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| Red Barn ablaze, October 20, 1968 |
The original Red Barn was a dining establishment housed in....a big red barn. (Fortunate naming, huh?) It opened sometime in the early 1960's, but after 1961 (anyone know any more specific than that?). The aerial photo below shows the area that year, without even Farrand Drive yet in place. The barn can clearly be seen, with a drive coming back from Kirkwood Highway. [A side note -- the circular shape with something on its west side, about where Smith's Volkswagon is now, may have been, from what I gather, a trampoline park. Anyone remember this?] Who owned the farm (which probably extended north and west before the highway was built) is unclear, but judging by the 1940 Census, my two guesses are either Norman Klair or Jacob Maclary. They seem to be the first two farmers listed coming what I'm guessing to be west out of Marshallton.
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| Area around the Red Barn, 1961 |
Sometime in the early-to-mid-60's, the big, old, red barn was converted into a restaurant. Sadly, it didn't last very long. On the afternoon of Sunday, October 20, 1968, a fire broke out in the attic, over the second floor dining rooms. Mill Creek Fire Company was soon on the scene, as was a crowd of people drawn by the smoke and sirens. Luckily for us, that crowd included my parents, for whom we can thank for the pictures. My Mom especially remembers this, since it happened to have been her birthday. (Don't worry, I don't think they were planning on going there for dinner.) The fire devastated the structure, said in this newspaper account to have been 50 years old. This incarnation of the restaurant never reopened, and the barn was eventually torn down.
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Although the red barn was gone, the Red Barn Restaurant was not. A new structure was built and reopened under the same name. Here's where I could use some help, but I don't think the second restaurant was open too much longer than the first. I believe that by the late 70's, it too was shut down. I had always thought that the second building had a fire, too, but I could be wrong about that. I may just be remembering the first fire through my parents. I know that the building stood vacant for a number of years, before being torn down to make way for the Channel Home Center. In the mid 90's, that store was torn down and replaced by the current Best Buy.
Scott.....I can remember a Putt-Putt miniature golf course being there between the Red Barn and where Smith's is now. That would have been mid 60's.
ReplyDeleteI also remember the putt putt.In the mid 1960's a strip center was put in and the McDonalds was next to it. The next building on Kirkwood Hwy going east was the Naval Reserve. Old Capitol trail was behind the Red Barn, the Mcdonalds and the Reserve heading toward Marshalton if I remember correctly.
ReplyDeleteOK, so the putt-putt was across Farrand Drive from the Red Barn. I'd heard about it, but for some reason I was thinking it was further west, past Limestone Road. The 1968 aerial looks like theres something about where the Wendys and Taco Bell is now, and the Smith's Volkswagon building is there (I remember they had auctions in there in the 70's, like maybe Saturday evenings).
ReplyDeleteAnd M.E., all those buildings are still there. The strip center is now a Starbucks and (as of very recently) a medical place. It had electronics places in it for years, and I remember a video rental store there in the 80's. The McDonalds became a Big and Tall store once the newer one was built in front of Midway shopping center, maybe early 90's?
In the summer of 1967 between JDHS graduation and leaving for basic training, I worked (delivering furniture) at a furniture store aptly named The Furniture Center that was in that strip shopping center. It was owned by a fellow named Bill Embick and sold "modern" furniture. He also had another store at the Merchandise Mart on Governor Printz Blvd. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time running across the parking lot to McDonalds for cokes and cheeseburgers.kc.
DeleteI remember the second Red Barn fire- I rode my bike from Windermere to gawk at it. I was definitely too young to make that journey in 1968, so I am sure it was the second fire that I remember. I think the red Barn opened again after the second fire but permanently closed a year or two later.
ReplyDeleteFor the longest time the main tenet at the strip center was a Buten Paint store. Tweeter audio moved into its space in the 1980's.
The McDonald's was originally a drive-in only; I remember going there after school in the late 1970 and eating my cheeseburger in my car. It was remodeled into a sit-in restaurant in the early 1980's before switching over to the Big and Tall Store (which later was the scene of what is possibly MCH's most notorious unsolved crime.)
The McDonalds was a drive-in Bill Harris. I worked there between 1967-69 while going to High School. They also had a long tiled bench on both sides of the windows that were always lined with teenagers at nite hanging out during the summer.
DeleteI had completely forgotten about the Red Barn until I read your post. I recall the fire too. I think the second Red Barn sat empty for some time before being torn down.
ReplyDeleteA little off topic but I also remember when W. F.(?) Grant's Department Store in Midway Shopping center burnt down. No idea of the date on that one. We could see the flames from the second story of our house on Milltown Road.
It was around 1960 I believe.
DeleteVic-
ReplyDeleteI also have some vague memories of the WT Grant fire. The fire at Hobby House is the event at Midway Shopping Center that I recall most vividly.
I believe that I was in seventh grade at Stanton Jr High when the Grants store went up in flames (1962). I didn't think about the jobs that were lost, but felt terrible about the fish, turtles, alligators, etc that perished in the pet department.kc.
DeleteHmm, I guess my childhood memories go back further than I thought- I would have been about 3 years old in 1962 and as I said, I have some faint memories of that fire. I better remember a big celebration at Grants with several spot lights- perhaps this was the reopening of the store after the fire.
DeleteW.T. Grants department store at Midway Shopping Center had a terrible fire on October 12, 1961.
DeleteI remember my parents telling me the debris from the Grants fire was dumped in a old dump that was located directly across from the Delaware Park entrance on Rt 7. I would have been 5 years old at the time of the fire in 1961.
DeleteOK, you caught me! I'll admit that I was an underage drinker at the Red Barn back in the early seventies. For a couple of years it was one of the hottest spots around (no pun intented). Red Barn, Deer Park, Stone Baloon, then on to the Anvil Inn near Kennett. The Red Barn had a minimal cover charge and if you looked liked you 15 or so, you were in!
ReplyDeletethere was a barn on limestone rd where limestone Medical is now 1941 limestone rd. who owned that one ...I remember it caught fire at night and lit up the sky back in the mid 70's..also any info on the Klair property off of old limestone rd and milltown there are some historic houses along that stretch of road.hopefully it wont get plowed under and another shopping center pops up
ReplyDeleteI recall a produce market at that 1941 address in the 70's. Bought a lot of corn, peaches and strawberries there. The family that owned that property had an Italian name--Terranova maybe?
DeleteYou are correct - their name was Terranova.kc.
DeleteThere was another Farm on McKennans Church Road which now is Cynwyd Club Apartments. That was Walkers, before the Sherwood Park II . They had corn and Strawberries. Up the road was Lora Little Elementary school.
DeleteMy mother's parents farm home was right in the middle of what is the intersection of Milltown and Limestone Roads. Large red barn associated with it. State took the house and barn on the 1st enlarging of Limestone Road in the 60s. Land of Total Wine, Valero, 1/2 of Cynwyd Club, and the Mealey property were mom's parents. Limestone Road used to be a rural road were the southbound shoulder currently is. Those segments of Limestone and Milltown were my mother's parents property basically condemned and taken for pennies of what they were worth for the widening of Limestone. The Klair farm was to the west, the Walkers to the east.
DeleteI remember Mrs Timmons. She lived with a daughter in an older house just about where the 1st building of Cynwyd is off of Sherwood 2. I think she worked at Lora Little. Real nice lady. One day the house was there, the next it was gone. As a kid, I thought that was pretty weird.
DeleteMy mom worked at the red barn in the 60s as hat check until the fire
DeleteThe Terranova family owned that farm house at 1941 limestone rd. My mom lived her whole childhood there. ❤
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ReplyDeleteLooks like the final death blow to the Red Barn wasn't a fire but, rather, an ill-planned up-scaling of the restaurant after the 1968 fire. According to the News Journal article (link below.. hopefully), after it burned to the ground in 1968, the owners replaced it with a "new, posh structure" that customers simply didn't like. Apparently there was charm in an old building that couldn't be recaptured in modernity.. who knew?
ReplyDeleteAlso, according to the article, the restaurant was originally opened in 1964 by A. Gray Magness Enterprises. After the Red Barn was closed, there were at least two fires in the old building that I found reference to. Investors attempted to sell the lot and building together for a few years before Channel Home Centers purchased the property in late 1982.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24813125/red_barn_restaurant_closing/
Late comment I know, but remember the Tastee-Freeze located right about where the Volkswagen dealership now stands?
ReplyDeleterx
The second red barn closed around 1976/77.... around 1979 my brother, with his about 7 year old stepdaughter stole the big red steer that was out front....marty is long gone now so they cannot arrest him for it lol
ReplyDeleteThe circular lot in the aerial pic is the putt putt golf,i remember that one... and there was a hot dog joint up past that, at kirkwood and old capitol trail.
I won't say a word. I ain't no snitch. It does seem that the second restaurant (built right after the first one burned) closed by September 1973. The article linked to a couple comments above is from then, says it has closed, and exactly what he said. What I just learned is that the Longhorn Steakhouse actually bought the property (which included the fast food lots across Farrand Drive) and planned to put one of their places in. It never happened, and they leased the other lots to Wendys and Sambos. I don't recall a Sambos, so I think that stayed empty until Taco Bell? The new Red Barn remained until Channel Home Center bought it in 1982, built their new store, and moved across from the old A&P where they had been leasing. I remember riding my bike in front of the restaurant in the early 80's on our way to McDonalds.
DeleteDoes anyone remember a restaurant on Rt 40 by People's Plaza which might have been a barn also? Def not Glass Kitchen. I remember a salad bar and lots of collectibles on display. Would have been mid 80s. xoxo Amanda
ReplyDeleteFrom a quick check of newspapers form the time, it looks like there was a Red Barn Family Restaurant in Glasgow, but maybe only for a couple years, and a few years later that your recollection. First mentions are applications for their liquor license in July 1989. A few help wanted ads after that and a couple other mentions, but I don't see anything after late 1991. It seems to have sat (and had the same address) where the Red Robin is now. I think it was part of a chain.
DeleteThat was Farmer in the Dell, one on Rte40 and on 202
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