Former Stella D'Oro cookie factory

Here we are on 237th Street in the Kingsbridge Section of the Bronx, where we start out behind the loading docks of the old Stella D'Oro cookie factory. We start by looking out on the Major Deegan Expressway, and more importantly, the old right of way of the old New York Central Putnam Division. This used to be a major customer of the Put, all the way into the Conrail era. Now, the rails are gone, and everything is shipped by truck. Check out the old tell-tale that remains in the right of way. At this point, the factory is closed and everything has been moved to a factory in Ashland, Ohio. Once we get a good look at the outside of the building, we move into the foyer, where we see a couple of old cookie display cases with empty cookie boxes in them, along with a cool tile floor and a framed Stella D'Oro logo. We then move inside to the dough making area. We see all the machines that are used for stretching the dough that is used to make the cookies and the bread sticks. We proceed down the line to the ingredient area, where we see a bunch of old barrels of syrup and flavoring, along with sugar and flour, among other things. The last portion of the video shows the immense baking oven, which is about 200 feet long, and is run conveyor belt style. Next to the oven, we see a big pile of discarded bread sticks. In the next room, we see the final area and the packaging station, which still has a spool of Pfeffernusse packaging in the holder. Against the wall, we see a whole bunch of products that were supposed to be used for trials, which I guess is an industry term for samples. In the next area, we come to a big, open space, for which I am not certain it was used. We then see all the huge silos which held the bread flour for baking the products. The last part is going down to the end of the hall, where we see the elevator which they used to bring finished products down to the loading dock, along with the break room, and then the flour silos again. From what I am told, this building, and everything inside it, will be demolished. What was a staple of the Bronx since the 1930's will be torn down and lost forever. As a side note, it still smelled like baked products in there, which was pleasing to the senses. If you have any questions about the video, feel free to message me. Comments are welcome. The videos were taken on November 15th, 2009.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Stella
• D'Oro
• baking
• factory
• Major
• Deegan
• Expressway
• New
• York
• Central
• NYC
• Putnam
• Division
• Put
• customer
• up
• until
• Conrail
• CR
• era
• loading
• dock
• foyer
• displays
• cool
• tile
• tiles
• dough
• making
• stretching
• machine
• machines
• barrels
• full
• of
• syrup
• flavoring
• sugar
• long
• conveyor
• belt
• oven
• packaging
• area
• spool
• Pfeffernusse
• wrappers
• bread
• stick
• sticks
• Swiss
• Fudge
• breakfast
• treat
• treats
• biscotti
• Roman
• Egg
• Biscuits
• biscuit
• margherite
• cookie
• cookies
• flour
• silo
• finished
• product
• elevator
• to
• docks
• BCTWGMIU

[STSDrummer03]

How long ago did they stop using this factory??

[FL92002]

About a month ago. They've been taking stuff out of it ever since.

[powershop1903]

Currently watching the documentary. What a sad story and scenes like this probably happen more than you think. I hamilton a small local brewery was in competition with the large brewers and the big guys offered a cash payout for the small company; closing the little guy and taking 100 workers down. Follow the money and the greed!!!!!!!!

[GanjaZombi2]

Factory is crumbling like a Stella D'oro Swiss Fudge cookie, BTW, great work; you should have a show where you explore condemned structures before demolition and it should be on Discovery LOL!

[yryriza]

Do they still make Como Delights? I used to love dipping them in milk.

[rhymeandreasoning]

hey there I live in Montreal, Canada..I am right now watching 'No Contract, No Cookies' on HBO, about the Stella D'Ora strike that happened..what happened to all of the employees?

[TrueNovice]

Stella Doro had some the decent paying jobs in the Bronx. The family was pretty good to their employees, sold it for 100 million to Kraft. It was okay for awhile under Kraft, but the private equity guys just ruined it.

[TrueNovice]

The former New York City home of baked goods company Stella D'oro, at 184-190 West 237th Street, is for sale with an asking price of $30 million.Expressway to the east, and West 237th and 238th streets, have basements. The bakery closed in October 2009. Karl Brumback of Massey Knakal is handling the sale.

[VanGurpinator]

Loudest shoes ever

[ThePastryDiva]

About a minute into the video you can see a bus crossing an over pass, that's where I lived from the time I started High School til I left in '90. The Stella D'Oro smell wafting through the area was awesome, I also spent a lot of time in the Skating rink next door.  Sure miss those old buildings. Sigh.

[MrZambetti]

FL92002, I happen to be a member of the founding family of Stella D'oro, and your video is the first I've seen of the factory since we sold to Nabisco in 1992. I literally grew up in that bakery, and know every that inch you explored. Awesome job! If you have anymore I would love to see it. It appears that they have removed ovens # 6,7, and 8 since I was last there. You wouldn't happen to have any footage of the "West Building"?

To Dilonw0 I remember your father Bob fondly.

JPZ