Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I am going back through the book one final time, but there are still some difficulties. I have had trouble figuring out the various Wehner-related bakeries in Ste. Genevieve. In 1921 August Peter Wehner, "Big Augie", purchased a bakery from G. H. Arthur, changed the name to "Wehner's Bakery," and was baker and owner until at least 1930. Around the same time Henry Charles Wehner went to work for Home Bakery, where he worked from around 1919 to 1926 before moving to California.
In the 1930s, Henry heard that a bakery was for sale in Ste. Genevieve and asked his brother Walter to look into it. Henry ended up returning to Ste. Genevieve, where he and Walter started the Wehner Bakery on Main Street. When Walter left the business, the shop was sold to Anthony ("Tony") Zarinelli (a baker from St. Louis), and Henry returned to California. In Ste. Genevieve, Earl Daniel Wood Sr., son of Martha Ervine Wehner went to work for Tony Zarinelli, who moved the bakery to Merchant Street. There Earl learned the skills of baking, and continued working there after Tony sold the business to a St. Louis company (who changed the name to "Toni's Bakery Inc.") in December of 1976. In 1980 Earl and Virginia Wood bought the bakery changing the name to "E&G Bakery" for Earl and Ginny. The couple owned the bakery until around 1985, when it was sold and became "Home Bakery." Earl continued working there until 1990, when the new owner decided to do his own baking. The question is which of these bakeries are which? There were at least two named "Home Bakery" and two named "Wehner's Bakery". Can anyone help straighten this all out?

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