My Great GrandFather Eilert Koester

Koester’s Bakery was the Largest Bakery east of the Mississippi founded by my great grandfather and great grandmother = Eilert Koester (1858 -1948) and his wife Lisette (1860-1947). Hilda Koester my Grandmother (1893-1958) was the daughter of  Eilert and his wife Lisette . Both Eilert and Lisette were born in Germany

Eilert H koester was born in Oldenburg Germany and came to the United States as a baker while working as a baker on Ocean Liners. Eilert married Lisette and they had two children at the time, William Sr. (1888) and Hilda (my grandmother ) who married Frank G. Schenuit later in life.  In 1885 they started the Koester’s Bakery that bore his name.

After their 60th wedding anniversary, Lisette passed away and then the following year Eilert passed away.  Then the business was managed first by his son William Sr. and then William’s Sr.  two Son’s,  Willian Jr. and Richard

The bakery was founded in 1885 and was at one time the largest family owned bakery east of the Mississippi. The business, was located at 644 W. Lexington Street.

They employed about 450 people and had a huge operation delivering bread directly to the homes of their customers.

The bakery was later in the hands of the grandchildren of Eilert William Koester Jr. and Richard Koester. The bakery was later sold to Bar Realty a venture capital firm for $660,000 in cash and the assumption of 2.3 million of debt.

Mercantile was the trustee for my mothers non-voting stock and at the End my Father Oliver Travers determined the non-voting stock had converted to  voting stock and my father started to get involved with financial decisions when wth the company was sold to the venture capital firm.

And a recent photo of Koesters provided by my sister below 

Koester’s Bakery was founded by Eilert Koester (9-1858 to 11-7-1948) and his wife Lisette (12-1860 to 8-7-1947).  The business, according to the 1905 Polk directory was located at 644 W. Lexington Street, which was also noted as their home on the 1900 Federal Census, and at 894 W. Baltimore Street.  They had two children at the time, William (3-1888 to12-2007 ) and Hilda (12-1893 to ).  The bakery was founded in 1887 and was at one time the largest family owned bakery in the U.S.  Both Eilert and Lisette were born in Germany. The bakery was later in the hands of William, their son.  He was raised on St. George’s Road and was a 1938 graduate of Gilman School.  He earned a degree at Dartmouth College and served in the Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Wasp in the Pacific during World War II.  He left the Navy as a lieutenant.  After the war he worked as an actor in New York and toured with companies of South Pacific and Arsenic and Old Lace.  In 1950, he returned to Baltimore and became the sales director for his family bakery on W. Lexington Street.  He retired when the business was sold in 1977.  William was a volunteer counselor to substance abusers.  He was a Mason and a member of the Baltimore Country Club and the Gibson Island Yacht Club. 

The family is interred at Druid Ridge Cemetery