Snow White And The Nine Grills

What Do You Think You're Looking At? #254

I’m kind of writing about this restaurant in Winchester, Virginia today:

It’s a vintage hamburger joint from the early days of fast food, during the porcelain-clad “white”-themed hamburger chain trend. White Castle is the most famous, but there were a bunch of others: White Tower, White Fortress, Royal Castle, etc.

I’ve seen it a few times when I’ve visited Winchester, and I had always assumed it was just a singular copycat restaurant from that period. But I found out recently, from a Facebook post by a Winchester history buff, that it was one location in a small regional chain, many decades ago:

Most of us know the beloved Snow White Grill in Winchester, a hometown landmark that has served generations of locals. But few realize that it was part of a small franchise concept, built to look the same no matter which town you stopped in.

Just up the road in Frederick, Maryland, there once stood another Snow White Grill — nearly a twin to the one in Winchester. The roofline, the layout, even the feel of the building mirrored its sister location, offering a sense of comfort to travelers moving along the Valley corridor. These grills were designed to be familiar, dependable, and friendly — places where truck drivers, young couples, and families all shared the same counter. Though the Frederick location has long since disappeared, its memory reminds us that the Snow White Grill was more than just a single restaurant. It was part of a moment in time, when roadside dining was new, hopeful, and full of promise.

It turns out that none of the other Snow White Grills remain as going concerns, and most of the buildings are gone too.

Of course, I had to try to hunt down the other original locations and any information about the small chain that I could find.

Here, from the website Diner Hunter, is a list of most or possibly all of the locations that ever existed: nine. Based on Google Maps searches for locations in this list, there are only four buildings either still standing or in any way recognizable: the Winchester, Virginia location shown above, plus the Frederick location, which is now a Cuban restaurant. (And here’s an old photo of it on Flickr.)

A local news story gives some history of porcelain cladding as a restaurant feature:

Often advertised as “snow white” porcelain enamel, it was marketed as the ideal sanitary finish in various national trade and consumer publications.

The modern, easy-to-clean surface was promoted for use in medical settings, as well as for sanitary products for home us — such as bathtubs, toilets, and kitchen appliances.

As the 20th century wore on, porcelain enamel panels took hold as a sleek new architectural finish, well suited to the streamline aesthetic of the 1930s and 1940s, and became a common cladding treatment found on diners.

In Frederick, this can be seen on the storefront of the former Snow White Grill, the present Sabor de Cuba restaurant, at 9 E. Patrick St., the first for the iconic regional restaurant chain known for their little hamburgers.

The East Patrick location was opened by Hansel and Nellie Hurst in 1939. A second location opened at 239 N. Market St. in 1950.

Hurst was also involved Snow White Grills opened in Hagerstown, Baltimore, Martinsburg, W.Va., and Winchester, Va.

The restaurant moniker seems to pull directly from period advertising for porcelain enamel. The dwarf icon featured on the storefront’s faux shutters invoke a fairytale origin.

And this neat bit about the specific company which made the panels:

All of Hurst’s Snow White Grill locations utilized the Structural Porcelain Enamel Company, founded by Luther Reason Ray in 1937, to create their iconic facades….

Ray is also credited as architect for the Little Tavern and Hot Shoppes chains, as well as a number of single detached houses, apartment buildings, commercial buildings, theaters, and gas stations.

That other address given as a second Frederick location, 239 N. Market St, looks like this today. It’s no longer a storefront address, but it is this building, possibly the current ice cream shop. I’m actually not positive there was a second location, because nothing else on the internet suggests it, despite there being a fair amount of nostalgia for Snow White Grill.

The Hagerstown location survives:

That’s an old Snow White Grill? Yep! This is current imagery; if you go back to 2012, take a look at this:

From a local news article:

Bob Logsdon owned the business from 1978 until selling it in 2006 to Bridge of Life Church, but closed it a year later. The restaurant had operated for 60 years.

Snow White Grill was part of a chain with the original one in Frederick, Md., as the immediate area one in Martinsburg, W.Va., and another place in Winchester, Va.

Apparently it even pre-existed the Snow White branding/ownership:

The time has come to remember the Snow White Grill. Before the name was the Snow White Grill it had several other names dating back to 1929. In 1929 it was the Blue & Gray Lunch. In 1940 it was Tom Thumb Shop. After that it was Tommy Tucker Shop. In 1940 after that it was called the Lindy Restaurant. In 1936 (or perhaps a little earlier) it became the Snow White Grill in 1952. That name stuck until the place closed.

That, from a Facebook post, includes this vintage photograph including the theater next door:

And in Martinsburg, at the address given for a Snow White Grill (Burke and Queen Street intersection), is the current Blue White Grill!

Which began life as a Snow White Grill in 1941, later changing to Blue White:

Unfortunately, it is now out of business.

Three Baltimore locations and a Towson location leave, as far as I can tell, no trace.

---

I like these stories just as little vignettes of the development of business concepts in the 20th century. But another interesting thing about this is to see which cities formed a sort of trade area; today both Winchester and Frederick have been to some extent reeled into the D.C. metro area. But at the time, as this suggests, they were more grouped with each other: sort of a broad mini metro area with Hagerstown and Martinsburg. That circuit looks like this on satellite:

Altogether, that little independent burger shop in Winchester, Virginia is the last outpost of a little chain which arose at a very specific moment in time and never quite made it. It’s very cool that these “lasts” remain in some way, to tell entire stories of decades condensed into things that don’t look like much.

You learn so many tidbits about so many things by going down one of these rabbit holes. And I’m glad you find it as interesting as I do!

---

Related Reading:

Three Cheers For The Blue & White

Kewpie! Kewpee! Kewpé!

The Diner Inside

Burger Warehouse

---

Thank you for reading! Please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to help support this newsletter. You’ll get a weekly subscribers-only piece, plus full access to the archive: over 1,500 pieces and growing. And you’ll help ensure more like this!