Brock's Bakery

In 1919, Oscar Brock came to Minerva from Fisher’s Bakery in East Liverpool. He became interested in the Minerva area through the influence of a well known Minerva man, the late Joe Carnes. They met at the Columbiana County Fair. In 1921, Brock built a bakery on 107 East Line Street in Minerva that he named, “Brock’s Bakery”. 

 

On August 20th, 1930, three men that worked at Brock’s Bakery made a two-thousand pound cake for Minerva’s homecoming. It cost $250 to make the cake and it was served to fifteen thousand people. The cake took ten hours to bake. Brock also had two workers that helped him bake the one-thousand pound cake. Those workers were Clyde Grimes and Wilbur Willard. Brock’s Bakery sold a bunch of different varieties of bread and cakes. If you saved their bread wrappers, you could get a free ticket to the Roxy Theater, and the bread cost 11 cents. 

 

One day, however, E.J Plott bought the bakery from Brock for a short while, but didn’t change the name. Then, he sold it to Charles Wilson who became the sole owner and changed the name to Wilson’s Bakery.           

             

Mr. Wilson first became associated with this bakery in 1946 and changed the name to ‘Wilson’s Bakery’. Wilson’s Bakery sold bread, pies, cakes, cookies, rolls, and cupcakes. It was in the same building as Brock’s Bakery. They had a line of baked goods for parties, picnics, reunions and every day meals. They were closed on Thursdays and you could place your orders on Saturdays and Sundays. Charles Wilson was the sole owner until Harry Neff bought the bakery.                                

Harry and Betty Neff got married in 1919, and bought Wilson's Bakery in 1965 from the Wilson family. Harry stated they moved to Minerva in 1965 to operate the bakery. The bakery has been a family owned and operated business until it was torn down.