Day Trips: Collin Street Bakery, Corsicana

Collin Street Bakery isn't just for Christmas fruitcakes. The company has expanded to four locations along interstate highways around Texas, but there is still something special about the small retail store at the company's headquarters in Corsicana.

When you enter the narrow and crowded sales room the smell of something in the oven hits you with a warm embrace. The shiny glass cases are filled will all kinds of delights. Neat rows of cookies, bags of fresh rolls, and beautiful pies tempt the taste buds. There is even a sandwich shop in case you missed lunch.

Of course, you can also get their signature fruitcake or pineapple cake in souvenir tins at any time of the year.

The company began in 1896 when August Weidmann arrived in town. The first large discovery of oil west of the Mississippi had occurred two years before when the city drilled for water, but hit black gold instead. The community was very supportive of the young baker from Germany.

The town's fortunes rose and fell with the oil market, but the bakery's DeLuxe Fruitcakes began a steady climb in popularity. The Texas fruitcakes became world famous in 1914 when a troupe from Ringling Brothers Circus bought the cakes to mail around the world to family and friends. Since then the mail-order business has been the company's main focus.

Collin Street Bakery's fruitcakes and baked goods can only be purchased in Texas directly from the bakery. The main store is at 401 W. Seventh Ave. in Corsicana. Southern plantation-style satellite stores are in Corsicana on I-45, Waco on I-35, Lindale on I-20, and Greenville on I-30.

1,350th in a series. Collect them all. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips," is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 40312, South Austin, TX 78704.

Follow "Day Trips & Beyond," a travel blog, at austinchronicle.com/daily/travel.