|
New owner Jacquie Dorring has renamed a bar and grill at 6751 Fremont Pike the “Pioneer Inn,” and she says people are glad.
The log cabin-style restaurant, built in 1950, has gone through nine owners since 1986 and was named “Minde Set” by its previous owners. But locals still refer to the restaurant as “Pioneer Lodge,” its original name.
“We were trying to decide on a name and it always looked like ‘Frontier,’ or ‘Pioneer’ or whatever to us,” Dorring, a Genoa resident, said.
“Then we were driving one day and we found an old covered wagon — an old wagon like you see on the wagon train. It’s not that big and its round and the top was on it so we thought, ‘It’s got to be the Pioneer Inn then and we’ll put that (wagon) on the roof. Right?’ That was the deciding factor. In the back, I want to do a teepee style hut that would be open on the bottom,” Dorring said.
“That’s our plan, but we’ve got to get somebody to that,” Dorring explained.
To honor the name, Dorring, who is webmaster for the Black Swamp Blues Society, spent two weeks lining Lincoln pennies on the bar to spell the words “Pioneer Inn.”
“It’s made a lot of people happy. The place is pioneer and I like the lodge feeling and everything, with the Lincoln pennies,” Dorring said. “I was just trying to keep with the pioneer theme. We did it ourselves. I’m not really an artist, but I do the website and stuff so I do have some digital art skills, but this was harder than that.”
The restaurant is on one of Ohio’s most historic roads. In 1808, the federal government signed the Brownstone Treaty with Wyandot Indians giving the federal government control over Fremont Pike, then an old Indian trail connecting Fremont and Toledo.
In 1923, the Congress authorized its use as a highway and passed the land to the State of Ohio. Ohio made that strip of land its first highway in 1827 when it cleared the strip and today travelers know the road as Fremont Pike.
Fremont Pike (U.S. Route 20) was named the Western Reserve Road in its early days but many of the early settlers who traveled the trail called it the “Old Mud Pike”. The road became a natural path for settlers traveling by covered wagon to reach the west. As traffic increased, taverns and inns were established to care for the travelers’ needs for lodging, food, and refreshments.
Today, it is a busy thoroughfare. So busy that the Regional Growth Partnership still lists the two-lane highway between State Route 420 and Perrysburg on its priority list to someday be widened to four lanes.
More family-style
To purchase the property during a bank auction, Dorring bid against several other businessmen, including a former Cleveland Browns quarterback. After the lead bidder defaulted, she purchased the property for $45,000 from First Federal Bank of the Midwest on October 25, 2010. First Federal acquired the property for $100,000 during a sheriff’s sale on March 30, 2010.
JD Management Service LLC has been set up to manage the property and five smaller log cabins on the 1.08 acre property. The cabins, which were originally rented per night as part of a motel setup, are now residences.
“That works well for truck drivers, construction workers working in the area, and out of town Chrysler workers because it has one big room and a bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink, and they use a small refrigerator and a microwave,” Dorring said.
Dorring had been previously employed in the production side of the business, but was never an owner, She wants to make the 2,778 square foot Pioneer Inn more of a family restaurant.
“It’s just meant to be a bar and grill. We do smoked eats and things like that — a little bit different with some kind of country, ranch theme. We are trying for a homey atmosphere very warm and welcoming, with good home cooking,” Dorring said. “Priority is good service to our customers.”
Tuesday is taco night, Wednesday is Italian night, Thursday is bike night, Friday is Karaoke night, and Saturday there is smoked chicken.
“We have smoked food, we’re doing pulled pork sandwiches, we’re doing chickens, we’re working on a Pioneer burger — a special burger,” Dorring said.
“Right now, we are trying to get a feel for the neighborhood. A lot of it is workers up and down here during the day, and we just want to get a feel to see what goes and what doesn’t go. Taco Tuesday has been a big hit,” Dorring said. “I’m happy. The neighborhood has been friendly and welcoming.”
Her friends and family warned her about the risk of getting into the restaurant business. A Libbey High School graduate, as a youth Dorring packed a lunch and walked to the Toledo Zoo every Saturday morning. Now, most family members reside in other states, including her parents, who live in Florida.
“Everybody supported me, but everybody said, ‘Oh, you don’t know what you are getting into. There is too much work over there,’ which we did have a lot of work,” Dorring said.
Dorring estimates about $70,000 was spent renovating before it could be opened.
“That was a big, big expense, and we’re not anywhere near done. Initially, I wanted to sand blast the front of the building and get it back to looking like it is logs, but we’re going to have to wait a year and stick with this color (burnt orange),” Dorring said.
She has a college degree in internet design and her volunteer work as webmaster for the blues society provides connections with local bands, such as Johnny Reed and the House Rockers and Josh Boyd and the VIP, that she says will help bring live performances to the Pioneer Inn. Her relationship with BSBS officers, such as president/treasurer LaVonne Kujawa, will be instrumental, too, Dorring says.
The new sign went up over a month ago, but the grand opening is scheduled for the first week of August with live music on Saturday. Dorring said the vendors are planning giveaways, but nothing is set in stone yet. Pioneer Inn can be reached at 419-837-2800.
 |
Family 
Subscribe to this comment's feed