Spang Bakery Torn Down – Dec. 31, 1970

Ask a Lorainite to name a long-gone local bakery that they remember fondly, and they’ll probably bring up DeLuca Bakery, Hough Bakeries, or maybe even Bob’s Donuts.

But there’s one bakery that only a few residents would probably remember, although it was probably the biggest in town for many years: the Spang Bakery.

The bakery’s roots were in Cleveland, where it had opened on Barber Avenue back in 1888. As it grew, it expanded and Lorain was chosen for the location of the first satellite plant.

I wrote about the much-heralded opening of the Lorain plant in 1925 here and here.

The plant (officially known as the J. Spang Home Bake Bakeries Plant) closed in the late 1950s. The building was used by a few companies after that (including a wholesale donut operation, and a Cotton Club distribution company) before going vacant for good around 1964.

Within a few years, the building had become a nuisance, with kids using it as a place to sniff glue. Finally, on October 21, 1968 the empty building burned down.

It took a few years, but it was finally torn down by the City of Lorain, beginning on the last day of 1970.

Spang Bakery Fire – October 21, 1968

Back in September (here, here and here), I wrote a few times about Lorain's Spang Bakery and how the business had disappeared from the city directory in the late 1950s. I had heard that the building that housed the bakery had later burned down, but wasn't quite sure when.

Since those posts, I stumbled on the newspaper articles about the fire. It happened on Monday, October 21, 1968 – 45 years ago today.

Below is the story that appeared in the Journal that day.

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Lorain firemen battle blaze at Spang Bakery 

(Photo by Dona Norlock)

Fire Hits Spang Bakery

A TWO-ALARM fire raged through the vacant Spang Bakery building at West 22nd Street and Oakdale Avenue in Lorain this afternoon.

ALL OFF-DUTY firemen were summoned.

The city had condemned the building, owned by Olimpio Giannini, recently placed on probation following a morals case at the Antlers Hotel, which he also owned.

Flames shot 50 to 100 feet in the air at the bakery building. Billowing black smoke mushroomed into the sky.

No one was reported injured.

Firemen responded at 1 p.m. A fire dispatcher said he received at least 25 telephone calls reporting the blaze.

At 1:15 p.m., the roof of the two-story brick and frame building collapsed.

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The next day – October 22, 1968 – the Journal did a follow-up story (below).

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LORAIN FIREMAN Alex Nagy directs a stream of water into the burning
Spang Bakery from the bucket of the snorkel truck – which lifted him
above the flames. (Journal Photos by Dick Papania.)

Lorain Firemen Fight 6 Hours to Save Condemned Building
By Dick Papania
Staff Writer

Three companies of Lorain firemen aided by off-duty men, fought six hours yesterday to save a building condemned by the city for about a year.

THE BUILDING, which was vacant, is often used by teenagers for glue-sniffing and other activities, Lorain police said. Two teenagers were reported seen leaving the building shortly before the fire was reported at 1 p.m. yesterday.

Lorain fire investigators are looking into the possibility of arson, but have not yet determined the cause of the fire.

There was no estimate of damage. All that still stands are the brick walls of the main part of the building. The east wing was not damaged by flames.

OLIMPIO GIANNINI sips coffee as firemen
battle to save the vacant Spang Bakery
building, which he owns. Giannini said he
might donate the building and land to the
city for a parking lot.

Olimpio Giannini, who owns the structure, at the scene yesterday said he might give the land and building to the city.

"THEY CAN tear it down and use it as a parking lot," he said.

Giannini was released from Lima State Hospital last week. He had been sent there about a year ago after he was convicted of a morals violations involving a 16-year-old girl at the Antlers Hotel, which he owned.

Part of Giannini's probation terms direct that he not operate a motel, hotel or the like. The court ordered the business of his two hotels, the Antlers and the Colonial, be handled by his wife.

"I don't think the bakery building is included," Giannini said, referring to the court order. "The property has nothing to do with housing people."

About a year ago, City Building Inspector James Romoser started condemnation proceedings on the building. Because Giannini was in Lima, though, the necessary legal papers for demolition could not be served.

City officials said today they still are not sure what they will do about tearing down the building.

One fireman, Paul Linna, suffered minor face and hand burns while fighting the blaze. He required only first aid.

In all, firemen poured more than 300,000 gallons of water into the building. There was no value set for the building. It was not insured.

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According to this 2010 article on the Morning Journal website, the city sold the land to Compassion Missionary Baptist Church in 1993. The attractive church building (below) was finished in 2000.

More on Spang Bakery in Lorain

As I mentioned yesterday, here is the first page of the special section of The Lorain Journal announcing the opening of the new J. Spang Home Bake Bakeries Plant. (Give it a click for a larger, readable version.)

As you can see by the special newspaper section, the new bakery plant was quite a big deal. The public was invited to tour the new facility, which featured modern automatic machinery in the bread and roll departments.

The new plant was certainly good for the local economy. Together, the Lorain plant and Elyria distribution facility employed about 100 people.

The lead article on the left hand side of the page noted that the J. Spang Home Bake Bakeries had already expanded into Lorain in 1922, and was sponsoring two athletic teams – a bowling team and a girl's basketball team.

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How long was the J. Spang Home Bake Bakeries in business in Lorain?

Well, the business appeared in the city directory at the same 522 W. 22nd Street address well into the late 1950s. In the 1957 City Directory, however, the firm shared its street listing with Great Lakes Donut Corp., a wholesaler. Then, in the 1958 edition, the J. Spang Home Bake Bakeries name disappeared and the Great Lakes Donut Corp. remained.

Finally, the 1959 book listed the 522 W. 22nd Street as 'vacant.'

What happened?

According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the J. Spang Baking Co. was sold to the Laub Baking Company in 1958. My guess is that the Lorain plant closing about that time had something to do with the sale.

In the 1961 City Directory, Cotton Club took the 520 W. 22nd Street address listing, so it may have used part of the building. It remained there (also listed as Cotton Club Hires Distributing) until the 1964 edition, when that address was listed as vacant again.

Spang's Bakery Ad – April 29, 1925

Drew Penfield sent me the full-page ad shown above announcing the opening of the new Spang Bakery plant in Lorain months ago – so I saved it until I had a good reason to post it.

The ad appeared in The Plain Dealer on April 29, 1925 and has a nice capsule history of the company.

The first Spang bakery plant was located at 2701 Barber Avenue in Cleveland, the same street where the family business originated in 1887.

Lorain was chosen to be the site of the first expansion of the Spang business outside of Cleveland, with a bakery established in the city in 1922. Its success led to the construction of the plant.

Lorain's plant – formally known as the Lorain Spang Home Bake Bakeries – was the second largest in the Spang chain.

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While preparing this post, I decided to check the Lorain newspapers to see how the bakery plant opening was reported locally. After failing to find even a mere mention of the new plant in the Lorain Times-Herald during the late April 1925 time period, I was ready to pack it in – when I remembered that Lorain had two newspapers at that time.

Much to my surprise, The Lorain Journal devoted a whole section to the plant opening. In the near future, I'll prepare some of the material for posting here.

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More on the Spang Barber Avenue Plant

Detail from April 1925 newspaper ad

I was also surprised to find out that Barber Avenue in Cleveland was only about 5 minutes from where I work on W. 58th Street. It's located right off W. 25th Street just north of its intersection with I-90.

It was easy to drive over there on my lunch hour a few days ago to take a few shots of the former Spang plant.

The long building is located in a residential neighborhood on a very narrow street. In fact, the building runs almost the whole length of the street.

I didn't duplicate the angle exactly (I had to shoot it from memory) but it was pretty close. Plus, I didn't have a lot of room to work with.

Here's my "now" shot (below).

Proceeding west towards the taller portion of the plant, you can still see a little hint of the building's past right on the building (below).

Spang's Glazed Donuts Ad – August 17, 1956

Why do I think of Homer Simpson when I look at this ad?

I've been bringing donuts to my work every Friday since the early 1990s.

Call it job security. There's not going to fire the guy who brings in donuts regularly – right?

For a long time, I picked them up at Bob's Donuts on Broadway (although it required backtracking on my route to work). Later, when I actually tried to get to work on time, I'd stop in Lakewood at one of the last remaining Amy Joy's shops in that chain.

Currently, I get my donuts from the friendly folks at The Doughnut Pantry on Madison. Theirs are terrific (I've mentioned them here on the blog before) and the closest I've ever found to Bob's.

Just like lawn mowing, donuts are always on my mind.

Spang's donuts were featured in the 1953 film
Lorain – An Industrial Empire in Ohio's Vacation Land

Which brings me to today's ad for Spang's Baking Company, which ran in the Lorain Journal on August 17, 1956. Spang's was a family-owned bakery that started in Cleveland in 1887 before expanding into Lorain and a few other cities.

The ad does a good job of getting your attention. A jumbo glazed donut sounds good to me, as good as the jumbo hamburgers featured on this blog yesterday!

Lorain's Spang's Bakery was located at 522 West 22nd Street, which would put it close to the corner of W. 22nd and Oakdale (where the Compassion Baptist Church is today).

A Spang's employee packing glazed donuts in that same 1953 Lorain film

Next: More on Spang's