Ward & Dickinson Notes

Totally forgot about the blog.  Here are some of the many notes.  Some may be repetitions, but hopefully not.

Lincoln Diner - Olean, New York :  This is one of the Ward and Dickinson #1-100 diners. which means it has to be one of the diners that went missing.  First mention of this diner seems to be 1932-1933 area.

Endicott, New York : Found a photo of Albert Vyner's diner, which shows a Ward and Dickinson grafted on to a barrel roof diner, or vice versa.  Do not know which diner came first.  Vyner had a Ward and Dickinson in Syracuse, New York that I presumed was sold before he moved to Endicott.  In the 1940s, Vyner had a building built which he called a "diner" in Binghamton.

A photo of Harvey's Diner in Amsterdam, New York has confirmed what I thought. It was a Ward and Dickinson.

Canada for a minute:

Hamilton, Ontario had a Ward and Dickinson. It's possible it came from the Toronto eight(one stayed in Toronto for sure)  Lasted into the early 70s.

Grimsby, Ontario had two Ward and Dickinsons. Even better, the blurb at the historical society mentions that the diners were bought in Toronto.   So this takes care of four of the Toronto diners.

Back to the States:

Le Roy, New York :  So we know Estelle Howard took her diner to Perry, New York.  Why? Well the Legg family brought a newer Ward & Dickinson to town in 1931.  That diner made its way to Wellsville as the Modern Diner.  Seems the new owners, Bird and Mead were not allowed to move the diner onto Main Street in Le Roy and decided upon greener pastures.  By 1935, another Ward and Dickinson was brought into town to take over the same Lake St location as Howard's diner.

Estelle Howard:  Talked to the grand daughter and got some great photos! The diner moved from Perry in 1940 to Corbin Corners on US Rt 20 where it listed into the 1960s I believe.

Albany, New York : Learned that the mystery Miss Albany Diner, which was a Ward and Dickinson seemingly went to Bassett Street sometime in the 1930s, maybe 1933-1934. That diner was replaced by a presumably used O'Mahony diner in mid 1948. The Ward ended up in Glenmont/Corning Hill where the current Silk City diner that goes by Johnny B's is now located.  Well, it was originally across the street, as the highway was moved in 1955 to accommodate the building of the New York State Thruway.  Though the 1961 (poor) photo of the burnt shell of the diner seems to show a stainless steel diner.

Westfield, New York:  Gerald Mead's Ward and Dickinson, that showed up in rare video footage shot in 1935ish was moved to Corry, Pennsylvania we learned.  Not sure on the date yet.  It sat across the street from the Corry Aero Plant on US Rt 6 just outside of town until 1946 when it was moved to Sherman, New York.  The story goes that the diner was cut into four pieces to make the move go smoother.

Niles, Ohio:  A nice photo of a Ward & Dickinson was found on their historical society's web page in their newsletter of the Lora-Lee Diner.  The diner came into Niles in 1935 and online sources say the diner replaced an older diner which came to Niles in 1927 and was moved a few years later to a more advantageous spot in town.

Canton, Ohio : The two photos of Ward that we have have been located with addresses.  615 Market Ave North was the location of the longer living diner. Right next to the Palace theater, it lasted until 1960.  The other one was at 515 Market Ave South. It was a diner owned by Steward L Burlage (who also owned a Mulholland in Youngstown before this diner) in 1934.  The diner may have moved, or it may have stayed. The city directories says the address became the D.A.V. Club and we have no clue if they kept the diner or not.
Akron was much less helpful.  We could not really figure out the location of the town diners. So they may have been quickly moved

Ward & Dickinson notes.

Buster's Diner at 144 Norwich Ave in Norwich, CT(actually a little north of the city) was a Ward & Dickinson, the American Diner Museum has a photo, and Spencer Stewart confirmed an online photo of the interior.

Sept 29, 1927 - Mr. Kofoed and his wife went to Nashville, TN on a two week business trip.  The newspapers on a later date said he fell ill in Nashville.  Now, Berthel Kofoed was the builder behind Ward & Dickinson and may have had the most influence on the building of the diners.  His son wrote a history of his life, and mentioned that his father, Berthel, fell sick driving home from Houston, Texas after having Freon poisoning while setting up a diner's refrigeration.  Might this be a mistake?
Another of Berthel's sons lived in Houston for a few years, so maybe his son remembered the wrong name.  I mean, this would have been 50 years later! And he didn't live the event.   Either way, with a business trip, there was probably a Ward & Dickinson in Nashville!  Now to find out more about it.

Otto Kiefer ran a diner in Avon from about 1926 to 1940, before he passed away.  In 1946, that diner was moved to Perry.  Well, I found out the Kiefer family was from Silver Creek.

The W&D in Sharon, PA has always confounded me. Addie Richardson ran it from 1926 to roughly 1932, before the diner disappeared.

background - Addie Richardson was the mother of Elmer Richardson who was married to Aletta. Elmer ran a diner in Warren, Pennsylvania.  Addie's husband was a brother to Harry Richardson, who worked for Ward & Dickinson on and off.  And lo and behold, there was a Sperry relationship. (side story there!)

Spencer Stewart found a Youngsville, PA article that mentioned that a Richie Diner was being moved to Youngsville from Warren.  So here is where it gets confusing!   There was a diner in Warren that was built by Earle Richardson.  But why would a newspaper care about who built the diner, they would probably care more about who owned that diner, and that diner was most likely owned by Elmer Richardson, who had a diner in Warren at the time.  Of course, that diner in Warren has been a boatload of confusion too. Did it replace a Richardson model? What happened to it in 1940.  A 1940 photo shows it as Hopkins Dinor, but that never shows up in the city directories.
  So just maybe the Sharon diner was moved to Youngsville.  It would make sense.

oh, I sent out letters to the counties where Scranton, and Wilkes Barre are located, to try to check out their conditional sales dockets.  hoping to hit the jackpot in these two locations, but to be honest, in the bigger cities, the prothonotaries just got tired of filling out everything in the dockets, and started just writing the names in the dockets without ANY info, very quickly.  So I might not be able to get any W&D tag info, which would be a bummer.  Would like to get a couple more counties done this summer.  My plan is to go down there on rainy fridays, as I have a bunch of fridays off to take care of garden work.

Check out Diner Hunter on facebook

Just a quick post to let you know that if you like diners and research, check out Spencer Stewart under "Diner Hunter"    In my opinion, he has become the foremost diner researcher.  I gave him a photo that both myself and another diner researcher had failed to locate for about 10 years. And within a hour, he found the location, and a second photo online.

PA - Armstrong, McKean and Clarion Counties

Armstrong Co.

Ward & Dickinson pg 24

12/10/38 $4500

William J. Short, Kittanning

one “used” 40 ft #151 and equipment

Kullman pg 77 & 438

5/10/39 $8500

John F. Rothwell, res 486 E. High, Kittanning

one dining car #170

Clarion Co.  (1925-1935 book is missing)

Lee Dickinson pg 97

1/18/36 $3500

Leslie & Mernie Cross

everything listed, fire extinguisher, clock etc.

diner #56, came from Anderson, IN

Cross #559

10/23/36 $5000

Dr. Altom S. Giles & Elizabeth Giles

known as the regular 30 foot model

satis 10/20/37

McKean County

Ward & Dickinson v1 p 271 #813

3/28/27 $4800

Joseph Fisher, Turtle Creek(Pittsburgh area)

diner #78. came from Toledo, Ohio and went to Turtle Creek(Pittsburgh suburb), PA

Ward & Dickinson v2 p 11 #1541

4/17/28 $3300

Joseph C. & Mary Wasmund

diner #18  diner went to Johnsonburg, Pa next.  Kane seemed to get another diner later on, but I know nothing about this.

Ward & Dickinson v2 p130 #2018

10/26/28 $5000

Sylvester Falk & Leland R. Hansen, Mt. Jewett

diner #3 came from Jamestown, NY and then went to Niantic, CT

Ward & Dickinson v3 p 431 #5512

4/3/31 $8450

Margaret Moore, Bradford

diner #236 

Ward & Dickinson v4 M12 38148

5/13/35 $3790

Margaret Moore, Bradford

diner #210 41'6” w/ kitchen   had to be a used diner.

Addendum on Blair County, PA find

Ward & Dickinson #170 moved to Altoona, PA by Wesley Kofoed.

Two photos of the diner can be found here.

http://www.tomandjoes.com/id6.html

Blair, Centre, Indiana & Elk Counties in Pennsylvania

Blair Co. Microfiche. And the index was by buyer. info was typed up to early 1934, then handwritten afterwards and some did not copy well.

Ward & Dickinson #170 $4800 41' 6”

7266 2/28/34

Wesley Kofoed.

{This was found under K and I knew of this info.  Wesley moved another diner #32 to Uniontown}

There should have been more diners in Altoona and Hollidaysburg.

Centre County

O'Mahony serial #163-B $5520 11x40

pg 90 #262 6/7/26

Club Diner Inc

Ward & Dickinson #181 $7250

pg 291 9/5/30

Russell W. Adanitz

Ward & Dickinson $10,000 48'10”

pg 389 6/25/32

Russel W. Adanitz

assigned to Lee F. Dickinson on 12/9/35 and then assigned to Edward L. Willard 2/15/36 who satisfied it the same day.

Indiana County

Ward & Dickinson $1384.29

pg 247(Book 1) 2/15/28

R.G. Dean of Indiana

one ward dining car

{this Dean had diner #6 and in 1926 his home address was given as New Brighton, PA.  No mention was made in W&D ledger about Dean owing any money at any time.}

Ward & Dickinson $4500

pg 87(Book 2) 6/13/34 .. satisfied 9/13/39

Emerson Dean of Blairsville

Fodero dining car #73 $30,500 (156 Arlington Ave, Bloomfield, NJ)

pg 476(Book 4) 11/12/53

Emerson A & Hazel J Dean

assigned to Lincoln National Bank from Joseph Fodero on 12/10/53

Elk County

Ward & Dickinson #156 $6400 unpaid

p181 #542 9/17/28

J.R. Curry

Ridgway

33' standard model

Ward & Dickinson #179 $6400 price named in contract

p184 #549 10/8/28 .. satisfied 4/23/34

O 7. Phelps(not sure on middle initial)

Ridgway

33' standard model

Ward & Dickinson $4800

p208 #621

Stella A. Beauseigner

Johnsonburg

{This was W&D #18, came from Kane, PA and went to Hammond, IN afterwards and finally ended up in Batavia, NY}

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania - Conditional Sales Dockets

Here is what I have from the Conditional Sales Dockets of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.  As usual, not every diner, but only the ones where the owner filed a Conditional Sales docket with the manufacturer and thus with the county.  More counties to come in the next couple of days.

The purpose is to get this posted online.   All addresses are Harrisburg, if not noted.

Brill (D-94) $12,500

B-15 #1531 6/12/29 .. satisfied 5/13/35

Robert Brown.

Check 329 Walnut St. Harrisburg

O'Mahony $8,364

C-4 #523 10/15/27

Mary N. Collins

res 1913 Penn St.

Ward & Dickinson $4750

K-22 #4654 7/26/33 .. satisfied 12/15/39

Percy L. Kupp

O'Mahony $9,692

p248 #743 5/4/39

Harry H. Schell

res 1319 S 17^th St

Kullman

Q-1 #381 1/27/52

William Quinn

Lower Paxton Township or Paoli

O'Mahony (#2234) $51,358.29

S-6 #457 4/2/53

Ira W. & Theda Seybold

727 S. Cameron St.

Patterson $25,000

S-5 #371 1/10/53 .. satisfied 12/25/55

Carroll R. Sauder

res 1892 2^nd St. Highspire

Brill (reconditioned) $5500

C-23 #4273 7/25/39

David L. Cronin & H.P. Collins

1951 Herr St.

Lee Dickinson (42 ft #310) $8,900

K-16 #3590 10/3/38 .. satisfied 12/31/41

Karl V Kupp

6/22/39 assigned to first national bank of silver creek

O'Mahony $6,120

D-14 #3531 (somewhere between 1934 and 1940???)

W.W. Dayton

res 3010 alerry St. (first two letters unsure)

O'Mahony $7105

B-1 #86 8/23/40

James Banford

613-615 N. Cameron St.

O'Mahony $9642.50(or 8642.50)

W-1 #155 9/20/40 & W-7 #1529 9/16/43 renewal .. satisfied 9/23/43

Charles H. Wertz Jr.

Paxton @ 20^th St.

O'Mahony $5582.50

C-24 #4806 4/8/40 .. satisfied 4/13/43

Edward D. Cable

res 184 2^nd St. Highspire

Paramount (Dining Car #512) $2900

C-2 #337 12/24/40 .. satisfied 8/18/41

Edward D. Cable & Justine E. Cohen

check 420 S 2^nd St & res 209 Montrose St.

Patterson $7800

B-58 #4145 6/9/39

J. William Bale

res 141 E. Main, Hummelstown

Patterson $9500

B-10 #1322 6/5/39 & B-11 #1481 4/22/43 .. satisfied 8/26/43 & 7/18/47

J. William Bale aka Bales Diner

Patterson $18,500 (Dining Car #4814)

F-11, B-21 #2470 7/27/48 .. satisfied 8/13/51

Frank L Flota & Andrew Balukonis aka Blue Diner on Rt 22

O'Mahony

Malcolm B. Porter

Cameron @ Paxton Sts.

P-2 #307 11/3/34 $8691.25

P-15 #2751 11/4/37 $3277.53

P-19 #3646 11/1/38 $2021.42

P-22 #4504 10/31/39 $5076 {why did it increase?}

P-9 #1425 10/26/42 renew of #4504 above .. satisfied 4/13/43

P23 #4558 11/30/39 $21461 – Dining Car at 205 N. 3^rd St.

P-10 #1440 11/25/42 $8665.75

P-12 #1674 11/25/44 (said from 11/30/40) .. satisfied 12/9/44

P-11 #1559 11/26/43 Porter's Diner $14,461.50

O'Mahony

David S. & Sarah K. Reed

R-6 #1548 10/11/43 $16.597.50

R-8 #1780 11/19/45 $14,255 (seems related to the R-6) satisfied 5/26/50

R-12 #2581 11/19/48 $17,255(original price) – 1 lunch car and equipment

R-14 #2903 renew R-12 satisfied 5/26/50