707 Central Avenue

My great-great grandmother, Ida (Gause) Beeson, bought the home at 705 Central Avenue in November of 1921. The Gwinner family lived at the southwest corner of Central and Vine Streets and an empty lot sat between them. That lot sometimes hosted events like the interdenominational tent revival in June of 1932, but it was mostly a space for the neighborhood children to play.

In December of 1953, Ted Kerkhoff obtained a permit to move a 10-by-12-foot Valentine Diner from Ford to 707 Central.

Bob’s Drive-In held a grand opening on January 13, 1954.

The diner was quite small so Kerkhoff built an addition on the north side of the building that Spring. Curb service was also added and customers were able to phone in their pickup orders.

Margaret and Dee Dehart briefly assumed management of Bob’s in August of 1954.

Dorinda “Pat” Schumacher then took possession that November and renamed the cafe Dutch Inn.

Dutch Inn is shown here with the north addition. The original metal section appears to have been rusting.

In March of 1957, a couple teenage boys broke a window and stole less than ten dollars in change plus a chocolate cake. Due to his involvement in a string of burglaries, one of the boys received a sentence of up to ten years at the reformatory in Hutchinson.

Schumacher sold the property to Fred and Helen (Lochmann) Ruby around 1959. The Rubys then had the Dutch Inn listed for sale by November of that year. Bernard Trail was the next buyer and he changed the name to Hill Top in 1960. He sold the eatery to Cecil “Pete” and Claramae (Pickle) Larcom, who reopened it as Hilltop Cafe in January of 1961.

The Larcoms were forced to close the restaurant due to illness that November but it operated during at least part of 1962. By 1964, the building had been moved once again. Unfortunately, the Kansas Historical Society has been unable to determine where exactly it went.

First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Dodge City was built across from the post office in 1965 and the lots between what is now the Landmark National Bank building and Vine Street have been used as a parking lot ever since.

This is how the site of the Dutch Inn looks today:

Even though Central Avenue was once part of Highway 50, it seems so odd to plunk down a diner between two houses. I would love to know where it was taken and whether it still exists.

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306 E Wyatt Earp Blvd

As is usually the case, I stumbled upon an advertisement for the Little Chef Cafe when I was searching for something else. When I saw it was on Highway 50S east of town, I thought it must have been the place where Tacos Jalisco is now. It was not.

On January 2, 1954, the Globe reported a permit was issued to Frank Baird to move a steel building to 304 E Chestnut Street. That street number could have been a typo or the block, which was completely residential until that time, could have been renumbered. And since there were a few Frank Bairds in Dodge, this was Andrew F Baird who had been a blacksmith for the Santa Fe Railroad. Frank’s wife, Ann, was a bookkeeper for Bishop Oil.

It is unclear whether this was a new building or one bought used and moved from another site. Either way, I believe it was a Little Chef sandwich shop model made by Valentine Manufacturing, Inc. of Wichita. By 1947, Valentine had shipped their portable steel sandwich shops to 38 states.

Over the years, Valentine developed a complete line of buildings in various shapes and sizes. They came pre-branded with names such as Frigid Queen, Frigid Creme, Burger Bar, Nifty Nine, Big Chef, and Little Chef but buyers could also have the shops customized at the factory.

Financing was available and the buildings shipped fully assembled after the down payment was received. Owners would then deposit ten percent of their daily receipts in the Valentine wall safe to be collected by a Railway Express employee until the balance reached zero. Because they were portable, these buildings could be repossessed. However, I did find several ads placed by Valentine offering established businesses for sale at the site where they were operating.

The ten-stool Little Chef model was among the most popular layouts so there were Little Chef cafes, diners, etc. sprinkled all over the country. Everything owners needed to get started was included: cooler, restroom with outside entrance, air conditioning, furnishings, tile floors, and plumbing, etc. They just had to buy food.

At the time the Bairds set up their Little Chef, the building was set back from the street far enough to have a small parking lot out front. This was long before the widening projects on East Wyatt Earp.

The restaurant even had a basement with room for food storage.

This aerial photo with taped-on street labels was taken February 15, 1962. I added an arrow above the tiny cafe.

The Little Chef changed hands a few times in the 1960s and ’70s, ultimately being owned by Ed Bradley. Elsie Moreno renamed the cafe Taco Place in 1976.

Bradley listed the cafe for sale by February of 1977 and it then sat vacant. The lot was cleared sometime before 1981 and I’m not sure if the building was moved or simply scrapped. Being less than 30 years old, it should have been suitable for reuse.

This is how the site of the Little Chef Cafe looks today:

Since the building is long gone, it’s impossible to check for the Valentine branding and serial number. However, I feel confident the Bairds’ Little Chef was a Valentine because I found an image on the Kansas Historical Society website showing the same stripe pattern as the one in the 1956 Howdy guide. If anyone can verify this information, please send me a message or leave a comment!

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!