Our Story · Since 1921
Known from Coast to Coast.
If you grew up with Dad’s cookies in Baltimore, Buffalo, Oakland or Omaha, you’ve found them again. These are the Original Scotch Oatmeal cookies, still baked from the same recipe.
Chapter I · Los Angeles · 1919–1923
An old Scot’s cookie and a dad who knew a good thing
Just after World War I, Walter Gulley and his brother-in-law Al Sturges bought a little Los Angeles bakeshop from “an old Scot, a few years removed from the Land o’ Cakes.” Among his recipes was a different kind of Scotch oatmeal cookie: crisp, crunchy and nut brown.
Al’s father, Alva A. Sturges, was a well-known Los Angeles lawyer who had come west from upstate New York. One day he walked into the shop, tried a cookie, then another, and bought a couple of pounds to take home.
“You boys have a cookie here that everybody who likes cookies at all dreams about but seldom gets. You should stop all other production, concentrate on this cookie and the whole country will be wild about your product.”
A.A. “Dad” Sturges, as told to the Vancouver Sun, 1935
The boys didn’t like putting all their eggs in one basket. So Dad went downtown, rented a vacant baking factory and told them: “This bakeshop will close tomorrow and the cookie plant will start operations.” He was putting up the money, so he called the tune. Dad’s Cookies was born, with the trademark in use by March 1921.
Chapter II · 1922–1930s
The rise: a franchise before franchises
Thirty years before Ray Kroc and McDonald’s, there was Dad’s. The Sturges family didn’t ship cookies across the country. They sold the right to bake them. Local bakers and route men bought a territory, the recipe and the name, then baked fresh for their own town and delivered by wagon and truck.
The cookie spread fast. By September 1922 it was advertised in Oakland, where a Scottish-born grocer named Ernie Wheeler sold his store to take on the territory. Wheeler went on to open Dad’s factories in New Jersey and then Dallas, which he found “too darned hot.”
The Sturges family had roots in western New York, and by 1927 they ran the company from Buffalo. A new plant opened on East Delavan Avenue that July, billed as the 15th Dad’s plant. That spring the Los Angeles Times listed branches in Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle, Kansas City, Newark, Cleveland, Boston, New York City and Baltimore.
At its height, one of the original partners later recalled, Dad’s had six factories and 48 franchise operations. In each town, people thought Dad’s was theirs.
In 1927, Dad’s came to St. Louis[Map: every known Dad’s location in the U.S. Each dot links to its city below.]
“Known from Coast to Coast”
From the clippings
1936
Dad’s sponsored the “Cookie Revue,” a Warner Bros. radio broadcast in Los Angeles. Whittier News, May 21, 1936.
1932
Two bandits held up the Oakland Dad’s at 414 23rd Ave., after first telling the manager they planned to become customers. Oakland Tribune, Oct. 17, 1932.
1950s–70s
Dad’s packed baseball cards in with the cookies. [Confirm years and which franchise issued them.]
Chapter III · Dad’s Across America
Did your town have a Dad’s?
Here is every American Dad’s we’ve found so far in newspapers, city directories, draft cards and state records. Tap a city to see the sources, and memories from people who grew up with it.
West
Los Angeles, CA
Where it began. “Dad’s Favorite Oatmeal Cookie Shop,” 2012 S. Vermont Ave., 1923.See more
Sources
- Los Angeles Times, advertisement, Feb. 3, 1923
- Los Angeles City Directory, 1922 (“Sturges, Alva A., whol. cookies”)
- U.S. trademark filing, Dad’s Cookie Company, Apr. 5, 1934
Oakland, CA
Earliest known Dad’s ad, Sept. 1922. Warm cookies in brown paper bags at the bakery by the freeway, until 1969.See more
Sources
- Oakland Tribune, advertisement, Sept. 2, 1922
- Oakland Tribune, “Bandits Hold Up Cookie Firm,” Oct. 17, 1932
- Oakland Tribune, “Action Line,” June 30, 1976
Memories
“My dad used to take me to Dad’s Cookies on the side of the freeway. They were warm and in a brown paper bag.”
“My Dad used to stop by the factory on his way home from work and get two bags, one for our jar and one for the jar at my Grandmother’s.”
San Francisco, CA
Dad’s Cookies trade name registered April 1923.See more
Sources
- The Recorder (San Francisco), business notice, Apr. 5, 1923
Memories
“First time I ever had your oatmeal cookie was in the fall of 1964 in San Francisco at a place called The Sweetery on California St. and 22nd Ave.”
Seattle, WA
3409 Rainier Ave. “Ask your grocer,” 1936.See more
Sources
- The Veterans’ Review (Seattle), advertisement, 1936
Portland, OR
2432 NE Sandy Blvd. Hiring route salesmen, 1940.See more
Sources
- The Oregonian, classified, July 13, 1940
Denver, CO
395 S. Pearl St. Supplied wagon jobbers as far as Albuquerque.See more
Sources
- WWII draft registration card, 1942
- Albuquerque Tribune, advertisement, Apr. 18, 1953
Memories
“My Grandpa had the franchise for Dad’s Cookies in Nebraska. His brother-in-law had it in Colorado (Denver).”
Salt Lake City, UT
2194 S. Seventh East, 1934.See more
Sources
- Murray Eagle (Utah), 1934
Phoenix, AZ
The Arizona franchise was offered for sale in 1952.See more
Sources
- Arizona Republic, classified, Mar. 29, 1952
Midwest
Kansas City, MO
Opened 1926 at 3922 Troost Ave.See more
Sources
- American Independent Baker, 1926
- Kansas City Star, Aug. 29, 1976
Omaha, NE
Blaine McDonald held the Nebraska franchise at 4735 Military Ave.; his brother-in-law ran Denver.See more
Sources
- WWII draft registration card, 1940
- Omaha World-Herald, classified, 1950
Memories
“My memory is going to my Grandpa’s cookie factory in Omaha. I love the memories, the barrels of flour, the baking ovens and the smell.”
Davenport, IA
Plant opened 1930 by Clifford Chartier, who came from the Omaha Dad’s.See more
Sources
- Davenport Daily Times, “Dad’s Cookie Co. Opens Plant,” Sept. 30, 1930
- Clifford Chartier obituary, Dec. 1934
Sioux City, IA
A Dad’s Cookies franchise route was advertised in 1949.See more
Sources
- Sioux City Journal, classified, Dec. 23, 1949
St. Paul, MN
914 Selby Ave. Run by William and Amanda Blilie.See more
Sources
- St. Paul Pioneer Press, Aug. 6, 1933
- WWII draft registration card (William Blilie)
Detroit, MI
7625 W. Warren Ave., run with St. Louis by Robert T. Sutton, 1929.See more
Sources
- The Modern View (St. Louis), advertisement, Oct. 11, 1929
Cleveland, OH
Named a Dad’s branch in 1927. Later at 10420 Euclid Ave.See more
Sources
- Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1927
- WWII draft registration card
Indianapolis, IN
Delivered by Tasty Foods, 1935.See more
Sources
- Indianapolis Star, Jan. 28, 1935
Louisville, KY
“Made in Louisville” at 801 W. Oak St., 1932.See more
Sources
- Courier-Journal, advertisement, 1932
- Courier-Journal, May 27, 1934
Northeast & Mid-Atlantic
Buffalo, NY
Company headquarters by 1927. Plant at 515 E. Delavan Ave.; Tom Angelo ran it 1968–1976.See more
Sources
- Buffalo Commercial, bakery permit, June 12, 1924
- Buffalo Times, new plant, July 7, 1927
- Sanborn fire insurance map, Buffalo, 1939
- Thomas Angelo obituary, Buffalo News
Rochester, NY
A Buffalo-run branch in the early 1930s.See more
Sources
- New York State Industrial Board hearing testimony, 1934
Boston, MA
Branch named in 1927. The New England oven was in Somerville, 231 Lowell St.See more
Sources
- Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1927
- WWII draft registration card, 1942
- Boston Globe, July 9, 1944
Hartford, CT
“Dad’s Wee Bonnie Wafers” advertised in 1929.See more
Sources
- Hartford Courant, advertisement, May 8, 1929
New York City, NY
Named a Dad’s branch in 1927.See more
Sources
- Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1927
Newark, NJ
Branch named in 1927; Ernie Wheeler built a New Jersey factory.See more
Sources
- Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1927
- Vancouver Sun, Mar. 30, 1935
Baltimore, MD
Branch by 1927. Bakeries on Gay St., Pratt St. and Winters Lane in Catonsville.See more
Sources
- Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1927
- WWII draft registration card (544 Gay St.)
- Baltimore Sun, obituary, Mar. 11, 1964
Memories
“There was a corner drug store where they had Dad’s oatmeal cookies in a large glass jar, and for a nickel you could reach in and grab a cookie.”
“I would pass the Dad’s cookie bakery on Winters Lane in Catonsville. If I had a nickel I would go in and purchase a small bag of broken cookies.”
Washington, DC
The snack-time cookie in D.C. public schools from the 1950s into the ’70s, a penny apiece.See more
Sources
- Customer memories submitted to Dad’s, 2025 (no clipping found yet)
Memories
“Dad’s cookies used to be delivered to my school. Students paid 1 cent for each cookie.”
“We couldn’t wait for the white box to show up with your cookies inside.”
South
Birmingham, AL
Locals knew owner J.E. Ashton simply as “Dad.” 4500 First Ave. N.See more
Sources
- Birmingham News, 1930 (delivery truck photo)
- Birmingham News, Apr. 23, 1938
- Birmingham News, J.E. Ashton obituary, May 10, 1948
Little Rock, AR
Ashton started his Dad’s here before Birmingham, 1930.See more
Sources
- Birmingham News, Feb. 16, 1930
Atlanta, GA
Locally owned, 971 Peachtree St., 1931.See more
Sources
- Atlanta Journal, 1931
Memphis, TN
“Sole manufacturers” at 804–806 S. Cooper St., 1928.See more
Sources
- Commercial Appeal, advertisement, 1928
Jackson, MS
Opened 1930 at 411 W. Capitol St. by O.W. Luker.See more
Sources
- Clarion-Ledger, July 28, 1930
- Clarion-Ledger, plant fire, Nov. 2, 1933
New Orleans, LA
3211 D’Hemecourt St. Made by “a patented process,” 1930.See more
Sources
- West Bank Herald, Sept. 25, 1930
- Louisiana Secretary of State charter, 1936
Dallas, TX
Ernie Wheeler’s factory. Later at 113 N. Haskell Ave.See more
Sources
- Vancouver Sun, Mar. 30, 1935
- Houston Chronicle, Texas charters, Dec. 5, 1939
- WWII draft registration card
Oklahoma City, OK
Factory opened 1928 at 1 S. Western Ave.See more
Sources
- Oklahoma News, “Bakery Locates Here,” May 31, 1928
- Blackwell Journal-Tribune, “Tooth for Cookies,” Oct. 24, 1932
Tulsa, OK
916 N. Denver Ave., 1929.See more
Sources
- Tulsa Tribune, Feb. 28, 1929
Tampa & St. Petersburg, FL
St. Pete plant at 2559 Fifth Ave. A Tampa-area Dad’s baked into the 1990s.See more
Sources
- WWII draft registration card (St. Petersburg)
- Tampa Tribune, Apr. 29, 1990
- Tampa Tribune, Sept. 4, 1994
Featured city
Dad’s Cookies in Baltimore
- Owner
- [Name, from the 1964 Baltimore Sun obituary]
- Bakeries
- 544 Gay St. (1940s) · Pratt St. (1960s) · Winters Lane, Catonsville (1950s)
- Years
- By 1927 – [closing year]
Baltimore was one of the Dad’s branches named in 1927, and for decades the cookie was everywhere: in big glass jars at the corner drugstore, a nickel a cookie; in the after-school snack line; and in bags of “broken” cookies sold at the bakery door. Baltimore’s Dad’s also supplied schools in Washington, D.C. [Confirm; add closing details once the Maryland State Archives request comes back.]
“Walking home from school I would pass the Dad’s cookie bakery on Winters Lane in Catonsville. If I had a nickel in my pocket I would go in and purchase a small bag of broken cookies.”
Tom · Catonsville, late 1950s
Miss it? We ship to Baltimore“Dad’s Cookies was located on Pratt Street. My Dad would take me after Saturday errands, early in the morning, our special time together.”
Barbara · Baltimore, 1960s
[Baltimore clipping or photo]
Chapter IV · 1960s–1990s
The fall: one by one, the ovens went cold
Dad’s was built on families, and families need a next generation. Leland Sturges, Dad’s son, had kept the company running for 41 years as its secretary-treasurer. When he died in 1964, the last of the founding family was gone, and in March 1965 the shareholders voted to wind up the Dad’s Cookie Company.
Without a parent company, each franchise was on its own. The Oakland bakery went bankrupt in 1969. In Buffalo, where it all had been run from, Tom Angelo kept Dad’s going from 1968 to 1976. The last local newspaper ads fade out across the 1980s.
- 1964 · Leland Sturges, the last of the founding family, dies
- 1965 · Dad’s Cookie Company votes to dissolve
- 1969 · Oakland goes bankrupt
- 1976 · Buffalo’s last owner sells
The exception
In St. Louis, the recipe stayed in the family. The Renz family baked Dad’s on Louisiana Avenue for fifty years, and when Hank Renz Jr. was ready to retire in 1988, he passed the bakery to his nephews.
Read the St. Louis story
Chapter V · 1988–today
The comeback: coast to coast, again
The Hastey brothers took over the St. Louis bakery in 1988 and did something the franchises never could: with the advent of the internet, they began shipping the cookies nationwide, including to U.S. military bases around the world. For people who had lost their hometown Dad’s, the original could finally come to them.
And in 2023 the bakery passed to three St. Louis brothers, Chad, Ryan and Tyler Huber, who grew up eating these cookies at their grandmother’s house. Today we bake the original in the same building on Louisiana Avenue and ship it to doorsteps across the country, from Baltimore to Oakland and every Dad’s town in between.
1927–2027: 100 years in St. Louis
[Centennial teaser line and link]
Your Stories
A memory in every bite
So many of you share your stories with us, from shipping cookies to Iraq to bring a family member a taste of home to making the pilgrimage from Alaska to our storefront. Here are a few.
[Shopify Forms: “Memories” form goes here]