Ridgeway started the year 1908 with three restaurants in town: Eastside Restaurant which was owned by S.D. Rardin Jr, son of Ridgeway pioneer S. D. Rardin who started the first business in town; Baker & Son and Cambell’s Restaurant. By the end of 1908, Ridgeway had four restaurants and only one had the same owners (but not the same name).
Baker & Son was purchased by J. Emmett Shaw in January, 1908. Shaw’s restaurant was located on the west side of town (not sure where exactly). Shaw advertised heavily in the Journal with ads nearly every week and special ads at Christmas.
The Eastside restaurant went through four different sets of owners that year: S. D. Rardin owned it at the beginning of the year and sold it in May to John Lovell. Lovell repapered the inside, added a line of groceries to the business and ice cream to the menu and also formed a partnership with Orvil Rake. In August, they sold the restaurant to Mrs. N. M. Stanley and her brother Ed Ross who in turn sold it to W. A. Ross in October.
Campbell’s Restaurant had been purchased by brothers Bert and Alva Henry in August, 1907 and was renamed to Corner Restaurant in January. They didn’t advertise at all in 1908 in the Journal, but Dr. W. H. Wiley noted in his weekly ad that his medical office was above the Corner Restaurant which was the only indication this diner even existed that year.
The George Travis restaurant was opened in October, 1908 after Mr. Travis decided he didn’t want to move to Oklahoma after all. No menus were printed for any of these eateries, but they all advertised about the same items: “warm meals, hot or cold lunches, pies, cakes and bread, and a full line of confections, cigars and tobaccos.”
