Conshohocken’s Camarda’s Bakery

Conshohocken’s Camarda’s Bakery

Now We Know

By Jack Coll

10-7-26

     A number of years ago I ran into Dave Camarda, we met at a large dinner outing hosted by the late Hank Cisco of Norristown who would gather up a group of guys to break bread once a month or so.  I got talking to Dave and he told me about his grandfather, Dominic Camarda, who once lived at 157 West Seventh Avenue in Conshohocken and had a bakery, known as Camarda’s Bakery.  The bakery was located at 624 Maple Street, the building was formerly Don Len’s Trophies.

     Now I’m tuned into Dave because I’ve written about, or at least mentioned Conshohocken bakeries from time to time in one of the six Conshohocken books my son Brian and I have written and published over the years, not to mention the numerous bakeries I written about in a number of the hundreds of articles I’ve written on Conshohocken, but I’ve never came across the name or business of Camarda’s Bakery.

     At the time Dave had mentioned that he even had pictures of family members posing in front of the bakery at 624 Maple Street, and offered to send me copies of the photos for my files.  (I have a small library off to the side of my office that contain thousands of Conshohocken photographs)

      So, I waited for Dave to send me the Camarda Bakery photographs, I waited a week, then a month, and before you know it, a year or two passed.  Every time I ran into to Dave on numerous occasions at different events, Dave claimed that he’s been meaning to send me the photos of the bakery, but, had simply failed to do so.

     So, to my surprise Donna, (my wife, who continues to make me look smart, (I don’t spend any time on a computer) she notifies me that I had received an E-mail from Dave, and sure enough, there was a number of family photos taken in front of Camarda’s Bakery at 624 Maple Street.

     With the arrival of the photos, I got to thinking about the sweet smell of Conshohocken Bakeries and headed to my library and pulled out the Conshohocken Bakeries file.  Wow, I had a lot of information on Conshohocken Bakeries from over the years but nothing on Camarda’s.

      But now, thanks to Dave, I learned that his grandfather Dominic was born in Loreto Aprutino, a town in Abruzzo, Italy, and at some point moved into Conshohocken to open a bakery, and eventually include his sons Cosmo, (Dave’s father) Edward and Joseph to become Camarda and Sons Bakery. 

    Cosmo would deliver bread and rolls before going to school.  Cosmo was just fifteen years old  at the time and would drive the delivery truck, he was rarely stopped by the local police for underage driving but when he did get stopped the police were some-what sympathetic as the country and residents of the community were still struggling from the effects of the Great Depression.   I’m sure if Cosmo was slipping members of the police department a few good fresh rolls to take home for dinnertime it certainly helped,  (I’m not saying that actually happened, that would be a bribe, but hypothetically if Cosmo was handing out a few rolls now and again, to members of the department it was certainly a kind gesture)

     The Camarda family were long time members of the former SS Cosmas and Damian Church once located on West Fifth Avenue and Maple Street.  Dave recalls memories of attending the annual Cosmas and Damian Feast.

     The Camarda family eventually sold the bakery business on Maple Street to the Corropolese family.  The Corropolese Bakery started when Italian immigrant Guilio Corropolese set-up a neighborhood shop called “G. Corropolese Bakery” on East Airy Street, Norristown in 1924.  Following the purchase of the Camarda Bakery in Conshohocken, Corropolese spent more than a decade sending out fumes over Conshohocken of the sweet smell of freshly baked bread and treats, the kind of smell the former Conshohocken Italian Bakery once located on Jones Street use to send out.

     As most of us know, Corropolese Bakery & Deli, located at 2014 Old Arch Road, has been one of Montgomery Country’s premier bakeries.  Corropolese has been baking as good or better as any bakery in the state of Pennsylvania as they celebrated more than a century of business and service to the community.  The thing you hear most, about Corropolese is the Tomato Pie, and just how good it is.  The thing you don’t hear about enough is the never-ending support Corropolese give to Norristown and surrounding communities.   

     If you’re a Conshohocken or nearby community resident, well, the Conshohocken Italian Bakery was God’s gift to our community.  Dominic Gambone, the founder of the Conshohocken bakery , along with his one-time partner Frank Manze produced quality baked products for more than four decades.

     As I surf through my files there are a number of bakeries I’ll mention, some you’ve heard of, and a number of bakeries that were around in the 1800’s and early 1900’s.

     In the late 1800’s a few of Conshohocken bakeries included Brush’s Bakery once located on lower Fayette Street, 1800’s Pat Lacey’s Bakery, 18 West Elm Street, George Benz Bakery located at Elm and Fayette in the mid 1880’s, in the 1890’s was Martha Dale Bakery also on the corner of Elm and Fayette streets.

     In 1924, there was the Quality Bakery located at Fifth Avenue and Wells Street and in 1924 Joseph and Peter Cardamone  purchased a property once owned by Pat Leary at the corner of Fayette and Marble Streets and also in the mid 1920’s H. Koniewcz had a popular bakery at 261 East Elm Street.

In the later part of the century Rocco Laudato opened his popular bakery at 14 Fayette street, which was also at the corner of Marble and Fayette streets.  Some current residents just might remember the Perfection Bakery doing business for more than thirty years at 75 Fayette Street in the 1950’s, 1960’s on into the 1970’s and Pater’s Bakery once located at 38 Fayette Street.

     There were a number of other bakeries and as stated earlier the best known bakery in recent years was of course the Conshohocken Italian Bakery once located on Jones Street where Frank Manze along with Domenic Gambone and his family supplied many local businesses with fresh bread and rolls for more than four decades. 

      A big thanks to Dave Camarda for sending me photos of the Camarda Bakery and thanks for the Conshohocken Bakery memories.