Historian Jeff Murray takes a look into West Hartford’s past to uncover some surprising information, stir up some memories, or reflect on how much life has changed – or hasn’t changed at all. Enjoy this week’s ‘From West Hartford’s Archives’ …

By Jeff Murray

The Howdy hamburger stand was located at 444 New Park Avenue, just south of the Hartford line and just a short distance from Flatbush Avenue. This photo was taken on June 17, 1966 to highlight a zoning violation regarding the sign out front.

“One of America’s fastest growing drive-in chain restaurants,” as it advertised itself, prepared to open at the beginning of 1964. There were 49-cent “Fish ‘n Fries,” hamburgers, and milkshakes on the menu at the two locations in the area, on New Park Avenue and on Main Street in East Hartford across from Pratt & Whitney.

Roadside businesses around the Hartford area flourished with more families owning cars, especially with the move out to the suburbs. Hamburger stands often catered directly to motorists. Fast food was also rapidly expanding, capitalizing on the trends of the 1950s. McDonald’s and Burger King had already begun franchising aggressively and Wendy’s was just a few short years away from opening in Ohio.

Howdy built on that momentum, a low-barrier entry point into a growing market. The baby boom generation was entering their teens and 20s in the 1960s, and a roadside stand like this was marketed both at independent young adults and at working-class families on their way back home.

The early 1960s were still a time of economic optimism. However, events surrounding Howdy locations tells another side as well: increasing crime. Newspaper articles fluctuate between advertisements looking for hired help and constant robberies. National crime rates were increasing in the early 1960s and juvenile delinquency was a frequent concern in media and politics. Hamburger stands, like other convenient businesses, were easy targets: cash-heavy, open late, and lightly staffed.

In December 1964, thieves broke into the building using a rear door and pried open a file cabinet to steal $350. In one case, a robber instructed a cab driver to head to Howdy for a burger and then demanded he drive him into New York City at gunpoint. In 1968, 20-30 youths were chased from the Howdy lot by eight policemen, at which point they began throwing rocks at the cruiser. Police fired a cannister of teargas into the crowd, which then dispersed.

Children with matches set the rear stockade fence on fire with matches a few years later. Two men were caught in the middle of stealing over $300 from the establishment later on. There was a growing perception that crime was spreading and spilling over from Hartford. Crime features, however, in almost every historical mention of New Park Avenue going back to the 1890s. A combination of ethnic tensions between immigrants, poorer social conditions, and a heavily industrialized section of town with fewer guardrails brought greater volatility.

Sometimes Howdy’s was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the summer of 1966, police were called to the Howdy stand by a parking lot guard who said a man was shooting a rifle. When police arrived, a car dipped out of the lot and someone inside shot at them, wounding an officer. The 22-year-old suspect was lifted from Charter Oak Terrace shortly after the incident and arrested.

By the summer of 1972, Howdy’s leaned hard into Howdy Doody nostalgia, tapping the buzz around the upcoming presidential election. The spring-summer of ’72 was electrified by Nixon vs. McGovern campaigning and each candidate tapped into nostalgia: portraits of a “simpler, postwar America” were everywhere. The original Howdy Doody show from 1947 to 1960 itself once joked about being “on the campaign trail,” even referencing fake plastic surgery to explain an absence. By the early 1970s, there was a certain nostalgia back to the stability of the 1950s.

Howdy Beefburgers was founded by Bill Rosenberg, the founder of Dunkin’ Donuts, and the two were often located together so they could share common parking lots. New Park Avenue was no different, as the Dunkin’ Donuts next door served both sets of customers. Dunkin’ Donuts (with the name now shortened to “Dunkin'”) is still there today in a remodeled building.

Howdy, since the beginning, had explicitly used Howdy Doody’s iconography to evoke an ideal set of “family values” and mid-century Americana, but by 1972, the chain doubled down on this styling. With the election season in full swing and nostalgia hot, they sold Howdy-themed buttons, jingles, puppets, and even ran local “Howdy campaign” advertisements. A Hartford Courant ad from June 7, 1972 says: “Howdy Doody’s running for President. Get Howdy’s red, white, and blue campaign hat (the kids will love it), proclaiming Howdy for President. Free with any purchase at Howdy Beefburger.”

Maybe Howdy lost the election because the following summer, the drive-in stand was sold at public auction. In its place came Buster’s Dog House in a newly remodeled building. By the spring of 1977 though, this too was sold per order of the Small Business Administration. 1977 was in the thick of stagflation: high inflation, high unemployment, and slow growth. Small businesses were highly vulnerable to cost increases in beef, gas, rent, and wages. SBA-backed loans also had huge volume during the early 1970s boom. By the late 1970s, the SBA came under increased scrutiny and in response, they became more aggressive in liquidating businesses to restore credibility and stem losses.

This location remained committed to food though. Later that fall, Kiki’s Fast Foods opened, serving the Kiki Big Burger on a hard roll (for only 85 cents), along with chocolate and vanilla soft cones, chili dogs, onion rings, and French fries. By the 1980s, the building had been demolished and consolidated for parking with Dunkin’ Donuts next door and in 2003, the Dunkin’ Donuts building was enlarged and renovated entirely to take up part of where Howdy’s used to be.

444 New Park Avenue. Google Street view

Jeff Murray was born and raised in West Hartford and has been involved with the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society since 2011 when he was a high school student and won the Meyer Prize for his essay on local history. Jeff routinely volunteers as local history researcher uncovering information for numerous museum programs such as the West Hartford House Tour and West Hartford Hauntings. Jeff works as a data analyst at Pratt & Whitney.

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