Mrs. Baird’s downtown bakery: The best thing since sliced bread

Let’s take a trip down memory lane. Or, in this case, down Interstate 30 at Summit Avenue sometime during the 1950s–’80s era. Many locals who traveled this downtown route likely still maintain a particularly aromatic memory — the unmistakable scent of fresh-baked bread drifting across the freeway — a slice of life, shall we say, that harkens back to a time when the pace was a little slower and a PB&J a little yummier.

This olfactory airborne feast was courtesy of Mrs. Baird’s Bakery, an unassuming building in physical form yet head-turning for its delicious scent. Clad in a buff brick veneer, the two-story Moderne-style structure sat at 1701 Summit Ave., which at the time was directly adjacent to the freeway. So close you could almost taste it.

(Side note: Back then, elevated sections of I‑30 passed just south of the bakery; those sections were removed around 2000 when the Mixmaster [I-30/I-35W interchange] was rebuilt.)

The bakery officially rose for business in the spring of 1938, becoming a beloved local institution — and source of many a hankering for freshly baked bread — for many years.

But how did it end up there? And who was the brainchild — and namesake — behind the bakery that lovingly pumped out loaves from its downtown plant for several decades?

Entrepreneur in the making

Born in 1869 in Gibson County, Tennessee, Ninnie Baird came to Fort Worth in 1901 with her husband, William, and their four children. William sold popcorn and ran a restaurant, where Ninnie baked breads, cakes and pies.

William’s health in decline, the couple sold the restaurant in 1908, and Ninnie moved her baking operation to their house. By then she had eight children, who all helped with various aspects of production and deliveries. After William passed away in 1911, Ninnie continued to grow the business, baking her goods from her home in Fort Worth’s historic Fairmount neighborhood and selling them locally to support her family.

Business on the rise

By the time 1917 rolled around, demand for Ninnie’s baked goods outpaced her home production line. Necessity — the mother of invention — led the budding businesswoman to open her first plant at Sixth and Terrell avenues.

To say that Ninnie Baird was a hard worker who didn’t loaf around is an understatement. Over the next decade, her Fort Worth factory expanded nine times, becoming Texas’ largest bakery by 1928. Ninnie’s sons later assumed leadership roles, running the bread and cake operations.

Fans from far and wide — including the North Pole

Designed by prominent Texas architect Wyatt C. Hedrick, the Summit Avenue building featured “tunnel” ovens, with a long conveyor belt that moved the dough to ensure it baked evenly on all sides. The massive machines could bake thousands of loaves per hour, perfect for a business with a client base hooked on its “Texas born. Texas bread” slices of pillowy goodness.

In its heyday, the Summit plant employed over 300 people, who worked diligently to produce Ninnie’s edible wares: rolls, buns, sweet treats and, of course, sliced-up loaves of her lovingly made bread.

Even Santa Claus ate it up. Starting in 1939, the jolly old elf himself visited the bakery every Christmas season, much to the delight of visiting children and their families.

The smell of success lives on

By the time of Ninnie Baird’s death in 1961, the company had grown into the largest independently family-owned bakery in the United States, with nine plants and more than 2,500 employees.

In 1971, production largely moved to the company’s larger, more modern South Freeway facility, and the Summit Avenue plant was eventually demolished.

The Mrs. Baird’s Bakeries company was acquired in 1998 by Grupo Bimbo and today operates as a brand under Bimbo Bakeries USA, one of the largest bakery companies in the country. Mrs. Baird’s bread remains a beloved brand, found in stores across Texas and neighboring states — and a staple in countless home pantries.

While the Summit Avenue building is long gone — along with those enormous ovens — that irresistible scent of fresh-baked bread still drifts through the memories of anyone lucky enough to have passed by.

Although production shifted to the now-shuttered South Freeway location in 1971, many people nostalgically recall the aroma of freshly baked bread lingering at the Summit Avenue site well into the 1980s — and possibly even longer.

Some might even say it’s still present today.

Mrs. Baird's Bakery at 1701 Summit Ave. looking east, Aug. 27, 1988. Designed by Wyatt C. Hedrick; built 1937-38. (Photo: Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Mrs. Baird’s Bakery under construction, 1938. (Photo: Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Interior view of assembly line and employees, 1949. Employees are working with the machines that are producing loaves of bread. (Photo: W.D. Smith Commercial Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Entrance to the Summit Avenue facility. (Photo: Judith S. Cohen Cowtown Moderne Research Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Aerial of Mrs. Baird's Bakery plant, 1954. (Photo: W.D. Smith Commercial Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Mrs. Baird's Bread truck in front of the factory, 1941. (Photo: W.D. Smith Commercial Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Interior of Mrs. Baird's factory with employees preparing bread in an assembly line, 1941. (Photo: W.D. Smith Commercial Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Portrait of Ninia “Ninnie” Lilla Baird, 1948. (Photo: W.D. Smith Commercial Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Vernon Baird, left, assistant manager of Mrs. Baird's Bakery, gives a warm welcome to Santa Claus on Dec. 16, 1951, at West Vickery Boulevard and Summit Avenue, where St. Nick will greet excited visitors of all ages. (Photo: Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

A loaf of Mrs. Baird's bread in its iconic packaging that sports its famous “Stays fresh longer” tagline, 1950s. (Photo: John Rogers and Georgette de Bruchard Collection (AR0870), University of North Texas Special Collections.)

In 2009, 48 years after her death, a 15.5-acre City of Fort Worth park was acquired and named in Ninnie's honor. Ninnie Baird Neighborhood Park is located at 8900 Hawley Drive, north of Shiver Road, south of Heritage Trace Parkway and west of Ray White Road. (Photo: City of Fort Worth.)

Mrs. Baird's Bread truck leaving the factory, 1941. (Photo: W.D. Smith Commercial Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Interior of Mrs. Baird's factory with an employee standing in an aisle of bread carts checking on packaged loaves ready for shipment, 1941. (Photo: W.D. Smith Commercial Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Mrs. Baird's Bakery building, 1945. (Photo: W.D. Smith Commercial Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Mrs. Baird's Bakery looking west, Aug. 27, 1988. (Photo: Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

Interior of the Mrs. Baird's factory with an employee monitoring the packaging of a loaf of bread on an assembly belt, 1941. (Photo: W.D. Smith Commercial Photography Inc. Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.)

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