Thursday, December 19, 2013

Earl Richardson and his diners. 1925

There was a nice find in the research of Earl Richardson and his building of diners in Silver Creek, New York.    I always knew Earl sold a bunch of his diners to local residents who sometimes stayed away from home, and other times would shortly come back to town.  In 1925, A Silver Creek newspaper published an article that mentioned a list of local owners of Richardson's diners.  A good majority I knew about, others I was mostly sure they were Richardson built diners, but there were some nice additions.  Plus there are a couple not mentioned here that do make me wonder. 

  I will put my comments in [ brackets ]

The manufacture of dining cars, in
Silver Creek has become one of the
main industries during the past year.
The Pioneer builder Mr Earl Richardson,
formerlv of Westfield, N.Y.
started building dining cars in the yards
of Madigan Lumber Company. The
business picked up with such speed
that it was necessary to build a factory
which could handle the orders.
This plant was built close to the depot
in account of loading the building material
A concrete building was erected
about 80x30, complete with the latest
wood working niachinery.
The new car recently installed to replace
the old one which has been in
Central Avenue near Main Street for
the past few years, is the last word in
dining car elegance.
 During the last year cars have been
made in the Richardson Dining Car
factory and sold to the following parties:

Byron Legters, Pen Yan, N.Y.   [still there]
George Dickinson, Newark, N.Y.  [sold to his son and moved to a Ward in Albion]
Sullivan & Emmiger, Buffalo, N.Y. - [I think 821 Abbott, but this week found that Emmiger owned a second diner in Buffalo.  Maybe both were Richardsons ]
Anthony Siefert, Erie, Pa  [ unknown address ]
Joe Muscato,'Franklin, Pa.  [appeared in the first edition of Diners of Pennsylvania]
Charles Tiedeman Erie, Pa [ 712 Peach, replaced by Ward and then Silk City ]
Howard Clute, Ravenna, Ohio  [moved back to town, bought diner in Silver Creek, then went to work for Ward & Dickinson]
Neil Paul, Belleview, Ohio [ local historian said they replaced the diner with a newer one in the 1930s and the old one went to Indiana ]
Ed Root, Galion, Ohio. [ Neil Paul is mentioned as being part owner]
C. E. Hofer, Falconer, N.Y.
Harold Huer, Warsaw, N.Y.
H. Smith, North Tonawanda, N.Y.  [ replaced by National/Sharpe in 1927]
George Shultz, Buffalo, N.Y. -  unknown address
Harry.Hotchkiss., Fredonia, N.Y. [ fire, and replaced by Ward in 1927 ]
H. Jackle, Ashtabula, Ohio
S. Neebuhr, Conneaut, Ohio
Geo Dietzen, Painesville, Ohio [ related to Neebuhr]
Wm. Martin, Greenville, Pa  [ replaced by on-site diner in 1960s]
Ted Graf, Warren, Pa.  [ I believe replaced by a Ward ]
R. Philps, Hamburgh, N.Y.
George Smith, Corry, Pa. [know nothing about this, maybe have been replaced by Mulholland]
Chas. Haviland, Wellsville N.Y.[ moved to Bolivar]
A. G. Wasmund, Wesleyville, Pa.
Clem J. Yonk, Bryan, Ohio. [moved back to Silver Creek, bought diner in town and later worked for Ward & Dickinson]
Jack Frost, Springville, N. Y.