Mulberry Sesquicentennial "150 years"

A Celebration for Mulberry, Madison Township, and the Area
Tuesday, June 3rd - Sunday, June 8th 2008

Southfork Restaurant - At one time Southfork restaurant was the location of the very first retail business in Mulberry. It was owned by Thomas Waldron and was an eatery, a general store, and later was added the Post Office. This was told to me by a former Mulberry citizen, Esther (Fleischhauer) Friedman. Maxine Bailey once said that in 1856 the post office moved from Winship Mills to Mulberry and Thomas Waldron became the Post Master in 1860.

I still remember the restaurant as being Mr. Roberts Fish & Steak from the early 1970's to the mid 1980's. It was owned by Larry, Bob, Jack, and Dick Roberts. With the cooking skills of the cooks and of Clara Roberts, the food was a big draw for miles around. There was always a euchre game going, another passion of Clara's, just grab an available table to play. Rusty and Jo Warwick owned the restaurant from 1985 to 2005. The corporate name has been Corner Bar and Grill, Inc. since 1958. The Warwicks did business as the Mulberry Restaurant and Pub. Scott Roberts, son to Larry, is now the proprietor of the restaurant; he remodeled extensively and is doing business as Southfork.

In all of its phases and with all of its names, this corner has provided hospitality for its patrons. Russell Bryan lists the former owners in his book, Sense and Nonsense: "D. P. Gaylor, Sol Bonham, Russell Bonham, Bob and Mildred Bailey, Abie Slaybaugh, Harley and Frances Peterson, Don Seager, Speed Martz, and the Roberts brothers. At one time it was simply The Corner Lunch Room.

Coralee Judge's Uncle Bob and Aunt Mildred Bailey owned and ran it as just an eatery. Coralee's father, Jim, worked there when he was nineteen or twenty years old. Coralee remembers The Corner Lunch Room had no dining room. Instead of the dining room, the building contained three other businesses. Charles Myers Electrical Shop, Harry Harshman's Shoe Repair, who ran the shoe repair shop in the back. Also there was Rohler's Grocery. Later, Bill Force Electric and Gabel's Grocery Store went in where Harshman's Shoe Repair and Rohler's Grocery was. Coralee, who graduated from Mulberry High School in 1947, remembers visiting her grandfather Harry Harshman's Shoe Repair Shop after school when she was seven or eight years old. Grandfather Harshman would turn on the automatic brushes and other noisy equipment for her and her little sister, Mary Helen. All the noise and whirling brushes made a big impression on Coralee and especially on her baby sister when she was quite young.

At one time, The Corner Lunch Room was two stories and was bordered to the east by George Schomers' Barber Shop on Jackson Street. Bud Harshman explains, "Schommers' Barber Shop was tucked in between the Corner and the Hardware store. When the Corner was a two-story building, the roof line dropped down to little Schommers' one-story establishment then back up two stories to the Hardware Store. Mr. Schomers and Ellis "Windy" Thomas cut hair together. Windy Thomas was nicknamed Windy because he loved to talk." The barber shop became part of the corner building. It was used to provide the pool room and now provides another dining area, Southfork's Banquet Room. You can still make out the exterior walls of where Schomers' Barber Shop actually was at one time.
The Corner Lunch Room's second story was where a men's lodge met, The Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Once a week on Thursday evening, men would meet in this Fraternal Organization. The second story of The Corner Lunch Room plus the businesses in that building burned in a fire in 1949. Now the one-story building is entirely Southfork Restaurant and Pub.

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-Editor of Publications for the Mulberry Sesquicentennial, Mrs. Dan (Dania) Remaly