Written by Dr. Paul A. Tencotte
Featured on NKyTribune
Editor’s note: Part 6 of an occasional series about fast food restaurants.
When I was growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s, my family lived on the outskirts of Park Hills. In fact, there was Lookout His Heights just outside our back fence. This small community later merged with neighboring Ft. Wright in 1968.
Jerry Lederer’s White Tavern Shop, 113 North Limestone St., Lexington, KY. (Photo from Diner Hunter)
Living one block from Dixie Highway (US 25/42), my friends and I explored our boyhood surroundings with youthful enthusiasm. At the time, Dixie Highway was lined with a “gourmet strip” lined with upscale restaurants. The largest included Town and Country (Park Hills), White Horse Tavern (Park Hills), Lookout House (Lookout Heights), and Elsner’s Colonial Tavern (Lookout Heights).
There were very few fast food restaurants along Dixie Highway near where I lived. The primary restaurant was Jerry’s Restaurant, a franchise of a national chain. The location was at 1663 Dixie Highway, across from St. Agnes Church and between the Dixie Drive-In Movie Theater, Lookout Bowl, and Stop & Go Food Store.
As kids, we used to collect glass soda and beer bottles discarded by car passengers along Dixie Highway. These glass bottles he redeemed for five cents each. We took our glass jar treasures to the Stop and Go, earned nickels, and then spent the money, usually playing the pinball machines at Lookout Bowl. Sometimes we bought hamburgers or double-decker J-Boys at Jerry’s Restaurant.
Our middle-class family didn’t eat out much, so I remember Jerry and their J-Boys when we went on short trips around Kentucky. Jerry’s was popular throughout Kentucky, where the chain began.
White Tavern Shop, 265 East Main Street, Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo from Diner Hunter)
In 1929, Jerome Mitchell Lederer (1901-1963) imitated the popularity of the national hamburger restaurants “White Castle” and “Little Tavern Shops” by combining the two names to create his own 6-6 restaurant called “White Tavern.” Established a hamburger stand with seating. His first White Tavern was in Shelbyville, Kentucky. From the price of his hamburgers (5 cents) to the structure of his buildings to his slogan “Buy the Bag/Buy the Bag,” Lederer’s White Tavern chain was a replica of White Castle (“Jerome Mitchell Lederer, “FindaGrave,” “White Tavern Shops,” Diner Hunter, December 10, 2013).
White Tavern grew to 13 stores, but faced supply and staffing problems during World War II. After the war, in 1946, Jerry Lederer opened the first location of what would become a national restaurant chain, Jerry’s Restaurant©/Jerry’s Drive-In©. Initially, his first store in Lexington, Kentucky, was called “Jerry’s Five-and-Dime” after its original specialty, his 15-cent Roasted Beef Sandwich. “In 1947, Lederer realized that people didn’t want to pay that much for a roast beef sandwich, so he changed Jerry’s menu to focus on hamburgers.” (Jerome Mitchell Lederer, Findagrave) .
Jerry’s Restaurant logo (provided image)
Like other burger chains of the time, Jerry’s had its own double-decker burger called the “J-Boy.” The restaurant had both car hop service and dine-in options. Mr. Lederer’s company was called Jericho and operated out of its headquarters in Lexington. Warren W. Rosenthal was hired by Lederer in 1948, and he became chief operating officer in 1957, the same year the company began selling franchises. Following Lederer’s untimely death in 1963, Rosenthal purchased the company. By that point, there were “41 locations, both owned and operated” (Jerome Mitchell Lederer, Findagrave).
By the 1970s, Jerry’s restaurants in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area promoted their dining rooms as a healthy alternative to fast-food chains, stating, “At Jerry’s, greens from the garden are now served for dinner every night. , you can choose your vegetables as part of a special dinner, all included in one price” (Advertisement, Cincinnati Post, October 30, 1974, p. 55).
Before Jerry’s Restaurant opened northeast of the Dixie Drive-In Theater, the land was a field. (Photo provided by City of Fort Wright)
Another ad from 1974 states, “Variety is a specialty at Jerry’s. Jerry’s Restaurants are evolving every day. Choose from an all-new dinner menu, featuring something you won’t find anywhere else: appetizers, soups, Enjoy four entrees each night, including vegetables and potatoes, including roasted turkey, liver and onions, collard greens, buttered peas, veal cutlets, and much more.” Cincinnati Post, November 20, 1974, p. 74).
Jerry’s, located at 1663 Dixie Highway in Lookout Heights (Wrightfort), opened around 1962-1963. Its owner was Gene Finn. In 1966, Finn and other Northern Kentucky restaurant owners formed the Northern Kentucky Restaurant Association, a branch of the Kentucky Restaurant Association, of which Finn served as president. Finn also served on the board of the Cincinnati Restaurant Association. The Finns were members of St. Agnes Church and were well-respected in the community. Jerry’s became a popular place for students from nearby Covington Catholic High School and Notre Dame Academy to hang out after school.
Jerry’s Restaurant, 1663 Dixie Highway, Ft. Wright, Kentucky with its iconic sign. (Photo provided by City of Fort Wright)
Nationally, Jericho was shifting attention to a new fast-food fish restaurant, Long John Silver’s. Jerry’s Drive-In Restaurant began to decline. By the early 1980s, Jerry’s stores were closing throughout the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area. For example, by 1982, Jerry’s Anderson Township units at Beechmont and Salem avenues had closed (“Dining Out,” Cincinnati Post, December 30, 1966, p. 24, “Senior Citizens Want New Center,” Cincinnati Post, July 19, 1982), p. 22).
In 1985, Gene and Chris Finn, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky’s “last remaining Jerry’s franchise in the area,” decided to convert Jerry’s Restaurant in Alexandria, Kentucky into a new family restaurant. . Although the Jerry icon has disappeared from the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky scene, Jerry has survived elsewhere. “In 1990, Jericho sold 46 Jerry’s stores to Great American Restaurants, which converted many of its stores to Denny’s. By 2015, only three Jerry’s stores remained. By 2021, that number was down to one.” (“Dining Out,” Cincinnati Enquirer, November 22, 1985, p. 55; Grant Weller, “Jerry’s: An American Story.” News Graphic Georgetown, Kentucky, February 22, 2024.
But don’t worry, traditionalists. Jerry’s Restaurant is his only one left — 4129 Lexington Road in Paris, Kentucky. Take a field trip there and step back in time.
Dr. Paul A. Tencotte is editor of the weekly series “Our Rich History” and professor of history and gender studies at Northern Kentucky University (NKU). He also serves as director of the ORVILLE project (Ohio River Valley Innovation Library and Learning Enrichment). For more information, visit orvillelearning.org.
