The Woodstock Home Bakery
Don Wheeler
By Jennie Shurtleff
Over the past 40 years, the Woodstock History Center has collected hundreds of oral histories. The earliest interviews were recorded on cassette tapes. Over time, as these cassette tapes degrade, the valuable information that they contain can be lost. Consequently, one project that I am currently working on from home is to prepare these tapes so that they can be digitized and their contents stored electronically.
While many history books focus on large events and high-profile people, oral histories (particularly those conducted by local historical societies) often focus on their community members’ daily lives. One of the oral history tapes that I listened to today was a 1997 interview conducted by Jean Conklin of Donald Wheeler talking about the Woodstock Home Bakery, which was run by his father for many years. The bakery was located on the first floor of the Tracy Block, which stood on the site of the present Village Butcher Shop.
In the interview, Don Wheeler relates how his father, Reu Wheeler, came to Woodstock in 1908 to work at A.B. Morgan’s Pharmacy on Elm Street. He started out as a drug store clerk; however, after studying on his own, he was able to pass a test and become a certified pharmacist. Despite not having any formal training as a baker, when the bakery shop across the street went up for sale in 1920, Reu purchased it, and with the same determination that allowed him to become a certified pharmacist, he became a successful baker.
Photograph showing (from left to right) the Woodstock Home Bakery, the “Dana Brothers” store, and the Dana House.
All the baking for the Woodstock Home Bakery was done in a brick oven. In the morning, the oven would be heated by burning orange crates and other rubbish from Gillinghams, which was located next door. After the rubbish was reduced to coals and the oven was very hot, Reu would remove the coals and mop out the interior baking surface. The residual heat stored in the bricks that made up the oven would be used to do the day’s baking. On any given day, the baking might include such things as bread, rolls, cookies, cakes, roasted cashews and peanuts, eclairs, and other sweets. Virtually everything was mixed by hand. The only machine that the bakery used was a bread dough mixing machine.
On Saturday nights, when farmers and others from the outlying areas would come to the village to shop and visit with one another, Reu would serve baked beans and brown bread. One of his other specialties was a chunk of ham baked inside a piece of bread dough, which Don remembered as being delicious as the bread took on the savory flavor of the ham.
The bakery was also well-known for making a type of “dark bread” with graham flour. One of the many things that I learned from this oral history is that graham flour is a coarsely-ground type of whole wheat flour. Since the bread was both “graham” bread and “whole wheat” bread, Reu would wrap half the bread loaves in wrappers marked “graham” and the other half in wrappers marked “whole wheat.” One of his customers always purchased the bread wrapped in the whole wheat wrapper. One day when she came in the store, she asked for the whole wheat bread. Reu told her that he was out, but he had the graham bread. Not realizing the two breads were identical except for the wrappers, she informed him that she had tried the graham bread before, and she didn’t care for it.
The wrappers, which in this case caused the bread controversy, were made of waxed paper that had the bakery’s name and the type of bread on it. To seal the bread in the waxed wrappers, the bakery had a wooden chute, lined with metal, that was the length of the loaf. After the loaf was wrapped in waxed paper, it would be placed in the chute, with a hot brick on both ends. The heat from the two bricks would seal the wax paper.
In his oral history, Don Wheeler noted that doughnuts sold for 60 cents a dozen at the Woodstock Home Bakery.
Photo showing (from left to right) Gillinghams, the Tracy Block, and part of the brick building that formerly had been the Dana Brothers’ store.
The Tracy Block, in which the Woodstock Home Bakery was located, was a three-story building. The first floor had a central recessed hallway, with the bakery located on the north side and a cobbler shop that was run by a Mr. Blossum (affectionately known as “Dad Blossum”) on the south side. On the second floor, there was a bicycle repair shop that was run by John Charbeneau, and on the third floor, Joe Stone and his wife lived and ran their photography studio. In the recessed hallway on the first floor, the Stones displayed their photography, and Don Wheeler remembered as a child going in there to look at the ever-changing photo display.
During the last five or ten years at the Tracy Block site, Reu also opened a restaurant. It was a popular spot where one could purchase a hamburger dinner for about 50 cents as well as a three-two beer (a beer that is 3.2% alcohol by weight). Reu was the first person in town to sell draft beer, which as Donald Wheeler noted was very popular but attracted some “undesirables.”
In 1942, the Woodstock Home Bakery and restaurant closed. The space where Reu’s business had been was first filled by Stimets (an electrical shop) and later by Morgan Ballou (a women’s clothing store).
Sadly, the Tracy Block burned in 1972. It was one of Woodstock’s few Italianate-styled commercial buildings. Fortunately, with oral histories such as the one of Don Wheeler that was captured by Jean Conklin, we have an idea of the businesses that were housed in the building and the fascinating people who ran them.
PS: In addition to baking, Reu made potato chips at the Woodstock Home Bakery. If you are looking for a fun, at-home project, you may want to whip up a batch of this tasty treat.
According to Don Wheeler, his father made potato chips by slicing the potatoes very thinly. Then soaking the potato slices in cold water for a couple hours. The potato slices were then taken out of the water, patted dry, and fried in hot oil.
The Tracy Block after the 1972 fire.