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Before the completion of the Memorial Student Union and its cafeteria, the Hub, in 1951, DePauw students found a variety of other places for eating and hanging out. Some persisted to a later period and several new establishments have opened in the meantime. Located on Anderson Street was the Rendezvous, servicing the fraternities and sororities on the east side of campus and operated first by Bruce and Sylvia Shannon and later by Glenn and Leone Deem.

Across from the Alpha Chi Omega House on Locust Street was the Double Decker, begun by a man named Decker and carried on by George Williams, Chuck Phillips, Glenn Deem, and finally by Bob, Bill, and Richard Jackson. Students from sorority row, the Music School, and faculty members patronized the Double, which outlasted the Rendezvous and survives today in an eastside Greencastle location.

On the northwest corner of Seminary Street and College Avenue was a rather unprepossessing structure standing in front of the Baynes House, one of Greencastle's finest old homes used at one time as the DKE chapter house. A popular eatery located there was the Subway, which offered hamburgers, Hostess cupcakes, and breakfast for single members of the faculty. It was run by a succession of managers, including Bill Trinkle, Mable and Fred Monnett, and Evan Crawley, the last of whom also served for a time as mayor of Greencastle. Other shops in the complex were Bernie Smith's barbershop, John Tzouanakis' shoe repair shop, later run by John Due, and Drake's Jewelry Store.

Several blocks south on College Avenue at the intersection of Hanna Street stood another row of commercial buildings. Included were a small grocery called the Campus Market, owned by Lester Conrad and his son Richard and an ice cream shop once known to students as Stinky's. The latter eventually became the U Shop, a variety store presided over by the ubiquitous Glenn and Leone Deem. For a short time doughnuts were available from the Spudnut Shop next door.

After the Second World War a small student hangout called the Fluttering Duck, located behind Asbury Hall on Vine Street, enjoyed a high level of popularity before it burned to the ground in 1979. Its proprietor, Maybelle Hamm, served short orders, an occasional more substantial meal, and specialties of the house such as hot cider. Some faculty members - sociologists in particular - also held informal seminars. Students presented plays and musical performances in the Duck. A faculty instrumental group, the Ducks of Dixieland, was often featured. Today the name is perpetuated in the Fluttering Duck bar and lounge in the Walden Inn, recently erected on the same site.

For the drinking crowd, including the Black Friars and other clandestine groups, there was Dutch Hoffman's, or simply Dutch's on South Indiana Street near the town square. Located in the same 19th century building that once housed Emanuel Marquis' music store, this establishment later became Moore's Bar. In the 1950s and 1960s the most popular tavern catering to the student trade was Topper's on the Greencastle southside. DePauw men and women resorted to this watering place in throngs, especially on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. For a while it included a small restaurant, the Annex, next door. Other drinking oases in the southend were the 713 Bar, once called D. B. Cooper's, and Charlie Brown's Bar-B-Q.

Five miles south of Greencastle Marion and Virginia Wilson were genial hosts at the Old Trail Inn for two decades, offering faculty, students, and their families old-fashioned Indiana fare in the tradition of the Halfway House in Mt. Meridian. Pearl O'Hair operated a well-known gift shop in the lobby. The Monon Grill and Mama Nunz still attract student patronage, as does Marvin's, a pizza and burrito shop that evolved from an earlier place called Topper's Pizza University, successor to the Subway. Its proprietor, Marvin Long, became a favorite student confidant, whose restaurant was advertised briefly on Red Square in Moscow in 1985 by touring DePauw undergraduates.

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People, Events  & Traditions

Recollections of War

Women Teachers of English

Percy L. Julian

Student Hangouts

The History Quartet

Speech Teachers

Religious Life

Hiram L. Jome

Little 500 and Other Traditions

Two Distinguished
Botanists