The year was 1881. The town site of Phoenix was only 11 years old, about to become incorporated ... and already home to more than 1,500 residents.

Phoenix didn't look like much back then: Only one school, four churches, a bank, a post office, two public halls, three hotels and six feed corrals dotted its dusty skyline. But it was growing. And growing fast.

Every day, stagecoaches from bustling cities in the East brought settlers to town in search of work, a new beginning, and, if luck served 'em well, the realization of a lifelong dream or two.

One such settler was young Edward Eisele.

Born in Sautgau, Germany in 1856, Edward was the son of the Station Kommandant of the State Police in the Kingdom of Wurttemberg. After completing a four-year apprenticeship in Germany, Edward was sent to London, where his parents had arranged for him to work with a textile manufacturer. His primary goal while there, was to learn how to speak English.

However, the day after Edward arrived in London; he was badly beaten and robbed of everything he owned. When he reported to his new job several days later, understandably disheveled and disoriented, he was turned away.

Friendless and penniless, Edward returned to the shipyard in Portsmouth, hoping to gain passage back to Germany. He met a ship's Boatswain who offered room, board and modest wages in exchange for various odd jobs aboard his ship. Eisele accepted - and spent the next two years at sea, painting, cleaning, charting and, as fate would have it, baking.

After many months, his ship docked in Philadelphia. Having heard much about the Land of Opportunity, Edward decided that now was the time for him to seek his fortune in America and he set out on his own. He then wrote to his mother and father to let them know he was still alive (it had been nearly 2-years since they heard from him) and that he was going to give this new place a try.

His first job was in a Pennsylvania coal mine, where he took home 75 cents each week - good money for those days, especially because it included room and board.

Gold and silver had been struck in the West. So Edward joined a wagon train as a cook/baker and headed West to Colorado. Once there, the wagon train was hired to haul mining equipment into the New Mexico territory, then proceeded to the Arizona territory where Edward cooked and baked for the team of people who were surveying the Arizona Canal.

As the surveying was nearing completion in 1881, Edward began looking for another job. He walked into the Phoenix Bakery (at Center St. and Washington), and asked if he could work there. The owner, Mr. J. Heinson who was also from Germany, hired him on the spot. After working for Mr. Heinson for 3 years, Edward purchased the business in 1884 for $300 and assumed all of the company's outstanding bills. (the original site - 7 West Washington - is marked today with a brass plaque in the brickwork at Patriot's Park in downtown Phoenix).

The early '80s were good years. And Edward Eisele worked hard to make Phoenix Bakery one of the leading bake shops in Phoenix. Initially, he baked all of the bread, cakes, sweet rolls, cookies, pies, French pastries and doughnuts himself. Each afternoon, he delivered his wares all over town - - on foot!. That is, until 1887, when his good friend Alfred Becker left his career as a pharmacist to join the fledgling bakery.

Production was peaking at 200 loaves of bread a day and the Phoenix Bakery Boy became a familiar sight as he walked from door to door carrying baskets full of fragrant loaves.

As Phoenix grew, so did the necessity for a more expeditious form of transportation. So Edward learned how to ride one of those newfangled miracles called a bicycle. He balanced his bread baskets on either side of the back tire and away he went - increasing his route so quickly that Edward and Alfred decided to buy a horse drawn bakery wagon to deliver more loaves even faster.

The first horse-drawn bakery wagon in the territory of Arizona was such a success that in 1894, they added seven more wagons to their burgeoning fleet.

In 1910, Phoenix Bakery bought the first gas-powered vehicle to deliver its products - and became the first bakery in the (still) territory of Arizona to use a motorized means of product distribution!

Being first with innovative new ideas became the trademark of the company. They were first to use sanitary waxed paper wrappers in the early 1900's; first to sell sliced bread in 1931; and first to advertise their products on a tricky earphone set known as the radio.

Edward and Alfred were each blessed with a son, Lloyd and Charles. They grew up together, were good friends and even went away to the University of Michigan together in the early 1920s. And when they returned to Phoenix, they joined the business. By 1929, as most of the country was beleaguered by the Great Depression, the Phoenix Bakery had outgrown its original location and moved to a larger building at the former Phoenix Indian School site on the southwest corner of Washington and 7th Avenue.

That same year, Lloyd and Charles decided the bakery should become exclusively wholesale. So they purchased the rights to a well-known national bread brand from the W.E. Long Company in Chicago - and renamed their bakery and its products Holsum. Following in their fathers' footsteps, Charles managed sales and Lloyd directed plant production.

The business continued to grow; Holsum was becoming one of the most successful bread companies Arizonians had ever seen. And so did the long list of firsts Holsum Bakery brought to Arizona. Even before the Federal government initiated its health-conscious Enrichment Program during World War II, Holsum was baking enriched bread for its customers. And in the late '40s, when television advertising came into being, Holsum was the first bakery in Arizona to advertise on "the tube."

By 1946, Holsum had once again outgrown its facilities. A brand new, fully automated plant was constructed by Del Webb (who owned-among other things at that time-the New York Yankees!) on South 23rd Avenue, housing the finest state-of-the-art baking equipment in the industry.

As Holsum continued to focus on the wholesale market, production of sweet products like cookies, pies and cakes ceased. Bread production increased dramatically - and has continued to do so over the years.

Today, under the guidance of Lloyd Eisele's son, Edward, Holsum produces over 300 varieties of bread, buns and rolls each week!

And unlike the days of the Phoenix Bakery Boy, Holsum distributes products through an elaborate distribution system to nearly every city, town and trading post in Arizona. Holsum's products are also found in Southern California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

As Holsum has continued to expand, so has its dedication to provide the highest quality baked goods available in the market.

Throughout its history, Holsum has received numerous awards for superior products and, as an Arizona baker, has been recognized nationally for overall quality. The Long Company, a Chicago-based bakery cooperative, consistently ranks Holsum products as those scoring highest among its many bakery members and has awarded Holsum its Silver Cup for bread scores and its coveted Bun Trophy for Best Hamburger Buns year after year.

In the late 1980s, Holsum adopted the continuous improvement concepts embedded within Total Quality Management - based on the belief that whatever the company does, it can always be improved through work process improvement.

Welcome to Holsum. Where pride, quality and dedication are the most important ingredients in the products we bake.