Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 08/01/18
Summary
The Brown Duke Snack Shop is a pre-fabricated steel diner built by the Valentine Manufacturing company in c. 1948 and delivered to the Magnolia for use as a small restaurant building.James “Tamey” Duke, a local restaurant entrepreneur owned and operated the small diner until his retirement in the mid-1980s.The diner building is no longer in its original location in downtown Magnolia, Arkansas; however, one of the main characteristics of a true diner is its mobility that allowed owners to move the structure as traffic patterns or ownership changed.The Brown Duke Snack Shop is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, with local significance, for its association with the economic history of Magnolia, Arkansas, during the mid to late 20th century.It is also being nominated under Criterion C, with local significance, as an example of a Valentine Manufacturing company, pre-fabricated steel diner, the only known example in Arkansas.The structure is also being nominated under Criteria Consideration B as a moved property.Although the structure’s current location is not adjacent to a roadway or ready public access, which would be required for National Register listing, this property was designed to be mobile.The Brown Duke Snack Shop operated for over 35 years as an important part of the local economy and contributed to the social environment of Magnolia, Arkansas.
Elaboration
Valentine Manufacturing, Inc., was named for its founder Arthur Hoyt Valentine of Wichita, Kansas.[1]The firm was actually a successor to the Ablah Hotel Supply Company, which had started making pre-fabricated metal buildings as a subsidiary of their thriving supply company.The Ablah Hotel Supply Company was created by the end of the 1920s and focused on manufacturing equipment and supplies for commercial kitchens and dining rooms.[2]During the 1930s, Arthur Valentine became a prefabricated building salesman for the Ablah Hotel Supply Company.This was after Valentine had been working in the lunchroom business for many years.[3]
Arthur Valentine was born in Illinois in 1891.[4]In 1912, Valentine married Ella Creach in Oklahoma and a few years later the couple was living in Kansas.During the 1920s, Valentine began operating lunchrooms in south central Kansas, creating several businesses that provided cheap lunches to customers.Valentine was quite an entrepreneur, operating as many as 50 lunchrooms in the area while also selling cars in Great Bend, Kansas, in 1928.[5]Until the 1930s, Valentine had been establishing and running his lunchrooms in existing buildings or in prefabricated buildings he purchased or leased from other companies.During the early 1930s, Valentine purchased a lunchroom building from the Ablah Company.Soon, Valentine was working for the Ablah Company, where he would work throughout the 1930s.
By the end of the 1930s, the Ablah family decided to cease production of prefabricated buildings and Arthur Valentine was allowed to take over this aspect of the business.[6]This led to the creation of the Valentine Lunch System, where Valentine continued to create lunchroom businesses and also sell pre-fabricated buildings built by the Hayes Equipment Manufacturing Company of Wichita, Kansas.By 1941, Valentine also incorporated Valentine Fixtures, Inc. next-door to the Hayes Equipment Manufacturing company’s headquarters in Wichita.Unfortunately, the intervention of World War II led to severe material shortages and Valentine’s companies were soon dissolved and he began working as an inspector for Boeing, a position he held for the duration of the war.In 1945, Arthur Valentine set up Valentine Industries to get back into the diner industry.[7]He created a new partnership with H & H Parts to manufacture his designs.In 1947, Valentine created Valentine Manufacturing, Inc., to bring all the aspects of the diner business, including design, manufacturing, and sales, under the control of one company that he controlled.This company soon started to grow and was advertising its wares across the country by the early 1950s.Unfortunately, Arthur Valentine stepped away from the business he created in 1951 due to failing health.He continued to have a limited role in the company until his death in 1954.In 1957, the company was purchased by the Radcliff family, who would operate the company until the late 1960s.[8]
The main selling points of the Valentine diners were their simplicity of operation and their mobility.The early models were advertised as ready for business upon delivery.[9]The new owner simply had to provide a small foundation and utility hook-ups.The entire system was designed for only one or two people to run the entire business, with all of the needed machinery including in the built-in cabinets and counters.The building also included a restroom and space for from 6 to 10 customers and also an optional exterior window for pick-up service.This all-inclusive business model was promoted as a great way to own a business without a huge investment and definitely appealed to a generation coming out of the trials of both the Great Depression and World War II.[10]This small business was economically viable for just a single person or couple to run successfully.The Valentine Manufacturing company also geared their business model toward entrepreneurs who didn’t have ready capital by advertising that the buildings could be paid off in installments by depositing a portion of each day’s profit into a built-in wall safe.[11]These safes were only accessible by staff of the Valentine company, who would make the rounds and collect the money from the wall safes on a regular basis.The Brown Duke Snack Shop still features its built-in Valentine wall safe.The diners were also advertised as mobile units that could be easily moved to allow for owners/operators to follow new traffic patterns or sell their unit to new investors.“Another decided advantage to the owner is the 100% portability of the unit, which may be moved from one location to another without losing its value.”[12]These pre-fabricated diners were popular throughout the mid-20th century.The decline in their popularity started in the 1960s with the rise of the fast food industry that provided standardized quality food with brand recognition across the United States.[13]The small mom and pop diners of the earlier decades suffered and many were soon closed and moved by the late 1970s.
Richard Ten Eyck
The early design of at least the “Aristocrat” model produced by the Valentine Manufacturing company was most likely designed, at least in part, by the American industrial engineer Richard Ten Eyck.Ten Eyck was originally from Illinois and had studied industrial design at the University of Illinois. [14] After working for a tool company and in the Chicago office of designer David Chapman, Ten Eyck moved to Wichita, Kansas, to work for the Beech Aircraft Company in 1945.In 1948, he started his own private design practice in Wichita, where he would work until his retirement in the late 1990s.Ten Eyck’s designs for Beech Aircraft and for various other companies became standards of the Atomic Age aesthetic, including designs for Westinghouse air-conditioners, the Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza, which became one of the longest models in continuous production in aviation history, and the Vornado fan.He also did design work for the Cessna Aircraft Company and the Bell Helicopter Company for several decades.
According to an oral history given by Richard Ten Eyck as part of a project to interview designers and architects association with Chicago, Eyck noted that he had worked for Valentine Industries sometime between 1945 and 1948.[15]He remembered that in 1945, he was only doing some conceptual sketches for Valentine, but had sold the company a design in 1948.Ten Eyck noted that he had contacted the company, which would have been just restarting after World War II to try to get them to hire him to make their pre-fabricated buildings more than just glorified hot dog stands, as he described it, with “gaudy character.”[16]He designed a streamlined model known as the “Aristocrat” for Valentine Industries.In his oral history, Ten Eyck noted that the company was already efficient at building good structures and that their products were:
…inexpensive enough that if a couple could go together and invest in this thing and set up their sandwich shop someplace on the road – out in front of their house, sometimes, out by a farm, anywhere.If they were industrious with it an in an area where there was a market for people who wanted to eat out, then… Then it was little like a hot dog stand or a hamburger stand, more than anything else.[17]
Although Ten Eyck didn’t remember much about the overall design or what happened to the company after his short involvement, he did remember that the company never truly paid for his design work, instead offering him a new product they were hoping to market:a small stainless steel bar, designed more for home use than for a restaurant.[18]Although unhappy about the lack of hard money, Ten Eyck took the trade and sold his “small bar” straight from the factory.The design of the early Aristocrat model seems to be Ten Eyck’s only association with Valentine’s company.However, the next models to appear in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Master and the Little Chef, were very similar in styling with some additional signage and decorative elements.It appears that either another unknown designer was hired or someone in-house took Ten Eyck’s designs and created new models for the company.
The Master and Little Chef Models
The Master model and the Little Chef model of diners advertised by the Valentine Manufacturing company seem to be identical in most respects, with the Master and Little Chef models appearing in advertisements in newspapers in the mid-west, west, and south from 1949 through the early 1950s.[19]The earliest eating establishments known as diners were often created in converted rail cars, which helped to establish the early iconography of the style that echoed the streamlined look of early 20th century railcars.[20]By the 1920s and 1930s, diners wee commonly known as lunchrooms or lunch cars.These were small businesses, operated most typically by the owner and housed in pre-fabricated metal buildings that were designed for easy transport by railroad or by flat-bed truck.Valentine’s Master and Little Chef models were notable due to their Art Moderne styling on the both the exterior and interior.Ornamental banding created a streamlined look around the exterior of the building, which included areas for signage along the fins and bands on the exterior.Also, the interior echoed the streamline look with smooth metal surfaces, built in machinery and the sleek look of the stainless steel throughout.Also, some ornamental mirrors and banding along the wall at the end of the main built-in bar area helped to further the design.The Master or Little Chef models included a large bar area and no booth space within the diner.The bar would seat from 8 to 10 people along the bar on stools and also some variation included sliding windows for curb-side or pick-up service.[21]
The Brown Duke Snack Shop
The Brown Duke Snack Shop of Magnolia, Arkansas, was opened on May 6, 1948, and is an early example of the Master or Little Chef model of pre-fabricated Valentine diner.[22]The Brown Duke Snack Shop was purchased by James “Tamey” Duke of Magnolia most likely directly from the Valentine Manufacturing company.The opening of this diner was perfectly placed and timed to take advantage of the booming business in downtown Magnolia after World War II.Magnolia, Arkansas, had been established at the county seat of Columbia County in 1855.[23]The early local agricultural economy was based primarily on cotton production.
In the 1920s, oil was discovered in the area and this industry helped to insulate the community from the worst of the hardships during the Great Depression.The introduction of a cotton mill in 1927 along with the growth in the local oil industry helped to create a strong foundation for economic growth in the area throughout the mid-20th century.Also, the growth of Southern Arkansas University (SAU) has also benefitted the local economy.Between 1940 and 1960, the town of Magnolia’s population more than doubled from 4300 to over 10500.[24]In later discussions of his career, Tamey Duke noted that “The 40’s and 50’s were a boom time for the oil industry and the restaurant industry.”[25]
James “Tamey” Duke was born in January of 1916 in Magnolia, Arkansas, to parents James Watson Duke and Mary (Brown) Duke.In 1930, James Watson Duke was listed in that year’s Census as a merchant with a local general store while his son Tamey Duke is listed as an assistant at a café.Tamey Duke’s early experience at age 14 in café work would help him to establish his own cafes later in life.In 1940, at age 24, James Tamey Duke was living with his parents and aunt in Magnolia and is listed in the United States Census as a café owner, putting in 84 hours of work in the week prior to the census taker’s visit.It is also noted that his father, James Watson Duke was unable to work, which was one of the reasons that Tamey Duke became an early café entrepreneur in Magnolia.Staci Richer, Tamey Duke’s step-daughter, has noted that her stepfather started selling hamburgers for 10 cents each out of a shed near a blacksmith shop in downtown Magnolia when he was only ten years old.This early restaurant venture was well received and he developed a following in the county.Tamey Duke noted that although he had served local celebrities in his restaurants, “the finest people who have eaten here are the Columbia County people, my neighbors, who have been loyal and eaten here for so many years. They must have credit for any success that I have had.”[26]
By the 1940s, Tamey Duke was working to support his parents and sisters, while also attending Magnolia A&M, now known as Southern Arkansas University (SAU).His father had been blinded by diabetes when Tamey was young, forcing him to find work to help support his family.[27]Before WWII, Tamey Duke opened the Chatterbox Café on East Main Street, a business he would continue to own and operate for the next 50 years.[28]After being drafted to serve during World War II, Tamey Duke left his business in care of a local manager.During his service, he served in the army as a Mess Sergeant in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy.[29]In
March of 1948, Tamey Duke’s father James Watson Duke passed away, only a few short months before the opening of the Brown Duke Snack Shop.On Thursday, May 6, 1948, the Brown Duke Snack Shop opened to the public serving “Breakfasts – Sandwiches – Short Orders.”[30]The small diner seems to have been named after his mother’s maiden name Brown and his last name Duke.In 1951, the Chatterbox was lost in a Christmas Day explosion and fire that destroyed several buildings along Main Street.[31]The Brown Duke Snack Shop was then used by Tamey Duke to still serve food while the chatterbox restaurant was rebuilt.It appears that he continued to own the diner throughout the 1950s and 1960s, while leasing it out others to manage.
In 1979, a set of two slides, now housed at the Library of Congress, show the Brown Duke Snack Shop painted completely white and setting empty along North Washington Street.After his retirement from day to day business at the Chatterbox in the late 1980s, Tamey Duke moved the Brown Duke Snack Shop from its original location along the 100 block of North Washington Street, near the main square in Magnolia, to property he owned along south Pine Street. [32] He re-opened the diner at Tamey’s where he served Bar-B-Que, Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Chili, etc.; and he even offered curb service.Also, according to family photographs, the building was partially painted a deep red color.
During the late 1990s, after Tamey Duke passed away in 1992, the diner building was purchased by David McWilliams.The structure was then moved to a pasture near McNeil.Here the building sat for several years, leading to quite a bit of deterioration.In the recent years, Staci Richer Lamb and the Florence Heritage Foundation have taken ownership of the building with plans to restore it to its former glory and return the building to downtown Magnolia.[33]Currently, the building is located at All Pro Construction and Remodeling’s work yard in El Dorado, Arkansas.Although not in its original location, one of the main selling points of the pre-fabricated diners of the 1940s was their mobility.Owners and/or operators were able to move their business to follow traffic patterns or easily transfer ownership to new operators.At least one other valentine diner was located in or near Fayetteville, Arkansas, in the early 1960s, as evidenced by an advertisement in the Northwest Arkansas Times on June 11, 1963:“VALENTINE System Diner with built-on dining room and kitchen.Seating capacity 24.Sell or lease to right party.Reason:Retiring from Business…”This diner is thought to have been demolished.At this point, no other surviving Valentine diner has been identified in Arkansas other than the Brown Duke Snack Shop of Magnolia.
Statement of Significance
The Brown Duke Snack Shop is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, with local significance, for its association with the economic history of Magnolia, Arkansas, during the mid to late 20th century.It is also being nominated under Criterion C, with local significance, as an example of a Valentine Manufacturing company, pre-fabricated steel diner, the only known example in Arkansas.The structure is also being nominated under Criteria Consideration B as a moved property.Although the structure’s current location is not adjacent to a roadway or ready public access, which would be required for National Register listing, this property was designed to be mobile.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Will.Where Have You Gone, Starlight Café?America’s Golden Era Roadside Restaurants.(Portland, ME:Anderson & Sons’ Publishing Co.), 1998.
“Announcing Grand Opening of The Brown Duke Snack Shop.”The Daily Banner News (Magnolia, AR), May 5, 1948.
“Arthur Hoyt Valentine.”Kansapedia.Kansas Historical Society.July 2017.https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/arthur-hoyt-valentine/18728.Accessed 1 June 2018.
Dr. Edward N. Tihen’s Notes From Wichita Newspapers Collection.Wichita State University Libraries’ Department of Special Collections.Notes Subject Search “Valentine”.http://specialcollections.wichita.edu/collections/local_history/tihen/index.asp.Accessed 1 June 2018.
“Fire, Explosion Here Wrecks McKay Building, Gas Station; Loss Believed over $300,000.”The Daily Banner News (Magnolia, AR), December 26, 1950. p. 4
“Frank and Harvey Ablah Families.”Spirit of the Gift Biography Project.Wichita State University.http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=foundation&p=/spiritofthegiftbiographyproject/biographies/frankandharveyablahfamiliesgeneral.Accessed 1 June 2018.
Gutman, Richard J. S.American Diner:Then and Now (Baltimore, MD:Johns Hopkins University Press), 2000.
Harmon, Mella Rothwell.“Notes and Documents:Landrum’s – The “Biggest Little Diner” in Reno:Art Moderne and the American Hamburger.”Nevada Society Historical Quarterly Volume 41, No. 4 (Winter 1998):293-307.
“History and Culture of the American Diner.”American Diner Museum.https://www.americandinermuseum.org/history.php.Accessed 1 June 2018.
“James W. (Tamey) Duke, Jr.”The Times (Shreveport, LA), July 15, 1992. p. 56.
Killgore, Nettie Hicks. History of Columbia County.Southwest Arkansas Genealogical Society.1976.
Lamb, Staci, and James McClellan. “James ‘Tamey’ Duke History.”Personal Files of Staci Lamb.2013.
Lancaster, Guy.“Magnolia (Columbia County).”Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. Central Arkansas Library System, 13 June 2018.www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net.Accessed 11 June 2018.
Margolies, John (photographer).“Valentine Diner, Magnolia, Arkansas.”John Margolies Roadside America Photograph Archive (1972-2008).Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.1979.https://www.loc.gov/resource/mrg.07021/.Accessed 1 June 2018.
McNeill, Mike.“The Brown Duke on the road to restoration and a return to Magnolia.” Magnolia Reporter (Magnolia, AR), February 2, 2018.
Oral History of Richard Ten Eyck.Interviewed by Annemarie van Roessel.Chicago Architects Oral History Project.The Ernest R. Graham Study Center for Architectural Drawings.The Art Institute of Chicago.2003.
Tarr, Blair.“Nothing Could Be Finer Than a Valentine Diner.”Kansas Heritage.Volume 10, No. 2 (Summer 2003):6-13.
United States Federal Census Rolls:1900-1940.
Towne, Douglas.“Editor’s Word: Transplanted Route 66 Diner “Welcomes” Hungry Phoenicians.” Journal of the Society of Commercial Archeology Volume 36: no. 1 (Spring 2018):2-4.
“Valentine Diners.”Kansapedia.Kansas Historical Society.August 2014.https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/valentine-diners/18731.Accessed 1 June 2018.
“Valentine Diners - Business.”Kansapedia.Kansas Historical Society.July 2014.https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/valentine-diners-business/18734.Accessed 1 June 2018.
Witzel, Michael.“Arthur Valentine’s Portable Diners.”On The Road.February 29, 2008.http://michaelwitzel.com/ontheroad/arthur-valentines-portable-diners/.Accessed 1 June 2018.
Zukowsky, John.“Richard Ten Eyck:American Industrial Designer.”Encyclopædia Britannica.March 23, 2018.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Ten-Eyck.Accessed 1 June 2018.
[1] “Valentine Diners,” Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society, August 2014, https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/valentine-diners/18731, Accessed 1 June 2018.
[2] “Frank and Harvey Ablah Families,” Spirit of the Gift Biography Project, Wichita State University.
[3] “Valentine Diners,” Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] “Valentine Diners – Business,” Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society, July 2014, https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/valentine-diners-business/18734, Accessed 1 June 2018.
[8] “Valentine Diners,” Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society.
[9] Valentine Manufacturing, Inc. Catalog image, early 1950s, (transporting diner), “Valentine Diners – Business,” Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society.
[10] Mella Rothwell Harmon, “Notes and Documents:Landrum’s – The “Biggest Little Diner” in Reno:Art Moderne and the American Hamburger,” Nevada Society Historical Quarterly Volume 41, No. 4 (Winter 1998):303.
[11] Douglas Towne, “Editor’s Word: Transplanted Route 66 Diner “Welcomes” Hungry Phoenicians,” Journal of the Society of Commercial Archeology Volume 36: no. 1 (Spring 2018):2-4.
[12] Valentine Manufacturing, Inc. Catalog image, early 1950s, (transporting diner), “Valentine Diners – Business,” Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society.
[13] Harmon, “Notes and Documents:Landrum’s – The “Biggest Little Diner” in Reno,” 302.
[14] John Zukowsky, “Richard Ten Eyck:American Industrial Designer,” Encyclopædia Britannica, March 23, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Ten-Eyck, Accessed 1 June 2018.
[15] Oral History of Richard Ten Eyck, Interviewed by Annemarie van Roessel, Chicago Architects Oral History Project, The Ernest R. Graham Study Center for Architectural Drawings, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2003.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid.
[19] For examples of typical advertisements see:Charleston Gazette, August 21, 1949, p. 36. Albuquerque Journal, Nover 2, 1952, p. 22.
[20] Will Anderson, Where Have You Gone, Starlight Café?America’s Golden Era Roadside Restaurants, (Portland, ME:Anderson & Sons’ Publishing Co.), 1998.
[21] Valentine Manufacturing, Inc. Catalog image, early 1950s, (floor plan, Master model), “Valentine Diners – Business,” Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society.
[22] “Announcing Grand Opening of The Brown Duke Snack Shop,” The Daily Banner News (Magnolia, AR), May 5, 1948.
[23] Guy Lancaster, “Magnolia (Columbia County),” Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture, Central Arkansas Library System, 13 June 2018, www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net, Accessed 11 June 2018.
[24] Ibid.
[25] Staci Lamb and James McClellan, “James ‘Tamey’ Duke History,” Personal Files of Staci Lamb, 2013.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28] Ibid.
[29] Staci Lamb and James McClellan, “James ‘Tamey’ Duke History,” Personal Files of Staci Lamb, 2013.
[30] “Announcing Grand Opening of The Brown Duke Snack Shop,” The Daily Banner News (Magnolia, AR), May 5, 1948.
[31] “Fire, Explosion Here Wrecks McKay Building, Gas Station; Loss Believed over $300,000,” The Daily Banner News (Magnolia, AR), December 26, 1950. p. 4
[32] Staci Lamb and James McClellan, “James ‘Tamey’ Duke History,” Personal Files of Staci Lamb, 2013.
[33] Mike McNeill, “The Brown Duke on the road to restoration and a return to Magnolia,” Magnolia Reporter (Magnolia, AR), February 2, 2018.