In mid-20th century Chattanooga, Holsum bread was considered the greatest thing since … well, you know.
Most Scenic City groceries stocked locally produced Holsum bread and rolls, with the heyday of the company here peaking in the 1960s and 1970s. The bakery’s advertising pitch was: “For old-fashioned goodness, ask for Holsum.”
As late as the 1970s, consumers could buy four loaves of Holsum Bread at the Food Giant grocery store in St. Elmo for $1, according to newspaper advertisements of the day.
This 1975 photo from the archives of the Chattanooga News-Free Press shows workers at the Holsum Bakery Company plant at Dodson and Crutchfield avenues here, which was built in 1956.
Before that, the company was headquartered at 1615 Cowart St. in the Southside, a property that in 2003 was converted into the Bread Factory Lofts, a residential complex with 26 apartment units.