This Old School Ohio Burger Restaurant Used To Have A Giant Automobile Turntable In The Drive-Thru

Drive-thru restaurants have come a long way since the early days. Famously, In-N-Out changed the drive-thru forever when it invented the first two-way speaker system for seamless ordering in 1948. Today, drive-thrus have wrap-around lots that make it easy to leave once you've gotten your food, but this wasn't always the case. Many places had cramped lots, so it was difficult for cars to turn around and exit. The automobile turntable was one solution to this problem. Kewpee Hamburgers, a popular hamburger joint in Lima, Ohio, was one restaurant that installed an automobile turntable in its parking lot during the 1940s.

Customers were able to order at the drive-thru window and receive their food before rolling onto the huge turntable located at the back end of the lot. The rotating platform would then spin the vehicles around in the direction of the exit so they could be on their way with their burgers in tow. The structure made the drive-thru then much more convenient, not to mention safer. Kewpee Hamburgers' turntable in downtown Lima was still in operation in 1955, but eventually became obsolete (it would probably be the slowest fast food drive-thru if it stayed). It's not known exactly when it was removed.

Stub and June Wilson opened the first Lima Kewpee at 111 N Elizabeth St. in the late 1920s. It was a humble spot with a walk-up window selling burgers for a nickel. Kewpee's headquarters are located in Lima today, and it's considered an institution in the small city. However, the chain didn't actually get its start in Ohio, but in Flint, Michigan. Samuel Blair founded the first restaurant, originally called "Kewpee Hotel Hamburgers," in 1923. The name was taken from the once-popular comic strip character, Kewpie. A Kewpie doll also serves as the mascot.

The Kewpee trademark was sold to Ed Adams in 1926, and the chain grew exponentially through franchising (there's a difference between chains and franchises). There were once nearly 400 stores spanning parts of the midwest to New York, but many locations closed due to meat shortages following World War II. Today, there are still three locations in Lima that you can hit if you're in town. You can also find Kewpees in Lansing, Michigan, and Racine, Wisconsin.