Frank W. Wolfarth
1866 - 1934
Frank worked alongside his father, John G Wolfarth, operating and later taking over their local bakery when his father retired in the 1890s. Frank guided the bakery from being a local city bakery to a regional powerhouse of production. The expansion of the bakery in 1893 and again in 1912 make it the largest steam baker in the State of Michigan. Capacity was 10,000 loafs a day and Wolfarth’s delivered bread to over 100 towns, villages, and cities throughout the Saginaw Valley and Saginaw River Watershed.
Frank was also heavily involved in civic associations such as the Germania and Teutonic Societies. He represented Saginaw by bringing distinction to his hometown serving on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Master Bakers in the first decade of the 20th century. He annually rented a steamship and took all bakery employees and their families on a cruise and dinner picnic out into Lake Huron from the downtown Saginaw docks.
Wolfarth faced several monumental issues in assuming control and operation of the bakery upon his mother’s death (March Hachen) in 1893 and his father’s diminishing capacity. He was juggling two major construction projects; the baker was undergoing an expansion in 1893, and he was also building his home, Wolfarth House, on the corner of Hoyt and S. Weadock Avenue. In addition, the country was going through an economic depression with the Panic of 1893, which lasted until 1897, and it deeply affected every sector of the U.S. economy.
Signs of this economic upheaval are evident in the construction of Wolfarth House, as many typical Victorian architectural details are missing or left out of the construction, such as areas where stained glass were intended but never purchased.
He was a lifelong member of St. Mary’s Cathedral and a strong supporter of the arts. He financially supported St. Vincent’s Orphanage Home.