LIMA, OH (WLIO) - Kewpee Hamburgers has been welcoming the Lima area to its doors for 95 years now, but Stuart Hall will explain how a new book about the iconic restaurant will detail its history that spans beyond 100 years and the three Lima locations.
Gary Flinn wrote the book "Kewpee Hamburgers: A Mity Nice History" when his editor wanted a book about food from his hometown of Flint, Michigan. We all know the name Kewpee has been making people's hearts go flippity flop, as well as their taste buds, since 1928 in Lima. But twenty years before that, the name Kewpee was first connected to hamburgers in Michigan.
"Kewpee Hamburgers was founded in Flint, Michigan by Samuel Blair, also known as Old Man Kewpee," says Author Gary Flinn. "He was very successful with his hamburger stand in downtown Flint. So, he began licensing the Kewpee hotel name to other restaurant and hamburger stand operators, and of course that included, that began in 1928 in Lima."
"And because of the success of the predecessor White Castle, the oldest hamburger chain, which spawned imitators. Some were more blatant, but Sam Blair decided to use the popular Kewpie Doll mascot. Altering the spelling from K-E-W-P-I-E to K-E-W-P-E-E for the restaurant name of Kewpee Hotel, even though it didn't offer lodging, he still called it a hotel."
But it was a Toledo man who helped spread the Kewpee name.
"In 1926, Sam Blair sold the rights to the Kewpee trademark to the operator of the Kewpee in Toledo Edward Adams and he supervised the licensing of the numerous Kewpee restaurants and it had its big decline even before McDonald's sprung up in the 1950s."
During its peak, there were around 400 Kewpee locations, mostly located in the Midwest, but now there are only three cities that can lay claim to having a Kewpee.
"Besides the three locations in Lima, there are two other locations. The one in Lancing, Michigan, the old surviving one, and the one in Racine, Wisconsin."
If you would like to get a copy of "Kewpee Hamburgers: A Mity Nice History", Flinn will be giving a presentation and doing a book signing at the Books-a-Million store in the Lima Mall on September 10th from 2 to 4 p.m.
