A Diner Story that Keeps Growing and Getting Better and Better…

BeeLines - September 1, 2016

By Marybelle Beigh, Westfield Historian

A Diner Story that Keeps Growing and Getting Better and Better…

Some of you faithful readers may remember that back in 2011, I wrote a series of BeeLines about the dozen or so diners that decorated Westfield during the first half of the 1900s. In fact, these were gathered into a half dozen white three-ring binders, with photos and newspaper articles and advertisements gleaned during the research for these stories, and then displayed at Westfield Historian’s booth at the First Chautauqua County History Fair that was part of the Chautauqua County Bi-Centennial activities that year.

One of the diners that was discovered and described was known as “Mead’s Modern Diner.” In the September 26, 1934 Westfield Republican there was a brief story that was headlined “MORE IMPROVEMENTS” which noted that two new lunch cars had been placed in the village of Westfield the preceding week. One of these became our beloved “Main Diner” at the corner of Elm and Main. The other lunch car was located on the vacant lot owned by Blacksmith McCarty, at the corner of Main and Union Streets next to the McCarty house on Main Street. This one was managed by Gerald Mead, a well- known local business man who was known as “Tiny” because he was quite a large man. Gerald had two brothers, Harris and Clarence Mead; Harris Mead was the father of Jim Mead who was editor of the Westfield Republican during the third quarter of the 1900s.

A Rotary Minstrels program from October 24 & 25, 1934, is covered with the stamps or hand-written signatures as ads from many supporting businesses around Westfield, including the new lunch car – “Mead’s Modern Diner.” Menus for “Modern Diner” appear in the next few months of the Westfield Republican, advertising such specials as “Sirloin Steak – 50c” and “Roast turkey, dressing, cranberries, & dessert – 60c” or “Roast Loin of Pork, dressing – 40c.” PICK-UPS by the Pick-upper, a new column started in January 1935, published the following tidbit in the February 6, 1935 issue: “The new Modern Diner has recently had installed a new Neon Sign. That arrow sure travels fast.”

Where could we find a photo of this diner? One day, an observant local history buff mentioned that he had seen shots of two diners in Westfield in an old film that had been made in Westfield in 1935 – “Return of the Movie Queen” – which had been transferred to a video tape to be found in the Patterson Library. Using a computer to view the DVD, a few blurry still-photos of the dinner were obtained that allowed enough detail to determine that the diner was a Ward & Dickenson with an addition built to match the characteristic W & D windows and décor.

But wait! At the recent Second Chautauqua County History Fair, a client dropped by the Westfield Historian booth with the message that she has a photo of Mead’s Diner that was on Main Street in the 1930s. This photo was brought to the Patterson Library to be photocopied for the archives of the historian and the library. The woman who supplied the photo is the daughter of Kenneth Keulh who worked at the diner!

Other local people who worked there included Helen Kerns, Shirley Hawk and Sherwood Hilton. Shirley and Sherwood met at the diner in 1934, fell in love, and were married in 1935. Then Sherwood and Shirley Hilton moved to Brookville PA to manage a diner there in 1937 – Hilton’s Diner – which was in business there until 1979.

Mike Engle, a diner historian, recently discovered and shared another story about the history of Mead’s Diner found in a 1963 Chautauqua News. According to this article, for some unexplained reason, Mead’s Diner “had its wheels (dollies) adjusted and took off for Corry PA where it was in operation on West Main Street in that city. After a while, it went out of business and stood vacant until the spring of 1946, when a couple of guys just out of service in World War II – Bud Fields and Ray Chylinski – saw it as an opportunity of something to do, purchased it, and moved it (with much difficulty and several flat tires) to Sherman NY. The diner went through about a dozen owners, additions, and remodels ending with Felix and Agnes Pulinski, who operated it as “Aggie’s Dinor” from 1955 to 1962 when it was vacated and Aggie’s Restaurant opened (in the building that is now the Sherman office of Westfield Family Physicians). The tired old diner was classified as “junk” and torn down.