Bob Piper's Corner - March 8, 1987

March 8, 1987

Another chapter on earlier restaurants -

I must mention Noble’s. It was where the Hurribak Tavern is now. Noble built this building for a restaurant and ran it for years. The place was noted for aged-beef hamburgers. A big mistake in my estimation. Mr. Noble wore a valuable stick pin at all times, no matter where he was, working or sleeping. Roy Reed, a local jeweler, confirmed that the stone was valuable and came from a royal family in India. Mr. Reed set the stone in the gold pin. It was about the size of a dime and looked like a big drop of gravy. Mr. Noble realized this, but was not daunted a bit. It was his trademark.

Now to the Railroad Café across from the Burlington station. It was operated by the Mullins family and was in business when my father came through here in 1885. Perhaps it was not this same building. Maggie Mullins operated it for years. In later years she was Maggie Downard. This is where the famous black cook, Mrs. Richmond, worked. She was famous for her fried chicken. On Sunday afternoons the place was jammed with the elite of the town.

Across the street in the passenger station was the Grand Ballroom restaurant. It had a huge horseshoe-shaped counter to accommodate workers, but the tables were set in grand style. Almost nightly, parties were held here.

Now, let’s go to the Charitone Hotel restaurant, which was started by Junkin and McCollough, who built the hotel. It was new and modern. The first chef was Burt Harris. The party room held about fifty. It was all new and different.

Now let’s go to Clark’s restaurant, which stood where Hawkeye Drive-in Bank is now. It was open twenty-four hours a day, the food was good and it was successful. Later Paul and Bill Engebretsen operated this place for several years.

Now let’s go to Sam Goff’s restaurant which stood where the theater is now. When the theater burned in 1928 or 1929, this ended that venture. Sam was the husband of Dana Goff who worked at the Elite Shoppe for years. Their son Dale was well-known here, too.

We must not forget A. B. Pond’s place. It stood where First Central’s parking lot is now. It was operated by Mr. Pond and his two sons. Mr. Pond came to our church every Sunday. Later, Oma Schwartz took over the place and did a land-office business for years.

We must not forget Lindquist’s Café that was where The Sampler is now. This restaurant was started in a little shack just south of The Sampler by Dwaine and Jo Lindquist and Dwaine’s mother. The business was built from nothing to success on wonderful food at a reasonable price.

Now let’s visit Roy Morgan’s White Swan Café which stood where the Gamble’s building is now. This was a small place, but very busy. It was built around Roy, a great person. Later, a building was to be built for Woolworth’s, so Roy bought the Lindquist Café and operated it successfully. He opened real early and caught that business almost entirely. People going to work at six a.m. had a good place to eat. I know workers at the post office were good customers.

In the ending this story of restaurants, I must mention the restaurant that was in the Bates House Hotel. This hotel stood where National Bank is now. It was three stories tall and had forty rooms. It was flourishing before the Charitone was built. They ran a horse-drawn van to all trains, day and night. The dining room was large and very elegant in its day. Later, I will write about earlier tea rooms.

Sometime ago I wrote about early food establishments in Chariton. Without meaning to, I left out Yengel Brothers Meat Market. It was first operated by Jake Yengel, father of Burt and Fred. The lumber for the first wooden building was hauled from Eddyville. Later, a front building was built where Hawkeye Drive-in Bank is now located. Yengels was a legend, and all built on quality. The piles of fruit in their windows looked like paintings. Ring bologna was one of the things they were noted for. Three one-pound rings for twenty-five cents. Costs were up and down, but the three for twenty-five-cents price stayed the same. Yengels had the recipe, and for years Sherman Rhodes made the bologna in a little building behind the market. Their slaughter house was on ground that Bill Shelton owns now. It was in the valley south of where their house stands now. Over the years, several times the water from the Chariton River blocked them from using the slaughter house. Father got along well with them and gladly loaned our facilities during those times.

Our ride -

We left here at 2 p.m., George, Charles and myself in George’s car. We went east on Highway 34 almost to Georgetown, and then turned south, working over an area of ten square miles. We wound up in Albia, and went from there to Avery, Eddyville, Bussey, Hamilton, Lovilia and Hiteman. We toured these towns in a small way. We skirted Chillicothe and Oskaloosa. We are still amazed at the great number of cattle that are on feed.