Out for a Sundae Drive
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A Nebraska soda fountain experience.
By Alan J. Bartels
You probably remember visiting the
local soda fountain when you were younger. These centers of social life were
often located in the town apothecary or variety store. Even small towns sometimes
had several. In 1950 there were more 100,000 soda fountains in the United States.
Today perhaps only a few hundred remain.
In Nebraska, soda fountains can be
traced back to at least 1858, when a Brownville drugstore placed an ad in the
Nebraska Advertiser stating that they’d just purchased a soda fountain
from “out East.”
My first recollection of a soda fountain is from the Rexall Drug Store in Wakefield in the early 1980s. I remember how my mother gasped at the site of that fountain, how her pace quickened as she approached it. Her smile was a mile wide as we sat down and ordered, and soon I was inundated with what I considered corny recollections of the soda fountain she’d known in Iowa as a child.
Mom, I understand now.
Like most soda fountains, the one in Wakefield has since been sold off for parts, and the building has morphed into another business endeavor. But across Nebraska, others remain, and I decided to visit them. I wasn’t interested in museum-pieces. I wanted to find soda fountains that still operate on Nebraska’s main streets. Despite the many miles of driving it would take, I decided to experience them all.
Panhandle
Operated by the Potter Historical
Foundation, Potter Sundry is a working restaurant and a 1950s-era soda fountain.
The building has an ice cream claim to fame: This is where Pinky Thayer invented
the Tin Roof Sundae in the 1930s.
Inside the building, the oak back
bar is original, with original leaded glass and full mirror. Historical foundation
member Dale Dedic said that his parents ran a store in the building for 35 years.
The fountain came in 1952.
Southwest
Arapahoe Pharmacy is unique in that
it’s believed to be the only soda fountain in Nebraska still operating
in its original building. Owner John Tangeman proudly told me that there has
been a soda fountain in his building since 1899. The original equipment wore
out and is in a museum. The current fountain is about 80 years old.
One of the benefits of my soda fountain
tour was trying the treats. Here I ordered a chocolate soda. Historically, several
people claimed to be the inventor of this tasty treat. All I know is that the
one Carol Wendland made for me – with flavored soda water and ice cream
– tasted great. Carol’s been a soda jerk for 23 years.
While I was enjoying my soda, Ruth
Glazner came in and ordered a sundae. Though she now lives in Colorado, she
remembers visiting the soda fountain as a child, and usually stops by when she’s
in town to visit her mother every month.
“It was always a special occasion
to be able to go to the soda fountain,” she said. “Mother would
go shopping and I would go to the library. Afterwards we would go get some ice
cream.”
Sandhills
Next stop: Emily’s Soda Fountain,
located on Broken Bow’s vibrant town square. Typical of a soda fountain’s
old time atmosphere, I no sooner ordered than a couple who were complete strangers
to me asked if I would join them for lunch.
My new friends were Richard and Mary
Stone of Broken Bow. They said they were having lunch at Emily’s because
it was Richard’s day to cook. They added that the food is great, but they
usually just come for ice cream.
Owners Rod and Barb Pracht bought
a soda fountain first, then found an 1893 building to put it in. They spent
six months renovating the place. When they opened in 2005, they experienced
some days in which 2,000 customers passed through their doors. They had to make
evening trips to Kearney to bring back more ice cream.
The fountain is a 1920s Bishop and
Babcock model. “It is almost 90 years old and is in perfect condition
– it just purrs,” Rod said. A look at their guest book reveals that
visitors have come from many states and several countries, including Japan,
China and the Netherlands.
Across the state, many soda fountain owners told me how important it is to employ local workers, especially kids. Emily’s is no different. In the summer they have about 18 people working, many of them high school students.
By far the most passionate soda fountain
aficionado I met is Randy Goeke of Goeke Variety in Atkinson. He and business
partner Mike Skulavik own two fountains. Randy runs the one in Atkinson and
Mike operates the smaller fountain in the Range Cafe at the historic Bassett
Lodge in Bassett.
Randy is a purist. As I entered the variety store (a rarity in itself) and found
my way to the fountain in back, there was Randy in a pinstriped shirt, a funny
little hat and an apron… just as if it was 1950. After school let out,
two of his younger workers arrived in vintage waitress uniforms. Randy believes
that such details – along with vintage glassware and old music played
at the lunch counter – are an important part of the experience.
For Alyson Tielke of Atkinson, one
of the teenage soda jerks, “The best part of the job is meeting all the
people that come to see the fountain.” She told of three German visitors
who laughed and laughed about the uniforms.
Randy said that “sometimes visitors
like to test us to see if we know how to make things the right way.” To
his mind, for instance, a true banana split is made with one scoop each of chocolate,
vanilla, and strawberry ice cream, but some places make it with three scoops
of vanilla. That isn’t necessarily wrong. It just depends on what your
soda fountain experience was.