Then and Now preview: Wilson’s Restaurant
Have you ever used bacon fat to cook something else?
Early Spokane Restauranteur Stuart D. Wilson ran three waffle house restaurants in downtown Spokane between 1918 and 1951. He also invested in real estate, sold Frisbie Maple Syrup and ran a tavern. The places had reasonable prices and fed generations of Spokanites. He and wife Rosine had no children, but enjoyed themselves and worked very hard. At the age of 79, he and Rosine, 25 years younger, were in Hawai'i on vacation when Stuart was called back to Spokane on an urgent business emergency. He died of natural causes shortly after reaching Spokane in 1953. Above is the drawing of his contribution to the restaurant kitchen in his era: A diverting device so a cook could divert the grease from cooking bacon away from waste fats used to cook other things on the flattop griddle. Read Monday's Then and Now column to see one of Wilson's restaurants and how he built a waffle empire. In an unrelated note, Wilson's wife Rosine was active in Spokane social circles and enjoyed playing Jollyball. What is Jollyball? See it played here.