Get our newsletters
History Lives

Thanksgiving at Ed’s Diner in Doylestown

Posted

At Ed’s Diner in Doylestown, good food was available at reasonable prices 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and especially on Thanksgiving. (The diner closed only once a year, on Christmas Day.)
In 1937 roast turkey with filling, roll and butter, and a choice of two vegetables cost 60¢. In 1961 the price had risen to $1.45 per platter. The restaurant was founded in 1937 by Ed Taifer (1900-1973) in a one room wooden building advertised as the Franklin Diner. It became Ed’s Diner and moved to larger quarters in the 1940s, and in 1951 moved into the shiny stainless steel diner that still stands today near the corner of North Franklin and W. State streets.
Local residents believed the opening of the Route 202 bypass in 1976 badly hurt business; no longer did hungry tourists from New York and New Jersey drive through the heart of Doylestown. And so, after more than four decades, the popular eatery closed in 1981.

The iconic building at 203 W. State St. was subsequently occupied by Grau’s Carousel Flowers, and it now houses the Country Food Market.
Doylestownhistorical.org


Join our readers whose generous donations are making it possible for you to read our news coverage. Help keep local journalism alive and our community strong. Donate today.


X