Fourteen-year-old August H. Nolde came to Richmond from Germany in 1881 to live with relatives.

He found work at the Moesta Bakery at 111 East Main as an apprentice at $1.50 an hour plus room and board. With hard work he became foreman and decided to go on his own. He sent for his mother, four brothers and sisters to join him.

In 1891 he borrowed $100 from a friend and, in the basement of a house at 26th and Broad, he and his brothers opened Nolde Brothers Bakery. The first day they produced seven loaves which they sold for five cents a loaf. Aware of the importance of education and not able to attend school during the daylight hours, the brothers attended night classes at the Virginia Mechanics Institute.

In 1900 they were able to move to larger quarters and within five more years had increased sales to the point they could move into a three-story building. The company was incorporated in 1908 and August, William, and George became partners. A fourth brother, Rudolph, decided not to become a partner but worked as a production superintendent.

Their German ancestry brought them notoriety when World War II broke out. There was strong sentiment then about their home country of Germany’s government.

A whispering campaign started accusing "the Nazis" of poisoning the bread. One newspaper in June 1940 voiced the opinion: "This kind of thing is low, contemptible, and in the last degree vicious against all self-respecting Americans, war hysteria or no war hysteria." Nolde’s took out full page ads in Richmond and Norfolk papers to refute the charges.

In spite of this, Nolde’s continued to grow. In 1953, Nolde’s was listed as the largest baker in the state, grossing $6 million. In 1961 a Times Dispatch-News Leader telephone survey reported that among 200 called, 96 percent said they had tried Nolde’s bread and 79 percent were still purchasing it.

New products were an important part of the business. In 1971, to introduce a new loaf of bread with more flavor and aroma, the company brought Bob Hope, Duke Ellington, and Carmen Ray to City Stadium. Tickets were either $4 or $2 plus four Nolde wrappers. Some 10,000 people showed up. If you didn’t have Nolde wrappers, you received a coupon redeemable for four loaves of Nolde’s bread.

In December 1974, the Nolde family sold the business to Interstate Foods. Three years later in 1977, Interstate closed the Richmond and Petersburg bakeries. Another well-known Richmond business was now a memory. FP

Ray Schreiner is a volunteer at the Valentine Richmond History Center and the Virginia Historical Society.