Look Inside This Vacant and Abandoned Factory In Buffalo, New York

With the recent and sudden closure of a major Western New York manufacturer, folks all over the Buffalo region are worried that another massive commercial structure will end up vacant and abandoned in the area. It's sometimes hard to accept that so many of the amazing examples of commercial architecture that dot just about every cover just neighborhood and consist of just about every style of construction have fallen by the wayside, but this is the daily fact in Buffalo and other Rust Belt cities in the American midwest and northeast.

It's truly a shame when you think about it. All around the region, you can easily find buildings and streets created by people with names such as Frederick Law Olmsted, Calvert Vaux, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Louise Blanchard Bethune, H.H. Richardson, Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Elbert Hubbard, and more. Often there is a push to try and maintain these properties, this is what you're seeing with structures like the former Sattler's Theatre on Broadway, wile sometimes those efforts seem to fall short, which is what we're seeing with a historically significant building in Buffalo's MLK neighborhood.

The former Wonder Bread factory is a perfect example of that.

What Is The Wonder Bread Factory?

Once adjacent to Frederick Law Olmsted & Calvert Vaux's The Parade, a famous Buffalonian named George Urban bought a large tract of land from future US President Grover Cleveland in 1903. Cleveland, Sheriff of Buffalo at the time, sold that land to Urban to build a mill for what became the George Urban Milling Company. From there, the mill he built on what became Urban Street ultimately led to the construction of the Wonder Bread factory.

Architect Corry B. Comstock designed and constructed the five-story factory in 1914. When finished, the massive structure towering over the neighborhood sat on more than 2.8 acres of land and boasted over 180,000 square feet of manufacturing area. During its peak years, this giant building produced hundreds of pounds of bread and other baked goods every single day. According to Buffalo Rising, the plant had a daily capacity of 100,000 loaves, plus 50,000 cakes and 20,000 rolls.

For a large part of the company's history, this factory was the primary producer of some of our favorite snacks. Over the decades, if you enjoyed a Twinkie, Sno Ball, Ding Dong, or Ho Ho, it likely came from this massive bakery, which was bounded by Urban Street, Barthel Street, and Fougeron Street.

So What's Happening With The Wonder Bread Factory?

As we see today in Western New York with other industries, the economics of mass baking started to change, and plant owner Interstate Bakeries Corporation went bankrupt. This eventually led to the closure of this factory 20 years ago. The last 150 employees left the building in October 2004, which has sat largely vacant since then.

There have been a few attempts to revive the structure over the years. However, nearly all of those plans have stalled or been abandoned. Sometime over the last decade or so, several of the huge letters on the roof have disappeared. This includes the "B" and "N", which vanished in 2012, followed by two "E"s sometime later.

Peek Inside The Factory

The Facebook page Abandoned Buffalo, NY, has a knack for exploring areas around Western and Central New York that are worthy of looking at. A while ago, their explorations took them inside the historic factory in Buffalo.

Like many people from Buffalo, I have warm memories of when this neighborhood smelled like fresh bread. I used to ride my bicycle across town to the Wonder Bread Factory Store on the Fougeron Street side to buy all sorts of goodies with my allowance.

It's truly a shame what's happened to this building over the years. Let's hope something positive can come from it.

You can check out all of the photos that were taken below:

Warning

The information shared here is meant for entertainment and educational purposes only. Under no circumstances should you enter this property. Doing so risks bodily harm and/or prosecution for trespassing on private property. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you do not attempt to investigate the inside of abandoned buildings without proper knowledge, experience, and legal authorization.