While home this holiday, I was able to walk around the small village of Navarre, in western Stark county, where some family lives.

 

The Nickles bakery is headquartered here, and they still produce goods. (They were in operation Friday, and the smell of fresh pastries and bread was fantastic. :-D )

 

In fact, they recently expanded their facilities.

 

 

Here is historic Rochester Square. (my little cousin doesn't understand why they call it "Rochester Square" when it's clearly a triangle)

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving the square:

 

 

 

 

 

These brick sidewalks are fairly common.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the business district along Canal Street.

 

 

 

 

I didn't realize that there was a sign for this building until after I got back home and started to review the pictures. :-(

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this little tour.  I'm sure there is a lot that I've missed.  And, I didn't even touch on the canal history. (mostly because I don't know much about it)

Neat thread. That's a quaint, historic town.

 

Nickles Bakery used to run retail sales routes out in the country clear over into Indiana when I was just a li'l whippersnapper. That's before most of y'alls daddies was born. I think they had a distribution center around Marion or Montpelier (Indiana).

 

Farm folks grew most of what they ate and didn't go traipsing off to town every little whipstitch for odds and ends, so some vendors came to the farms. Among them was the Nickles bread man who came around about the same time, same day every week. He had a general line of bakery products in his truck, and if you wanted a special order, he'd write it down in his book and bring it when he made his rounds the next week. What I remember most about the Nickels bread man was how fast he drove, zooming up and down the unpaved roads trailing a billowing cloud of dust behind his red-and-white panel truck (sort of like a suburban but with solid sides instead of windows, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the term).

 

We still had a huckster who came around in the late forties, too. He had a big, old closed-in truck sort of like a U-Haul, with steps up the back and shelves and bins inside like an old-time store. He worked out of a general store in a crossroads village that's nothing now but a church, one house, and the fallen-down remains of the general store. He had housewares, some groceries, dry goods (fabric & sewing supplies), general hardware, knick-knacks to amuse kids, and catalogs that you could place orders from for his next visit. He could get clothes, shoes and such on order. He came around maybe once a month or so. I think by around 1950 that business died off, but the general store hung on until the old lady who ran it died at 90-some years old.

excellent job. wow on the old log house. they have quite a bit of variety, even including some of the streets themselves, like for example the triangular square and the way one street curves and opens up around emmerts market.

 

best of all everything looks pretty well appreciated and preserved too.

 

i had no idea nickles bakery and bread was still around, but not because i dont live in ohio anymore so much as because we were orlando bread people. do they still have those funny nickles ghetto discount bread shops all around northern ohio too?

Nice historic homes!

Thanks for sharing!

Stark County never disappoints!

Great little tour of a nice little town. Is Alice's Restaurant still downtown? Rochester Square, west of downtown on Rt. 62, would be an asset to any community. I grew up about 20 miles south on old Rt. 21 and remember the Nickles "bread man" bringing us each day our daily bread until the early 70s.

Thanks for the replies!

 

Is Alice's Restaurant still downtown?

 

I'm not sure, but I don't think they are still open.

Neat!

Another nice little surprise.

Great photos! Alice's Restaurant closed years ago and was replaced by the local chain "Firehouse Grill" which ironically burned down a few years ago. The building with the sign you missed was President William McKinley's first law office. I worked at Nickles Bakery in the summers while going to college in Akron after working a couple summers at Republic Steel in Massillon... believe me, the odors were much more pleasant at Nickles  :-D

Hey, thanks!

Always wondered what Navarre looked like!  Have family there but never went, they always came to us.  Looks really pleasant and quaint.  Thanks for the tour.

Interesting little village.