Fuchs Bakery

One of Homestead, Florida’s earliest settlers was Charles T. Fuchs, Sr. He was born in Germany in 1864. In his youth, Fuchs had worked as a baker’s apprentice. He immigrated to the United States circa 1880. He settled originally in New York, where he married his wife, Annie Kine, in 1888. Around 1895, the couple decided to move to a predominantly German settlement in Milan, Tennessee, where Fuchs first tried his hand at farming, but by 1903 had purchased a small bakery. By 1911, Fuchs had contracted malaria and was in poor health and his doctor advised him to seek a healthier place to live. Fuchs had visited the Homestead area with his brother-in-law, Fred Linke, in early 1912. Fuchs enjoyed the town so much that upon returning to Tennessee, he sold his properties there and moved his family to Homestead in the April of 1912. Again, Fuchs tried to make his way as a farmer for a brief period when, in January 1913, Fuchs purchased a small bakery and grocery store with financial assistance from another brother-in-law, Richard Linke.  

The store Fuchs and Linke purchased was owned by William Nobles, who operated it as the Nobles Homestead Bakery and Meat Market and Grocery. The name was changed to the Linke and Fuchs Homestead Bakery and Meat Market. Within a few months, Linke sold his portion of the store to Fuchs and left Homestead. Two months after purchasing the store, Fuchs moved the wooden building off site and replaced it with Homestead’s first poured concrete building. With the support of the entire Fuchs family, the market began to thrive, and the bakery became the mainstay of the business.  

The first bread the Fuchs produced was called Cream Bread, and it became very popular – production soon reached two-hundred loaves a day. The market was the first in Homestead to have electrical refrigeration, and in 1919, the Fuchs introduced Liksom Bread, and the bakery side of the business continued to expand. Demand for the Fuchs’ bread became so great that by 1921 a larger facility was needed. The bakery moved to larger quarters on South Flagler Avenue, while the grocery remained in operation on Krome Avenue. Charles Fuchs, Jr. Then assumed operation of the bakery, while the elder Fuchs continued to operate the grocery until shortly after the death of Annie Fuchs in the August of 1922, when Charles Fuchs, Sr. Sold the store to his son.  

The growth of the Fuchs Bakery continued in an upward spiral, and in 1934 Fuchs moved the business to South Miami where it eventually became the nationally recognized bakery of Holsum Bread. The Holsum Bakery has received numerous awards for its leadership in the bakery business. They were the first bakery to package sliced bread in cellophane wrappers. In June 1994, the Holsum Bakery became affiliated with Interstate Brands Corporation, one of the largest independent bakeries in the world. 

Fuchs Bakery, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed December 14th 2020. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77841511.

Fuchs Bakery, Wikipedia. Accessed January 21st 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuchs_Bakery.