Wisteria Cafe / McKown & Hawes Mural

Arch St. at Vine, Atlanta, IL
Phone:

East < GO > West

The 1919 Wisteria Cafe & Confectionery not only served good meals and delectable candies in the 1920s, you could also get a good cigar there. The archives of the Atlanta Argus newspaper held some original ad copy that was used by Nancy Bennett from Centerville, Iowa as a guide to recreate the "Wisteria Cafe" window murals as they looked in the 1920s. The Wisteria Cafe Murals appear on the windows of the building on both Arch and Vine Streets. The Wisteria Cafe murals were painted during the "LetterRip on Rt. 66". event in 2003.

One of the replicated window signs advertises "The Wisteria Cafe & Confectionery" and "Short Orders, Special Dinners on Sunday & Holidays" as well as "Fancy Candies, Cigars, Cold Drinks". It also proclaims "We make our own ice cream", Dean W. Judy, Prop.

The Wisteria used the slogan "Kome, Keep Kool" of which some suggest the spelling was a coded message to welcome members of the Ku Klux Klan. A history of Atlanta for the Centennial celebration in 1953 indicated that in the 1920s the KKK membership in the Atlanta area may have numbered around 200.

The McKown and Hawes Murals occupy three arches on Arch Street side of the building. The windows on the second floor have been replaced with much smaller modern units. I'm not sure of the age of this building, but according to the January 6, 1900 edition of the Chicago Dry Goods Reporter one Ed Hawes was reported to have bought out the inventory of the McKown-Hawes store in Atlanta with the intent to liquidate the clothing, dry goods, furniture, shoes and notions included in the purchase. If that involved this building or not I'm not yet sure but it seems likely.

The murals advertise the Dry Goods, Boots, Shoes, Furnishings sold by the McKown & Hawes. The McKown & Hawes murals on the side of the building were recreated by artist Bill Diaz in September 2006. The small sign at the bottom of the center panel reads"We knock 'em all out on low prices".

Photo(s): 2015. 2016