“06880” can do many things.
Regrettably, one that we can’t do is recreate the aroma of Pepperidge Farm.
For decades the company that created and produced Goldfish and Milanos was headquartered a few yards over the Norwalk border, on US 1 (Westport Avenue).
Norwalk entrance, on Westport Avenue.
Founded on a Fairfield farm (named for a pepperidge tree that grew there) in the 1930s by Margaret Rudkin, who learned how to bake nutritious bread for her severely allergic son, it moved into its modern Norwalk facility in 1947.
Six years later, Pepperidge Farm baked and sold 77,000 loaves a week.
The cookies and other snacks came with time. But it was the bread — freshly baked, delicious, insanely aromatic — that made driving past so memorable, for generations of Westporters.
Also memorable: school field trips to the site. Decades of classes toured the factory, learned all about the business — and went home with free loaves and snacks.
Like so many other things — including the aroma of fresh-baked bread — it did not last forever.
New technology sealed the scent inside. Baking eventually moved elsewhere. Campbell Soup — which bought Pepperidge Farm in 1961 — contracted its Norwalk division.
A modern office now occupies part of the old Pepperidge Farm site. A large apartment complex — 597 Westport Avenue — sits next door.
Today’s Friday Flashback tells a bit of history about a once-ubiquitous presence. A number of Pepperidge Farm executives lived in Westport; so did factory employees. Staples High School students worked there after school or during the summer too.
If only a blog post could go beyond words, and recreate the glorious smells, inside the plant and out on the road beyond …
Pepperidge Farm founder Margaret Rudkin.
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