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Joe was born and raised in McKeesport, a
steel mill town located in the Mon Valley.
McKeesport, a city in Allegheny County, is
situated at the confluence of the
Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. It
is a part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan
area.
After graduating high school, Simmons
worked in a steel mill, knowing it wasn’t his
passion. During some summers, he helped
his father, a formen that worked on the
railroads. While unemployed, he noticed a
bakery in Homewood that was going out of
THE INGREDIENTS BEHIND business for sale for $3,500.
DANA'S BAKERY He approached the local PNC Bank for a
loan, but was denied. Luckily, his former
BY Amari Walker, Day'Mear Moore,
employers donated supplies for him to
Niyah Lance
start Dana’s Bakery. “Some of it, the mixers
In 1978, Joseph Simmons opened Dana’s Bakery at and refrigeration, I had to buy and a
720 North Homewood Avenue. The bakery is donut-fryer was given to me. An oven,
located in a predominantly African American which I still use today from Stagno’s Bakery
neighborhood of Pittsburgh divided into three was given to me by his brother,” Simmons
communities North, South, and West. With a rich explained. As a result, he transformed an
history, Homewood’s first African American old bakery into Dana’s. Simmons believes,“
inhabitants settled in the areas around Finance When God’s is in the mix of the
and Tioga Streets in the 1860s. Effecting the area
ingredients, nothing can stop you.”
to this day, the 1968, Martin Luther King Jr.'s
assassination triggered riots in Homewood burning
The business is not family owned, but is
and destroying businesses that never recuperated
named after his daughter, Dana. Sandra,
leaving a changed community. In the 1980’s the
his wife, helps out with the business. And
Homewood-Brushton Revitalization and
Development Corporation was established with my son, Brandon, “ helps out when I really
the mission to revitalize the business district and need him. You know, between my wife and
build homes. Despite the turmoil and changes I, we handle it.”
Dana’s Bakery has continued to survive.
