Woolworth Lunch Counter, Woolworth Bldg., Public Square
Somewhere in history, somebody realized that shopping makes people hungry. The Woolworth lunch counter opened its first eatery around 1923, reportedly in New Albany, Indiana. From there, the concept spread across the states, and lunch counters became a staple at other five-and-dime stores.
The lunch counter’s purpose, aside from feeding hungry shoppers, was to lure potential shoppers into the store with a quick and inexpensive, hearty meal, coffee, or dessert. As popular as they were, the lunch counters became a place to socialize and hear the latest gossip—but there was a bit of an evolution preceding them.
Woolworth, which had expanded in the UK by the early 1900s, would open a “tea room” in their Liverpool store. Over time, the idea developed further into refreshments like soda fountains, and then, by the early 1920s, ice cream counters were added. By this time, the original Lancaster store in Pennsylvania already had a soda fountain, reportedly as early as 1907. Nevertheless, the natural progression eventually led to the lunch counter.
In 1926, the Watertown Daily Times would remark on the popularity of drug store lunch counters–
Watertown drug store lunch counters are selling more sandwiches these days than Rudolph Valentino gets letters. Thousands of chicken, pork, beef, tuna fish, egg, eggolive, olive, tomato, lettuce, herring, salmon and cheese sandwiches are being turned out to a hungry public every day, by local sandwich vendors, while the daily output of many of the stores is in the hundreds.
It’s uncertain when the Woolworth lunch counter started, as the first mention in local newspapers came in 1932. Newberry’s had its lunch counter by 1928, and Empsall’s was advertising its own .25¢ “hot plate special, a delicious luncheon, daintily served” daily from 11 am – 2 pm. Of course, there were numerous other restaurants and eateries in downtown, making competition for traffic all the tougher with the American Hotel and Flower building and their offerings right next door.
On March 29, 1954, the Daily Times would report bitter news to swallow for coffee lovers at the Woolworth lunch counter–
Last Five-Cent Coffee Is Gone
The era of the five-cent cup of coffee is now completely gone in Watertown, the end coming today as the F. W. Woolworth company announced a price increase to seven cents.
Despite the continual rise in coffee prices, the Woolworth lunch counter had held the line with a five-cent cup of coffee.However the strain of rising coffee prices was too much for the company and today, amid apologies, the Woolworth counter posted signs announcing the new price of seven cents.
For months now, most local restaurants have bene charging ten cents a cup for coffee.
In 1960, the Woolworth lunch counter became the center of the Civil Rights movement when four college students, known as the Greensboro 4, sat down at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and started a movement. Though segregation was predominant in the South then, people protested throughout the country, including Watertown. The sit-in would become a defining moment for the Civil Rights movement, and today, the original counter is part of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro.
June of 1971 would see Woolworth relocate to the new City Center Mall a block down Arsenal Street as part of the city’s multi-million dollar urban renewal development, which, as of 2021, is undergoing its redevelopment. Along with its new location, Woolworth would open the Harvest House, a coffee shop/restaurant they had been rolling out for several years in places that were more of a sit-down restaurant than the diner-feel of the old Woolworth lunch counter.
While Woolworths closed for good in 1997 and marked the end of an era that lasted 118 years, one Woolworth lunch counter is still in operation. It is located in Bakersfield, California, and serves hot dogs, hamburgers, and milkshakes. The lunch counter, open seven days a week, serves “a cult following” and is taking a trip down memory lane. You can read more about it here.
1 Reviews on “Woolworth Lunch Counter – Public Square”
That stainless steel lunch counter sat in that space for years. The owner(s) of the resale store that went in there had ideas about having a sit-down place just off the Square or maybe selling it as a complete package, but alas–the last I ever heard, it had been sold for scrap.