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Today, Rogers boasts an incredible variety of eating places with every kind of food. But when my family moved to Rogers in the early 1980s, there were only a few restaurants in downtown Rogers — the Crumpet Tea Room, the Lakeside Restaurant, the Susie Q, Wesner’s Grill, and maybe a few others.
For about 30 years, I ate lunch often at Wesner’s and made many friends with the staff and the “regulars” who ate there every day. The food was good, but the comradeship and feeling of family was most important. There have been countless times when my brother, Jack, and I sat at those tables and drew up rough designs for houses and other business ventures. After retiring, I worked for over a decade as a volunteer at the Rogers Historical Museum, and the director, John Burroughs, and I drew up preliminary plans of future exhibits on napkins at Wesner’s. Later, we would draw up detailed plans and build the exhibits. No doubt, there have been incalculable worthy ideas and plans developed in that business since its beginning 68 years ago.
The story of the famous restaurant began when Harry Wesner built the first grill in 1955, and today it is by far the oldest eating establishment in Rogers and Benton County. The oldest continuously owned family restaurant is the Susie Q, owned by Patsy Head Simmons and her family.
To get an actual account of the origin of Wesner’s Grill, I asked Patty Wesner Burnett — Harry Wesner’s daughter — for her memories. Here are excerpts from an email from her from Feb.13, 2013): “My mom and dad owned the Snack Shack before I was born, and it was across from the Victory Theater. In front of the Snack Shack was Harry’s bench, which said: ‘Liars Bench, Fishermen Be Seated.’ When I was born, with the hours and the demands of the business, they decided to close the Snack Shack. They opened up Wesner’s Shoe Store up on First Street (212 S. First St., now David James Salon).
“My dad then decided to build Wesner’s Grill next to the Traveler’s Hotel, which was my grandmother’s and which my mother took over when Grandmother passed away. The property that he built on (221 W. Walnut St.) was part of the hotel’s property. I believe that I was around 4 or 5 when they started building Wesner’s, because I remember crawling through the window opening that would go back to the kitchen.
“My mom would get up and go to the grill at 4 a.m. and start baking pies, then my dad would be there by 6 a.m., and they would both work the breakfast crowd. I had a call button that I would use to tell my mom that I was up and then she would come over (to the Traveler’s Hotel) and get me ready for the day. I would then go over and my dad would cook my breakfast, which was mostly pancakes made like a gingerbread man.
“For Crazy Days — a downtown festival — my friends and I would usually sell Cokes out in front of the grill, but my dad was not thrilled that I would give the bottles to them, so he lost money on that deal. I remember vividly the reaction my mom had when Cecil Miller came in and told my mom that he had just bought the most beautiful lemons from me. She was not happy ’cause I think that I sold them for 15 cents and she had paid more than that for them and they were for her lemon meringue pie!
“Santa Claus even called me one time at the grill. It was probably Smokey Dacus, because it was on the radio, but I wouldn’t talk.
“My dad was a character. He had one spoon that had a hole in it, and he would sometimes slip into someone’s coffee and watch for their reaction when they were wondering why their coffee wouldn’t stay in the spoon. He always liked to joke around, and he enjoyed his customers and his friends, but he was a smart business man also. My dad was known for his chili and his ham hock and beans. They kept the grill open until the ’70s and then leased it out; however, he would always go over and mix the spices for the chili so that no one could copy his recipe. In fact it was in the safety deposit box when he passed away. We sold all of the property in December of 1974 after my mom died.”
Harry Wesner sold the business and leased the building to Gene Parish in 1964. Parish operated the business for about two years, and sold it to Jim and Lucille Bronson about 1966. They operated Wesner’s on Walnut Street until they were forced to move by the expansion of the First National Bank (now Arvest) in 1978. In that year, the Bronsons bought the building at 117 W. Chestnut St. and moved the restaurant to its present location.
The location now occupied by Wesner’s has an interesting history. In the 1930s, the site was occupied by a small frame building for the Church of Christ. Jack Garner of Garner’s Building Supply attended this church and described it. The pulpit was mounted on a hinged section of the wooden floor. For baptisms, the pulpit and floor were opened like a door to reveal the baptism tank underneath.
In the 1940s, the corner was the site of an Arkansas State Poultry Hatchery. About 1950, Carol Strong built the present building for Strong’s Venetian Blinds and Strong’s Body Shop. In the late 1950s, the building was again occupied by a chicken hatchery, Jack White’s Broiler and Chicken Hatchery. About 1960, Selmer Treat bought the building from Carol Strong, and remodeled it to house Rogers Radio & Electric. Later, in the 1970s, Treat owned a recreation parlor named Dynamo Fat’s, and it was here until 1978, when Wesner’s Grill moved in.
Other owners of the restaurant were Bob and Gayle Teague, Pat and Darlene Shimmer, Olivia Pattyson, Darrin and Tracy Taylor, and Ken Croft. (This information is from an interview with Ricky Grigg in August 2006. He worked for the Bronsons in the 1970s and continued at Wesner’s for 46 years until just before his death in 2020.)
Olivia Pattyson bought the restaurant in 1991, and it was operated by her son, Darrin Taylor, and his wife, Tracy. At this time, they started decorating the establishment with Coca-Cola memorabilia, making it a Coke museum. In 1993, the Taylors bought the business and building and operated Wesner’s until June 2003. Ken Croft operated the restaurant until January 2011, at which time it was leased to Gayle Teague and there was a grand re-opening ceremony. In October 2016, the Taylors sold the business and building to Jeff Debner, and he operated Wesner’s for seven years until he retired at the end of May of this year. Today Wesner’s continues under the leadership of Jeff’s son, Jack Debner, and his business partner, Brandy Moreland.
The owners of Wesner’s Grill have changed through the years, but the good food, reasonable prices, great service, and wonderful atmosphere remain the same. The customers consist of every profession including doctors, lawyers, politicians, and ditch diggers. I am retired now and don’t know the staff and only a few of the customers, but when I was a “regular,” it was a real treat to eat and visit where everyone knew one another and sat in the same seats every day. In 2011, the wonderful staff included Tracy Taylor, Annette Denney, Ginger Mattox, Geraldine “Big Mama” Plank, Ricky Griggs, and others who had worked at Wesner’s for years. They knew the names of their customers and their likes and dislikes, their children and grandchildren, and everything that went on in Rogers. The grill is more than a restaurant; it is an institution in downtown Rogers.
This is the only known picture of Wesners Grill at 221 W. Walnut St. The picture was made just as Wesners was moving before demolition in 1978. The writing on the window said: “Moving, opening again soon.” (Courtesy Photo/Rogers Historical Museum)[ad_2]
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