I love to eat, and I appreciate a good diner. Pennsylvania is rich in diners. A restaurant might call itself a diner, but it doesn’t make it so. A diner is more than a place to get a hot cuppa joe and Adam and Eve on a raft*. A diner has a history, a personality, a place in the community, and a story.
The story of the diner is the story of Middle America. America was changing. The rise of the automobile, industrialization, America was becoming more modern, but people still needed to eat. The diner became an important element in cities, towns, and neighborhoods.
The American diner is taken for granted in the Northeast, but it’s a bit of a novelty at the national level. Sure, you might find newly constructed stainless steel diners sporting neon lights and black-and-white-checked tiles in places that never had a diner before.
So, what is a diner? For the purposes of Diners of Pennsylvania, a diner is a factory-built restaurant transported to its site of operation. The authors weren’t making a value judgment. It’s just a way of distinguishing diners from other eateries.
Many diners remind me of a railroad dining car, but I learned that the American diner evolved from the lowly lunch wagon. In 1872, Walter Scott pioneered the “night lunch” business by loading up a horse-drawn wagon with sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, and pie.
He peddled his wares to the staff of the city’s newspapers who worked all night to get out the morning edition. The nighttime streets were filled with hungry, potential customers. In industrial New England, production ran 24 hours a day, and soon he needed to operate around the clock.
The concept spread and manufacturers started producing lunch wagons commercially. Two major developments transformed the fledgling lunch wagon business into the diner industry. Wagon owners began settling on permanent sites due to licensing requirements, and cities were changing from horse-drawn trolleys to electric cars.
Manufacturers began standardizing their models and expanding offerings—including indoor toilets and full-length, marble-topped counters. Railcar styles and dimensions were adopted to facilitate transportation by rail and to emulate railroad cars.
As America’s love of the automobile grew, the most profitable locations were now on the edges of town. Flashy neon signs vied for the attention of motorists. Styles changed to reflect this as dinermen sought to distance themselves from their growing competitors, fast food restaurants.
Times changes everything, the current situation may look bleak for diner lovers. There are fewer diners now than when the first edition of Diners of Pennsylvania came out, twenty-seven less. Some burned, some were bulldozed for progress. There has, however, been a trend toward preservation. A fair share have been moved and restored to their original condition.
Wellsboro is lucky to already have its own little green porcelain gem. The Famous Wellsboro Diner has been a fixture of the area since 1939. It is Pennsylvania’s only surviving example of a New England barrel roof diner. The diner was manufactured by Sterling in 1938.
The diner was established in 1939 by Louis Meier and his brother-in-law, Walter Schnaker. The sixty-eight seat diner was first called Schnaker's. In 1941, Walter ended up leaving for New York to open a new diner, and Louis put Wellsboro's diner up for sale in the early 50's. The name changed when the diner got new owners.
The diner remained unchanged until 1994 when an adjacent building was bought and converted into a dining room and gift shop. It's currently owned by Nelle Rounsaville, who keeps the diner in original peak condition.
The food is good and served in generous portions. It’s a great place for when you are hankering for a piping hot roast beef sandwich and a warm piece of apple pie with vanilla ice cream melting around the edges.
I love the Wellsboro Diner. I recently found out that I'm not the only one who appreciates its comforting food. The Wellsboro Diner was recently named one of top ten classic diners. If you haven’t eaten there, check it out, but leave room for dessert…
*Diner lingo for a hot cup of coffee and two poached eggs on toast.
Dine in? Or Carry out? Email me at from_my_shelf@yahoo.com and drop me a comment. Hungry for more? You can get your fill at http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com There’s a full menu of past columns and delicious sides. Writers are supposed to stay hungry, but don’t let them starve. Save publishing and buy a book. Buy two, they’re small…
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