Our Century's-old Story

It started with a German immigrant

We start this story in 1884. John J. Renz, a German immigrant, moves his family halfway around the world to the middle of the US, planting roots in St. Louis, Missouri. A decade into living stateside, Henry J. Renz, is born. By 1912, the family saves enough to build a mixed-use storefront bakery (ground level) and home (second level) on Louisiana Ave.

The building, shown here, serves as the Dad's Cookie Company's headquarters today.

At first, the bakery was just that, a bakery. The famous cookies don't enter the picture until the end of this story.

We'll return to the Renz Family shortly.

To California we go

Our second storyline brings us back to 1900. As the legend goes, a Scotsman immigrates to Los Angeles bringing his family's distinctive oatmeal cookie recipe. He starts a bakery of his own and, around 1919, sells it to a pair of brother-in-laws. During the ownership transfer, Alva Alonzo Sturges, a lawyer and father/father in-law to the new owners, begins sampling the various bakery goods. He quickly becomes enamored with the crisp, unique flavor of the oatmeal cookie. The cookies are so delicious, in fact, he recommends to shelve the rest of the product offering and focus solely on the recipe purchased from the Scotsman. Cue the choir angels singing, the Scotch Oatmeal Cookie was born...and its father was A.A. Sturges.

A.A Sturges

The Original Dad of Dad's Cookie Company

The new brand, seen below, takes root by 1921. The Scottish heritage shines through with the tartan pattern and traditional Glengarry hat with tassels.

Original Logo

Filed in 1934 after 13 years of business

The 1904 World's Fair

The third and final storyline brings us back to St. Louis where a flourishing city hosts the World's Fair. This storyline makes sense of the first two, ties them up and brings us home.

A young man by the name of James T. Larmore attends the 1904 World's Fair and emerges with a new business partnership for an ice cream shop. Three families start the Larmore-Bowman-Carpenter Ice Cream company on Goodfellow Ave.

By 1915, following some partner disputes, Carpenter's Ice Cream emerges as the sole brand, led by J. Willard Carpenter. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, the US draft and World War 1 comes calling for Mr. Carpenter as it did for so many men at that time. Draft card below.

WW1 Draft Card

Mr. Carpenter joined the fight at the age of 43.

Upon arriving home, he returns to the business and leads a successful operation. In 1927, he's approached by a traveling salesman selling the franchise rights to Dad's Cookie Company. Carpenter sees this as an opportunity to compliment his ice cream product. And, thus, Dad's Cookie Company takes root in St. Louis.

A few short miles down the road, we find the Renz family storefront bakery, from the first paragraph where we started this story. The son, Henry Renz, catches wind of these unique cookies and, deciding, he needs to have them as part of his product offering, is able to acquire the rights to the St. Louis Dad's Cookie Company franchise from Carpenter in 1938. That year, Renz begins baking the Scotch Oatmeal Cookie on Louisiana Ave., where the ovens haven't stopped to this day.

John J., the father, doesn't live to see this iconic shift in the business, but thanks to the bakery he established, many a generation visit the now iconic storefront today to buy cookies. We still weigh the cookies on an old-time scale, put them into a brown paper bag and tie it up with a white string, just like always.

"Known from Coast to Coast"

A.A. Sturges, the dad of Dad's Cookie Company, declared to his son and son-in-law "you boys have a cookie here that anyone who likes cookies at all dreams about but seldom gets." He was right. The Scotch Oatmeal cookie - originally called a Wee Bonnie Wafer - is a hit. From Los Angeles where the Sturges family started the bakery, it first jumps up the coast to Oakland, where Earnie Wheeler, a grocery store owner, loves the cookies so much, he shuts down shop and decided to take on the distribution rights. He establishes a franchise in his hometown, then, once successful, expands his efforts throughout the North America. He first goes clear across the states to New Jersey, then Dallas, then Vancouver. Everywhere he goes, the franchises take off. This is the roaring 20s after all. The company slogan "Known from Coast to Coast" rings true. An example below from a 1929 newspaper ad in Hartford, Connecticut.

All in, we can confirm Dad's Cookie Company expands to these 27 cities: Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Hartford, Indianapolis, Irvington, Kansas City, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Memphis, Montreal, New Orleans, New York City, Seattle, Sommerville, St. Louis, St. Paul, St. Petersburg, Toronto and Vancouver.

As is typical of family-run businesses, many get passed down to a second generation, but unfortunately, only a handful make it to the third generation. And by 1988, the second to last franchise located in Baltimore, closes its doors, leaving St. Louis as the only remaining location. 

St. Louis' Cookie

This brings us back to Hank and the Renz family, who built their storefront bakery and home in 1912 on Louisiana Ave. in St. Louis.
Henry Renz is now a Senior, as his wife, Selma, gives birth to Richard, Henry (Hank) Jr. and Donald. 

Hank Jr. attends St. Louis University before shipping off to WWII, following in the footsteps of his father (WWI veteran). He marries, Ruth Agnes, before duty calls again to Korea in 1950. Upon returning, he begins taking over the bakery duties from his aging father. In 1963, Henry Sr. passes away at the bakery and Hank, with Ruth Agnes alongside, fully assumes the operation. The duo bakes for another 25 years.

Ruth Agnes, an impressive business woman in her own right, serves 30 years at a regional St. Louis bank in various leadership positions. She's also an active member in the community through various local charity board roles. However, despite her litany of professional accomplishments, she is best known for her contributions to Dad's Cookie Company and hailed throughout the city as "The Cookie Lady." She survives Hank by nearly 30 years and passes away in the summer of 2020 at the age of 93.

Ruth Agnes

The Cookie Lady (1927-2020)

As is typical of family-run businesses, many get passed down to a second generation, but unfortunately, only a handful make it to the third generation. And by 1988, the second to last franchise located in Baltimore, closes its doors, leaving St. Louis as the only remaining location. 

Bringing us to Present Day

In 1988, Hank is nearing the end of his life. Looking to keep the business in the family, he sells to his nephews Ken, Jim and Dan, collectively known as the Hastey brothers.

The Hastey brothers are the owners to thank for not only continuing the tradition but making it available nationally again. In the 1990s, they expanded the operations to offer nationwide shipping, including to US military bases around the globe. Within St. Louis, they expanded the distribution to include more than 250 locations throughout the city and county, including Schnucks, Dierbergs and Straubs.

In 2023, they sell to a trio of St. Louis brothers, who operate it today out of the same iconic storefront bakery. The new ownership group grew up eating the cookies at their grandma's house off historic Route 66 in Crestwood, Missouri. Their goal is to ensure the tradition grows for the next 100 years.

A Special Thanks

A special thanks to Backlog for helping us tell this incredible story. This group of archivists and historians poured through more than a century's worth of newspapers, census data and business records to fill in a lot of gaps and confirm pieces of the story we only knew as folklore.