611 N Second Avenue

Dodge City’s business district took a while to spread north along Second Avenue to Spruce Street. The east side of the block between Walnut and Spruce filled up with commercial buildings long before the west. City Furniture Store and Santa Fe Trail Garage anchored the corners on the west side of Second with brick and concrete block structures by 1910 but the lots between them were filled with wood frame dwellings.

In October of 1912, the Globe ran an editorial complaining about two “insignificant shacks” occupying the lots just north of the alley on that block. The paper suggested the homes be removed and replaced with more substantial commercial structures.

Those two “shacks” were occupied by John Keech and Robert Whitaker. R. C. Canady moved his shoe repair shop to the north house vacated by Whitaker in the spring of 1915. O. F. Adair also moved his shine stand to that spot from the Santa Fe Depot.

That July, C. H. Coe opened a tire vulcanizing business in the former Keech house to the south. He and partner Bob Rath also fitted keys, sharpened mower blades, and performed general repairs.

The Skillington Tailoring Company moved into the old vulcanizing shop in the Spring of 1917. Unfortunately, their building was completely destroyed in a fire that October. The damage to Canady’s neighboring shop was less severe and he asked Andrew Russell, who owned both structures, to repair his building but both lots were ultimately cleared. Canady then moved his shop to Second and Chestnut.

A single-story concrete block building was constructed at 611 Second Avenue with parking between it and the alley to the south. Dodge City Tire Repair Company, a partnership of brothers-in-law William S Leonard and John H Tenbrink, occupied this new structure in January of 1918.

Tenbrink and his new wife, Edith, relocated to Los Angeles in 1920. Leonard took on Leo W Hafred as a partner and worked for years as an auctioneer. Harry L Likely bought an interest in the business in February of 1925.

The shop was renamed Tire Service Company and it remained in the building until September of 1928.

By October of 1930, the Eckles brothers owned the building and had it repainted for the Smith Cafe. Archie Sever then opened the Jayhawk Snack Shop in April of 1932. Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Beaver from Oakley bought the eatery in June of 1932 and called it Beaver Snack Shop. They sold the business to Floyd and Pearl Herring in February of 1933.

In addition to Herring’s Waffle Shop, the building also became the Union Bus Depot in the Fall of 1934.

This menu from Herring’s Waffle Shop can be found in the archives at the Ford County Legacy Center.

The bus depot expanded into the building just north of the waffle shop at the end of 1936.

In 1938, a neon sign was installed across the top of the waffle shop with a bus at each end. The neon was configured so that the wheels on the buses indeed went round and round. It was said to “make your feet itch,” apparently meaning it would make people want to travel.

I love how the speaker was used as a megaphone on the postcard in the second slide. Very clever!

Around 1944, Herring’s Waffle Shop moved to Front Street. The bus station was then operated by the partnership of Glass and McEwen before it also moved back to Front Street.

Around this time, the restaurant became Marlin’s Uptown Waffle Shop.

In about 1946, R. E. Lawrence became the proprietor of the waffle shop and he sold part interest to Irven and Thelma Shuman in April of 1947. Under this partnership, the Shuman packing plant and Shuman Frozen Foods would supply food to the restaurant. The Shumans held a contest to rename the restaurant and $25 was awarded for the winning entry, White Buffalo Grill.

After changing hands a couple more times in the 1940s, the White Buffalo became the Blue Goose. That restaurant only lasted a couple years and held an auction in September of 1951.

That December, Hal Wyman Plumbing and Heating held a grand opening in the former waffle shop.

Wyman relocated to a spot west of Mammel’s in February of 1955.

That appears to have been the last business to occupy the building before it was demolished to create a parking lot for First National Bank which still exists today. Workers are shown here installing the bank clock on November 2, 1955.

This is how the former site of Herring’s Waffle Shop looks today:

It’s difficult to work up nostalgia for a plain concrete block building that looked a bit awkward in its location. The drive thru at First National was a huge upgrade for their customers. However, I am very interested in what became of those beautiful neon signs, with one important caveat. If they ended up in the scrap pile, please don’t tell me.

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