Shoe Column: Who Took Point’s A&W Root Beer Stand?

By Tim “Shoe” Sullivan

One of my fondest memories of Stevens Point “back in the day” was the A&W Root Beer stand on the corner of Clark and Water streets.

Local restaurant Father Fats now sits where the stand used to be.

Here’s a little background…

On June 20, 1919, a man named Roy. W. Allen opened a small roadside root beer stand in Lodi, California. Roy made his root beer by using a formula he bought from a pharmacist. In 1922, Allen teamed up with a gentleman named Frank Wright. They created the “A&W” brand, and their root beer sold for five cents a mug. In 1924, Allen bought out Wright and obtained a trademark. Then he started selling A&W restaurant franchises. Over the years, the root beer stand craze swept the nation. By 1960, there were more than 2,000 A&W root beer stands across the country.

As a kid in the 1950s, the A&W on Clark Street across from Top Hat was thee place to go. Stevens Point in those days was so peaceful and laid back. Tranquility reigned. Nobody had any worries. The birds were singing, and there was peace in the valley. It was the Age of Innocence, and the root beer stand was a big part of it.

Back then, when “Ike” was president, everyone seemed to go to the A&W. The stand was called Reber’s run by Jack and Sue Reber. The location was perfect; only two blocks from my house.

The biggest highlight of a hot summer night was playing in a Little League game at Mead Park. My team was the Firefighters, and Garth Whittaker was the manager. He ran the downtown Sport Shop, and win or lose, Garth would have all the players ride their bikes over to the A&W after the game. He would then buy the players ice cream cones and root beers while they discussed the plays of the day.

My buddy Jack Ellenz played for the Firefighters a few years ahead of me, and Garth always treated those guys too. You knew you were in the big time when a kid could wear his Firefighter uniform while chilling out with a big frosty mug. Little League teams could be found at the A&W all the time. Somehow, the root beer always seemed to taste better after a win.

The A&W root beer really hit the spot. The foam was so tasty. Some of the neighborhood kids would have bike races down Elk St. Hill, and then it would be on to the A&W. Nothing beat a cool frosty mug after playing all day on the basketball court at Lincoln School. Some of my buddies would grab a root beer on their way to going fishing for bullheads in the river.

To a 12-year old, nobody actually thought of the A&W as a business. It was much more than a place to eat or drink. The root beer stand was a gathering spot where you could sit on a comfy stool outside and discuss the events of the day. You could watch the cars drive by on Clark; you could shoot the breeze with all the cute gals who worked there. The A&W was the crown jewel of the neighborhood.

In the ’60s, the A&W was Stevens Point’s answer to Mel’s Drive-In diner in the movie “American Graffiti”. You might even see a ‘57 Chevy in the parking lot. The car hops had nifty outfits and always carried those steel change dispensers. As you got older, you could drive up and not even leave your car. The girls would politely take your order and bring your tray right to the window. You might want a small mug of root beer or a hot dog with mustard. The barbecues were great, as were the onion rings. You could have side orders.

Nobody ever went hungry at the A&W. I knew some guys who liked to sit right against their big outside menu sign. They would’ve loved to have one of everything. There was always something to do at the A&W, and it seemed to be the hub of society in town.

Who can forget the red plastic baskets of shrimp and burgers? As the years went by, a super lady named Tess took it over. She was awesome and seemed to know everyone. Tess was such a hard worker. There were times I’d poke my head inside the back kitchen door. Tess would be in there filling orders, and the heat was unreal. She was at the grill day after day.

I got to know her; once in a while, I’d call Tess’s Twist on the phone. She’d answer. I’d say, “Hi, Tess. It’s Shoe.”

She’d say: “Hi. I know you want a half-chicken dinner to go. You can pick it up in 10 minutes.”

I didn’t have to say a word. Tess already knew.

In the back of my mind, I remembered there also was an A&W on the Southside. Since I didn’t know where it actually was, a call went out to the “You Know You’re From Stevens Point” Facebook site. The feedback was fantastic. Lorrie Travers said that she worked at Reber’s and loved it. Dan Eiden and Jimmy Gruba liked to feed french fries to the sparrows. So where exactly WAS the A&W on the Southside?

Well, it all depends on who’s doing the talking.

Here were some of the choices:

1. The A&W was on the corner of Church and Nebel.
2. The A&W was on the corner of Rice Street and Church.
3. Thompson’s was on the corner of Michigan Avenue and old Highway 51.
4. The A&W was across from the Blue Top.
5. Thompson’s was a Chicken Hut and not an A&W.
6. Lutz’s A&W was on the corner of Church and Nebel across from the old Dairy Queen.
7. Thompson’s was later the Blue Top Drive-In.
8. Father Fats is where the A&W used to be.
9. The A&W was on the corner of Church and Rice in the late ’50s.
10. The A&W was east of the library on Clark.
11. The A&W was across from Dairy Queen.
12. Thompson’s was on Church.
13. Park Ridge had the Penguin Inn.
14. The A&W became the Blue Top which is now Rookie’s.
15. Thelma Adams worked at the A&W at Rice and Church.
16. The A&W was across from the Blue Top.
17. Tom Omernik worked at the Blue Top as a car hop and said across from the Blue Top was a little drive-in called Sally & Joe’s which served A&W root beer.
18. Katie Carlson worked for Jack and Sue Reber at Reber’s A&W in the summer of 1990.
19. Thompson’s Chicken Hut was on the corner of Church and Nebel.
20. Harv Giese said the A&W was on the corner of Church and Rice.
21. Someone said there were TWO A&Ws on the Southside on Neal Street.
22. Bob and Bev Schmitz owned the A&W.
23. The A&W was where Walgreen’s is now. They also sold Christmas trees.

As you can see, it gets kinda confusing. And that’s part of the fun. Tim Anderson said he loved to go to the root beer stand on a Saturday night and have a mug of root beer and a bag of M&Ms.

Perhaps Luree Mohr Woehrle said it best. She explained: “There were three A&W’s in Stevens Point. One was by the old Blue Top in the ’50s. The second was on the corner of Nebel and Church where Walgreens is now, and the third was downtown on the corner of Clark and Water.”

Seems like a lot of people were right. Tom Glennon liked to take an empty gallon glass jug to the A&W and watch them fill it up. The colors of those A&W’s were usually orange or white or brown.

But no matter what, the A&W root beer stands were a big part of local’s lives. I’m guessing the last one left us maybe 25 years ago. When the bulldozers were brought in, it wasn’t just brick, wood, and plaster that came crashing down.

Many memories also vanished beneath the rubble, and a huge part of my childhood and later years was lost forever.

Fact is, I could go for another mug right about now.

On a Side Note

The A&W root beer stand on the corner of Clark and Water Streets in Point was built in the 1960’s. It became Reber’s A&W in 1970. It then changed into Tess’ Twist (Tess Van Asten) in 1993. Tess sold it to Thomas Wolf in June of 2008 and it became Cafe 27. Now it’s Father Fats restaurant.