Truckin’ Along at Wheeler’s
From Time to Thyme
By Paula Dunn
Remember when David Sutton brought up Phil Donahue and his wife, Marlo Thomas, visiting Wheeler’s Restaurant on their way to the wedding of Ryan White’s mother, Jeanne?
After David located the Nov. 28, 1992 Indianapolis Star article that was the source of his story, it struck me that the restaurant itself was worthy of a column. There’s a lot of history there.
That history dates back to 1946 or ’47 when farmer Cecil Scott built a truck stop on his land at the intersection of State Roads 37 and 13.
Scott’s nephew, Marion House, is quoted in the Star article as saying that his uncle happened to have a neighbor who owned a truck stop at that time. The two men didn’t get along, so Scott decided to build his own truck stop and drive the neighbor out of business.
“And he did,” according to House.
Although “Scotty’s Inn,” as it was christened, was basically in the middle of nowhere, State Road 37 was the main route between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis in those pre-I-69 days. That meant truck drivers, highway travelers and locals kept the business hopping.
In addition to the restaurant, tourist rooms were available on the second floor and four gas pumps out in front sold Phillips 66 gasoline. There was also a diesel pump on the side.
Disaster struck the building in 1970.
By then, Cecil Scott was dead and his wife Clara had passed the property on to House. House leased the restaurant to a Lapel woman, who renamed it the Kozy Korner Restaurant.
On Sept. 5, a grease fire started in the kitchen of the Kozy Korner. Despite the efforts of firefighters from Wayne Township, Jackson Township, Frankton, Lapel and Noblesville, the local landmark’s interior was gutted.
Two years later, Murray Templeton, the owner of an Anderson music and vending company, bought the property from House.
Templeton rebuilt the restaurant and renamed it Wheeler’s (or “Wheelers” — both forms appear in the newspapers.) While I found no official explanation for the name, I did run across an article that suggested it referred to truckers’ 18-wheelers.
The Star article noted that Templeton’s new establishment contained some interesting features salvaged from other places — a canopy from Indianapolis’ old Downtown YMCA, a steam table from a Holiday Inn on U. S. 40, and a stainless steel wall covering in the kitchen that came from the bumper-car ride at Indy’s Riverside Park.
Even the “Wheelers” sign had originally graced an Indianapolis restaurant with the same name.
Wheeler’s proved to be just as popular as the restaurant’s previous incarnations. They served good ol’ “Home Cookin” and were especially known for their pancakes, and made-from-scratch biscuits and gravy.
Occasionally, the restaurant made news.
In 1972, Wheeler’s was robbed by two men with a shotgun and in 1977 it provided a safe haven for several motorists stranded by a snow storm.
The 1992 Star article observed that Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas weren’t Wheeler’s only celebrity visitors. A tour bus carrying Dick Clark and his American Bandstand all-stars stopped there once.
(No date was given for that, but an American Bandstand show featuring the Spinners, the Association, the Drifters and the Guess Who played Deer Creek in 1989.)
Wheeler’s closed in the late 1990s, but the building was reborn in 2018 when JR and Nick Roudebush restored it to house Mercantile 37, a showroom for custom furniture, vintage items, and locally-made home goods.
Wheelers Café and Market, which occupies an addition to the original building, keeps the Wheeler’s name alive, and tempts shoppers with coffee drinks, breakfast and lunch fare, and a variety of locally-sourced food products.
For a better idea of all the neat stuff you can find at Mercantile 37, visit their website, www.mercantile37.com.
Paula Dunn’s From Time to Thyme column appears on Wednesdays in The Times. Contact her at younggardenerfriend@gmail.com