Middletown History
By Lisa Hawk
A wood frame building was constructed in 1857 on Main Street (now known as 5th Street). It was on Block 1 on approximately Lot 3 of the original Plat Map. The town was very fortunate to have a very good bakery for several years.
The bakery products were made fresh daily. Over the years, some of the proprietors delivered the products to your home. Plastic wrap or plastic bags had not yet been invented. So the unwrapped fresh baked goods gave off an aroma to entice the people on the streets to come in and purchase their favorite baked item.
John Berry was the owner of the bakery for several years. Harry Sherriff worked for Mr. Berry as a baker and was known as one of the best. After this, Mr. Sherriff purchased the bakery from Mr. Berry and continued baking for the City Bakery for several more years. A full line of bakery and confectionery goods were made in the shop.
In June of 1920, Jim Crabill of Ossian purchased the bakery from Harry Sherriff. At a point in time after this, Dan Ridgeway was the owner of the bakery.
Unfortunately the building was torn down in 1925. All of the lumber from the building delivered to the farm of Dave Strough and was used to build a barn on his farm.
After the building was torn down, the lot became used for parking. The building was next door to the Masonic lodge, now the home of the Middletown News and the home of the Cooper family.
Here are two photos of the bakery.
Maybe someday we can have another high quality bakery in town.
References
Memories, Dreams and Reflections of Middletown, 1975.
Beacon.com , Beacon property records of Henry County.
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