A tribute to Dorothy’s Cafe

Last fall, I was visiting friends at Lohrville when I decided to drive down to my hometown of Churdan and have dinner at Dorothy’s Cafe.

I was greeted with a sign on the front door: “CLOSED.”

It was just unbelievable for me to grasp the meaning; Dorothy’s Cafe had been open for business forever.

Earlier in the year, some old classmates — Leonard Webb, Carol Fries, John Hunt and I — had enjoyed sort of a noontime mini school reunion (Class of ’49) in Dorothy’s Cafe.

Having the opportunity to have dinner at Dorothy’s Cafe goes clear back to summers in the late 1930s.

My dad would take his thrashing crew of 10 or 12 men there for dinner.

Sometimes I was allowed to ride in the 1935 Ford V-8 truck box with the men. This big box had been built by Jack Baldridge, of Adaza, and was capable of holding over 200 bushels of shelled corn. (In those days, there was still some grain being hauled to local elevators by team and wagon capable of hauling only 50 bushels.)

I remember so well the enjoyment of feeling the wind while riding in the back when noontime temperatures exceeded 95-100 degrees. It was a chance to really cool down.

We had no electricity on the farm, consequently no electric fans. Air conditioning was unheard of.

Dorothy’s Cafe had a good business during the Great Depression and the war years in the ’40s. I shall never forget seeing two or three hard-working, red-faced women working in the cafe during those hot summers.

The price of a good dinner, as I recall, was around 35 to 50 cents. (It is worth noting that some of those men riding in that truck were working for a dollar a day plus room and board.)

Dad preferred taking his crew to town for dinner partly because the cost was tax deductible. If Mother prepared the big dinner at the farm it was not.

In 1942, my brother Dale and I had a new Montgomery Ward full-sized bicycle. One day that summer, without telling our folks, we sneaked a trip down to Churdan.

We wanted to try our new bike on paved streets.

Once in Churdan, our first stop was Dorothy’s Cafe for a cold pop.

At ages 8 and 10, we pretended to be real tough men and ordered a Root Beer with an emphasis on the beer side.  

We pedaled up and down the side streets as fast as we could go. Soon we headed for home and were surprised with a fairly strong head wind from the north. We got as far as the John Kanning farm and had to push the bike the last mile home.

It was great to be home again and be greeted by the collie dog.

 

Also it was fun knowing we had pulled off a secret excursion, or so we thought.
Lyle Spencer graduated from Lohrville High School in 1949 because “my dad was involved in a Churdan school fight over a new building. He paid tuition and sent me to Lohrville.”
 

Spencer remains actively involved in the production of corn and soybeans on a family farm near Goldfield.

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Address: 200 N. Wilson St.
Jefferson, IA 50129

Phone:(515) 386-4161