YorksPast

In my post Late 1800s Factory Inspection Reports Assist in Identification of an East Prospect Photo  I wrote about finding these reports in the State Library of Pennsylvania.  For this series on the Top 50 York County Factories at the end of 19th Century, I’m using data from the 10th Report of the Pennsylvania Department of Factory Inspection.

The 10th Factory Inspection Report is for the Department’s year ending October 31st 1899.  I ranked the 479 York County factories by numbers of employees; #50 has 47 employees, on up to #1 with 510 employees.  In the coming weeks, on Monday and/or Tuesday, I’m counting down to the top employer in York County at the end of 19th Century.

At #37 in the count down of the Top 50 York County Factories at End of 19th Century is the D. F. Stauffer Bakery.  David F. Stauffer began his bakery in 1871, when he bought-out a bakery originally established in 1858 by Jacob Weiser.  In the early years the formal name of the company was D. F. Stauffer Steam Cracker Bakery.

 

The 10th Factory Inspection Report notes that on January 25th 1899 the D. F. Stauffer Bakery in York had 66 employees; all male.  Of these 66 employees, 20 employees were under 21-years-old, of which 11 employees were between 13 and 16-years-old.

Polk’s 1899 York City Directory indicates that David F. Stauffer was President of this company, with the bakery located at 9-21 West Princess Street in York.  The other half of the D. F. Stauffer Bakery Letterhead from 1898 shows the same address.

I have placed a white line on this drawing of the circa 1898 D. F. Stauffer Bakery.  To the right is 9 West Princess Street and to the left is 21 West Princess Street.  The following section of the 1903 Atlas of York, PA shows that by 1903, the 9 West Princess Street part of the building was sold to the C. A. Strack Furniture Company, while the D. F. Stauffer Bakery expanded into buildings to the north.

The following photograph is from the January 1946 printing of The Story of a Dynamic Community, York Pennsylvania, by the York Chamber of Commerce.  It shows the D. F. Stauffer Biscuit Company at 21 West Princess Street.  A fourth floor has been added to the buildings, compared to the 1898 drawing of the bakery.  In 1946, the bakery contained 55,000 square feet of floor space.

David F. Stauffer and his sons incorporated the bakery in 1915.  In 1946, the officers were: Calvin Stauffer, president; William H. Stauffer, vice-president; Harry Stauffer, secretary and treasurer; and David E. Stauffer, assistant secretary.  In 1960 the company moved to a new 65,000 square foot bakery at 360 Belmont Street in Spring Garden Township.

This listing in the 1905-1906 Thomas Register Buyers Guide contains the names of the two York, Pennsylvania “Bakers of Crackers, Etc.”  The AAAA rating on York Cracker Bakery simply indicates the parent company (National Biscuit Company) was capitalized at the highest rating; any company over $1,000,000.  The purely local company (at #37) D. F. Stauffer, who actually had a few more York County employees than the (# 44) York Cracker Bakery, was capitalized over $100,000 and below $200,000 to receive the A rating.

The local D. F. Stauffer Bakery however has a claim-to-fame over the National Biscuit Company.  D. F. Stauffer was the first bakery in the United States to produce Animal Crackers right about at the turn of the Century.  In 1902 the National Biscuit Company introduced their version; named “Barnum’s Animals.”

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