Bakers Of Belleville
Author: Connie Carson
Connie is a well-known local story-teller and professional who has a passion for the history of the City of Belleville, in particular, the downtown streets.
THE BAKERS HOUSE
A sturdy brick multi-unit house sits proudly on the corner of Catherine and Sinclair at 98 Catherine Street. This solid two story home dates back to 1879 when our town became a bustling city of 11,000 inhabitants, and continued its western spread from the mighty Moira River to Murney Hill and beyond.
It was home to a succession of bakeries attached to the side of the original structure. As early as 1891, William Watson, Baker and Confectioner, operated a bakery and grocery store there. In 1924 the Edward Harris family took over and called it Harris’ Bakery and Bread Company. In 1936 a new owner, Uriah Lummiss, joined Ed Harris in running the bread company. In the mid-1940s, Uriah purchased the property and changed the name to Lummiss Bakery.
In 1953 Russ and Muriel Burkholder bought the property from Mr. Lummiss and changed the name to Burkholders’ Bakery. About 10 years later, they opened an additional bakery at 213-A Front St and a smaller outlet store on Footbridge Alley. Baking was done in both the Catherine and Front Street stores.
Jayne Burkholder, Russ and Muriel’s granddaughter, shares a few memories with us.
‘I was very young when my grandparents operated it, and my parents worked in the bakery. My mother, Mollie, iced cakes and decorated them; my father, Bob, was a baker and worked there until 1963, then left to join the OPP.
My grandparents lived on the side of the duplex closest to the bakery and rented out the other side. It was a two-story brick home with large rooms and a beautiful staircase leading to bedrooms upstairs.
The bakery was a big part of my younger years.I still remember the sights and smells, the automatic bread-wrapping machine, the huge mixer that mixed the bread dough, the big ovens for cooking, and the walk-in refrigerator.
There was a tin pail and dipper filled with super cold water and a chunk of ice the bakers used for their drinking water.’
In the late 60s, my grandparents sold the bakery to Niels Mortensen and Kai Andersen. They were brothers-in-law and decided to name their new place the Family Bakery. They later closed down two stores and ran the operation from the Front Street bakery. My grandfather, Russ, had sold the business with the idea of retiring but decided that retired life was not for him. He returned to work for Niels and Kai until he was 84.’
If the walls of this landmark West Hill home could talk, we would hear heroic tales of survival; from the Spanish Flu pandemic, two world wars, the Great Depression and the everyday struggles of the hardworking bakers that lived at 98 Catherine Street.
