WALNUT RESTAURANTS
BY RICK BLUM
Kohlscheen Tavern
Feb 1, 1929 – Avery Allen Sandwich Shop, Opera House IOOF Hall. Later changed name to Hamburger Shop. Later changed name to Avery Allen Lunch Room and Beer Parlor.
Oct 1937 – Nels Hansen purchased the business from Allen. March 1945, his wife Christine passed away.
May 1946 – Nick George bought the Opera House from the IOOF Lodge.
Jan 1948 – Hansen sold his café and beer parlor (in the Opera House) to Carl and Walt Kohlscheen.
July 1949 – Walt buys out Carl’s interest.
1955 – Renamed Kohlscheen Tavern. No record of this beyond 1956. Nick George continued to own the Opera House into the 60s.
Holst Sweet Shop
1944 – Nels Hansen purchased the former Brandt building, just south of the post office. It had been occupied for years by the Koehrsen Clover Farm store.
July 1945 – Les Crowder of Carsen purchased the Nels Hansen building / former Brandt building. He had intention of opening a café, but never did.
May 1946 – Crowder sold the building to Harry Fischer of Manning. M/M Will Felt rented the building from Fischer, and opened an ice cream shop.
June 7, 1947 – Albert Crabtree bought the ice cream shop from Felt.
Oct 2, 1947 Crabtree Ice Cream Shop – business and equipment sold by Albert Crabtree to M/M Elmer Holst (Firp and Margie). Renamed it the Holst Sweet Shop.
Jan 1948 – grand opening of Holst Sweet Shop. Same issue – Adolph Kay purchased the building from Melba Fischer of Manning. Mrs. Fischer is the daughter of M/M Will Felt.
Went out of business October 1948, building owned by Adolph Kay who will use as a residence and barber shop. This building was purchased from Kay in 1959 by Fix’s, for the new J&L Café (see story of Annex Café).
(M/M Holst later opened the Hom-Made Café 1953 – see story of Sylvia Cafe)
Sylvia Café / Hom-Made Café
Oct 1918 – J.W. Snow, named it Sylvia Cafe, in Herman Moritz Building (east side).
June 1919 Chas Bussow (and Bussow Sisters).
Early 1920 John Hudgens.
June 1920 C.F. Talbot.
Oct 1920 Tobe Brown.
May 1922 Tobe moved it to west side of street (NW Wentz property – see Palace Café below).
Nov 1922 Otto Paasch bought.
April 1924 Fred Lewis bought.
August 1924 J.E. Parrish bought.
April 1925 D.R. Donohoe bought, relocated their family from Anita.
Oct 1945 Bill Henningsen bought, renamed it Henningsen’s Cafe.
Jan 1946 Lorenz and Jeannette bought it, renamed it J & L Cafe.
March 1950 Nellie McDermott bought.
July 1952 Nellie became full-time secretary at the school, so she sold out in Feb 1953 to M/M Ferp Holtz and W.E. Rice (Avoca). Renamed Hom-Made Cafe.
Feb 1955 Elton & Eunice Schuttloffel bought. They owned for 19 years.
In August 1973, Walter Development Corp. bought the Hom-Made Café from Elton & Eunice Schuttloffel and renamed it the Colonial Kitchen. Don and Bob Walter + shareholders, built the Colonial Motor Inn which also included a restaurant. May 1975 Danny and Debbie Holtz were named managers of the Colonial Kitchen. November 1975 Rosemary Pedersen named manager (Danny & Debbie went to manage the Colonial Motor Inn).
1976 or 1977, Cliff & Velma Boysen and Bill & Mae Babbitt bought the Kitchen and Inn.
Nov 1977, Louise Johnson bought, renamed it Louise’s Kitchen in March 1978. Renamed Louise’s Kitchen & Lounge Aug 1981. Oct 1984 – fuzzy on this, but new operator took over. July 1984 ad appeared calling it The Private Enterprise (Louise’s Kitchen).
Sept 1986 Vickie and Gary Michaelsen bought it, renaming it Vickie’s Kitchen.
Last mention in the Walnut Bureau was Sept 1988. SOOO, 71 years total. Sylvia Cafe name lasted 28 years. Hom-Made Cafe name lasted 21 years. 18 total different owners.
Palace Café
1886 – W.E. Fraser opened a restaurant. He ran a confectionary as well.
1906 – He sold out his interest in the newly-named Palace Cafe to Andrew Kastner.
Nov 1908 – Kastner sold out to Cary & Cary (Glenn). Ed H. Andersen, a partner of Cary’s, sold his interest to Otto Hennings in Feb 1909.
Apr 1909 – Hennings bought out Cary entirely.
Dec 1911 – Theo and Bernal Cary bought out Hennings. The Cary name was changed to Carey in 1912. They put in an ice cream fountain in 1913.
1914 – The Allen Bros bought out the Carey Bros, and then sold to E.P. Thoning in December of that year.
May 1915 – Thoning sold out to N.W. Wentz.
May 1922 – Wentz sold to Tobe Brown (see above – Sylvia Café / Hom-Made Café)
Annex Café
1940 – Charles Shoecraft purchased the theatre and building just south of it. He operated the theatre, and a small confectionary / concession stand for a while. At some point opened the Annex Café in the corner building.
1942 – sold to Tom Dyer
1943 – sold to Delbert & Pearl Linn. Charlie Linn, Delbert’s father, and his wife operated the café in Dec 1944 when Delbert moved to Hancock and went into farming.
August 1945 – sold to A.O. “Sunny” Weiss. Renamed it Sunny’s Annex.
Sept 1946 – sold to Glenn Smith.
Dec 1946 – sold to Laverne & Lavanchie Damgaard. Smith sued Weiss, claiming Weiss sold it as a bus stop, but the bus line never agreed to make it a stop. Weiss won the suit.
August 1947 – sold to Ed Damgaard, Laverne’s father.
February 1952 – sold to M/M Harold Barkman.
1953 – sold to Lorenz & Jeannette Fix, who changed the name to J&L Café at some point.
1959 – they relocated the café to the building just south of the post office which had been occupied by Adolph Kay barber shop and Norma’s beauty shop.
May 1966 – The J&L Cafe closed in May 1966, when they sold out to Henry Behrens who had the contract for the expansion of the post office.
The Luncheonette
June 9, 1938
Max Farran of Hopkinton, Iowa has leased the Mrs. Ruth Neff building and will open a hamburger and refreshment shop as soon as water and necessary equipment can be installed. (209 Antique City Drive – currently (2021) occupied by Susie Sievers’ Forget-Me-Nots shop).
June 16, 1938
M/M M.R. Farran came here the past week from St. Louis, MO and opened the new Luncheonette in the Ruth Neff building, where they are ready to serve the public.
June 23, 1938
Max Farran purchased the Ruth Neff building for $250.
Oct 20, 1938
M/M Ben Rethwisch of Oakdale, NE this week purchased the Luncheonette of M/M Max Farran. They took possession Nov 9, 1938.
Jan 29, 1948
New owners M/M Roy Wester bought the Luncheonette. Will be managed by their daughter Betty Wester. Mr. Rethwisch will continue to work at the carpenter trade.
June 24, 1948
Betty married Robert Walter, an employee of the Walnut Telephone Co.
Feb 24, 1949
M/M Jerry League of Sioux City purchased the business and building from Wester’s. Maude League, Jerry’s mother, will take charge of the business. Seems the Luncheonette name was kept, but it was also known as Maude’s. No further references to The Sandwich Shop can be found. “Ma” Rethwisch continued to work for the restaurant for many years.
June 23, 1955
Luncheonette business and building sold to I.J. Kraft of Omaha.
June 21, 1956
M/M Erwin Arndt purchased the building for his electrical shop.
RB