YorksPast

“Are you familiar with Bury’s Ice Cream joint that was next to Playland Roller Skating Rink? After a Dairy Queen opened directly across the street occasionally ice cream price wars flared up. Bury’s won the clash and took over the vacated Dairy Queen stand. You missed that DQ.”

That is among comments shared by several readers of a Dairy Queen, at 2709 East Market Street, which opened much earlier compared to the present DQ, at 3020 East Market Street. It was the later DQ, which was showcased in my post last week about the sequence of four Dairy Queen stores opening near York.

In the introductory photo, Bury’s Ice Cream (at left) and Bury’s Restaurant (at right) operated in Springettsbury Township side-by-side from 1946 to 1958, at 2720 and 2710 East Market Street respectively. In 1959 Bury’s ice cream business moved into the vacated Stan’s Dairy Queen at 2709 East Market Street, and the 2720 East Market Street building became Bury’s Amusements, providing rides and concessions.

The relative locations of those businesses are annotated in the following THEN and NOW Aerial Photos showing the 2700-Block of East Market Street in Springettsbury Township. In 1951 Stan’s Dairy Queen opened at 2709 East Market Street. At that time Bury’s Restaurant operated at 2710 and Bury’s Ice Cream operated at 2720 East Market Street. Today the 2709 East Market Street lot was part of the parking lot at the northeast corner of East Market Street and Northern Way; i.e. a small part of the Panera Bread anchored store’s parking lot.

Stanley Nowicki gets a Dairy Queen franchise

Stanley H. Nowicki was born in Jersey City, NJ in 1921. He was a World War II Army Air Corps veteran. He later worked several years at Olmsted Air Force Base at Middletown before moving to York upon acquiring a Dairy Queen franchise from Warren Townsend. Mr. Nowicki’s notice of fictitious name filing is to operate the business as Stan’s Dairy Queen at 2709 East Market Street.

Grand Opening of Stan’s Dairy Queen

The Grand Opening on May 24, 1951 featured free cones on opening day from 2 to 10 P.M., plus entertainment from 8 to 11 P.M. by the “Bunk House Boys.” While operating the Dairy Queen, Stanley Nowicki, and his wife Jean, initially lived in York at 726 Madison Avenue and later at 16 Hill Street.

Gregg Poff shared this photo of Stan’s Dairy Queen from 1951. This business at 2709 East Market Street was on a lot leased from Henry Frank, who was also leasing most of his farm for use by the airport located behind the Dairy Queen.
Use this link to see the full photo Gregg Poff shared in Facebook group Randomly Historic York, Pa.

Hangars of Valley Airways Airport, and later known as York Whitehull Airport, are seen in the right side background of the photo. The airport behind Stan’s Dairy Queen leased 94-acres from Henry Frank, the owner of the land. The lease was not renewed in 1953, because the Pennsylvania Railroad was interested in acquiring the land for a future rail transfer freight yard. That purchase was executed on April 1, 1953; all except for a lone lot with the private hangar, owned by Henry’s brother John Frank. However the need for a future rail transfer yard was quickly negated by rapid growth in long distance trucking due to the construction of the Interstate Highway System.

The eastern part of the former airport property was sold by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1962, for a McCrory’s regional headquarters, with an attached 17-acre distribution center. Then in 1965 the western part of the former airport property was sold by the railroad to allow development of the York Mall, which opened in 1968 and now is primary anchored by a Walmart Supercenter.

The Flaming Hot Fudge Sundae at Stan’s Dairy Queen

There were two comments about the Flaming Hot Fudge Sundaes offered for a short time at Stan’s Dairy Queen. One remembered her hair catching fire for a brief instant before her Dad swatted it out with his hand. Another described a sugar cube put on top of a hot fudge sundae, which had several drops of something. It burst into a flame when ignited.

A Google search revealed the Dairy Queen Flaming Sundaes were topped with a sugar cube soaked in lemon extract and ignited for a dramatic effect. They were featured in a Dairy Queen ad in the July 1951 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.

Stan’s Dairy Queen decided to advertise these special sundaes for a Thanksgiving Day special in 1951, when a Fireman’s Hat was given to children with each purchase of a sundae.

Stan’s Dairy Queen shuts down about 1956

Was the occasional ice cream price war with Bury’s responsible for shutting down the Dairy Queen at 2709 East Market Street? Prior to 1957, Stanley Nowicki is listed as associated with Dairy Queen. From 1957 and onward, he is either listed as an office worker or as a salesman. Did Dairy Queen corporate attempt to find a new owner for this location?

Eventually Bury’s acquired the vacated Dairy Queen stand and by 1959 were offering Bury’s Soft Ice Cream at 2709 East Market Street. Their 2720 East Market Street building became Bury’s Amusements, providing rides and concessions.

The Soft-Serve Ice Cream Truck connection

A woman, who overheard the gentleman describing ice cream price-war clashes between Stan’s Dairy Queen and Bury’s Ice Cream, had a related question. “Do you know anything about the major mobile soft-serve ice cream business operating in the same general area? Were they a reason that Dairy Queen did not last along East Market Street?”

My post about the first Dairy Queen on the Queen Street hill losing its franchise at the start of its third year, and reopening as Tommy’s Snack Bar, introduced a side interest by Warren Thomas. At the time he was dabbling with putting soft ice cream machines in panel trucks to take ice cream sales directly to customers.

Warren Thomas was the initial Dairy Queen franchisee of the 1455 South Queen Street store. Did his mobile soft-serve ice cream truck idea create a conflict of interest that caused that franchise rift? Warren Thomas made plans to try out the concept in Havre de Grace, Maryland, under the business name Mobile Ice Cream, Inc.

However by 1956, Warren Thomas teamed up with the MISTER SOFTEE organization in Philadelphia to further his vision of putting soft ice cream stands on wheels. He was in charge of the Mason-Dixon Division, with responsibility for sales of franchises and distribution in his territory, which included: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

Warren G. Thomas, president of MISTER SOFTEE, Mason-Dixon Division, Inc., originally had his place of business at 110 South Beaver Street, in York. In 1959 he moved the place of business to 2816 East Market Street in Springettsbury Township, per York County Deed Book 48S, Page 607. On the THEN and NOW Aerial Photos shared earlier in the post, look at the right side; at 2816 East Market Street. That original 1920s residence still stands and now houses the offices of Sigafoose & Jackson Chiropractic.

The following ad in The Morning News, Wilmington, DE, promotes Mister Softee mobile soft ice cream franchises, by the Mason-Dixon Division, based at 2816 East Market Street.

Warren Thomas sold his interest in MISTER SOFTEE in 1965 and acquired Brewery Products, which then operated out of a small garage with six employees. In 1988, employing 43 workers, Brewery Products had expanded to a 69,150-square-foot facility at 1017 North Sherman Street.

Click on this LINK for a yorkblog.com Full View of the photos and illustrations in this post.

Links to related posts include:

Dairy Queen sequence near York, PA

Tommy’s Snack Bar on the Queen Street hill

Melvin’s Ice Cream Bar opened along Lincoln Highway East

The Cherry Top ice cream place on South Queen Street

The Amber Light drive-in on Queen Street featured Warner’s Ice Cream