V28-1 Swedish Bakery closes after 38 years

The Stanton family has been operating The Swedish Bakery since 1979. The bakery that was first started in 1928 by the Johnson family and for the first 51 years, the establishment changed ownership four times. From 1971 to 1979 Marlies Stanton, a pastry chef from Europe, worked in the bakery kitchen and, in 1979, was able to purchase the bakery when the owner retired. Marlies and George and the Stanton family became the fifth owners and have made it a truly family-run bakery.

Both Kathy Stanton and Denis Stanton continued the family tradition after Marlies and George Stanton passed away.

In 1992, the building was expanded to triple its size and it went from 19 employees to 55.

“We’re all family here” said Gabriella Arellano, an assistant manager. “Marlies was like a grandmother to us, and her daughter Kathy is like a second mom. I think of the staff as brothers and sisters and of this building as a second home. It’s a good place to work.”

We at the EHS know this quite well. Our first anniversary cake was a gift from the Swedish Bakery, complete with a trolley car to match our logo. Many other EHS celebrations have been graced with pastries from the Swedish Bakery. Their support of the Edgewater Historical Society has meant a lot. Both George and Marlies had worked at the Edgewater Beach Hotel and had shared their memories with us.

George Stanton was at the Edgewater Beach Hotel from the very beginning. He became chief executive steward in 1924 and held the post to the day the hotel closed in 1967.

He had come to Chicago in 1923 and taken a job running a DeMets luncheonette on State Street.

The bakery became known for its marzipan pastry which is made from almonds. This special pastry can be found as a layer in cakes and even as the cover frosting on a cake. “One almond coffee cake is so popular,” Kathy Stanton reported, “they even named it after the neighborhood.” The Andersonville coffee cake incorporates almonds along with cardamom and cinnamon.

The business is closing because of changes in the market place and the family retirement.

The Andersonville Edgewater community has lost one of its best independent businesses.