Salisbury Event Center
So, this is one of the fun stops on the hunt but probably will have the least amount of verified information! The location along Hwy 24 in Salisbury, in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s can best be described as Salisbury’s convention Center. With a hotel, an event hall and a restaurant all sharing a select area of highway frontage, this location was the epicenter of Salisbury’s social gatherings for many years.
The trio of businesses included the original Knights of Columbus Hall which served the Knights as a meeting place but was also rented out and holds memories and stories of most of the wedding receptions in Salisbury for several decades. When the Knights built their new facilities on Patterson Avenue, the former event hall became Chariton Lanes. The bowling alley was a hot spot for bowling leagues during the week and the gathering place for youth on the weekends as it offered a meeting place when the weather was not favorable to be on “Main Street”.
The hotel next door was convenient for wedding guests who traveled from afar for the wedding receptions and maybe a few attendees who needed a place to land for a few hours before making their way home. The Bill-Lissa Motel (dates unknown) advertised a phone number as 653 and bragged of 12 units with AC, TV, themo controlled heat and friendly service. Ownership was listed as Mr. & Mrs. Charles Tadlock under the Bill-Lissa Name.
The hotel was owned by the Widmer family in the 60’s and was sold after John Widmer’s death in 1970. It also operated as the Salisbury Inn for a period of time in the early 2000’s before being converted into storage unites and a flea market.
The Hi-Way Café has a long history of being a central home cookin’ location in town. From Mrs. Sturm’s famed meringue pies to the Linneman Family keeping the location open with farm wife cookin’ and enough family members to keep the place fully staffed until all the kids moved away from home to Bobby and Sandra Shannon operating Shannon’s Café for many years, the café has always been known for good food and hot beef sandwiches like no other in a multi county area. Barb Henry carries on the tradition and has added an ice cream parlor which is now housed where various businesses have been including Harlan’s Shop and Nutrena Feeds for a short while.
Clue
Swing back east at second street and don’t be green with envy. Stop 12’s roots run deeper than the plow furrow behind the iron horses from the 1890’s.