208 S Second Avenue – Dodge City, Kansas
Before Crawford’s Addition was even platted, kids on the south side of the river attended school in a small vacant store building on what is now South Second Avenue between Beech and Cherry Streets. With the formal plat in 1886, the tree streets were numbered and South Second was officially Bridge Avenue.
George F McKinney, proprietor of the South Side Hotel, listed the lot and school building for sale in March of 1888.
That building was later used for grain storage and was removed from the lot sometime in the 1890s. It was replaced by a small concrete block building in the 1910s which was briefly used by a butcher. That structure was replaced by a larger concrete block building which housed a dry cleaning business for a short time. Produce was occasionally sold on the property.
Curtis Ott and Walter Winger’s Dodge City Sheet Metal Works was located at what became 208 S Second Avenue in the 1930s.
The building entered its cafe era in the 1940s with Owen’s Cafe owned by Charles Owen. It changed hands a few times and was called South Side Lunch, Triangle Cafe, and Denny’s Cafe. Doak Ellis and Florence Oringderff held a grand opening of their new Home Cafe on April 7, 1954.
Although the building was always plain, it did have transom windows with a striped crank-out awning and a cute neon sign as seen here in 1957.
Photos: Ford County Historical Society Dodge City Daily Globe Collection
By the 1960s, that neon sign was upgraded to include a piece of pie as seen in this photo showing the aftermath of the big flood in June of 1965. The building’s proximity to the river didn’t do it any favors but the concrete block construction certainly did.
Florence and Doak, who married shortly after opening the cafe, retired in January of 1988. Ron Perkins is the customer seated at the counter.
The restaurant was purchased by John and Irma Cervantes at that time and a retirement party was held on January 31.
The building sat vacant for a while in the 1990s and has since hosted a series of eateries including an African restaurant, Don Hector Restaurante Mexicano, and La Familia Restaurant. Its current occupant is Los Aztecas Mexican Grill.
This is how the former Home Cafe looked in June of 2025:
Say what you will about the aesthetics of this block but that humble little building has been serving the same trade for about 80 years. I’m impressed.
If you like what you see, be sure to subscribe (way at the bottom of the post on mobile devices) to receive an email each time a new post is published and share on social media. You can also support my work by donating below. This content is 100% funded by history fanatics such as yourself. Thanks for reading!
Donation
Your support keeps the content flowing! Make a one-time donation. Your contribution is appreciated!
$5.00
Just read your story on Duckwall’s and enjoyed it as I wotlrkrd at the stoe on Frontview while in HS and college and a few more years after that. The store in Dodge where the Duckwall was was the very first ALCO done as a test before the Newton Store was built in 1968. Around this same time alco moved into the building where J.C.Penney was at 2nd and Spruce across the street east if First National Bank while their new store was being built on Fronview. If you shopped there from the mid 70’s to the late 80’s I very possibly waited on you as before I left about the only thing I didn’t do was measure material or work ladies wear. I loved my time working there as I met so many people who I am proud to have helped and still remembered as an old Alco person.