Weishaupt's Cafe'

Photo: Weishaupt's Cafe

    Ask anyone who lived in Bunker Hill in the 30's and 40's about Weishaupt's Cafe' and you will hear nothing but good comments about the delicious meals served there.  Clara and Ed (Cappy) Weishaupt were the proprietors.  They lived on a small farm at the southwest edge of Bunker Hill where Vollmars had lived for many years.

    The restaurant business had began in the Warner Rull building around 1926, then was moved across the alley where Dia's beauty shop is now.  The property was two story with rooms for boarders and other rooms downstairs besides the restaurant.  Mrs. Freeman, who taught Latin, and her daughter Shirley, roomed there and many others through the years.  Mrs. Weishaupt was a hard worker.  Cappy usually sat in a rocking chair by the front window.  Someone said he and Warner Rull liked to go to the races.

    Weishaupt's was a favorite place for the working man to eat and generous helpings were common.  Marie Kampworth remembers her husband took a silo filling crew to town to eat in September '46 when she wasn't up to cooking for the gang.  The men and the cooks lined up across the street in front of the former Gazette News building for a picture.

    The Sunday chicken dinners were popular with the townspeople.  Even in the '30's it was reported that "people drove many miles regularly to partake of Clara Weishaupt's sumptuous chicken dinners."  During the week when school was in session, hamburgers were fried ahead of time and kept warm in a very large dishpan lined and covered with towels.  I wonder how many hamburgers could fit in a very large dishpan.  Some referred to them as greasy but everyone says they were good.  We used to like grease, remember?

    Ralph Gerdt remembers the Commercial Club met for supper in her dining room which was followed by their regular meeting.  She also served family groups there.  She catered large groups such as alumni banquets in Lincoln Hall over the drug store.  Ralph remembers men telling about the strong coffee Mrs. Weishaupt made in her large coffee pot, but she also had a smaller pot that wasn't so strong which Bill Behrens preferred.

    There was a well in front of the cafe about 10 feet from the sidewalk.  Grandma Ladendorff used the well water in her store and living quarters, but we don't know if Clara did.  Marie has pictures showing the pump and a drinking cup.

    Lillie Welch (Brueggeman) and Clara Weishaupt were good friends.  Clara was almost like a second mother.  Lillie rode in early every morning with her brother, Ross, who worked at Ed Bruckerts Garage.  She stayed at Weishaupts until time to go to school, then after school she stayed there until Ross got off of work.  She remembers Clara was such a good cook.  She made delicious pumpkin pie by using her hand packed ice cream which made it rich.  Her dressing, made with currants, was delicious.

    Thelma Roberts remembers when she was in grade school, Angie Bertagnolli took the kids money for hamburgers.  Bob Wood's mother, Lula, worked in 1929 and '30 and again in 1937 and '38.  He said she and others worked very hard.  His mother killed and dressed chickens, and she did the boarder's laundry and other people in town brought laundry at times.  Mrs. Weishaupt had a gasoline powered washing machine.

    Delores (Kehr) Davis who began work there in '46 said when you were hired, it wasn't just to be a waitress, but included many household chores.  Most people that I've talked with seem to think that the restaurant closed following the tornado, but Delores said it was open into the early to mid '50's.  The tornado took the top story, so her business wasn't the same.  No doubt her health was the cause of the closing.  Thelma remembers Mrs. Weishaupt lived with the Gerhardt's in her latter years.

    Marie Kampwerth says the weekday menu always included roast beef, roast pork, and baked ham and meals were ready to be served by 10:00 a.m.  The Nolls bread man always ate his noon meal at Weishaupt's at 10:00 a.m after he'd finished his town delivery.  The Sunday specialty was delicious fried chicken dinner including dessert.

    Orland Snedeker said his mother, Laura Dingerson, worked at Weishaupt's Cafe and that is where she met Orville Snedeker whom she later married.  Through the years, Laura used Clara's recipe for cole slaw dressing which included a bit of mustard and it was quite tasty.  Orland remembers that patrol boys were feted to a chicken dinner in 1955.

    Last week I mentioned that family dinners could be held in Clara's dining room.  Mary Vaughn said the story brought memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners when the Hess family and grandmother gathered in the Weishaupt's dining room.

    In March 1956, Joe and Dorothy Blevins moved to Bunker Hill.  They remember eating at Weishaupt's.  She recalls how the counter defined the edge of the kitchen and you could watch the cooking and serving.  She remembers the large block tile floors, the metal top tables, and ice cream chairs.  Joe thinks the cafe was possibly open as late as '57.

    Speaking of the Blevins makes me think of the Wisch's who made ice cream and sold it from their home in the next block south of the Dairy Queen.  Dorothy and I don't remember whether Russell Rigg started making ice cream or Wisch.  The Blevins bought the home and ice cream making equipment and for a couple of years tried their hand at the business.  Dorothy remembers making cups of ice cream for the Baptist Sunday School picnic at Simmermaker's Grove.  They made a cherry garden flavor with cherries and nuts which was the favorite of many.

...Read more about this and other Bunker Hill, IL historical stories at https://bunkerhillhistory.org/

--Original Author, Carolyn Scroggins (now deceased)
Provided by the Bunker Hill Historical Society 

--Cite this story: The Bunker Hill IL Historical Society. "A Look Back in Bunker Hill History." Bunker Hill Gazette-News, October 8, 2014, February 16, 2017.