West Bend, WI – In 2015, a changing landscape on S. Main Street in West Bend was taking place as the Coachman House/Club Ten 06 was leveled to make way for the new Forward Dental clinic.
The building that once stood at 1006 S. Main St., came down on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2016.
There was a time when the Coachman House was the place to be in West Bend. Below is a bit of history on the ole’ supper club and one of the owners Glenn Peterson.
Coachman House
There’s another change on the restaurant horizon in West Bend as the Coachman House undergoes a makeover.
Owner Meredith Immekus has temporarily closed the supper club at 1006 S. Main St. and will reopen next month possibly under a new name.
The Coachman House is a landmark restaurant in West Bend. Former owner Glenn Peterson recalled the supper club wasn’t the first eatery on the site.
In 1948 the location on South Main was home to Ott and Anne’s Custard. Later a couple of sisters bought it and changed the name to Prudy’s Restaurant.
“They were a family restaurant known for their rotisserie chicken on Sundays,” said Peterson.
The restaurant had a counter with about 10 or 12 stools and there were three or four tables with two chairs apiece.
West Bender Jerry Mehring said he and his brother would go to Prudy’s regularly in the early 1960s when they were done with work around 11 p.m.
“The grill was right behind the counter so you could watch them fry your hamburger,” said Mehring. “They did big business with the Gehl Company serving lunch for the second shift.
“They would have the bags on the counter with the person’s name on it and what they ordered. I don’t remember who delivered them but one of the gals was married and her husband was always around he may have done the deliveries. He had a wooden leg,” recalled Mehring.
In 1969 Peterson bought the business. “My dad owned the A&W next door and when the gals running Prudy’s were going to retire, he said I should buy that building and run it as a restaurant.”
At the time, Peterson already had Glenn’s Grill and Restaurant on the north end of town; it was near the Clark service station, what is now West Bend’s Skate Park.
Peterson called the place on South Main Glenn’s Grill II; some in town referred to it as Glenn’s Other Place.
“Glenn’s Grill was the best place to eat for lunch,” said Lori Lynn-Radloff of West Bend. “My dad would pick me up from High School (the razed Badger Middle School). I remember the soda fountain was ice cold with no ice.”
Peterson ran the two Grills in conjunction for five years and then in May 1973 he remodeled the south-side location and changed the name to The Coachman House Supper Club.
“I just kind of thought I wanted to get out of the hamburger business and get into the supper-club business with steaks and dinner and cocktails,” he said.
Reflecting on the transition, Peterson struggled to remember how he came up with the name Coachman House.
“Somewhere along the line we always took vacations out west and the coachman was the name of different restaurants out there,” he said. “I liked the west and the wagons and that’s how it came about.”
Although Peterson retired in 1997 and sold the business he said that location will always be known as The Coachman House.
“It’s been that for almost 40 years,” he said. “We were really in prime time; we were running when the Outlet Mall came into business and there were no better-dining places in West Bend.”
“They always had great food and wonderful service,” said Cindi Limburg.
Peterson recalled one upscale restaurant on the north end of Main Street, Hansen’s Steakhouse (formerly the Tasting’s Food & Spirits); run by Carl and Dolores Hansen.
“That place changed a lot too from the MP Club to Petri Steakhouse. Then Harvey and Mavis Schmidt ran it as the Schmitzelhaus,” said Peterson.
Later there were business owners Dave and Mary Ann Cross, Tom and Grace Kusick and the Cachet Club, and then Brian and Geri Literski who ran Tastings Food and Spirits.
On the south end of town, there were fast-food restaurants including Long Boy Pizza and Subs, Emley’s Drive-In (currently Domino’s), Randy’s (currently Taco Bell), and the A&W (currently Jumbo’s).
“It was just a wonderful, wonderful time in business,” said Peterson. “I had excellent help for more than 30 years. I really miss it.”
Jody Erickson said, “My husband and I would always go for prime rib. We loved that place even took our children later in life.”
In 1997 after Peterson retired he sold The Coachman House to Harry and Joanne Zimdars; in July 2011 Meredith Immekus took over.
Photos courtesy Matt Mehring.
BIT OF HISTORY ON COACHMAN HOUSE… July 2007
A fine dining restaurant for sale in West Bend actually got its start as a hamburger stand back in the 1950’s. “I had 11 stools in the restaurant and they’d be standing two or three deep when the taverns let out; you couldn’t get in the place,” said Glenn Peterson who owned the Coachman House but got his start at a little place on the north side called Glenn’s Grill.
People with a little history around West Bend will remember Don’s Grill. Donald Lauzon was Peterson’s brother-in-law. “He and my sister Dorothy ran Don’s Grill near where the old Clark filling station used to be on Main Street across from Regner Park.” Peterson came home from the service in 1957 and bought the place after his sister and brother-in-law went to Florida to ‘buy a business there.’
Peterson changed the name to Glenn’s Grill and became the hot spot for factory workers and the after-bar crowd from Feets, Ceil’s Little Club, Turk’s Oasis and Arnies. “I ran Glenn’s Grill 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” said Peterson who sold hamburgers for 15 cents, eggs, toast and coffee were 20 cents, homemade pie was ten cents, a porterhouse steak was $1.75 and sirloin steak was 90 cents.
“I was the only place in town open round the clock,” said Peterson who eventually got some competition from Joe Zager who ran the Beacon Restaurant which was located in what is now the Centrum Building.
Peterson catered mostly to the working class. “All third shifters at Gehl’s, West Bend Company and Line Material, there was no other place to go so they’d come to the Grill for their breakfast eggs, and steak sandwich.” Peterson remembered in detail the folks who would sit at the counter and ‘have eggs and American fries and their roast beef dinner at lunch and Polish sausage, it was different clientele.’ He also recalled ‘cashing an awful lot of paychecks.’ “A week’s salary for some was $30 and total income for the year was $4000,” he said.
For as lean as the times were in the factories, Peterson said his waitresses ‘only made 50 cents an hour, and people only tipped a little.’ “My god if the girls made a couple dollars in tips that was a lot of money. But what are you going to leave when you have a cup of coffee for a nickel… and your second cup was free.”
If Peterson’s waitresses felt shortchanged, they didn’t show it as a majority of his staff stayed for 14 years. “Before I retired, some were with me for 30 years,” said Peterson rattling off names like Ester Sandborn, Ella Smith, Ella May Winters, May Fick, Dorothy Carver, Roselyn Weeks, and Mable Knutson.
“Those were good years,” said Peterson who worked the first 13 years without a vacation. “I used to go to work at 11 o’clock at night and I’d get done at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and that was almost every single day except Monday’s when I’d run to Milwaukee to pick up supplies.” Peterson got a couple of deliveries from Milwaukee Cheese, Huss Meats, and the all-important butter for his burgers from Level Valley Dairy.
“I went through 60 pounds of butter every week. 60 pounds of butter delivered from Level Valley Dairy every week,” repeated Peterson who stamped his hamburgers by hand noting there were no prepackaged patties back in the day. “When we fried the hamburgers, we put butter on and when we put the burger on the bun, we threw a great big glob of butter on the hamburger.” Peterson bragged ‘any old timer around town would be able to tell you about Glenn’s hamburgers.’
Glenn’s Grill soon expanded to the south end of town when Peterson bought Priddy’s Snack Shack and turned it into Glenn’s Other Place, which eventually became the Coachman House.
“Priddy’s was a family restaurant, people came inside and ate, and we had a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu.” Peterson said he maintained that same dining atmosphere, except Saturdays when they would broadcast live from the restaurant on WBKV Radio. “We’d interview customers and any civic problems somebody wanted to talk about we’d bring it all up on the radio,” he said recalling the show from radio the 1950’s. “The program would be like a half hour or 45 minutes and the hosts asked customers their names and what they did.” Peterson said the only ‘hot topic’ he remembered was the effort to form a south side businessmen’s association which could compete with the downtown businessman’s association.
Peterson actually grew up in a restaurant family. “Back in the 1940s my parents had the Caramel Corn Shop,” said Peterson about the diner located in the old Merle Normal site next door to Sal’s Pizza on north Main. “That hamburger place specialized in caramel corn, homemade ice cream and root beer floats.”
Glenn and Ella Peterson then built Peterson’s restaurant in 1948 where Tastings is now. Peterson’s dad ran that business, and later bought the A&W Root beer stand in Barton, where Roger’s Radiator is now on North Main across from the gas station.
“In 1954 they bought land on the south side of town and they bought another A&W, where Jumbo’s is now,” said Peterson reminiscing about car hops, hamburgers and hotdogs.
In 1973 Peterson upgrade his grill on South Main to a supper club and The Coachman House was born. “We didn’t have anything like that in West Bend at the time. A fine dining place where you could sit down with linen tablecloths and napkins. You had the Linden Inn and that’s about it.”
“When the Coachman House first opened the menu featured New York Strip, T-bone, duck, trout,” said Peterson remembering a dedicated staff that became a family. “Waitresses I had the last 20 years are still there and I’ve been retired almost ten years so that says a lot for the establishment.”
In September 1997 Peterson sold the supper club to Harry and Joanne Zimdars, who have been running the business at 1006 S. Main Street the last 10 years. The Zimdars are now selling themselves. They’ve listed the restaurant for $625,000.
“I miss it, I miss it an awful lot,” said Peterson, who at 75 years old still stops at the Coachman house for dinner, drinks and conversation.
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Interesting – didn’t know history of land we bought, formerly A & W root beer stand, when we built Roger’s Radiator in 1977 and opened January 1978.