WARD BREAD COMPANY

367 Southern Boulevard
Unknown architect, ca. 1900

The Ward Bread Company, founded by Irish immigrant Hugh Ward in 1849 on the Lower East Side, was a major company with factories all over the country, including one in Brooklyn and this one in The Bronx. The six-story white glazed terra-cotta building featured a large smokestack with the company’s name painted on it. The smokestack has been truncated and the company name painted over. In the early 20th century, the company revolutionized the baking process, employing new technology to bake bread in a mechanized assembly line. In the 1920s, Hugh’s grandson William attempted to monopolize the American baking market, using dirty business tactics. To distance itself from the negative press and its tarnished reputation, the company assumed the name of one of the companies it acquired: Wonder Bakeries, makers of Wonder bread.

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