The J. SPANG BAKING CO., a family-owned retail bakery that operated for 70 years, was established by German immigrant Julius Spang, who learned the baking trade in Germany, where he was born in 1852. He and his family came to the U.S. in 1882, and after settling in Cleveland, Spang opened a small bake shop on Barber Ave. in 1888. The J. Spang Baking Co. was incorporated in 1909 and continued to expand its operations through the years. By 1956 the company employed 433 people and operated the main plant at 2911 Barber Ave., another plant in Lorain, and a third in Akron. After the founder's death in Dec. 1950, the Spang family maintained control of the company until it was sold to the LAUB BAKING CO. in 1958.
Julius Spang's son, Emil, managed the Barber Ave. retail shop from 1900 to 1908 and then organized a second bakery under his own name. The Emil Spang Baking Co. was a wholesale bakery firm incorporated in 1913 and located at 1556 E. 24th St. He returned to his father's firm as a manager in 1922 but continued to operate his own bakery until 1950, when he sold it.