Society serves up culinary time capsule
The smell of the old Butler Hot Dog Sandwich Shop's special chili sauce was in the air in the side yard of the Senator Walter Lowrie House, 123 W. Diamond St., on Saturday at the Butler Historical Society's open house. The society used the occasion to collect memories of the one-time downtown restaurant that closed in 2004.
The open house, which ran from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., included tours of the Lowrie House, a basket raffle, tables selling hot dogs and society gift items, and a display of memorabilia from the hot dog shop that included its original glass sign.
Sara Dickensheets, the historical society's collections manager, said people could either put down their remembrances of the hot dog shop on a form at the open house or go to butlerhistory.com/hotdog to leave their memories. The society is collecting personal photographs of the hot dog shop as well.People could refresh their recollections by buying a hot dog covered in chili sauce, said Joyce Rauschenberger, a historical society board member who was manning the hot dog table at the open house.She said the hot dogs and sauce were donated by the Butler Dog House, 300 Greater Butler Mart.“They have the original Hot Dog Shop recipe. We're selling a lot,” Rauschenberger said.“We've been doing pretty good. It takes them back. It really reminds them of the original Hot Dog Shop.”One person who had fond recollections of the former shop on East Jefferson Street, which was demolished in 2012, was Carol Freeze of Butler who was filling out a form listing her memories.“I worked at Troutman's and I would come for lunch and sometimes dinner,” Freeze said.“I would get the Jim Dandy Special. It was like a Dagwood burger,” she said. “It was a double-decker with everything and you got fries and coleslaw. It was a compact meal.“Sometimes I would switch it up and get hot dogs with everything. It was always a good place to eat. I really miss it.”Albert Bayne of Butler had vaguer memories of the old restaurant.“My wife used to stop and get the orange gravy. That's what the big thing was. That's all I really remember about it,” Bayne said.Hot dogs with sauce weren't the only things for sale Saturday.Deb Kruger, a society volunteer, was manning the table selling raffle tickets, books and souvenirs.She said sales were good but Saturday's rain was putting a damper on business. She said all money from the sales of raffle tickets, hot dogs, books and gift items would go to the historical society.
The society was also giving tours of the refurbished Lowrie House, according to Brad Pflugh, a board member of the historical society.He said director Jennifer Ford and Dickensheets had pulled artifacts and materials out of storage to redecorate the public rooms of the house. And an upstairs room had been opened for viewing that hadn't been open before.“It's been a treat for people to see the new furniture and artifacts,” he said.The open house was sort of a coming back for the society, he said. “We haven't been able to do anything for a year and a half.”
