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Updated histories of various diners in Westfield, 1900-2011 series,continued The diners located at Main and Elm Streets in Westfield, N.Y., notonly changed names and owners. There were also at least twodifferent dining cars placed at that location. The first of thesewas brought into Westfield in January 1929 by Walter Moore andHarold Washburn, and was called the Modern Club Diner. It wasplaced on the lot owned by Manuel Triantefellow, which HaroldWashburn and Walter Moore had leased Dec. 14, 1928. The Modern Club Diner was mammoth according to the Jan. 2,1929, Westfield Republican, in the lead article headlined EAT!EAT!! EAT!!! Diner Historian Mike Engle explains that the ModernClub was one model of Ward and Dickinson diners. Ward and Dickinsonwas a major diner manufacturer located in Silver Creek in the 1920sand 1930s. Their first diners were about 30 feet long and called Ward Dining Cars. Then they built 40-foot models called DeLuxediners; then they went to a Modern Club. There are two dated photographs of the Modern Club Diner from 1929.The first one apparently taken in late winter since there are noleaves on the trees, snow on the ground and soon after the dineropened, as there are no plantings along the diner yet showsnearly the full length of the diner. There are two couples, warmlydressed, entering the door closer to Main Street along the sidefacing Elm Street. In the Main Street end there is another doorflanked by two windows. And barely visible in the photo, at the farright hand side, can be seen another door with the arm of someonereaching to enter there. These door details, the number of windowsand monitor windows, and the apparent length of the diner of atleast 40 feet, make it almost certainly a Ward and Dickinson ClubDiner model. The second 1929 photo of the Modern Club Diner was given to thePatterson Library by Kathryn Lichtenwalter and shows her brother,James, and his friends, John Ross and Jimmy Sullivan, sitting onthe curb with Vern Wantshouse standing behind him. A note with not on the photo says that Wantshouse was owner of the diner.This photo was taken in warmer weather, probably summer 1929 basedon the clothing, the leaves on trees and the landscaped plantsalong the walk near the diner s Elm Street side. Engle has provided some additional information about this dinerthat states that it was a WandD No. 205 1929-01-00, meaning thisdiner is No. 205 on his data base list for Ward and Dickinsondiners, and it was shipped in January 1929. One piece of Ephemerawas found a program for a Minstrel Show from February 1931 inwhich two diners are included on the advertising cover page, ModernDiner, or Modern Club Diner, and Westfield Diner, or Stafford sDiner. The only other newspaper article found was a brief paragraph on thepersonals page 5 of the Westfield Republican, Aug. 8, 1934, whichreads, William Bourne accompanied Bill Moore Friday to Bethlehem,Pa., where they will set up the lunch car which formerly stood atthe corner of Main and Elm Street. Bill Moore is Walter J. Moorewho, with Harold Washburn, had brought the Modern Club Diner toWestfield in 1929. On a trip this past winter, Engle stopped in Bethlehem, P., to tryto find out whatever happened to the WandD Club Diner. He reportedthat, The Ward made it to Bethlehem in 1934 and did business upuntil around 1953 when it was replaced by another diner. Later, afriend of Engle s helped to move the replacement diner not theWard to Coudersport, Pa., where it does business as Fezz sDiner. Probably the old WandD rotted into the ground, or was torndown, after it was replaced. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Jig and Fixture Parts , CNC Machined Components Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Metal Stamping Molds today!
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