Many families that immigrated to the United States in the 1800s and early 1900s, especially those from Italy, Holland and Germany, found their way in America by opening small independent bakeries. Decades later many of those bakeries are still thriving, often run by new generations of the original bakers’ families. Bakeries are an essential part of communities across the country – these are some of the oldest that are still going strong, often more than 100 years after they first opened. Be sure to check individual websites for the latest opening updates before you visit.
Philadelphia has a great selection of old school bakeries, including this retro shop that opened in 1921. Family-owned for three generations, the bakery was founded by brothers Giuseppe and Gaetano Termini who developed a reputation for making ornate wedding cakes. Today the shop does a brisk mail-order business as well as counter service at multiple locations, selling cookies, cannoli and cakes.
There are a number of very old traditional Dutch Bakeries across America, including this shop in a small city in Iowa. Jaarsma’s baking case is filled with buttery almond cookies, crème horns, puff pillows, Dutch Letters and other Dutch specialties that have been sold at the family-owned bakery since it first opened in 1898. Jaarsma is so iconic in Pella that it even sells ceramic cookie jars shaped like the shop itself.
Schmidt’s does sell items like pie, bread and cupcakes, but this small-town Minnesota bakery that opened way back in 1923 is best known for its doughnuts. The bakery uses original Schmidt family recipes (and claims that almost all members of the extended family have worked behind the counter at some point in time) and customers flock from all over the state to pick up crullers, glazed doughnuts, doughnut holes and other delights.
A Florida institution since 1912, this bakery was founded by Nicolo Alessi shortly after he immigrated to the United States from Italy. Even though Nicolo started with Italian and Cuban bread, the bakery’s specialty soon became elaborately decorated cakes, perfect for weddings and other special occasions. Alessi started as a small bake shop but has since expanded significantly, with a deli counter, a catering division, a café area, all run by the fourth generation of the Alessi family.
Taylor’s started life as a grocery store in 1913, run by a man named Dennis O. Taylor who was looking for a business that would help support his family. Currently run by Dennis’ great-grandchildren, Taylor’s is a solid Midwestern bake shop, producing cakes, cookies, doughnuts, breads and other baked goods. The shop also has its own line of ice cream and even makes dog treats.
The original Palmieri’s Bakery opened in Providence in 1905 by Domenico Palmieri, whereas D. Palmieri’s in Johnston was actually opened by Domenico’s grandson Domenic some years later. Italian bread dominates here, along with Rhode Island-style “cold” or “bakery” pizza, often decorated so that the toppings form a picture of a cartoon character or other intricate design. The pizza designs are the work of Eric Palmieri, Domenic Palmieri’s grandson.
Chicago is a city with a robust culinary history, so being named the city’s oldest family-run bakery still in its original location is nothing to sneeze at. Roeser’s iconic neon sign didn’t go up until 1946 but the bakery itself was opened in 1911 by John Roeser Sr (it’s now run by John Roeser IV). It was the first bakery in Chicago with a freezer and the first with air conditioning, allowing its signature cakes and pastries to stay pristine in the bake case.
Billed as the oldest bakery in all of Texas, Naegelin’s is so old that its founder fought in the Civil War. Located in the city of New Braunfels near San Antonio, Naegelin’s was opened by Edouard Naegelin Sr. in 1868 who originally delivered bread to customers’ homes by simply dropping loaves on their porches. A wide variety of bread is still on the menu, along with coffee cake, doughnuts and custom-made special occasion cakes as well as fresh tortillas.
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New York City is rich with spectacular old school Italian bakeries and Café Ferrara is indisputably one of the oldest. The shop is lined with Italian specialties like cannoli, tiramisu, sfogliatella, lobster tail pastries and biscotti. The bakery opened in 1892 as a place to enjoy an espresso and a treat after the opera and is often billed as America’s first espresso bar. It’s currently run by the fifth generation of the original owner’s family, so they must be doing something right.
Many older bakeries specialise in very traditional European treats, but Bredenbeck’s has mastered the art of beautiful modern cake decoration. The shop was first opened in 1889 by Frederick Robert Bredenbeck, an immigrant from Bavaria, who later sold it to the Haug family, who opened the current Bredenbeck’s location in 1983. Keeping up with the times, Bredenbeck’s expanded to include ice cream in 1985.
As the oldest bread bakery in West Virginia, Tomaro’s sells beautiful loaves, but it is really most celebrated for its pepperoni rolls. Pepperoni rolls, a regional specialty of the Appalachians, are essentially a yeasty white roll filled with pepperoni. While Tomaro’s didn’t invent them, the savoury treat has helped to keep the Clarksburg bakery in business since 1914.
Staten Islanders will probably best remember Holtermann’s by the orange baking trucks that used to deliver bread around the area. The trucks are now retired, but customers can still come to the bakery (which opened in 1878) for both sandwich and rustic breads, simple and special occasion cakes, cookies, pies and “showcase” desserts like charlotte russe and cream puffs.
LeJeune’s Bakery has been baking its core specialties in the same way since the LeJeune family opened the bakery in 1884. French bread, garlic bread and small ginger cakes are the only items on the menu, but everything is made by hand the old-fashioned way, by the fifth generation of LeJeune bakers. The shop is considered to be so important that it was the first bakery in Louisiana to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Tennessee’s oldest family-owned bakery, Dutch Maid is beloved for its country charm and a selection of from-scratch salt-rise breads, cakes, pastries and Southern-style treats. The recipes are the same ones that the original owner John Baggenstoss used when he opened the bakery in 1902, even though the business was purchased by a new owner in 2005. Some restoration work was necessary, but the new management was careful to retain the original down-home feel of the bakery.
Plehn’s (pronounced like “plane’s”) is a family-run bakery that was founded by a German-born baker in 1922. It moved to its current location in 1924 and continues to serve as an all-purpose bakery, making buns and bread as well as carefully decorated cakes and cupcakes as well as cookies and seasonal items to celebrate every holiday imaginable. It was one of the few bakeries not to be shut down by the Louisville flood of 1937, when it stepped up to make bread to feed people all over the city.
Helen Bernhard started making cakes as a hobby in the early 1920s and opened her bakery in 1924, later selling the business to her son Ben. Helen Bernhard Bakery still specialises in elaborately decorated cakes, although the old-fashioned designs have been swapped for brightly coloured unicorns and cakes that look like anything from a hamburger to an eyeball. For those looking for a quick treat, the bakery also makes cookies, bread and assorted pastries.
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The oldest bakery in central Illinois, Trefzger’s opened in 1861 and was soon feeding bread to troops stationed in the area during the Civil War. Brightly coloured thumbprint cookies are the house specialty, but the bakery also makes plenty of other cookies, cakes, pies and sweet breakfast pastries. Trefzger’s has moved location a few times over the years, but the current spot is in an appropriately vintage heritage building that is nearly as old as the business itself.
San Francisco’s most famous bakery is also one of its oldest. Boudin, established in 1849, is the originator of San Francisco sourdough bread, a hybrid of traditional sourdough and French bread. The bakery carefully guards its mother dough, which is as old as the bakery itself and gives each loaf its rise and tangy flavour. Boudin now has multiple locations throughout California.
The Egidio Pastry Shop hasn’t just existed since 1912, but it’s sat at the same location on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx for the entirety of its lifespan. A cornerstone of the local Italian community, the bakery stocks various biscotti, cartoccio, cannoli, croissants and New York classics like black and white cookies and cheesecake.
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Wolferman’s has become a slick brand with fans all over the United States, but the company started as a humble corner grocery store back in 1888. Its trademark items are its super-thick English muffins, which are made the same way today as they were by founder Louis Wolferman. The brand is also renowned for its cinnamon rolls and other pastries, all of which can be shipped around the country.
Kirchhoff’s started off as an old-world bread bakery – it was founded in 1873 by Franz Kirchhoff, an immigrant to the US from Prussia. Still run by the same family, freshly made bread continues to be Kirchhoff’s main business, but it also sells cookies and dessert bars, sweet and savoury pastries and housemade crackers and pizza crusts.
Some bakeries make a little bit of everything, but the Sturgis family has always been focused on pretzels. Established in 1861, Julius Sturgis is America’s first commercial pretzel bakery, made even more historical because it’s housed in a building built in 1784. Today Julius Sturgis is a tourist destination, but it does sell pretzels made by the nearby Tom Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, founded in 1946 by Julius Sturgis’ grandson Marriott.
A proud New York tradition, Veniero’s proudly dates back to 1894. It started as an espresso and candy bar, but founder Antonio Veniero soon started selling biscotti and eventually cakes and pastries (made by proper pastry chefs) were added to the mix. The café expanded over the years and now sells a wide variety of treats but is most famous for its cannoli and classic New York-style cheesecake.
Italian family bakeries can be found in every corner of the US and Cleveland is no exception. A jewel of the city’s Italian community, the Presti family opened their bakery in 1903, specialising in fresh bread. The bakery grew to include a café in 1999 and now sells sandwiches and pizza made with its famous bread as well as traditional Italian cookies, cannoli and ice cream.
This metro-Detroit area bakery was opened by Jim Bommarito in 1925, primarily as a means to sell lemon ice, gelate, cookies and wedding cakes, all of which are still on the menu, along with pizza, subs and other treats. Bommarito isn’t a fussy or fancy bakery, rather, it’s all about solid but well-made baked goods that make customers feel nostalgic for the simplicity of childhood.
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Cannoli is standard fare at many Italian family-owned bakeries, but at Isgro Pastries, the award-winning cannoli truly is the house specialty. Founded in 1904 by the Isgro family that still runs it today, the bakery also makes traditional Italian butter cookies, pignoli, pasticcini and other tasty bites. Holidays are a big deal at Isgro and the staff enthusiastically decorates its storefront window for special occasions.
A true family-run neighbourhood bakery, Hoehn’s Bakery has been serving Baltimore’s Highlandtown since 1927. Many of the bakery’s recipes go back to the Hoehn family’s ancestors in Germany, with doughnuts at the top of the menu, followed by both sweet and savoury filled buns, tarts and slab cakes, all baked in the bakery’s original brick hearth oven and created with as little machinery as possible.
Established in 1915 by Juan More, La Segunda Central Bakery is all about well-made Cuban bread. Operated by the fourth generation of the More family, the bakers celebrate their Cuban heritage with traditional Cuban loaves and buns, as well as sweeter treats like custard horns, guava turnovers, flan and bread pudding. The adjacent café serves juicy Cuban-style sandwiches on the bakery’s fresh bread.
The Kruta family originally opened their bakery in east St Louis, Illinois in 1919, but it relocated to Collinsville in 1974. The family was originally from Russia, but the bakery’s founder Frank Kruta Sr. trained as a baker in Germany. As a result, many of the bakery’s specialties are traditional German desserts like stollen and German chocolate cake, though it also makes Russian kolache and treats from many other parts of Europe.
Known as the “godfather” of from-scratch bakeries in New England, Lyndell’s first opened in 1887. For 45 years it was operated by Swedish founder Birger C. Lindahl, who changed his name to the easier-to-spell “Lyndell” when he started his business. The European-style bakery specialises in custom cakes and also makes tarts, eclairs, muffins and other pastries.