Wheatsworth Bakery Building

History and architecture

The Wheatsworth Bakery Building was constructed in 1927-28 to the designs of J. Edwin Hopkins, a specialist in the design of industrial bakeries. This Art Deco/Viennese Secessionist style factory building features a granite base, light-colored iron-spot brick, large multi-pane pivot steel windows and polychrome terra-cotta friezes with green circles at the base and the parapet. The linear ornamentation of the terra cotta friezes with their restrained, geometric designs is characteristic of this style of architecture. The door surrounds at either end contain terra cotta panels with images of bundles of wheat stalks.

The brick façade and large multi-pane steel windows are standard features of factory buildings of the era; however, the elaborate decorative terra cotta distinguishes this building from typical factory buildings of the 1920s. The building was built by Wheatsworth, Inc., the manufacturer of whole wheat biscuits and flour and inventor of the Milk-Bone dog biscuit. The company was formed under the name F.H. Bennett Biscuit Company in 1907 by Thomas L. and Frederick H. Bennett to market whole wheat products. Wheatsworth was a successful food manufacturer with plants in Manhattan and Hamburg, New Jersey. According to the New York Times, the new factory, which was built adjacent to their existing Manhattan plant, would triple the capacity of the company’s baking activities. National Biscuit Company acquired Wheatsworth in 1931.

The company, now known as Nabisco, sold the rights to the Milk-Bone dog biscuit in 2006 but continues to make Wheatsworth Crackers. This area of the East Village near the river was an industrial area populated with gas works, coal yards, iron works, ice companies, mills and factories. Most of these industrial facilities have been replaced by residential housing, including several public housing complexes, a public pool and parking garages. The Wheatsworth Bakery Building is one of the few remaining industrial buildings in the far East Village. Architect J. Edwin Hopkins designed another bakery factory in 1930 for the Van de Kamp’s Holland Dutch Bakery in Los Angeles.

History of Wheatsworth, Inc. (F.H. Bennett Biscuit Co.)

The bakery building was built for the F.H. Bennett Biscuit Co., which changed its company name to Wheatsworth, Inc. during construction of the building. The company was formed in 1907 by Thomas L. and Frederick H. Bennett to market whole wheat products, which they considered to be more healthful than those made from white flour. The company’s first factory was located at 138 Avenue D (demolished), around the corner from the East 10th Street bakery. The company’s facilities soon expanded to a group of buildings on the west side of Avenue D, across the street from its headquarters and adjacent to the property the company would acquire for its new factory in the 1920s.

Besides having formulated the company’s signature Wheatsworth crackers, which are still being produced, Bennett also invented the Milk-Bone dog biscuit in 1908. Originally called the Maltoid, the biscuit was a bone-shaped treat made from minerals, meat products, and milk. The name was changed to Milk-Bone sometime between 1915 and 1926, owning to the high composition of cow’s milk. The Milk-Bone was eventually expanded to include different flavors, and its marketing focus was shifted from its being merely a dog treat to a product that promoted cleaner teeth and better breath. The company also manufactured and distributed whole-wheat flour. Bennett’s success in the 1910s and 20s resulted in the expansion of the company’s Manhattan plant and the addition of a mill and amusement park located in Hamburg, New Jersey.

The first wholesale bakeries in New York City appeared in the mid-nineteenth century, delivering their goods by horse and wagon to grocery stores. The first successful firms included Holmes and Coutts, the Purssell’s Manufacturing Company, and the S.B. Thomas Company, which introduced English muffins. Later in the century, the number of commercial bakeries increased along with the city’s population, which included a growing number of immigrants from eastern and southern Europe, many of whom found employment in the baking plants.

By the 1890s, the business was characterized by mergers and trusts, with the New York Biscuit Company, formed from eight bakeries already dominating baking in the city, merging in 1898 with the even bigger National Biscuit Company (Nabisco), the Midwestern American Biscuit Company, itself the result of the merger of forty midwestern bakeries, and the smaller United States Baking Company.

Also known at the time as N.B.C., the National Biscuit Company held a virtual monopoly on cookie and cracker manufacturing in the United States with its 114 bakeries. The company continued to grow and acquire independent bakeries, such as Wheatsworth, during the twentieth century. Now known as Nabisco Foods, the company continues to be a leading manufacturer of baked goods and has expanded to include other food products. By 1900, there were nearly 2,500 bakeries in New York City, most of which were small retail shops serving the neighborhoods, while N.B.C. monopolized commercial baking.

By the 1920s, innovations were made in baking technology, and many firms became manufacturers of baking ovens and machines. Some of the best-known brands of bread and cakes were made in the city, such as Tip-Top Bread, Wonder Bread, and Hostess cakes. Other large baking concerns included the Continental Baking Company (Brooklyn), Dugan Brothers (Queens Village), Silver Cup Bread (Long Island City), Fink Baking, and the General Baking Company.

The F.H. Bennett Company’s main product was its line of Wheatsworth whole wheat biscuits, produced for human consumption, which the company heavily advertised in the 1920s. The crackers were so well-received by consumers that the directors of the company decided to change its name to Wheatsworth, Inc., “to capitalize the good-will attached to the name,” when the company began offering its stock to the public. At the same time, the company began an expansion campaign, announcing the construction of a new factory on East 10th Street in Manhattan adjoining its existing plant. According to the New York Times, the new factory would triple the capacity of the company’s baking activities.

Negotiations for the acquisition of Wheatsworth, Inc., by the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco) commenced in late 1930. The purchase, which was completed in January 1931, included the entirety of Wheatsworth’s product line and assets, including its Wheatsworth crackers and Milk-Bone dig biscuits, as well as its Manhattan plants and Hamburg mill including the Gingerbread Castle Amusement Park. Nabisco, now a subsidiary of Kraft Foods, sold the rights to the Milk-Bone dog biscuit to Del Monte in 2006 but continues to make Wheatsworth Crackers. It closed the Lower East Side facility in 1957.