Dairy Queen on Mill Avenue

Datec. 1956

MediumPaper

ClassificationsDocumentary Artifact

Catalog number2004.45.59

DescriptionThe B/W photograph shows a good example of a 1950s vintage Dairy Queen, a one story white building with metal band eaves and a flat roof. A large sign atop displays a picture of a soft ice cream spire in a cone. Three employees all dressed in white, stand in front. Note the signs and posters of advertised products in the windows. In the distance is dentist office of C.D. O'Neill, several residences, and the Travel Lodge motel. 950 S. Mill Avenue.
From a Facebook comment on this photograph:
Charlie Robinson: It is nice to see the picture of our family's business. It is even nicer to read all the comments about the Dairy Queen and the memories you have of it. Rose is partially correct on the ownership. The Dairy Queen was originally owned by her grandparents, Tom and Mina King, long time friends of our family. They in turn sold the DQ to my grandmother, Edith Robinson and her second oldest son, Gordon Wallace Robinson, better known as Wally. In turn, the Dairy Queen, became part of the family owned corporation, Robinson Enterprises, along with my father and mother's business, Robinson Electric and a cafe which was located near the east side of the old Godwin Stadium, which Wally and my dad purchased in the mid- 1960's. It was called simply, Wally's Cafe and was run by my Uncle Gene Robinson, the youngest of grandma's 6 children. All of us,worked at one or more of the businesses, from time to time. I was responsible for cleaning up the lot at the DQ on Friday and Saturday nights during the school year and every night during the summers until I was a sophomore at Tempe High School. My mom and dad both worked at the DQ at various times. When we first moved to Tempe, our company office was in the back room,and was little more than a phone sitting next to the Dairy Queen's phone. Our construction truck for the electrical contracting business and our supplies were stored across 10th Street in a garage behind the house on the Southwest corner of 10th and Mill. Thank you to the Tempe History Museum for this picture and the memories it evokes..Charlie Robinson, grandson and nephew of Edith and Wally Robinson.

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