Posting letters to CopperCity

I am ALMOST from Butte (Anaconda--AHS 1957), but I have a great affinity for Butte and its people. My great-granduncle, Jacob "Jake" Osenbrug, immigrated from Germany in 1878, and arrived in Butte in 1879. He had been to trade school in Germany and learned the art of baking and confectionery and had apprenticed in London for six months before immigrating to the U.S.. He was a born entrepreneur, and after arriving in Butte, he worked odd jobs here while finding business partners with the necessary capital to launch his career as a baker. In 1880 he opened the tiny Eagle Bakery (he even built his own brick oven and baking utensils), which was located at 13 E. Granite, and in 1881 was able to buy out his financial backers. In 1884 he bought the property at 15-17 E. Granite and constructed a fine new building which became known as "The Home Baking Company." It was very successful and in 1885 he was able to have a home built at 825 W. Broadway St. He also acquired mining properties in Butte and in the Big Hole. By 1921, the bakery, office and warehouse were located (I believe) at 107 Olympia St., and the bakery was outfitted with patented baking ovens, and the mixing equipment was operated by modern electric motors. By this time the bakery was solely a wholesale business, with delivery by modern "auto" trucks in a 100-mile radius of Butte, and into Idaho. The brand names were "Holsum" and "Betsy Ross Breads."

Jake joined in many Butte civic organizations, and was a member of Company "F", First Montana State Militia (now known as the National Guard). He had several children by his first wife, Mary M. Heinbockel, whom he married in 1883. Mary died in 1900. He operated The Home Bakery for 31 years, retiring in 1935. His last wife, Agnes Matilda Wahlgren, owned and operated the Gagnon rooming house. Jake died on Christmas Eve, 1943, aged 83 years. The bakery continued to be run and managed by Jake's oldest son, Rudolph Osenbrug, for several years. Today, none of the buildings, including his home, remain standing.

Hi, folks...My name is Dawson Oppenheimer...born and raised in Butte
beginning in 1923...Graduated BHS in 1941...Spent three years in the Army Air
Force during WW II, returned to the University of Mont., Missoula to complete
my schooling and graduated in Journalism in 1948...Now live in Jacksonville,
FL...with E-mail adress of: Dnoppy@AOL.com. If you are old and able to read
this and have any memory of me, feel free to contact me. P.S. MY sister,
Jeanette Oppenheimer Tabak lives a few doors from me in a very fine
retirement complex. We were the children of Gabriel and Carrie Oppenheimer.
I have returned to Butte for our 40th, 50th and 60th class reunions...in
1981, "91 and 2001. Love to hear from anyone who remembers.

************

Don,
You might be interested to know that my father, Don Tamietti, moved the St Helena Church from Meaderville to the Mining Museum

in the summer of 1966. He had to go through the Berkeley Pit to do it, and come out on Park Street. I think they showed it on TV. I remember my brother and I going with him. The timbers he used to support the building came from an old gallows frame, but I don't remember which one. I remember they had to shut down the electric lines for the BA&P railway so we could cross it. I wish I could tell you more. Call him if you're interested. 782-4893.