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Henry's Hamburgers
| Henry's Hamburgers in Benton Harbor Michigan apparently was part of the old Henry's Hamburgers Drive-In chain, possibly the last remaining store. There were other locations in Lansing Michigan, Minnesota, and Iowa. While this Henry's isn't a drive-in anymore, it retains that vintage neon sign, which is simply amazing! Check out the photo's and ad's from various Henry's locations. | 
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Winterwaterwonderland.com Photo |
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Winterwaterwonderland.com Photo |
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Michigandriveins.com Photo |
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Michigandriveins.com Photo |
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July 1964 Ad |
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(Original sign covered in plywood) |
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(Original building partially covered in siding) |
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(Original sign hidden under Aadvanced sign) |
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(Red, white & green tilework remains) |
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Economy Auto Mart 3333 N. Western Chicago, IL interestingideas.com photo |
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Economy Auto Mart 3333 N. Western Chicago, IL lthforum.com photo |
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Henry's may have had more than one location in Davenport, but one I am certain of was at 1008 N. Harrison
Street (it is currently Jimmy's King Gyros). The interesting thing about 1008 N. Harrison Street is that there
have been nearly a dozen businesses in that location since Henry's left there. I think they may have closed when
the chain started losing ground in the 1970's.
The Rock Island location was (to my knowledge) one of the last. In the 80's
and early 90's they even had 1970's era Henry's cups and advertising materials in their windows. I figured they must
have gotten this from the corporate outlet as the whole chain went down. They kept the Henry's name and operated
until the spring of 1991. The folks who ran it just retired, and closed up shop. Oh, and the menu was pretty
authentic to the end-- but simple. The most "modern" item on their menu was the pizzaburger-- but they always
featured 5 hamburgers and a so many fries (maybe a half pound) for a certain price. The Rock Island building
still stands at 30th Street and 7th Avenue, and it is a Chinese restaurant (with a drive-through). It was a
Porkies after Henry's closed -- Porkies was tied into the Mr. Quick chain somehow-- do they still have Mr. Quick's
in Michigan? (David Baker, Bettendorf, IA - Quad Cities 10/22/07)
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 Photos courtesy: Sandys Drive-In Unofficial Site |
It was good to see pictures of that restaurant's chain of stores again. I have
a fond memory of those drive-ins, but probably am fooling myself that their food was better than what I can get
today. At least I can think they were better. I did want to comment on two items on your site.
First, the two pictures of the Henry's Hamburgers postcard out of St. Joseph, Missouri. That was indeed
the same company. I remember Henry's Hamburgers on the southeast corner of Merle Hay & Douglas avenue, in Des
Moines, Iowa. It once had the old "smiling hamburger" sign, but later in the early 70's, someone, somewhere,
decided to modernise the look of the chain, and the old sign was replaced with the rectangular type, with
the geeky looking employee at the top (pointed chin, freckles and weasely smile) Shortly after this, the
chain closed out all over Des Moines. I hated the replacement sign.
There were two stores that I knew of, and with some more research, I possibly could find more in the Des
Moines area. I was only in my mid-teens when they closed. The one store that my father frequented was on 6th
Avenue, on the west side of the street, about a block north of Holcomb. I remember it from the late 1960's,
and it was a very small walk-in store, but not all that different from the McDonalds at the time. This
was my father's fast food restaurant of choice, because they served tenderloins, and McDonalds did not
Sorry, McTenders don't cut it with me as tenderloins. The other location, as I said, was at the southeast
corner of Merle Hay Road & Douglas Avenue. It closed in the mid 1970's, along with the 6th Avenue location.
Don't bother to try and get pictures of the two locations that I knew of, because I do know for a fact, that
they were torn down around 25 years ago. Long Gone. (Nick Hornyak 03/05/08)
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On the heels of my previous e-mail to you, I sat down today and searched through the city directories to
answer a question I thought about now and then: "Just how many Henry's Hamburgers restarants were there in
Des Moines throught the 1960's and 1970's?" This was not a subject I gave too much thought about,
but personally, I only remember three of them. Here are the adresses, and the years they existed:
Henry's Hamburgers -3422 Ingersoll Avenue(1959-1974)
I have my suspicions that the Douglas, and the Merle Hay locations were one in the same, and quite possibly
the Des Moines Headquarters. It may also be the difference between the old style walk in eatery, and
the revamped mid-1970's design. I just remember one or the other, not both at the same time. Their addresses
place them both at the same corner. The high water mark of this franchise's existence in
the Des Moines area seems to be between 1966 and 1975, when there were five locations operating at once.
All of the locations ARE TORN DOWN, and I know this because I remember their removals, and what is there now.
The 6th avenue location is just a small vacant slab of concrete in front of a building.
I do remember the 6th avenue location being a little run down towards the end, not like the revamped
McDonald's stores, Henry's still clung to their 1960's walk-in eatery design. Still, the food was good as I
remember, but I may just be getting sentimental. I aso noticed from your website, that the stores had
an interchangable name, either called Henry's Hamburgers, or Henry's Drive in. Probably having to do
something with the service they provided (walk-in or drive-up). The managers of these drive-ins from 1959 to 1984 are
as follows: Theodore H. "Ted" Powers, Herbert Wolf,Dean Dalbey,Harry Glintz, Wallace Wilkinson, Howard D. Trotter,
Thomas E. Conway, Richard H. Wolf, Terry L. Kueffer, Michael Beason, Joe Harter, and Robert Etzel
I have a small picture from a 1959 paper that announces the opening of Henry's on Ingersoll. As for
the other locations, I'll have to look for their pictures. Three of the locations were very close to
High Schools, and it's possible that I could find pictures of them in period yearbooks as sponsors. A
lot of times, high school yearbooks are just loaded with advertisements at the end of the yearbooks.
Again, thanks for putting up such a great site dealing with the Henry's Drive-In franchise. I was
beginning to think I was never going to find a good picture of that old-style sign, or a photo of how the
stores looked. If I find some pictures of our local stores, I'll e-mail them to you. (Nick Hornyak 03/06/08) | |
Hi -- I just came across your site when searching for info on Henry's Hamburgers. I see you have a listing of Henry's locations, but I know of one other one that's not on the list. It was in Mason City, Iowa, and we used to go there a lot when I was a kid. I'm guessing it closed in the mid-late 1970's. I don't have the exact address, but the map below shows the area it was located: google.com/maps. It was right on the 'y' where Hwy 122 (which used to be US 18) splits off into two one-ways as 5th and 6th streets. IIRC Madison would have run right into it. After that location closed it became a Winchell's donuts. That location was notable due to an accident during the Winchell's days: In those days the curve for Hwy 18 was much sharper, nearly a 90-degree curve. A truck missed the curve, and crashed right into the donut shop (former Henry's), badly burning an unfortunate employee working behind a fryer. The Winchell's didn't last long, and for some time after that the location became a Great Clips. I now live in Minneapolis and don't get to Mason City much anymore, so I'm not sure what's there today, but I'm pretty sure the building is still standing. On a whim I checked the Great Clips site, and the old Henry's location is indeed still operating as a Great Clips franchise: The proper address is 319 5th St SW, Mason City, IA 50401 I'm about 99% sure this is still the original Henry's building. I know it was when this location was operating in the early 1990's, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have torn it down and rebuilt it in-place... Hope that helps, -Tim Fischer 6/25/08 |
| U.S. HENRYS HAMBURGERS LOCATIONS | |||||
| CITY | ADDRESS | YEAR OPEN | YEAR CLOSED | ON SITE NOW | NOTES |
| Davenport, IA | 1008 N. Harrison St. | n/a | n/a | Jimmys King Gyros | Bldg Remains |
| Chicago, IL | 3639 N. Clark | n/a | n/a | n/a | Gone |
| Chicago, IL | 3434 N. Harlem | 1956 | n/a | n/a | Gone |
| Chicago, IL | 3333 N. Western | n/a | n/a | Economy Auto Mart | Bldg & Sign Remain |
| Chicago, IL | 5200 N. Western | n/a | n/a | 7-11 store | n/a |
| Lincolnwood, IL | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Moline, IL | 23rd Ave. | n/a | n/a | Mexican restaurant | Bldg Remains |
| Rock Island, IL | n/a | n/a | 1991 | Oriental restaurant | Bldg Remains |
| Skokie, IL | Golf & Skokie Rd. | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Waukegan, IL | 1919 W. Washington | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Wheeling, IL | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Anderson, IN | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Ames, IA | 524 Lincoln Way | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Cedar Falls, IA | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Cedar Rapids, IA | First Ave. | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Des Moines, IA | 1401 Buchannan St. | 1967 | 1984 | n/a | Demo'd |
| Des Moines, IA | 5730 Douglas Ave. | 1962 | 1977 | n/a | Demo'd |
| Des Moines, IA | 3422 Ingersoll Ave. | 1959 | 1974 | n/a | Demo'd |
| Des Moines, IA | 2717 Southwest 9th. | 1963 | 1975 | n/a | Demo'd |
| Des Moines, IA | 2806 6th Ave. | 1964 | 1979 | n/a | Demo'd |
| Mason City, IA | 319 5th St SW | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Atchison, KS | 719 Kansas | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Lawrence, KS | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Benton Harbor, MI | 1832 Fair Ave. | n/a | n/a | still open | Last Henry's? |
| Detroit, MI | 22040 W. 7-Mile Rd. | 1965* | n/a | party store | Gone |
| Detroit, MI | 11635 Greenfield Rd. | 1965* | n/a | gas station | Gone |
| East Lansing, MI | 1153 Michigan Ave. | 1961 | 1963 | Apt. Bldg. | Gone |
| Lansing, MI | 3301 S. Cedar St. | 1961 | 1971 | Truck Cap Sales | Bldg & Signs Remain |
| Bloomington, MN | 9801 Aldrich Ave. S. | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Crystal, MN | 5550 Lakeland Ave. | n/a | n/a | Gone | Hwy 52 & Bass Lake Rd. |
| Minneapolis, MN | 2300 E. Franklin Ave. | n/a | n/a | Gone | n/a |
| Minneapolis, MN | 1123 Plymouth Ave. N. | n/a | n/a | Gone | n/a |
| Richfield, MN | 6430 Lyndale Ave. S. @ 98th | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Roseville, MN | 1215 Larpenteur | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| St. Paul, MN | 1591 White Bear Ave. | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| St. Joseph, MO | 28th & Locust | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| St. Joseph, MO | St. Joseph Ave. | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| St. Joseph, MO | Lake & Colorado | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Ithaca, NY | Elmira Rd. | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Niagra Falls, NY | Pine Ave. & 24th St. | n/a | n/a | n/a | Gone |
| Niagra Falls, NY | Military Rd. | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Syracuse, NY | 3712 New Court Ave. | 1960 | n/a | Bob Barkers Hot Dog Stand | Bldg Remains |
| Kenosha, WI | 5001 6th Ave. | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| LaCrosse, WI | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Milwaukee, WI | Appleton & Capitol | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
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