The ABCs of Lowell History is back for another round. This popular series explores a wide variety of topics in Lowell area history in weekly online articles and is written by volunteers and staff from the Lowell Area Historical Museum.
U is for Uglow
A new business started in Lowell in 1908. It was the Uglow Bakery, run by the Uglow family.
Gerrance (Gerry) Uglow was born in England in 1867 and arrived in the United States as a two-year child with his parents and family. The family left from Liverpool aboard the ship “Alex Marshall”. At some point the family moved to Canada, where Uglow met and married Sarah Jane Muxworthy.
Around 1904 Gerry and Sarah Jane Uglow, along with their two boys, Alba, aged eight, and Elmo, aged seven, moved to Lowell. Uglow was a druggist by trade and worked for W.S. Winegar.
In 1908 W. R. Schloerke, who operated his own bakery at 309 East Main, had to move away suddenly to care for an ailing family member. The Uglow family seized the opportunity. They bought the business, hired an experienced baker, Herman Strong, of Grand Rapids, and were open for business the next week. The family moved upstairs above the business. When they opened it was noted that though they had been in Lowell only four years, they had many friends, and the community supported and encouraged them. They operated the bakery and a lunch counter.
Some chapters in history are very short. In the 1910 census, recorded in April, the Uglows are living in Lowell. Gerry was recorded as a baker who owned his own shop. The next month it was announced that Uglow had accepted a druggist position at Torrance & Garrison near Detroit and had sold the bakery and lunch counter to his employee, Herman Strong.
The building continued as a bakery and lunch counter. Strong was successful in his venture, even adding a soda fountain to the business. More information on this building can be found in this article from the series Along Main Street: 309 East Main Street.
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