Helen Bernhard Bakery was established in 1924, beginning, as many bakeries did in those early days, by
baking cakes for neighbors and friends. At the time, the Bernhard family lived in the house next to the present shop. Ben
Bernhard's father was a minister at Grace Lutheran Church and his mother, Helen, created the cake business as a hobby and
an addition to the family's income. Her earliest recipe book, dated September 1923, was written in heavy pencil, its
smudges and rewrites showing much trial and error. As business grew, additions were made to the back and side of the old house
to accommodate baking and sales demands. Eventually, the family moved one street away and their former home became devoted
to the bakery.
In 1939, the present bakery building was erected
under the supervision and planning of Ben and his mother. Mrs. Bernhard died in 1968, at 86 years old, but had long since
sold her business to Ben. Many years later, David, a third generation Bernhard, purchased the bakery and succeeded in keeping
the home bakery aspect alive in a busy retail bakery. In 1988, David Bernhard sold the bakery to Richard and Mary Laufer,
local bakery owners, who have devoted their lives to family and baking. The bakery has seen many changes in it's over
80 years of existence, but amid all those changes, the home bakery feeling still remains.
