Mariettans have long baked bread fit for a king. By long, I mean 1798, and by the king, I mean Louis Phillipe, king of France. While exiled from his own country he traveled extensively, including four years in the United States. In 1798 he visited New Orleans, which meant a stop in Marietta during the long downriver journey. When Phillipe arrived in town he went in search of bread and met a young French baker named Francis Thierry. Theirry had no bread baked, so while waiting, Phillipe went to view earthworks that had been constructed by Marietta’s first set of settlers, the Native Americans who had built them long before. When he returned the bread was baked, but the Muskingum River was starting to freeze over so he made a quick exit from the town, leaping into his boat with his freshly baked bread. He arrived in New Orleans on Feb. 17, 1798.

Marietta, like small towns across America, had bakers that would fill the need in their neighborhood. Marietta had several scattered around town, including one at Warren and Fifth streets which filled the neighborhood with the smell of fresh-baked bread each morning. As the modern grocery stores replaced the neighborhood stores this type of neighborhood bakery would slowly disappear.

The Norwood neighborhood, however, had a large bakery that provided stores with fresh bread. The Rich Loaf company operated on Acme Street in the building that has recently become Marietta Office Supply. It would operate under some other names before ending its baking days for good. A photo of it appears on page 2 of today’s Times. Stork operated a similar facility in Parkersburg. When I worked at the Colegate Food Center in the 1970s, I recall getting deliveries of bread so fresh it was still warm as we put it on the shelf. I’m certain they came from one of these two companies.

Specialty bakeries would remain for a while and depending on your age, you likely have memories of visits to one of them as a child.

¯ Pfaff’s Bakery operated at 112 Putnam St. until it closed its doors in 1952. It had been a Marietta institution since 1871. Jacob Pfaff sold his bread from a basket around town before he got a horse-drawn van that he used for deliveries. It was later operated by his sons who would offer a different bread depending on what day of the week it was. On Saturday the special bread was hearth loaf.

¯ Another long-operating bakery was the New System Bakery, it operated at a few different locations between 1922 and 1984. For a time, it operated next to the now-empty bank building at the Northwest corner of Putnam Street. My wife Lori fondly recalls getting elephant ears there as a young girl.

¯ My whole family, as well as most of Marietta, have great memories of Brownies. When they were children, we took our own daughters, Abby and Emily, there nearly every Saturday morning to get them cookies plus a bag of doughnut holes to share on the ride home. It had been operating at 258 Front St. since 1964. Generations of the Brown family baked for generations of Marietta families, to say it was a Marietta institution is an understatement. It was a dark day when it caught fire and burned on July 6, 2005.

¯ Chris Pfeiffer and the rest of his family continue the Marietta bread baking tradition. They operate the Bread Garage, selling freshly baked bread from their booth at the Farmer’s Market on Butler Street every Saturday morning.

Bread has always been one of my food weaknesses. I can actually relate to the king of France getting off his boat in the dead of winter to go searching for bread in a town he had never visited. I know that too many carbs are bad for you, yet it is sad that the smell of fresh-baked bread no longer drifts over the city.

Art Smith is online manager of The Times, you can reach him at

asmith@mariettatimes.com