Valley Girl Views: Keithan's Bakery, Sunbury PA

Keithan's Bakery operated in Sunbury from 1881 - 1976

Located at 338-340 Market St. in Sunbury, the store was a bakery, confectionary, luncheonette, and ice cream shop. According to the Daily Item, in 1972 it was the oldest still operating small business in Sunbury.

In the above photo - The bakery, about 1892. John A. Keithan is standing to the right with his arms folded. The woman in front of the wagon is believed to be Mrs Myrtle S. McInch. I found no mention of who is wearing the apron and straw hat.

John August Keithan 1853-1929

John August Keithan was born near Cassel, Germany, in 1853 and came to America at age 13 with his two brothers, Frederick and Henry, his sister, Dorothea, and his father, John Wilhelm Keithan,

John W. Keithan was a successful baker in Germany. He had apprenticed to the government bakery in Germay at the age of 15. After three years, he traveled throughout his native land as a journeyman, before accepting a situation on the "Hebominis" a man of war belonging to the government of Holland, as a baker on that vessel. He remained in that position for 8 years, participating in a number of battles. He then returned to his home in Germany, where he opened a bakery. After the death of his wife Anna, the family decided to leave Germany.

They first settled near Danville, where John August Keithan worked in the iron mills and painted wagons for about eight years. The family then moved to Shenandoah where John A. helped his brother Frederick establish a bakery, confectionery and ice cream business. The family finally settled in Sunbury, but John first assisted his brother-in-law in a butter and egg venture in Philadelphia.

In 1881, John A. Keithan moved to Sunbury, renting the old Red Lion Inn Property from Kate Bolton.

The bakery of George Smith was located in the back of the Bolton property. In 1882, John A. Keithan purchased all of the bakery equipment.

An early photo inside Keithans Bakery, showing the wide plank floors, remaining from the Red Lion.

Sign for the Red Lion Inn - later Keithan's Bakery.

The property was among the first to convert to electric lighting in the summer of 1883 after Thomas Edison’s successful experiment. It was the 6th commercial building in the world to be wired for electricity. A photostat copy of the electric bill from August 1st to September 1st 1883 shows a charge of $2.94 for the month.

In June of 1887, Keithan purchased the property for $2,500. Over the years, he remodeled the existing structure.

April 5th 1889

. The original oven was a coal-fired hearth oven, Bakers used 15-foot-long wooden peels to reach products in the back of the ovens.

In 1910, a steam oven was installed, and Mr Keithan changed the name to "Keithan's Steam Bakery.". In this type of oven, seam was sprayed over the bakery products, giving a glazed appearance to the crust.

For many years, whole pigs, turkeys, hams, beef, chickens, etc were roasted in the Keithan Bakery ovens for various lodges and organizations for their annual banquets.

The ovens had a fire bed in the corner, an unusual feature. The ovens were lined with fire bricks and a corner fire kept the bricks hot for baking. The baked goods were removed with 15 foot long peels - a long handled spatula.

During the early years, bread was made in anthracite coal ovens. Bread could be baked on a hearth if necessary.

A Keithan's Delivery Truck, to the right of the Sunbury Hospital

Three horse-drawn wagons delivered fresh baked goods to customers throughout the city until the late 1920s, when Keithan purchased delivery trucks.

Ice was delivered by Keithan's by local ice dealers, from the frozen ponds of the Sunbury Water Company, originally owned by Rohrbach's. The hand ice crusher was in use through 1918, and in the summer months, nearly a ton of ice was crushed every day.

The circus came to town one day each year from 1912 to 1925. Barnum and Bailey awarded the contracts for bread, pastries and ice cream to the Keithans, who also provided baked goods to the county prison.

John August Keithan had four children - Frederick William, Katharine Mary, Harry Edgar, and Elizabeth Fredericka with his first wife, Anna Helena [Kiefaber] Keithan. Anna died in 1893. In 1895, he remarried to Nora Anna Jarret, and with her had 10 more children: John Wilhelm, Karl Jarrett, Charles Rhinehart, Arthur Augustus, Edward Bryan, Robert Edwin, Helena Edna, Martha Gertrude, Anna Pauline & Florence Irene. John's children learned the trade from their father and worked in the family business.

From 1923 to 1936, Harry E. Keithan was "engaged in the bakery and confectionary business in the Keithan building at 76 Queen Street [Northumberland], as a branch of the Sunbury Store. With the closing of the local establishment, hre returned to the Keithan business interest in Sunbury"

On March 20 1929, John Augusta Keithan died, age 75. He did not leave a will. According to his death notice, his widow and 11 children survived. "Mr Keithan was a director of the Sunbury Trust and Safe Deposit Company, and a business man of Sunbury for nearly 48 years. It is a coincidence that one of his contemporaries, T.H. Hutchinson, also a director of the trust company and a prominent business man, died several months ago without making a will."

Karl Keithan, William Keithan, Charles Keithan, and Robert Keithan
Florence Keithan Kline, Elizabeth "Bess" Keithan , Arhur Keithan, Pauline Keithan Fegley

The children had, after their fathers death, incorporated and then improved and enlarged the business. They added a soda fountain, and a luncheon service, along with a new store front and "other improvements".

All of the woodwork had been done over, new plate glass display cases, shelving and counter were installed, as well as new floor and wall coverings.

A new two story cement block building, 30 feet wide and 125 feet long, was added to the back of the bakery. The front part of the lower floor was devoted to bakery products, and the rear was dedicated to the manufacture of ice cream. Candy and clear toys were manufactured on the upper floors.

On September 4th 1933, a new Tuthill automatic ice cream freezer was installed. "The new freezer makes it possible to fill boxes, cones, or any container, right from the mixer. It is possible to fill a container the size of a thimble. "

The new expanded store was "thrown open to the public during the first week of December 1933."

"Bread Week", 1937

1945 Keithans bakers-front row-Karl J. Keithan, Arthur Keithan, Corky Fry, John Kroberger . Back row-William J. Keithan, Harry Keithan, Fred Keithan, Charles Keithan, Paul Kline

Banks Kanuer, Charles Patton, John Shipman and Paul Kline

1947

Unlabeled Photos Of Keitha's Waitresses

Charles R. Keithan, Candy Maker

Each year before Christmas several generations of the family would gather to make clear candy toys. Many of the molds were more than 00 years old, with some having originally belonged to Mr. Gearhart, who was once in business on Market Street.

Finalizing the Process - Taking the clear toy candies out of the 200 molds at Keithan's Bakery are, left to right, David Fegley, Frankie DePhillips, J. William Keithan and Charles R. Keithan, who was known as the candy maker in the Keithan family.

The store's red, white, green and amber clear toy candy was well known in the area. Using sugar, corn syrup, water and coloring, it took seven people to make the clear toys, in shapes of reindeer, pigs, horses, and locomotives. The recipe had originated in Germany, and was handed down through the generations of family members.

According to a 1976 article in the Daily item, "The store has been internationally acclaimed when it was mentioned by Tasha Tudor, a writer and illustrators of childrens books. She described the candy in her books Becky's Christmas and in Take Joy. Tudor, who regularly got clear toy candy from Keithans, gave a lecture at Bucknell in 1963.

This 1963 Photograph shows members of the Keithan family making clear toys in "the candy room", a room above the bakery on Market street. Charles Keithan is shown, in a bow tie. To his right is his sister Pauline Keithan Fegley. Also shown are Frank DePhillips and David Fegley. The Phillips children, Tim, Candy and Mindy are on the far right.

Keithan's Bakery was sold in June of 1973

In June of 1976 Keithan's closed. Owner Edwin Tarasewicz was quoted as saying "there aren't enough hours in the day for my wife and I to continue operating the business." Tarasewicz, who at the time also owned Walkers Jeweler and Silversmiths, said the store was not closing for financial reasons. "It's been a good business". He and his wife had owned the bakery and luncheonette since 1972. The couple planned to lease the back part of the building to J.C. Penny for a catalog store, but there were no plans for the front of the building, at the time of it's closure.

In November of 1976, Shumies restaurant, owned by C. Guinn, moved from third and market into the former Keithan's Bakery & Luncheonette at 340 Market Street.