird added a brick peel oven. The oven doors opened inside the building, but the bulk of the oven was outside.

The peel oven was heated by wood. First a fire was built in the firebox. Then, when the oven was hot, the fire was taken out and the bread put in to bake.

Wood was brought by the cord and came in long sticks about 2 inches in diameter. The Baird boys used a saw to cut the pieces to oven ... They put three or four sticks in ... at a time, then sawed them to proper length.

Young Hoyt was now the regular driver for the sales wagon. His mother would often go with him on the route. She helped get new customers while he was serving the regular customers, and she also checked her 14-year-old driver-salesman's ledger to be sure he was keeping it properly. This was a paperback notebook ledger which the driver carried on the wagon. It carried a record of sales to charge customers. These charge customers paid once a week. Customers could buy 24 tickets for a dollar. Each ticket was good for a one-pound loaf of bread. This brought in cash for the business.

Other than the notebook carried on the wagon, the family did not keep a set of books. If they had money left over at the end of the month, they figured they had made a profit.

William A. Baird, the father who had brought his family to Texas 10 years earlier, died on December 20, 1911. He died without dreaming that the little bakery his wife had started would one day become the nation's largest family-owned baking organization. But even then, in the last days of his illness, he must have gained great consolation from the knowledge that his family could support itself.

Within a year's time after the move to Washington and Cactus, Mrs. Baird got her landlord to help the family make another expansion. At her suggestion, Mr. Hogg built a wooden bakery building next to the family's house but facing Washington Street. This building at 1811 Washington, had a large brick oven. There was also a room up front for a retail store.

Each morning, Mrs. Baird and Dewey worked at baking bread and cakes. In the afternoon she hung up her apron, put on a clean dress, and worked in the store. Bess, the oldest daughter, worked downtown for E. E. Fosdick Insurance and Real Estate, doing her part to help support the family. She remembers seeing her mother, after a long day in the bakery, darning the boys socks by lamplight, dozing, and awakening with a start when she jabbed herself with the darning needle. So Bess began bringing home a a pair of socks on Saturdays for each of her brothers. "They wore them out so fast," she remembers.

The first Mrs. Baird's cakes were baked in this Washington Street bakery for sale in the retail store and on the wagon's sales route. Mrs. Baird now baked a complete line, from creme puffs to layer cakes, cinnamon rolls, and pies. Roland, now 12, was also helping his mother and Dewey with the baking.

In the bake shop, production was all done by hand. These hand operations were the same operations that are performed today by machines where bread is baked the yeast-rising way.

Mrs. Baird mixed dough by hand. She used a wooden trough (pronounced "troe") that was about 6 feet long, 24 inches wide, and 24 inches deep. The trough held about 300 pounds of dough. Mrs. Baird put flour and other ingredients into the trough, mixed these by hand, let it set and rise. When the dough had risen, she punched it down, let it rise again, and then punched it down again. Then she and her oldest son Dewey cut off sections of dough with a dough knife and put it on the work bench. Here the dough was cut to loaf size. Each time a piece of dough was cut, it was checked on a scale set at the weight desired (18 1/2 ounces.) It was seldom that Dewey or his mother had to do any additional cutting. Through long practice they knew the exact size needed.

The work bench had flour sifted on it. The steps in make-up went like this:
1. The first baker cut off loaf-sized pieces of dough.
2. The second baker, with flour dust on hands and handling two pieces of dough at a time, rolled the loaf-sized piece into balls. (He was performing the operation done today by the rounder.)
3. These rounded pieces of dough were then placed in the lines at the end of the work table. They were allowed to to proof there. (Relax and rise.) Flour sacks were laid over these rounded pieces of dough to keep them from drying out.
4. When the dough was ready, the baker pressed each dough piece with the palm of his hand, mashing it flat. Next he stretched it, then folded one side over the other, rolling the dough up like a jelly roll with the ends open. (The tigh ... dough was rolled, the bett ... the finished loaf would be. Today this is done by the molder.)
5. Then the rolled dough pieces were placed in pans.
6. The pans were next placed on wire racks and rolled into the proof box to rise. In the proof box, the dough had to remain moist while rising or a crust would form. At first, the Bairds placed pans of hot water in the bottom of the proof box. Later they added a steam pipe.
7. When the dough had risen to fill the pans, the racks were rolled out of the proof box to the front of the oven. Then, using a long-handled peel, the pans of dough were placed into the pre-heated oven to bake.

1911 Sales Route

The bakery did a thriving business. Often at 5 P.M., cars would be lined up for two or more blocks waiting for bread just out of the oven. Meanwhile, Hoyt Baird and his delivery wagon were carrying a full line of baked goods. The wagon was literally a bakery on wheels. There was a shelf for sweet goods, a shelf for bread and rolls, and a shelf for miscellaneous items.

There was a bell on the sales wagon. When the wagon stopped in front of a regular customer's house, Hoyt would hit the bell with a large "S" wrench. Other housewives in the block would hear it and come out to see the merchandise. This way he could wait on several customers at a time. But there was a drawback to this "group selling". The ladies found it a great time for a daily chat at the back of the wagon.

While they were chatting and deciding what they wanted to buy, the horse would most likely be sampling a customer's lawn. "Sampling" meant grabbing a mouthful of grass and pulling it out by the roots. If the conversation at the back of the wagon lasted too long, Ned the horse might step up on the lawn with both front feet for a better go at the grass. Lawn owners didn't like this. A housewife, at the back of the wagon, would suddenly yell, "Get that horse of my lawn!"

When a group of customers had been served, the driver would quickly close the wagon's rear doors. The moment Ned heard the doors close, he took off. He was on his way to the next customer, and some greener grass in the next block. Ned knew all the stops. He would stride down the street and, when he came to a customer's house, wouild stop abruptly. There were times when Hoyt would be off the route for a day or two. When he returned, Ned might suddenly stop in front of a strange house. Sometimes it took a lot of urging to get Ned to move on. Later, Hoyt would learn the house was a new stop added while he was gone.

As Hoyt drove his wagon along the sales route, he often saw Bruno Reich, who operated a wholesale bakery route, serving stores with a truck. He could not help envying Bruno and longed for the day when he could have a truck for his route. That day came sooner than he expected.

In 1917, the family bought a Ford car. They had a panel body built for it, took off the passenger seats, and bolted the panel body in place to make a panel truck. The truck was painted a cream color and "Eat More Mrs. Baird's Bread" was lettered on each side. About this time the Bairds took on three wholesale accounts. These were the Telephone Exchange at Rosedale and Jennings, which bought only pies; the Telephone Exchange at Lamar and 10th, which also bought pies; and the Sandegard Grocery at 10th and Houston.

Sandegard's was a large store that also had a delicatessen. The delicatessen served sandwiches and lunches. At first the store took only cakes, and built a special case for these. The store was served daily, with delivery twice on Saturday. Later bread was added. It was displayed on top of the cake display case. People would often stop Hoyt when he came in with a basket of bread and take the freshly baked loaves out of the basket before he could put it on top of the display case. No one back at the little bakery realized, as the first grocery store was added to the sales route, that this was a most significant event. For it was with the grocer and his customers, not house to house, that the organization's future would lie.

Wholesale Begins

From 1919 to 1928, the new bakery was enlarged nine times. This was one addition each year. Competitors in the Fort Worth market were Reich's B & B (Biggest and Best), Walker's Big Dandy Bread, and Doherty's Butter Krust.

About 1920, the family induced Mrs. Baird to quit working in the bakery. They thought she had worked long enough. The family built a two-story home on the corner of Scott and Beach Streets. Mrs. Baird moved there and quit working in the retail sales room. Later she moved to 2429 Rogers Road. She continued as active head of the business until her death in 1961.

With the bakery at 6th Avenue and Terrell doing well, Roland suggested expanding to Dallas. Mrs. Baird could have said, "Let's just stay the size we are." The business could really be hurt if the expansion failed. "But she never batted an eye," Hoyt Baird recalls. She gave her approval for that expansion to Dallas and for the others that followed.

This willingness to take on new challenges was, he feels, the most important single factor in the growth and success of the business. It was this readiness to move ahead that helped to eventually create more than 2,500 jobs and make Mrs. Baird's the outstanding organization it is today.

Family Supervision

The Dallas plant opened in 1928, with son Roland Baird heading up the plant for the Baird family. In 1938, a plant was opened in Houston with Dewey heading the plant for the family and B.J. Barr as General Manager. Later Mr. Barr became a Vice President and member of the Board of Directors. That same year the Fort Worth operation moved into a new bread plant on Summit. The plant at Sixth and Terrell was now devoted exclusively to cakes. Hoyt Baird now headed the Fort Worth bread plant for the Baird family, with A. D. Gillespie, Sr. as General Manager. C. B. Baird headed the Cake plant with Dudley Johnson as General Manager.

During these years of growth for Mrs. Baird's, changes were also taking place in the way the products they were baked were being marketed. In the early 20's, wrapping was introduced for bread. The first wrapping machines were semi-automatic, with the operator doing part of the folding. Sliced bread was introduced in 1927. In November 1936, Mrs. Baird's began hand-twisting bread. This procedure, in which two half-loaf pieces of dough were intertwined to form one dough piece, continues today at all Mrs. Baird's plants. Twisting improves flavor, texture, and keeping qualities of the loaf.

In 1949, a new plant was built in Abilene. William D. (Bill) Baird headed the plant for the Baird family with A. D. Gillespie, Sr., as General Manager.

Plans were also underway to build a new plant in Dallas to match that growing market. In 1950, the continuous mix process was introduced to the baking industry. It offered a short cut in production time and a considerable saving in cost. The planners of the new Dallas plant carefully considered the revolutionary new process and decided to stay with the yeast-raised baking method they had used since the business began. They felt the consumer would prefer bread baked the yeast-raised way. They have never regretted the decision.

In 1953, Mrs. Baird's of Dallas moved into a huge new plant recognized by the industry as the nation's largest automatic bread plant.

Roland Baird, who helped his mother and older brother Dewey with baking and later headed the Dallas plant for the family, retired in 1954.

The business expanded again in 1959. Bakeries were purchased in Lubbock and Victoria and, early the next year, bakeries were also acquired in Austin and Waco. In 1969, a pie plant was purchased in Abilene.

But while the passing years brought growth, they also brought sadness. Mrs. Baird died June 3, 1961 after a long, eventful, and certainly gratifying life. She had often said she was far prouder that her children had grown up to be good citizens than she was of the fact that she had founded a successful business. At her funeral, the officiating minister described Mrs. Baird as "an ideal woman in the eyes of God." He said Mrs. Baird had fulfilled the highest traditions of American life but, in all the fullness of her work, she had always been a devoted mother and family woman. In Mrs. Baird's memory, the Texas Senate passed Senate Resolution No. 13. In the Resolution, the Senate said that Mrs. Baird has been "a living example for mothers, wives, business executives, Christians and good people the world over." Copies of the Resolution were sent to her family with deep regard of the Texas Senate.

Dewey Baird died March 25, 1965. Dewey was the oldest son and had been active in the business from the very beginning. He had been his mother's first assistant and, during the years, had gone on to become President and eventually Chairman of the Board.

C. B. Baird, Mrs. Baird's youngest son, died May 27, 1969. When the business started, C. B. had been only 5. But he soon took an active part in the young business, became an officer and member of the Board of Directors and, until his death, headed the Fort Worth Cake Plant for the Baird family.

Others who played vital roles in the growth of the business are also gone. Charlie Longguth, the iceman who became the Company's first route salesman, died in 1956. C. C. Gressett, who joined the company as a bookkeeper in 1924 and rose to Vice President and General Manager of the Dallas Plant, also a member of the Board of Directors, died in 1962. A. D. "Tiny" Gillespie, Sr., who joined the Company as a relief driver and later managed two bakeries, died in 1967. He had risen to Vice President and member of the Board of Directors. Dudley Johnson, who was the Cake Plant's first general manager and whose career spanned from route salesman to Vice President and member of the Board of Directors, died in late 1967.

B. J. Barr, who played a major role in establishing Mrs. Baird's products in the Houston market, died in 1975 after a long and colorful career in the baking industry. He joined Mrs. Baird's in 1938 and went to Houston as General Manager. He was later named Vice President and General Manager of the Houston plant. In 1957 he was named Executive Vice President. He retired in 1959 but continued as a member of the Board of Directors until his death.

Lillian Hughes started as a cashier in July, 1925 and during the ensuing years saw the organization grow from one plant to eleven. "All through the years," she said, "I learned one very important thing. Any employee who enjoys his or her work and does it well can expect advancement. The opportunity is there for everyone." When she retired on July 31, 1975 - the first employee to log 50 years of continuous service - Mrs. Hughes held the top level position of Corporate Secretary of Mrs Baird's Bakeries Inc.

William D. Baird, Chairman of the Board and grandson of the founder, died in 1976. When Bill was born the family business was housed in a two-room wooden building at 1811 Washington. He started working in the bakery as soon as his parents would let him, later supervised design and construction of bread plants at Fort Worth, Abilene, and Dallas, and for many years headed production for all Mrs. Baird's plants. There were and are many others in every area of the business, who have made lasting contributions to Mrs Baird's Bakeries.

In February 1970, Mrs. Baird's announced another expansion. Land was purchased for a new Cake Plant. The site was a 30-acre tract in South Fort Worth on Interstate 35, ideally suited for statewide distribution. Ground was broken September 28, 1970. The plant was completed in 1971 and production began early in 1972. The former Cake Plant at 6th Avenue and Terrell was closed in September, 1972, and all production moved to the new Cake Plant. In May, 1976, a bread plant was acquired in San Antonio, bring the total number of plants to 11.

As Mrs Baird's Bakeries moves toward the 80's, the same ingredients that brought the organization this far are still at work. It is still a family-owned business with W. Hoyt Baird as Chairman of the Executive Committee. Vernon Baird is President, Allen Baird is Executive Vice President, Clayton Baird is Senior Vice President, and Carroll Baird is Vice President of Operations. Three grandsons, Bob Baird, Bryon Baird, and Arthur Baird, and one great granson, Scott Baird, also hold top level positions. There is still the dedication and respect for baking a good product that Mrs. Baird instilled in her family at 512 Hemphill and 1811 Washington. The business that started in a home kitchen has grown until more than 2,500 families have joined the family that started it all. W. Hoyt Baird evaluates the contribution of this ever-growing team of employees this way: "There is no way this business could have succeeded without the cooperation and dedication of our employees. The secret of success in any business is people, and we have had - and still have - the very best!"

This, then, is the story of Mrs. Baird's until the present. But time does not stand still, and neither will this business. This Company's history has been a story of vitality, of teamwork, of growth, and of progress. Its future will be the same.

- end -

A photo accompanies this document that shows a man driving a carriage with a line of three people next to it, apparently waiting to purchase bread. A section of a house is in the background. The caption reads:
Sales Wagon - This wagon, shown being used in a Mrs. Baird's television commercial, is a replica of the first sales wagon used by the Baird family. To make their wagon, the Bairds took the seat off the family buggy and added a panel body.

A diagram is also included with this document. It shows the location of the home on Cactus, along with the various bakery expansions at that location. More can be found on this in the "Page 6" post.

Update to Mother's Legacy Lives On

2008-07-17T19:00:00.000-05:00

I've updated the post, Mother's Legacy Lives On with scans of the original newspaper article which includes photographs of Ninnie Baird, a painting of what is said to be the Hemphill Street home, and a photo of the "first stove". This article states that "Mrs. Baird moved the family and the back yard bakery operation to a rent house on Washington, at the corner of Cactus (now called Jefferson)."

We are particularly interested in the photo of the "first stove" from this article. The University of Texas at Arlington says they don't have an original negative of this photograph in their archives, and I haven't found the location of this first stove. Presumably, the photo was taken in 1977 when the article was written and that stove probably still exists somewhere.

Follow the link to the original post to view all of the scans and images.

Business Toast of the Town

2008-06-10T19:00:00.004-05:00

The article, "Business Toast of the Town" at the D Magazine web site has some interesting information on the early history of Baird's Bread, as well as some insight into the Baird children in later years. It was published in November of 1984, nearly 25 years ago when Hoyt was 87 years old. It details a few items that other articles don't mention. The only incorrect item I've noticed is the last name of Ninnie. The article lists it as Henderson, when her maiden name was really Harrison.

It mentions Ninnie being an orphan, learning to bake bread from an aunt. In other research, I've found that a few accounts tell of Ninnie becoming an orphan (her mother died earlier, when Ninnie was five years old) was because her father, Elisha Harrison, was killed in an argument over the job of Postmaster of Dyer, Tennessee. The details of this story can be found on this post at RootsWeb.

The article also helps establish the date of the combination bakery / storefront being built by 1912, but skips the move from the Hemphill home she lived at in 1908, to the Cactus home in 1910.

In case you missed the link above, you can find the entire article here.

First Bakery Photo

2008-06-05T19:00:00.001-05:00

I've scanned the original article, Mrs. Baird's First Baked Bread in Kitchen Stove, which contains a photograph of "Mrs. Baird's first bakery". The scans now accompany the original article and I'm also including them with this post.

This "bakery" no longer exists, but was probably located at 1811 Washington. If you recognize this photo and have any further information about it, please contact us.

Page 6: Diagram of Cactus Street

2008-05-17T19:00:00.004-05:00

Update: This page comes from the publication, "The Mrs Baird's Story".

"Page 6" was a copy of a single page given to me by a previous owner of the home. It contains a diagram of the corner of Cactus and Jefferson, showing the location of the home along with the first and second sheds, calling them the "second expansion" and the "third expansion".

The diagram is titled:

1015 CACTUS
FORT WORTH, TEXAS
1910-1919

The text for the second expansion is:

SECOND EXPANSION
(1910)
SMALL HOUSE CONVERTED
INTO BAKERY
PEEL OVEN ADDED

The text for the third expansion is:

THIRD EXPANSION
(1911)
LANDLORD BUILT BAKERY
AND RETAIL SHOP AT
1811 WASHINGTON

The caption for the diagram states:

This drawing shows how the two expansions were made after the Baird family moved to 1015 Cactus in 1910. A brick peel oven was added to the small one-room house in the yard and this became the bakery. Within a year, Mrs. Baird got her landlord to build a wooden bakery building facing Washington Street. The name of Cactus Street was changed to Jefferson in 1924.

Update: This page comes from the publication, "The Mrs Baird's Story".

1930 Census and a Lodge

2008-04-23T19:00:00.001-05:00

The Fort Worth City Directories from 1928 to 1932 show the Cactus home being occupied by H. B. Edens, and the 1930 Census shows Hugh B. Edens, his wife, Mary F., and six children renting the place and living there. The 1932 City Directory also shows Mattie Montgomery, a nurse, living at the home. A deed to the property, dated 10 Oct 1932, lists the home as being occupied by H. B. Edens. By 1933, the family had disappeared.

Other interesting items on this census sheet are that Hugh B. (probably Baker) Edens is listed as a laborer for the "city pipe line", and three daughters have jobs, one as a stenographer for "auto supply", another as a stenographer for an "oil company" and the last works at a "ladies shop".

Some genealogical research shows a man named Hugh Baker Edens marrying Mary Francis Montgomery. In comparing other facts, beginning with birth dates and children, these are probably the same families.

Another interesting find is the March 1946 Fort Worth City Directory shows the two homes on the property as the "Washington Rooms", and the November 1946 directory shows it as the "Coefficient Lodge".

Given this new information, I've updated the Brief History and the Census posts.

If you have any insight into this or anything that also documents the above information, please contact us.

The Old Mrs. Baird's Bread Billboard

2008-04-18T19:01:00.000-05:00

In Lili's Bistro on Magnolia Avenue, there is a large Mrs. Baird's Bread billboard painted on the wall. The story I was told about it is, when some previous owners were remodeling, they removed some of the wall and found the billboard behind it. They carefully removed everything around the billboard and put some sort of clear coat over it to keep it from degrading any further. I was also told the billboard was put up in the 1930's. I have little to base my opinion on, but I think the billboard was probably put up earlier - maybe the 20's, and it may be older.

I've seen a few times but have never taken photos of it. However, someone else has. You can find some a snapshot online at FortWorthology.

The billboard is hand painted, and I'm sure that nothing can compare to seeing the detailed work in person.

Brief History Update

2008-04-18T19:00:00.001-05:00

Using the information I've uncovered in the past two weeks, I've updated the Brief History page, adding more detail of the history before the Baird family moved in, along with about fifteen new references.

Kuhlman & Blue Research

2008-04-10T19:00:00.002-05:00

After noting the potential link between the Kuhlman & Blue business in the Flatiron Building to George Blue, owner of the Cactus Home from 1901 to 1906, I've now positively verified the connection after another walk through the Fort Worth City Directories.

Notes for the Cowan-Kuhlman House in the Historic Survey state that Fred M. Kuhlman is a later occupant at that home, and that Kuhlman & Blue had an office in downtown Fort Worth at the Flatiron building. Working on the hunch that this Blue must be George W. Blue, and that the Flatiron building was completed in 1907, I decided to start with the 1909-1910 directory.

City Directory 1909-1910
We indeed find that the Blue part of the business is George W. Blue, the owner of the house on Cactus. Note that this is after he sold the home to the Hoggs and moved out. However, the Kuhlman & Blue business is not yet located in the Flatiron Building.

KUHLMAN & BLUE (FRED M. Kuhlman, Geo. W. Blue) general fireproofing, reinforced concrete, paving and sewerage, contrs, office 500 Reynold bldg. Sw. Ph 2631
KUHLMAN FREDRICK M. (Kuhlman & Blue), bldg 906 W. Weatherford, Sw. ph 929

City Directory 1911
Finally, a location in the Flatiron Building. I wasn't able to locate the advertisement that is mentioned.

KUHLMAN & BLUE (FRED M. Kuhlman, George W. Blue), gen fireproofing, reinforced concrete, paving and sewerage contrs., 502 Flatiron bldg. Ph. Lamar 826. See advt.

By the City Directory of 1916, Kuhlman & Blue was no longer listed, but I wanted to continue down the line of directories until I could find when Fred Kuhlman moved into the Cowan-Kuhlman House. In the 1918 directory, he is listed as living at 1728 Washington (another home which is still standing on the corner of Cactus and Washington, and was built in 1915) and by the 1920 directory (1919 was missing at the Fort Worth Public Library), he was indeed residing in the Cowan-Kuhlman House.

Kuhlman, Fred M. office 702 Flatiron bldg, res 1800 Washington

I've used this information to update the Blue/Cowan/Kuhlman/Flatiron post.

The Blues, the Cowans, the Kuhlmans, and the Flatiron Building

2008-04-09T19:00:00.007-05:00

As I research the home on Cactus Street, I'm beginning to suspect there's more to the history of the home than just the Baird family living there. This article is mainly a list of notes and references that connect the family of George W. Blue, a plasterer, to the Cowan family that had the home built across the street, and then a suspected link to Fred M. Kuhlman, and then finally to the beautiful Flatiron Building in downtown Fort Worth.

George W. Blue bought the lot on Cactus Street in 1901-1902, moving there from 1313 College [1]. It is undetermined if this lot was empty or not when he bought it, but by the time the Fort Worth City Directory of 1901 was published, he was running a plastering business with Marvin Edgar Penewell (Blue & Penewell) out of the home at 1015 Cactus. By time of the City Directory of 1902-1903, he is listed alone as a plasterer - no longer associated with Mr. Penewell. George W. Blue had a daughter named Mabel Lee Blue.

At the same time, Andrew Cowan, a stonemason and brickmason had a house built across the street in 1901 [2]. Andrew had a son by the same name, Andrew [3]. Son, Andrew Cowan and Mabel Blue must have met because they lived across the street from each other. In the book, "A Goodly Heritage: The Cowan Family":

The Blue family lived across the street on Washington from the Cowans. The young lady of that family would notice each evening that Andrew would come home from work, dress all up, hitch up the horse and buggy and go off to call on the girls. One evening as he passed she said to him, "Why don't you ever take me for a ride?" He gave her one look turned around, went home and called her on the telephone and asked if he could take her for a ride...it was Mama and to her knowledge no other girl ever got a buggy ride with Andrew but Mabel Blue. (Her granddaughter, Andra Lee, just can't believe htat grandmother was so forward).

Andrew and Mabel married in 1907 [4]. By 1910 they had two children and lived on College [5].

This creates a definite link between the two homes at the corner of Cactus and Washington, and then there's more. That would be the Kuhlman half of the Cowan-Kuhlman House.

Fred M. Kuhlman was a "a contractor who specialized in road paving, fireproofing and reinforced concrete construction" [2] and resided in the Cowan-Kuhlman House starting in 1919 or 1920 [6], for a yet (to me) undetermined number of years. The historical survey goes on to say that "The firm of Kuhlman & Blue had its offices downtown in the Flatiron Building."

Further research in the 1909-1910 Fort Worth City Directory shows that the firm of Kuhlman & Blue was comprised of both Frederick M. Kuhlman and George W. Blue. It moved into the Flatiron Building in 1911 [7], and then was possibly disbanded by 1916 [8].

The Blue family sold the Cactus home in 1906, before Mabel married Andrew in 1907 and before George Blue and Fred Kuhlman started Kuhlman & Blue. Fred Kuhlman finally moved into the Cowan-Kuhlman House in 1919 or 1920 [9].

[1] Census 1900, Fort Wort, Ward 8, District 107 (listed incorrectly as "George Blew"), on College Ave., beginning on line 64
[2] Fort Worth Historical Survey, Cowan-Kuhlman House
[3] Census 1900, Fort Worth, Ward 7, District 106, entry for family of Andrew Cowan on May St., beginning on line 81.
[4] "Goodly Heritage: The Cowan Family" by Verna Hovey Cowan, p 174
[5] Census 1910, Fort Worth, Ward 8, District 134, entry for Andrew Cowan on College Ave., beginning on line 91.
[6] Fort Worth City Directory 1920
[7] Fort Worth City Directory 1911
[8] Fort Worth City Directory 1916, Kuhlman & Blue is no longer listed.
[9] Fort Worth City Directory 1920 (the city directory for 1919 was not available)

Federal Census Forms (1910-1930)

2008-04-07T19:00:00.004-05:00

I've sifted through a few Federal Census forms during my research. There are a few areas in the neighborhood that might be of interest to other researchers. The links will take you to Ancestry.com. You'll need an account or the fourteen day free trial to access the forms. Also, if you visit the Fort Worth Public Library, they can give you access to these forms.

1910 Census
Ward 6, District 121
This is the area where the Baird family lived at 512 Hemphill at the time the census was taken on April 15th, 1910. It just so happens the family is on the first page for that district. Note that Ninnie Baird's name appears as "Minnie".

Fort Worth Ward 8, District 134
The area containing the corner of Cactus and Washington is within this district. I've paged through the forms a few times, but so far have been unable to locate an entry for 1015 Cactus.

Interestingly, Henry Slack, who is listed in the Fort Worth City Directory 1909-1910 as residing at 1015 Cactus, is also listed in the census on April 16h as living at 1907 Washington. He must have moved a block South. Currently, there is not a house with the address of 1907 Washington.

1920 Census

Ward 6, District 119
This district should contain 512 Hemphill.

Ward 8, District 132
It's this district that contains the corner of Cactus and Washington. Page 24 in this collection shows the address of 1015 Cactus. A woman, Elizabeth Tuck is shown as head of household, along with two sons, Arthur and Ollie. Arthur is listed as a confectionery salesman. This corresponds with the Fort Worth City Directory of 1920.

1930 Census

It looks like District 33 contains the corner of Cactus / Jefferson and Washington. Page 51 contains the entry for the Cactus home, occupied by the Hugh B. Edens family

If anyone looks through these census pages and finds anything else of interest, please let us know.