Spaghetti Western: Bicocchi and Laneri, Cowtown’s Pardners in Pasta

The two men were born five years and maybe one hundred miles apart in Italy. Forty years and thousands of miles later they became pardners in pasta in Cowtown.

But the two men had more in common than age and nationality. Louis Bicocchi (born in 1853 in Parma) and John B. Laneri (born in 1858 in Genoa) both had a background in food before they founded what today is O.B. Macaroni.

mac bicocchi 85 cd mazzaIn 1871 Bicocchi arrived in the United States at New Orleans and lived there until 1882, when he moved to Fort Worth. To a man with memories of his Mediterranean motherland, a wild West town of gunslingers, sodbusters, and saloons may have been unsettling. But Bicocchi was not the first Italian to immigrate to Fort Worth. He soon got a job clerking at Italian-born Dominic Mazza’s grocery store on Grove Street at East 2nd. Clip is from the 1885 city directory.

mac bicocchi store down historicIn 1893 Bicocchi opened his own grocery store and saloon in a tapered building at West 7th and Burnett streets. His store is said to have been the first in town with electric lights and a cash register. Each morning before dawn Bicocchi drove his wagon out Cold Springs Road to wait for farmers as they brought their produce into town. For his customers he bought the pick of the crops. (Photos from Down Historic Trails of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, 1949.)

mac ad spaghetti coming 9-28-94 gazThe next year Bicocchi predicted big things for spaghetti. Clip is from the September 28, 1894 Fort Worth Gazette.

mac bicocchi cheese 10-9-94 gazBicocchi also stocked a selection of cheeses complete enough to sustain a Monty Python skit. Clip is from the October 9, 1894 Gazette.

mac bicocchi ad 4-10-97 regIn 1897 Bicocchi moved four blocks east on West 7th Street to the corner at Houston Street. There he stocked exotic foods such as cockscombs from France, cheeses from Italy and Holland, jasmine tea from the Orient, olives and mushrooms from Spain. Clip is from the April 10 Register.

mac laneri 85 ginocchio cdIn 1873 John B. Laneri, like Bicocchi, arrived in the United States at New Orleans. He lived there four years before moving to Galveston and then Marshall, where he entered the food-service business. After moving to Fort Worth he managed the dining and drinking facilities of Ginocchio’s Hotel beside the 1882 Texas & Pacific Union Depot located near today’s Tower 55. Clip is from the 1885 city directory.

mac laneri new depot 1899And later at the 1899 train depot on Main Street at Lancaster Avenue. Clip is from the 1899 city directory.

mac paste hiring 8-14-01 regIt was about that time that Louis Bicocchi bought pasta-making machinery and opened Fort Worth Macaroni and Paste Factory in a wooden building at the corner of Jennings and Daggett streets, across from Fort Worth High School. Clip is from the August 14, 1901 Register.

bicocchi buildingThe Bicocchi Building now occupies the site where the factory stood.

mac bicocchi blurb 5-17-03 teleIn this clip from the May 17, 1903 Telegram Bicocchi is listed as the sole proprietor, although by some accounts John B. Laneri had joined the company in 1899.

mac bicocchi has bought louisiana 5-3-4 teleIn 1904 Bicocchi moved the business to a larger building on East Daggett at Louisiana Street. That building still stands. Clip is from the May 3 Telegram; old photo from Greater Fort Worth, 1907.

mac incorp 3-19-5 dmnCertainly by 1905, when the company incorporated as “Fort Worth Macaroni,” Laneri was a partner. Note that N. T. Mazza, probably the son of Bicocchi’s employer of 1885, was also an incorporator. Clip is from the March 19 Dallas Morning News.

mac our best 11-18-05 teleIn 1905 the company marketed “Our Best” as a brand. About 1928 the product name was shortened to “O.B.” And in 1959 the company changed its name to “O.B. Macaroni.” Clip is from the November 18, 1905 Telegram.

mac school 10-2-21 stIn 1921 John B. Laneri built a private school for boys on Hemphill Street as a memorial to his wife. Laneri College is now Cassata High School.

laneri leftLaneri’s house on Jennings Avenue still stands. Louis Bicocchi’s house on West Daggett Avenue became a parking lot in the 1970s.

mac laneri obit 2-15-35 dmnJohn B. Laneri died in 1935. Louis Bicocchi died in 1945, still living in his house on Daggett Avenue behind the site of his original Fort Worth Macaroni and Paste factory. The pardners in pasta are buried in Greenwood Cemetery. Clip is from the February 15 Dallas Morning News.

The Laneri family operated the O.B. Macaroni company until 2009.

(For a while Bicocchi and Laneri had local competition: Dueling Pastas: Standard Was Good, But Our Best Was Better.)

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11 Responses to Spaghetti Western: Bicocchi and Laneri, Cowtown’s Pardners in Pasta

  1. Susan Eurto says:

    I used to live in Marshall. The Ginocchio is a beautiful bldg across from the T&P Depot; many have tried different businesses in it, but it not near enough to downtown to be very successful. But to Marshall’s credit, it has been preserved.

    Worked in the OB Macaroni bldg a couple of years ago and was able to explore a little. Loved it. Apparently most of the history of the bldg itself was lost many, many years ago. I understand it was a hotel at one point, but don’t think it was the Ginocchio. Would love to know more.

  2. Dennis Hogan says:

    Excellent!
    I hope to hear more about the Ginnochio Hotel.
    Alas, so much is forgotten in the past(a)!

    • hometown says:

      Good on Marshall for preserving its Ginocchio Hotel. And thanks for the Ginocchio business card.

  3. Linda Aycock says:

    Very good story. Thanks for sharing. How long did it take you to compile all this info for the story?
    LEA
    Linda Aycock

  4. Tom Weimer says:

    Great read. My mom’s maiden name is Bicocchi. Louis was her uncle. I have found memories of hearing the history of her family and their contribution to the great city of Fort Worth.

    • hometown says:

      Thanks, Tom. Wish I could have been here to watch Laneri and Bicocchi adjust to their new home way out west.

  5. John Olthoff says:

    I never knew history of O B Macaroni, but Mike you take us from first point to last and make the trip entertaining

  6. Cecilia Lopez says:

    Thank you for all this history about this wonderful family. Fort Worth is the One and only place I have lived. I lived on 1800 blk. Of May St. and I’m very familiar with this Area. Again, Thank You.

    • hometown says:

      Thanks, Cecilia. Folks like Laneri and Bicocchi who came here from far-away places to become, like Moses, “strangers in a strange land” contributed so much to Fort Worth history.

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