These stories can also be heard on Sunday mornings around 10 am on WILD 102’s “Look Back in Time” program. Each week’s radio story will be posted here on our website.
Weekly radio stories are researched, compiled, and read by Sheila Winstead, RCHS Board Member.
August 25, 2024
Last week I read about the 40 th anniversary of Honl’s Bakery in Roseau. Seven years later, on
September 28, 1988, the Roseau Times-Region published a story about Honl’s Bakery’s closing.
Here’s the story:
A family tradition came to a close recently in Roseau when Honl’s Bakery baked its last loaf of
bread. The Honl brothers, Robert and Peter, are closing the oven doors after 47 years of family
ownership.
The decision to shut down was not an easy one for Robert and Peter. They were raised around
the bakery, having started work there as youngsters “sweeping floors and greasing pans,” as
Peter said. After graduating from the baking program at Dunwoody Institute in Minneapolis –
Robert in 1966 and Peter in 1972 – both men came back to Roseau to be involved with the
family business.
They gradually took over from their father, Arnold Honl, who bought the bakery from Alfred
“Baker” Olson in 1941. Family had a lot to do with the two returning. “It provided a good living
for our parents,” Robert said. “It was stable.”
The two decided it was time to “test the waters” in some other venture. Said Robert, who will be
selling insurance with Aid Association for Lutherans in Roseau: “I didn’t want to wait until I was
65 to see if I did the right thing.” Peter is undecided about his next step. “I’m not sure yet,” he
said, “but, I’ll give it a try in something else.”
An October 11 auction will clear the mixers, ovens, racks and coolers from the bakery. The
building, a mainstay on Main Street, is up for sale.
It will be a bittersweet moment for the two brothers. They have fond memories of the bakery
and the people who have worked there. “One guy used to bring in a big cardboard box and say,
‘Fill it up’,” Peter said.
While the brothers were baking away in the back, their employees were waiting on customers in
the front. “We did the baking and they ran everything else,” Peter said. “They made life easy for
us.” Sonja Olson had been there 15 years. Other current workers (in 1988) included Jeannie
Larsen, Janet Hetteen, Alice Kemp, Yvonne Nelson and Paula Kvien. Another brother, Charles,
was involved in the business, too. He left about a year ago and now lives in Burnsville.
The brothers purchased the bakery from their father in 1971. If they ever had a problem, they
would turn to Arnold, Peter said. “Even after all these years, he’s still on top of things,” Peter
said.
Arnold, who continued to help out for a couple hours a day, downplayed his role as advisor. The
boys would explain their problem, “And I’d tell them I don’t know anything,” he said.
Arnold got his baking start in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, when he was just out of high school. He
then owned a bakery in Wahpeton, North Dakota, for four years before purchasing the bakery in
Roseau.
He and his wife, Avis, were visiting Arnold’s brother-in-law, Reverend Morris Eggen, when they
noticed the bakery here was for sale. They made the purchase and the words Honl and bakery
have been associated in Roseau ever since.
Robert and Peter were trained as scratch bakers. They made their cakes, bread and batter from
scratch. They’ve seen a big change since the time they were in school. “Mixes were rare when I
went to school,” Peter said. “It’s getting to be more and more mixes and frozen foods.”
Robert said today’s smaller families also had an effect. With less mouths to feed, “people came
in more often and bought less,” he said.
The two remember when they changed from an 18 pan oven to a 40 pan oven in 1979. The
change helped keep up with the growing wholesale supply of fresh buns and baked goods to
restaurants in town.
Now, however, without a Honl getting up at 3 a.m. to start the day at the bakery, it will be a little
different.
A nice photo of Pete and Bob Honl appeared with that article. In it, they’re standing beside the
ovens they spent so much time over.
Thank you to 
for letting us share our county’s history with your listeners by donating air time, studio time, and production staff every week.