RIP Edward Wilson: Farmer in the Dell founder was special
There are those special places that Chester County baby boomers remember well.
A partial list might include Betty’s, the Guernsey Cow, Mosteller’s, Woolworth’s, Grant’s, the Warner Theater and Lenape Park.
And for those of a certain age, just mentioning the Farmer in the Dell brings back a host of memories.
Sadly, Edward Wilson, 88, the founder, creator and owner of the Farmer in the Dell, the iconic eatery on Route 202 just outside West Chester, passed away in Florida on Aug. 17.
Who can forget those peanut shells that littered the floor, the hand-carved roast beef and ham sandwiches, New England clam chowder, birch beer and steamed clams?
From 1962 through the early ‘80s, it was all served by blue jean-clad staffers wearing red and white checkered shirts. Drinkers at the bar sat on milk stools and the tables were wagon wheels covered with plexi-glass.
The lamps were authentic Tiffany glass and the siding was culled from old barns. Authenticity ruled: Some say the wooden barn walls were still covered by a bit of cow dung.
Wilson was an innovator and ahead of his time. He installed one of the first drive-through windows and the first Chester County salad bar.
In the ‘60s, a Michelob went for a quarter, and the sandwiches cost half a buck.
I recently sat down with Wilson’s sons, Chris and Scott, to reminisce. I talked about the annual Troop 151 Boy Scout banquets held at The Farmer in the Dell. Visiting the eatery was a special treat. That birch beer is my favorite drink of all time!
Scott and Chris Wilson talked about West Chester in their father’s day when the immediate area had more of a small-town atmosphere.
Scott Wilson started cleaning bathrooms at age 4 and was staffing the salad bar at 7. The cleaning task was not to be taken lightly.
“My father said that people judge a restaurant by how clean the bathroom is,” Scott Wilson said.
Since his father paid a salary of just hot dogs and roast beef, Chris also worked across the street at Ye Olde Pancake House
to earn some cash.
In the ‘50s, proprietor Edward Wilson worked as the first Daily Local News photographer and was a plate engraver after serving in the Korean War on the USS Midway aircraft carrier.
“Everybody knew him and he knew everybody,” Chris Wilson said about his father.
“You couldn’t even go into town for 10 steps without someone talking for 10 to 15 minutes,” Scott Wilson said. “You would spend three hours talking to people.”
Chris Wilson: “Even now, West Chester is one of the best places for community and children to grow up and it still has that small-town feel. I felt safe growing up. It was a really tight community.”
On Friday nights, Scott Wilson said, you bought pizza at Benny’s and shopped at Mosteller’s.
Chris said that even if you went to different schools, everyone knew each other from church and clubs or Little League baseball.
Edward Wilson was a golfer. He could even shoot his age on a Florida executive course.
“He was a man of integrity and work ethic – an entrepreneur,” Scott Wilson said.
Several times the two brothers finished sentences for each other.
“He treated people with respect…,” said Scott Wilson, “like he knew them before he knew them,” said Chris Wilson. “He always found a way to help people in need.”
The business was eventually sold to the Jet Group, which included football star Joe Klecko, during the mid-’80s. The silo was turned into a light house
and the property took on the name, T.J. Rafters.
A burger place now sits at the site.
Edward Wilson moved to Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, where he owned and operated the Villa St. Tropez condominium complex for 12 years. He then retired and moved to Seminole, Florida.
We’ve lost much, but gained some, too. While the times they are a-changin’, thankfully, we still have Benny’s.
The time and date of a memorial service has not been set. An obituary will appear in the Daily Local News.