My Mom (left) working at the Hamburger Inn in 1946
HAMBURGER INN – Best Damn Burger In Town
For years when we were kids our mother would tell us about her first job, working at the Hamburger Inn in Wooster, OH after school. We used to, on occasion, refer to her kitchen as the Hamburger Inn while growing up. After listening to her stories as well as the stories about the Hamburger Inn from uncles, aunts and acquaintances, I sure wish I was around to walk in and buy a couple of those burgers.
From a recent BITS ‘N PIECES column from the Daily Record newspaper:
Doc Lehman wrote to say he and his siblings want to learn more about the Hamburger Inn. He’s hoping readers will send in their recollections.
“My interest in the Hamburger Inn is that my mother, the late Helen Maxine (Smith) Lehman, worked there in 1946 and 1947,” he said. “As youngsters many, many years ago we heard about her working there and how good the food was and especially how inexpensive it was — 25 cents for a large burger I believe.”
He included a photo of his mother and another woman at work in the restaurant. A sign in the background proclaims “We Select and Grind Our Own Hamburger.”
The photo (above) was taken by a Daily Record photographer for a Hamburger Inn advertisement that ran in The Daily Record sometime in 1946.
Lehman said his mother was all of 16 years old when the photo was taken. Back then she would leave Wooster High School at noon to work at the eatery.Ida Woodward of Wooster said the Hamburger Inn was first owned by the Vickers brothers. She remembers paying 5-10 cents for a ‘burger there. Betty Doty remembered her father buying hamburgers by the bag at the Hamburger Inn. Carolyn Wellman of Wooster said her parents, Gladys and “Pat” Murphy, helped run the Hamburger Inn for a time with Glenn Barnett.
“It had the look of a streetcar but it was actually a long narrow building next to Neil Furniture,” she said.
Tags: 1946, Add new tag, Hamburger Inn, Helen Maxine Smith Horst Lehman, Wooster Ohio
