In The Cradle of Industry and Liberty

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AMOROSO’S BAKING COMPANY In 1904, Vincenzo Amoroso and his two sons, Salvatore and Joseph, crossed the Atlantic from Italy to America in search of the American Dream. Vincenzo brought with him only a handful of modest possessions and his family’s recipe for making authentic Italian bread. He opened a small bakery, complete with a brick oven, at 320 Stevens Street in Camden, New Jersey. By 1914, Amoroso’s had outgrown its humble beginnings and made a bold move across the river to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their new storefront at 6505 Haverford Avenue soon became a neighborhood favorite. Despite the effects of the Great Depression, Amoroso’s Baking Company continued to grow by making home deliveries of their hearth-baked bread and rolls to families in the West Philadelphia neighborhoods. They made deliveries twice a day—once in the morning for breakfast and lunch and then again in the late afternoon for dinner. Hearth-baked means the bread and rolls are never baked in a pan. As a result each piece is unique, with no two being the same. By the early 1930s, Salvatore had taken over the family business and with the help of his four sons, Daniel, Vincent, Leonard, and Salvatore, Jr., the business continued to grow. The boys would work in the bakery before and after school. Following World War II, America began to witness the effects of suburban sprawl. The sprawl resulted in the birth and growth of the local supermarket era and the end of home deliveries. Amoroso’s first sold its products on consignment to the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, commonly known as A&P, in the Overbrook Park section of West Philadelphia. To land the account, Leonard Amoroso, Sr., asked the store manager if he could leave the bread for one day, promising to pick any unsold bread and rolls. They soon became a favorite throughout the Delaware Valley and A&P placed orders for all their stores in Amoroso’s service area. With the success at A&P, other supermarket retailers began selling the Amoroso’s brand in their stores. It was during the 1950s that advertising spread beyond word of mouth. For the first time in its history, Amoroso’s began purchasing advertising space. Throughout Philadelphia, signs promoting Amoroso’s products were painted on the sides of buildings. As the highway system developed, signage went from the sides of city buildings to stand-alone billboards along the city’s highways. The company expanded its route distribution system to include neighboring counties, in addition to distributing to stores in New IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBERTY 130
Jersey and Delaware. Outgrowing the bakery once again, in 1960 the family moved Amoroso’s to 845 South Fifty-Fifth Street in Southwest Philadelphia. The company remains on Fifty-fifth Street today and has successfully managed five expansions to the plant. In response to demands for its products outside of Delaware Valley, Amoroso’s established its Frozen Foods Division in the 1970s, the result of a partnership. Today, through an established national distribution supply chain, the company’s frozen Thaw and Serve and Par-Baked product lines are available worldwide. Amoroso’s complete line of frozen Hearth-Baked Italian Bread and Rolls are available in fifty states and five countries including Bermuda, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The frozen Thaw and Serve and Par- Baked product lines are produced in a 175,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility in Vineland, New Jersey. The quality of Amoroso’s frozen products is so high that Philadelphia expatriates recognize their unique taste and texture. The 1970s also saw the popularity of the convenience stores, including 7-11 and Wawa, providing new outlets for Amoroso’s. A member of the Independent Bakers Association and the American Bakers Association, Amoroso’s has become a neighbor, in the truest sense of the word, a respected member of the community. In Southwest Philadelphia for more than eighty years, Amoroso’s has invested in the local community and through their philanthropies have supported many worthy causes and charities including Easter Seals, United Cerebral Palsy, the Ronald McDonald House, Mission Kids, Academy of Music, and the National Adoption Center, among countless others. Through five expansions and with more than 800 employees, Amoroso’s continues to rely on its closely-guarded family recipe. Using only the finest ingredients, Amoroso’s Hearth-Baked Bread and Rolls are baked from scratch twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. With the resources, capacity, and dedicated employees to supply both small and large businesses with fresh and frozen bread and rolls, Amoroso’s still provides that personal touch of custom products for its customers. Products are delivered fresh every day in the greater Philadelphia area or flash-frozen for immediate shipping. PARTNERS IN BUILDING PHILADELPHIA 131
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IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBER
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IN THE CRADLE OF INDUSTRY AND LIBER
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CONTENTS 4 FOREWORD 6 ACKNOWLEDGEME
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@ Michael A. Nutter, Former Mayor,
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For the historical images that enli
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This is a history of manufacturing
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While other manufacturing centers w
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@ Above: Workers at Midvale Steel p
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aircraft that dates to the earliest
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would hold into the early nineteent
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technology, transportation, and com
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age had joined the Religious Societ
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Philadelphians lived in the city’
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“and many boats, which are useful
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Quaker merchant Thomas Masters purc
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INDUSTRY INVENTORS Manufacturers in
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Quaker upbringing. Known as the “
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MAKING A CASE FOR AMERICAN MANUFACT
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up cotton manufacturing operations
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After receiving a patent for the en
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The Globe Mill on the Cohocksink Cr
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@ Opposite: Detail from 1849 map sh
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of the town’s total population. S
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On a positive note, a group of Fran
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factories with a powerful energy so
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and flagship for Commodore Matthew
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@ Left: Penn Steam Engine & Boiler
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Garrett & Eastwick Locomotive Works
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seen. The episode brought Hagner co
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United States, the nation’s de-fa
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The turn of the twentieth century p
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in various categories at the Centen
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makers, 20 stove manufacturers, 12
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and lace, in which Kensington manuf
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through exploitation of their worke
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@ Left: Yard locomotives at Midvale
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among the largest in the world at t
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factory nearby. This became the lar
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she writes of the sad circumstances
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@ Clockwise, starting from the top:
Page 81 and 82: BEER AND TOBACCO Beer making contin
Page 83 and 84: MILK AND ICE CREAM Like any major c
Page 85 and 86: the Philadelphia Phillies. Located
Page 87 and 88: and a half later from a city of man
Page 89 and 90: After major cutbacks in the auto in
Page 91 and 92: into countless lunchboxes throughou
Page 93 and 94: hangar space in 1980 at Northeast P
Page 95 and 96: is the nation’s largest manufactu
Page 97 and 98: fuel for local industries, current
Page 99 and 100: centralize operations in the buildi
Page 101 and 102: BOOKS AND ARTICLES Bridenbaugh, Car
Page 103 and 104: Sutcliffe, Andrea J. Steam: The Unt
Page 105 and 106: Penrose, Bartholomew & Thomas shipy
Page 107 and 108: PARTNERS IN BUILDING PHILADELPHIA H
Page 109 and 110: @ Left: An early Kingsbury advertis
Page 111 and 112: PARTNERS IN BUILDING PHILADELPHIA 1
Page 113 and 114: Aerodynamics. The name DeVal was a
Page 115 and 116: packaging and shipping; and nondest
Page 117 and 118: Another step in product advancement
Page 119 and 120: PHILLY CASE From the basement of a
Page 121 and 122: Under Yost’s direction, The Rowla
Page 123 and 124: The story of Tioga Pipe is a classi
Page 125 and 126: neighborhood. The increased product
Page 127 and 128: Humphrys is one of the oldest manuf
Page 129 and 130: The Doherty brothers realized, to s
Page 131: Centrally located off the Pennsylva
Page 135 and 136: Philadelphia is famous for its appr
Page 137 and 138: injection molded plastic to enter t
Page 139 and 140: had expanded from smaller pieces fo
Page 141 and 142: for many years and they know the fi
Page 143 and 144: furnace as well as a custom flame h
Page 145 and 146: and Salmon Streets. The company wou
Page 147 and 148: The company capitalized on the stra
Page 149 and 150: discharges. The supercapacitors are
Page 151 and 152: products that are custom designed t
Page 153 and 154: Today manufacturing matters, now mo
Page 155: LEADERSHIP SPONSORS Historical Publ
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