The Sturgis Pretzel House of

Lititz, Pennsylvania Lititz is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, north of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Lancaster. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 9,370. History Lititz was ...

, founded in 1861, is the oldest commercial

pretzel A pretzel ( ; from or , ) is a type of baking, baked pastry made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical form, with the ends of a long strip of dough intertwined and then twi ...

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based baked goods made in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, doughnuts, bagels, Pastry, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as Coffeehouse, cafés, servi ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery remains active in pretzel production and is a

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

History

In 1850, Julius Sturgis owned a bread

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

in Lititz. That year, he provided a

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

man with dinner. According to legend, the homeless man had been on a train that went behind the bread business, and got off the

train A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...

after seeing the bakery to get food and a job; however, Julius did not have a job available, but nonetheless fed the man. The man in return gave Julius a pretzel recipe. He had never baked pretzels before, so he tested the recipe out on his family and added pretzels to his bakery. By 1861 the recipe had proven to be so popular that Julius stopped his bakery to make pretzels; he started the first commercial pretzel business in the United States. To this day the Sturgis family still bakes pretzels using the same recipe Julius used to start his pretzel bakery in 1861. Marriott Sturgis, born in 1910, was Julius's grandson. He was nicknamed "Tom Sturgis" because he worked alongside his uncle Tom Keller and they had similar baking styles. Tom's family moved to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

where Tom continued to work in pretzel bakeries, eventually he—with his brother Correll—opened their own pretzel bakery in 1936 called Sturgis Brothers. However, Tom had to close down Sturgis Brothers due to the drafts for

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After serving in a

munition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

s factory during that war, Tom Sturgis continued the pretzel baking industry and opened another bakery called Tom Sturgis Pretzels. The business is still in operation today, run by Tom's grandson, Bruce Sturgis. The Sturgis family also manages Julius Sturgis's original pretzel bakery. The bakery was visited by children's television host

Fred Rogers Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003), better known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television s ...

on a 1981 episode of ''

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ''Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'' (sometimes shortened to ''Mister Rogers'') is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the se ...

''.

Location

Besides being the first

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

pretzel bakery in the United States, the Sturgis Pretzel House has a long history. The building was built in 1784 by a man named Peter Kreiter (original inscription: "Er Bauet Von Peterkreiter") and is one of the original structures in Lititz. The house was built from stones taken from the streets and from the surrounding timber forest; it had windows to fire muskets to prevent against Native American attacks. The Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery is on the list of

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Since 1850, pretzels have been made in Lititz with a recipe derived from French monasteries.

References

External links

{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Lititz, Pennsylvania Bakeries of Pennsylvania Companies based in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Culture of Lancaster, Pennsylvania Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Industrial buildings completed in 1784 Tourist attractions in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Pretzels National Register of Historic Places in Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1784 establishments in Pennsylvania

History

Location

See also

References

External links