In 1849, James Ward and his son, Hugh Ward, who came from
Belfast, Ireland, opened a small bakery on
Broome Street in
New York City. In 1884, Hugh Ward and his son Robert Boyd Ward moved to
Allegheny city (now,
Pittsburgh) and opened a new bakery there. The Ward Bread Company was organized by Robert B. Ward in New York, Brooklyn and Newark in 1900. Around 1910, The Ward's Bakeries built two big factories in
Bronx, NY (143rd St. and Southern Boulevard) and
Brooklyn, NY (
Ward Baking Company Building at Vanderbilt Ave and Pacific Street), which "marks a triumphant return to New York". By November 1911, the company starts to sell their famous "Ward's Tip-top Bread" for 5 & 10 cents loaves. In 1921, grandson William Ward took over the company and in 1925 renamed it the Continental Baking Company. Continental Baking acquired the Wagner Baking Company in
Detroit,
Michigan and other 3 companies at the end of 1924. In 1925 it bought Taggart Baking Company, the maker of
Wonder Bread, and became the largest commercial bakery in the United States.
Twinkie snack cakes were invented in 1930 in
Schiller Park, Illinois, by
James Alexander Dewar, a baker at Continental Baking Company. Continental was based in New York from 1923 to 1984. It also had its executive offices in
Hoboken, New Jersey.
M. Lee Marshall, descendant of
John Marshall, was President, later, Chairman, from 1934-1944, and director of distribution in the
War Food Administration in 1944. Continental was purchased by
ITT in 1968, then sold to
Ralston Purina in 1984. It was purchased by
Interstate Bakeries Corporation in 1995. The combined company was rebranded Hostess Brands in 2009. s were introduced by the Continental Baking Company in 1930. Hostess Brands (the former Interstate Bakeries Corporation) closed in 2012. During the liquidation process, it again changed its name, to Old HB. An entirely new and separate entity, New HB Acquisition LLC, was established in 2013, 50% owned by HB Holdings, LLC, a venture set up by
Apollo Global Management and
C. Dean Metropoulos and Company. New HB Acquisition acquired the brand names and some plants and other assets from Old HB, then renamed itself as
Hostess Brands. ==References==