|
|
HISTORY
|
716-672-4755 |
Sauce and Recipes ~ Our Mama DeJohn's
signature homemade secret recipe sauce and Italian dish
recipes have been handed down three generations and are
at least 100 years old. Frank Dejohns mother (Mary
DeJohn) taught Franks wife Shirley and Shirley taught
there daughter Lisa. Mary's parents came to the U.S.
from Italy in the early 1900's and brought very little
with them. One thing they did not leave behind were
there recipes that they handed down to there children.
Mary, Shirley and Lisa have been involved in restaurant
businesses all there lives. Mary worked at the Park
Diner, Shirley owned/operated many restaurants and
lounges in the area with her husband Frank, and Lisa
worked and grew up in her parents businesses.
Frank J. Dejohn ~ Frank and his wife
Shirley purchased the property in 1965 and have
designed, owned, and operated restaurants and lounges (3
Red Barn fast food restaurants, Park Diner, Goby Dicks
Lounge and Lions Gate Lounge) before deciding to open DeJohn's
Italian Spaghetti House. They had the idea to use there
experience in the restaurant/lounge businesses and the
treasured Italian family recipes to renovate and open
the Italian restaurant in 1988. In 2009 They decided to
retire and sold the building and business to there
daughter and her husband (Randy and Lisa Mancuso).
Randy and Lisa Mancuso ~ Randy and his
wife Lisa purchased the building and business from
Lisa's parents (Frank and Shirley DeJohn) in 2009. They
did some renovations and continue to operate the
restaurant today as it has been for years. Stop in for
some great Italian - American Cuisine and enjoy!
History of
DeJohn's Italian Spaghetti House building:
(started out as a dining car with a barrel
roof in 1926)
TIMELINE-
1926 ~
Dining car manufactured by Mulholland
Co. and sold by there sub corporation Dunkirk
Dining Car Corporation, 208-220 Washington Ave,
Dunkirk NY. These steel-framed dining cars were
30 feet long and 10 feet wide and built as a
turn-key restaurant complete with kitchen,
counter, seating and a couple of booths. Wooden
spoke wheels were attached to the frame for
transportation when moving it.
Click Here for more
information on Mulholland Co. (our dining car
was similar to the second photo with a barrel
roof).
Walter Ehmke purchased
the dining car (named it Park Diner) in 1926 and
located it at 9 Day St., Fredonia NY across from
the park (now the Darwin R. Barker Library
property).
1927 ~
Jack. C. Donnelly
purchased it
in 1927. He then opened another dining car
restaurant in Silver Creek, NY and ran into
financial difficulties during the depression.
1931 ~
Jack
relocated the
diner from 9 Day St. to 174-178 East Main
Street.
March 1st
1933 ~ Fire destroys all buildings
at 20 through
28 West Main Street leaving the land property up
for lease from Mrs. Josephine McPhee who owned
the Petz Bros. building at 24 West Main Street
and from Edward Crimens who owned the Crimens
Cigar Store at 26 West Main.
April
1933 ~ George Kopp purchased the diner
from
Jack. C. Donnelly in April 1933 with
plans to refurbish and move it to 24 W. Main St.
1948 ~
In August 1948, the then owner Harry Stanton,
moved the Park Diner one lot west to 26 West
Main Street where it is located now. It is this time period that is
believed to be when the rear wall of the dining
car was removed and was extended to make it into
a much larger restaurant with major renovations
(See above in the early interior images of the Park
Diner)
1961 ~
Ollie Finch purchased the Park Diner.
October 1965 ~ Frank J. DeJohn and his
wife Shirley purchased the Park Diner from Ollie
Finch with plans to renovate, after renovations
they reopened in 1966 as the Park Diner (keeping
the same name).
1971 ~
Frank closed up the diner for serious remodeling
into a bar and leased the bar to his brother
Richard DeJohn in 1972, it was renamed Richards
Park Pub.
1988 ~
Richard closes the Park Pub and Frank did
renovations to turn it in to an Italian
restaurant and reopened it as the Park Pub Deli
& Spaghetti Factory.
2000 ~
Frank and Shirley rename the restaurant
DeJohn's Italian Spaghetti House and make major
renovations to the kitchen, and added onto the
back of the building a large sunroom with a
deck.
2009 ~
Frank and Shirley retire and sell the
restaurant to there daughter and her husband
(Randy and Lisa Mancuso).
It's been an
amazing 90 year journey for this little 30ft by
10ft dining car from were it started to where
and how it is today (4 different locations in
the Village of Fredonia)! It has been in our
family for the past 50 years. The front 30 by
10ft area is still the original body of the
dining car underneath everything. Under the
ceiling tiles in the front vaulted ceiling area
you can still see the original domed barrel roof
and in the basement, the original large metal
frame with tongue and groove wood floor are
still visible.
Click the
links below for more information on Fredonia,
the Mulholland Co., and the Dunkirk Dining Car
Corporation.
Click Here -
for more information on Mulholland Co. (our
dining car was similar to the second photo with
a barrel roof)
Click Here -
History of Dunkirk Dining Car Corporation
Click Here to read the article -
The Lunch Wagons and
Diners of Fredonia By Douglas H. Shepard, 2011.
Also, see all our
appetizer,
lunch,
dinner and
pizza
menus
|
