Allowing history to linger

GREEN BAY – The legacy of Rockstroh Bakery may be the best non-menu item found at downtown Green Bay’s Delilah’s.

The building now known as Delilah’s was once the family-owned Rockstroh Bakery, a two-story property housing a confectionary and bakery business on the first floor and an apartment-like residency on the second floor.

Originally built by request of the Rockstroh family with stone hauled by J.C. Rockstroh in 1894, the foundation has grown and changed along with the community over time.

Rockstroh Bakery served Green Bay for almost a century, cementing itself as a true family-owned business before the final Rockstroh living there sold the building in 1978.

For a short time a women’s clothing store resided in the building with its new owner, C.A. Gross Company.

It was sold again to Bob Sanderson, original owner of The Heel shoe fitters, in 1982.

The Heel remained on the original Rockstroh Bakery property until 2017.
The year 2022 saw big changes for the structure as it found new ownership, as well as undergoing a restoration project.

The restoration was completed with the assistance of Legacy Architecture of Sheboygan, and was a historic tax credit project that consisted of $1,385,946 in eligible costs.

The historic tax credit program helps to maintain economic interest throughout the community, as well as helps building owners with restoration.

The historic tax credit program has both a federal and a state program, both of which the property that was once Rockstroh Bakery qualified for after it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019, naming it a historic building. Between the two programs, a total of 40% of the cost was returned to the owners as federal and Wisconsin income tax credits.

According to the WHS, from a stylistic standpoint the building was inspired by Richardsonian Romanesque architecture, with the face of the building covered in rock-face cut stone.

Between cut stone pilasters sits the building’s entrance on the first floor and a polygonal oriel window resides on the left hand side of the second floor.
The original wooden ceiling remains on the inside of the first floor, and the upstairs apartment was returned to its original state during Bob Sanderson’s ownership, in the 1980s.

Today, as Delilah’s, the structure continues to serve the Downtown District.

Through the preservation of the Rockstroh’s original architecture, downtown Green Bay also preserves community identity.

It allows history to linger in the present and serves to retain the community’s character in the future.

“This building was built and owned by the Rockstroh family for almost a century,” said Stephanie Hummel, Green Bay downtown planner, “we’re just carrying on their legacy.”

Delilah’s — the former Rockstroh Bakery — can be found on 115 N Adams Street, Green Bay.