~ THE BEGINNING ~
Back in 1937 I was very young I was born in the depression so you know I was very welcome. Any how, a few years before my dad married into the Frankie family. They owned a strip of stores at C Street & Kentucky ave. southeast. We moved into the end 2 stores, we lived in one and had a 7/11 type store in the other. I was 5 at the time.
My dad had a friend named Radford who owned a bakery about 10 blocks away. Mr. Radford started showing my dad how to make pastries that he could sell in the store. Brownies cookies and the like.
At this same time my father purchased a strip of stores in the Benning road area, Benning road and Minnesota ave by the bridge. That's where Raulin's Bakery was born. Year 1939.
As you can guess my father wasn't a baker yet. But he had a brother named Albert who was. He worked for a company called Homes bakery Homes to Homes was there slogan you see they delivered bakery product to your home three times a week. They closed so Albert came to work for my Dad. This was 1940. I was 9 when the war started in 1941.
I think the year was 1948 my family moved the bakery to a new shopping center in Hyattsville. The area was called Queens Chapel
I went into the Air Force during the Korean War. I got out in 1956 by this time My Father was very sick. He had sold all his holdings and my Mon and dad had a small bakery delicatessen in old Hyattsville by the bridge on US 1. I worked for them as well as my regular job until his death in 1963. As I inspected the books I saw the end was near. So my Mom sold the building gave me the money and I moved the bakery to Beltsville opened on November 10th 1964 just before Thanksgiving. I was so broke I had to borrow 50 dollars from my friend at the bank to get change for the cash register. The day we opened was a great day. All the people that like the bakery in Hyattsville and other places had moved out towards Laurel and Beltsville. We never looked back from there.
As for my self, now remember earlier in the story when I wrote about all the other stuff. I was working in the bakery from about my 13th birthday. Not 8 hours a day I had to go to school. I can still remember my mom coming in at 3 AM to get me saying come on Bill we need you, Joe didn't show up. I would go in and fry donuts until about 6 then they would take me home to clean up and catch the school bus at 8. Remember this was during the war, help was hard to find. I have always been a baker I learned from some great men over the years. I was also a baker in the Air Force. So I was a natural,
I sold the bakery to my son in 1984 and went out on the road. My son Steve ran the bakery until 2004 when he sold the bakery. In turn the new owners sold the bakery to a young man. The bakery still bears our name Raulin's Bakery.
This young man works very hard and is one of the best French pastry chefs I have seen and worked with. He still has most of the items Steve and I made plus a great line up of other pastries. Both Steve and I look in on him from time to time, and have become good friends.
So if your are a fan of Raulin's Bakery check out this fine young man. I'm proud he kept the name. And I'm proud of him.
William Raulin AKA Bakerbill
http://www.bakerbill.net/index.html
My dad had a friend named Radford who owned a bakery about 10 blocks away. Mr. Radford started showing my dad how to make pastries that he could sell in the store. Brownies cookies and the like.
At this same time my father purchased a strip of stores in the Benning road area, Benning road and Minnesota ave by the bridge. That's where Raulin's Bakery was born. Year 1939.
As you can guess my father wasn't a baker yet. But he had a brother named Albert who was. He worked for a company called Homes bakery Homes to Homes was there slogan you see they delivered bakery product to your home three times a week. They closed so Albert came to work for my Dad. This was 1940. I was 9 when the war started in 1941.
I think the year was 1948 my family moved the bakery to a new shopping center in Hyattsville. The area was called Queens Chapel
I went into the Air Force during the Korean War. I got out in 1956 by this time My Father was very sick. He had sold all his holdings and my Mon and dad had a small bakery delicatessen in old Hyattsville by the bridge on US 1. I worked for them as well as my regular job until his death in 1963. As I inspected the books I saw the end was near. So my Mom sold the building gave me the money and I moved the bakery to Beltsville opened on November 10th 1964 just before Thanksgiving. I was so broke I had to borrow 50 dollars from my friend at the bank to get change for the cash register. The day we opened was a great day. All the people that like the bakery in Hyattsville and other places had moved out towards Laurel and Beltsville. We never looked back from there.
As for my self, now remember earlier in the story when I wrote about all the other stuff. I was working in the bakery from about my 13th birthday. Not 8 hours a day I had to go to school. I can still remember my mom coming in at 3 AM to get me saying come on Bill we need you, Joe didn't show up. I would go in and fry donuts until about 6 then they would take me home to clean up and catch the school bus at 8. Remember this was during the war, help was hard to find. I have always been a baker I learned from some great men over the years. I was also a baker in the Air Force. So I was a natural,
I sold the bakery to my son in 1984 and went out on the road. My son Steve ran the bakery until 2004 when he sold the bakery. In turn the new owners sold the bakery to a young man. The bakery still bears our name Raulin's Bakery.
This young man works very hard and is one of the best French pastry chefs I have seen and worked with. He still has most of the items Steve and I made plus a great line up of other pastries. Both Steve and I look in on him from time to time, and have become good friends.
So if your are a fan of Raulin's Bakery check out this fine young man. I'm proud he kept the name. And I'm proud of him.
William Raulin AKA Bakerbill
http://www.bakerbill.net/index.html