Lundberg Bakery (1876-1936) and the Old Bakery and Emporium
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Charles Lundberg came to Austin in 1872 during a period of substantial Swedish immigration into the city. He built this bakery in 1876, choosing a location that was near Texas state offices and downtown businesses to attract potential customers. The bakery changed hands among several other families of Swedish immigrants through the Great Depression. The business faced competition from grocers and chains as the tradition of purchasing bread on a daily basis gave way to customer preferences for convenience. The original bakery closed in 1936 and the building was home to a variety of businesses in the decades that followed. Today, the historic building is home to the Old Bakery and Emporium which serves as a visitor's center, art gallery, and consignment shop.
Images
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
Sources
Bell, Wayne M. "Nomination Form: The Old Bakery." National Register of Historic Places. nps.gov. November 18, 1969. Digital copy located at https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/NR/pdfs/69000214/69000214.pdf
Leatherwood, Art. "Swedes." Texas State Historical Association. Accessed June 17, 2019. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pts01
Leubke, Frederick C., ed. Ethnicity on the Plains. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980.
Photo Sources
Lundberg Bakery: By Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1048684
1890s photo: By https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/tx0394.photos.156279p, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34428199