It’s rather sad to drive by the local Snook Inn these days on First Avenue West in Newton and not see the lights on. It just recently closed after 72 years in the same location.
As the story goes, Burt Snook Sr. mortgaged his house back in 1939 to buy the little sandwich shop just off the southwest corner of the square. The shop was previously owned by an older lady who was known for serving a pretty good beef burger for 10 cents.
Burt Sr. was the son of John Snook, who had a farm south of Newton. He spent 19 years at the One Minute Washer Company before it was sold in the late 1930s. The new owners decided in 1939 to close the Newton operation and move to Kellogg. The starting pay at the Kellogg plant was 25 cents an hour, and Burt didn’t feel he could raise five kids on that kind of income. So he and his wife struck out on this new venture on a wing and a prayer. Local folks figured they would have a tough time surviving since they were right next door to the Maid-Rite, which was already well established. Not too many people ate out very often back in those days.
According to Burt Snook Jr., all five kids in the family pitched right in, as well as their mom, who also helped during the day. Their dad took over at night, many times never closing until well after midnight — particularly on weekends. Burt Jr. remembers that beef burgers were a dime and a bowl of chili was a nickel back in those early days. You could have a beef burger, a piece of pie and a glass of milk for a quarter! Many customers also took home three pounds of Snook’s fresh ground beef for just $1. Burt Jr., born Nov. 29, 1925, was fourth in the family and spent 42 years in the business before his well-deserved retirement. They were open seven long days a week for many years.
Burt fondly remembers how 50 or more of the high school kids would hit Snook’s after a football or basketball game for a burger, fries and a “Suicide” — a concoction of orange, root beer and Pepsi from the soda fountain. It was one of the popular hangouts where the jukebox and pinball machines were always going full tilt. Burt started out in his younger days doing the dishes. His three older sisters and younger brother all had their special jobs to keep things running smoothly.
My friend Jim Humke likes to reminisce about the early morning crowd that stopped for their coffee and donuts at 7 a.m. or well before. Fellows like Dave Aldridge, John Petroff, Curly Chamberlain, Steve Hathaway, Ivan Dimon and Gary Haynes were among the group. They liked to share local happenings and news well before it hit the newspaper, tell tall tales and pull an occasional shenanigan. Some of Jim’s memories were hilarious, and most of them factual.
One day, the local “Pony Express” group was riding through town collecting for a worthy cause, and one fellow rode right up to the restaurant door, opened it and asked for directions. Jim said, “I’ll give you $1 if you ride that horse right through the restaurant.” Guess what? He did, to everyone’s amazement, and went right out the back door. Old timers still like to talk about that stunt.
During muddy spring weather years ago, Jim decided to harass his friend Burt Snook by coming in several days in a row with gobs of mud on his boots and proceed to scrape it off on the foot rail under the counter. He knew it would get Burt’s goat because he kept the place in pretty respectful shape. That Christmas, Burt surprised Jim with a nicely wrapped gift, which was to be put under the family tree and not opened until Christmas day. The family considered this very thoughtful, until the gift turned out to be all that dried mud Burt had collected from Jim’s muddy boots months before. Others around town have their own unique stories from years gone by.
Jim is among the many local gentry who still miss those olden days when some pretty ornery antics and tricks were pulled among friends. And so it goes!
Olden Days appears on Wednesdays in the Daily News. Contact the writer at mcneer@pcpartner.net.