Hi Todd,
It is my belief that the Holmes Bakery was located in Washington, DC. My pathetic memory thinks I have copy of a newspaper pic of the Holmes Bakery plant, but I can't seem to locate it. Anyhow, a quick Google search turned up this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...LpR_story.html
which contains the following re the Holmes Bakery:
"The milkman was just one of a number of mobile tradespeople who plied the streets of Washington and its suburbs up until the 1960s. Bill Barry grew up on Taylor Street NW. Besides getting milk from Chestnut Farms Dairy, the family had bread delivered from Holmes Bakery. “The motto on the side of the truck was ‘Holmes to Homes,’ ” Bill wrote. “The trucks they had were Divcos, and the driver had the option to sit or stand while operating the vehicle.”
The Holmes Bakery was known for “milk bread,” bread made with milk instead of water — and not just any milk but “a large proportion of real Montgomery County milk.” In 1904, its bread was 5 cents a loaf; fruit pies were a quarter. For much of the 20th century, Holmes was the only bakery in the Washington area with regular home-delivery routes. “It will save you many a trip ‘to the store,’ ” promised the bakery.
In 1917, Holmes opened a new 100,000-square-foot bakery at 107-115 F St. NW (
Todd, this is a Washington, DC, address). Customers were invited to take tours Sunday through Friday evenings. Today the Georgetown University Law school sits on the former site of the Holmes Bakery."
I am curious as your source of info for an Arlington, VA, location. Although it is located just across the Potomac River from DC, Arlington County, VA, was quite rural back in 1916. Also, the mention above that Holmes obtained the milk for its bread from Montgomery County, which is located in Maryland, further suggests to me that Holmes Bakery plant would not have been located in Virginia because if it were, I assume Holmes would have obtained its milk from a much closer dairy in Va.
Best,
Val