RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

The Home Bakery on Mill Street shortly after it opened in 1900. The poster on the electric pole advertises an Autumn Carnival street fair scheduled for late-September 1900.

Paul and Henry Zender – proprietors of the Home Bakery

By Jaimie Timm, mower CounTy HisToriCal soCieTy • all pHoTos CourTesy of THe mower CounTy HisToriCal soCieTy

Paul H. Zender was a German immigrant who became a valued Austin businessman and civil servant.

Opening the Home Bakery in 1900 was just one step in a long journey. Born in Luxembourg, Germany, in 1846, Paul traveled to America with his parents in 1852. The 86-day journey was difficult and culminated in a shipwreck. After three days in the water, the Zender family was rescued and eventually made their way to Quebec with nothing except the clothes they wore. After marrying in 1869, Paul and his wife, Catherine, lived in Calmar, Iowa, where he operated a meat market.

They moved to Austin in April 1873. Paul opened another meat market before moving into the bakery business in 1900. He was a member of several fraternal organizations and held many roles in the community. He was the long-time aldermanat-large of the city and was acting mayor for one year after Mayor Sutton died. He and his wife had eight children and was known as a “man who loved his home and family greatly” when he died in 1912.

Henry (known as “Nick” because he looked so much like his uncle Nicholas) was born to Paul and Catherine Zender on Aug. 1, 1874, and went on to be a lifelong Austin resident. When the Spanish-American war broke out, he was the first to volunteer for service with Company G. He served as a wagoner during the conflict. He returned to Austin and married Margie Anderson on New Year’s Eve 1907. He worked as a bill poster until 1909, when he took over his father’s bakery with business partner Otto Jensen. Henry and Otto made many improvements and updates to the bakery, but Henry was in a car accident in 1913 or 1914 and was unable to work. He died in 1916 as a result of his injuries. The Home Bakery changed hands a few more times, but seems to have gone out of business once and for all in 1922.

Henry “Nick” Zender in his military uniform, ca. 1898.

The Zender brothers – Joe, Henry (“Nick”), and Frank. Based on how the photograph is labeled, the brothers are on the right side of the photograph. The man on the far left is unknown.

Above, articles in the Mower County Transcript that detailed the opening of the bakery and of Henry taking it over.

Left, Paul Zender’s home around 1904. This is presumably where Henry and his siblings grew up.