Lingering on the Palate: Reeve’s Bakery (1891 - 2007)
This historic bakery saw just over a century of business in the heart of DC, and is a prime example of the early commercial development of food establishments.
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Opened in 1891 by Sewell E. Reeves, Reeve’s Bakery began as a grocery store before becoming a tea room and then a soda fountain. Reeve’s drew customers of all kinds through its doors, as it offered gourmet and unique blends of coffee that were roasted and ground on the premises. A confectionery was soon added, followed by a bakery on the third floor.
The primary customers that Reeve’s served were “ladies who lunched” – women who were shopping downtown and looking for a light lunch. Customers ranged from actress Helen Hayes to first ladies Bess Truman and Pat Nixon (Nixon was a fan of the “world-famous” strawberry pie). Ownership passed from Sewell E. Reeves to his son Algernon Poole Reeves, who took over after his father’s death. His son, John W. Reeves, sold the restaurant/soda fountain/confectionery in 1965 to the Abraham brothers, George and Henry.
Under the lead of George and Henry Abraham, Reeve’s Bakery and Restaurant was remodeled and the clientele that it advertised towards broadened. The one-time shoppers of F Street NW had migrated to suburban shopping centers, and in the middle and late 1960s, racial unrest and the loss of business in downtown Washington led to a low point at Reeve’s. Further tragedy struck when, in 1984, a fire ripped through the interior, after which Reeve’s was forced to close for some time. Long-time customers were heartbroken.
Reeves would reopen in 1985, but would close down again in 1988 when the building was sold for $7 million to a developer who was planning to construct a new office building. In a July 20, 1988 article in The Washington Post, a Smithsonian Institution employee, who had eaten at Reeve’s since childhood and whose favorite menu item was the cream cheese and olive sandwich, stated, “It’s going to be sad losing it.”
Other dishes offered throughout the years included: a hot roast beef sandwich, steak sub, barbecue sandwich with green pepper bits and onion, strawberry-rhubarb pie, and pecan pie.
Reeve’s Bakery would return once more in 1992, when it opened one block away on G street, where it would continue to cater to the downtown community before it once again shut down in 2007 for the final time.
This is a stop on the Lingering on the Palate: the Ghosts of the DC Food Scene Tour.
