For over 130 years, the southwest corner of Washington and Webster Streets (named for George Washington and Daniel Webster) has been the site of a solid, three-story brick building. In 1871, Long and Bro. Chair Co. moved from Market Street to its new location at 678-680 Washington Street. Owned by brothers Charles R. Long (1840-1907) and Isaac Newton Long (1836-1879), the company made rattan and split-bottom chairs.

At that time, Charles R. Long lived three blocks away at 369 Washington Street, but he was soon to become president of the Louisville Water Company and move to a new residence on Broadway near Hancock Street. Following Isaac Long’s death in 1879, Charles became president of the chair company with George Gutig as secretary/treasurer and William S. Long as superintendent.

By 1886, the company was known as Long & Bro. Manufacturing Co., although chairs continued to be the only items made. The officers were: Charles R. Long – president, Frank A. Conner – vice president, Joseph L. LaVielle – secretary/treasurer, and D.B. Mullen – superintendent. With the re-numbering of addresses which had taken place, the property was listed at 1426-1428 Washington Street. While continuing to serve as president of the Louisville Water Company, Long got out of the chair manufacturing business in 1890.

In 1890, Charles F. Meyer (1861-1908), a carpenter, cabinetmaker and builder, moved his business from 432 E. Jefferson Street to the southwest corner of Washington and Webster. Along with cabinetmaker John G. Rath (1862-1937), he operated the Louisville Store Fixture Works. Meyer and Rath made bank, office, store and saloon fixtures and were also agents for the Carbonic Beer Pump, advertised as "the Finest in the World!". The company also did interior house finishing. In 1902, Meyer and Rath moved their operation to E. Green (now Liberty) Street.

 

Following a year or so of vacancy, the Louisville Silvering and Beveling Co. moved their business to the corner property and engaged in making mirrors. The president was F.W. Vogt, and Constant Georgel (1856-1913) was treasurer and manager. The realty company of Vogt and Georgel also operated on the premises for a time. Eventually, the realty company relocated its offices to Cherokee Road and was run by Vogt, while Georgel took over the mirror-making business on Washington Street, becoming its president. The Louisville Silvering and Beveling Co. ceased operations in 1914, and the building remained vacant for a short time.

In 1915, the tobacco brokerage firm of W.D. Collins & Co. occupied the building with William D. Collins (1859-1929) as president. Within a year, however, this brokerage company moved to quarters on Main Street. The Washington Street site (now listed as 1324 following the city-wide renumbering of addresses in 1909) was again vacant until Collins opened the tobacco rehandling part of his business there in 1917. In 1922, the Bull’s-Eye Tobacco Co., under the direction of W. J. Trent and W. J. Trent, Jr., shared the building with the Collins company. It would appear that the two-story brick addition to the west side of the original structure was built around this time. The tobacco businesses remained there through 1924.

 

Members of the Hellmueller family were well-known bakers throughout Louisville. Engelbert Hellmueller (1870-1946), a baker at the New York Baking Co. on Garland Avenue, organized the Hellmueller Baking Co. in 1925 and took possession of the Washington and Webster property that same year. Hellmueller had learned baking in his native Germany before coming to the United States as a young man.

The Hellmuellers were to be the longest occupants of the building, remaining there for forty years. This was truly a family business with numerous members holding all levels of positions through the years. The original officers were Engelbert H. Hellmueller – president, Engelbert H. Hellmueller, Jr. – foreman, Rose Hellmueller – secretary, and Joseph E. Hellmueller – treasurer. This was a wholesale baking operation which offered a home delivery service. Stables in the rear of the building housed the horses that pulled the delivery wagons, later to be replaced with a small fleet of delivery trucks. The bricks in the stable area and two of Hellmueller’s ovens remain in the building as of this writing.

  

Surviving the Depression and the Great Flood of 1937 and continuing through World War II, Hellmueller’s was a fixture in the Butchertown neighborhood. During the flood, the building’s first floor area was completely submerged and heavily damaged. Joseph Hellmueller (1899-1978), Engelbert’s son, was trapped by the rising water in the storage areas on the second and third floors. He stayed there for days, taking in neighborhood families driven from there homes by the flood. Joseph Hellmueller succeeded his father as president of the company in the mid-1940s and held that office until the business closed in 1965, a victim of the proliferating supermarkets and their baked goods.

Vacant for three years, the building next housed the Kentucky Industries for the Blind (Plant 2) and the offices of Bert Hellmueller Auto Sales. Bert Hellmueller (1906-1985), son of Engelbert and brother of Joseph, had earlier left the baking business and become a race car driver in the western United States. By 1969, only Bert Hellmueller Auto Sales occupied the building and remained until 1973.

  

In 1973, Don Allen and Clifford Todd purchased the property and, after extensive interior renovations, opened it as Bakery Square, leasing space for retail shops and offices. During the 1970s, it was reported that the boutiques and shops at Bakery Square had a higher visitor’s base than Chuchill Downs. In subsequent years, the property has had several owners including Owen Isaacs, Warren and Karen Lynch, who owned and operated Warren Lynch Photography, and Rick Schardein, who acquired the venerable building in 2002 and relocated CurrentMarketing to the site. It continues to be known as Bakery Square and is a true landmark of Louisville’s Butchertown neighborhood.


CurrentProperties would like to thank Mr. Kenneth Dennis for his extensive research on the history of Bakery Square.