Brock's

When the teens from Athens gained the freedom of a driver’s license and use of a car one of the places they headed to was Brock’s Restaurant on Mercer Street in Princeton. The restaurant was bought by a couple from New Hampshire, Leston Walter Brock (1873-1958) and his wife Roberta Ellen Eppling (1876-1935).

Their son Freeman Brock (1906-1987) and his wife Letha Ann Skeens (1904-1996) ran the restaurant from 1928 to 1975.

Jeff Harvey wrote in the Princeton Times October 11, 2013, updated July 14, 2014, “I got an e-mail request from Joy Brock, the daughter of the late Freeman and Letha Brock, to do a column on Brock’s Restaurant on Mercer Street, which was operated by the Brock’s. The information will largely come from an interview I did with the late Garland Brock, Freeman’s brother, in 1999.

“My dad (Leston W. Brock) was paralyzed on the right side of his face and couldn’t get a job. He started selling popcorn in Bluefield. He had a unique ability to butter popcorn so that it became salable. His father-in-law didn’t like him (selling popcorn) at first, but, after his first day, he went home with $1.50 in sales. His father-in-law made 90 cents a day for 10 hours work on the railroad,” Brock said.

Leston W. Brock was born in Franklin, N.H. In 1902 he married Roberta Ellen Epling of Godwin’s Ferry (Spruce Run), near Newport, Giles County, Va. Brock said, “He put an ad in the paper and my mother saw the ad. They got in touch and started corresponding. He visited Giles County and (soon) they moved to and got married in Bluefield. It took them a day here and back to the courthouse to get the marriage license.”

Prior to coming to the area, L.W. Brock worked as a lumberman, went to school and was offered, but didn’t take, an apprenticeship as a doctor, his son said.

“He always told me to take up business. He always kept up good business and kept his own books,” he said.

Brock related a humorous anecdote regarding his father’s business, “He began his business there in a saloon. The saloon-keeper offered him a drink and he said he didn’t drink and the saloon-keeper chased him out of the saloon. A day or two later, the saloon-keeper called him over and said, “Mr. Brock, you can sell popcorn here, but put lots of salt on it.” They drank more beer and enjoyed the popcorn. From there, his business grew from a small machine that he made himself to a machine where he stayed inside.”

That machine, he added, was a complete novelty which could be pulled by a horse. It cost L.W. Brock $6,400 (comparable to $200,000 today) to purchase. It was kept inside a building and rolled out during the day.

“I don’t know how he rolled it out there. He could stand inside of it and sell candy, popcorn and peanuts. He was very successful with it,” he said.

After John Epling died in 1911 as a result of an accident in the N & W shops that cost him both his legs, the Brocks left Bluefield. After going to Danville and Norfolk, Va., the family moved to Princeton, where they eventually moved into a stone building that the older Brock purchased from Joe Hatcher on 316 Mercer Street in 1914.

Brock recalled, “The walls in the basement were three feet thick and 18 inches thick above ground. There were flues built into the walls, with flues for each room. It had been built by four Italian brothers. (My father) owned two or three lots beside of it.”

In an adjunct to the building, L.W. Brock opened his confectionery shop, where, in addition to the candy, popcorn and peanuts he’d previously sold, he sold fruit, and eventually, ‘Coney Island’ hotdogs. The confectionery eventually became Brock’s Restaurant and was operated by Freeman Brock and his wife Letha, until 1975. Freeman Brock was best known for his pizza, which became the specialty of the restaurant.

“It was the way he put ingredients (chili, mustard and onions) together that made them so popular. He’d sell them for five cents with the bun selling for three-fourths of a cent. The wieners would come in brine kegs from Boston or Baltimore. He knew how to make chili right and he told me how he did it,” he said.””

Mary Feuchtenberger wrote in her book, Groundhog Day in West Virginia, “ Everywhere we went required walking. G.C. Murphy was the favorite retail store. I never was able to purchase much, but it was fun to look.  A few trips for food items were made to Kroger and Mills Market and a favorite place for young people was the Susie Q. Kids could eat there and listen to the jukebox. Other times, they would enjoy a cherry coke and a meal at Spangler’s Drugstore. Jimmie’s restaurant and Ferrell’s Diner in the center of town served good food and were frequented by many. My cousin Sandra and her friend Nelda lived with us while attending Concord College. They introduced me to Brock’s Restaurant on the far end of town. I will never forget the experience of that first pizza when I was eight or nine years old and even today talk of how delicious it was.”

It seems like everyone remembers Brock’s and the details change a little with each person’s memory.

William Sanders II, wrote in his book Legacy of Homes and Families Princeton - Athens Area West Virginia, “Leston Brock left New Hampshire around the turn of the century and looked around the area of Norfolk, Virginia, for a few years and met, by correspondence, his wife Roberta Epling, from Spruce Run near Newport, Virginia (sister of Dr. Giles Epling and two other dentist brothers) and tried his luck for a few years in Bluefield, first by selling peanuts and popcorn on the street at the “opera” (movie) house and later from a machine which he stationed in front of the opera house.

About 1912, after the Virginian Railroad came to Princeton (in 1908-09) and after the street was paved with brick, he bought the stone building on lower Mercer Street which had just been built by Joe Hatcher and his brothers and he set up a lunch room “with tables and a counter.”

After a while, as the town started to grow, he became famous for his five cent hotdog. This hotdog was clearly the best meat hotdog around and it became the Brock credo to serve the very best. By keeping his overhead down and with the help of his family members in their spare time, after school, holidays and weekends, Brock’s always served the best for less including always the hotdog, the hamburger and later pizzas, son Freeman’s specialty, and Mrs. Freeman (Lisa Skeens) Brock’s famous homemade pies. As soon as pizza hit the American market, Freeman went away to pizza school to learn the art of making pizza.

Mr. Leston Brock, respectfully known as “old man Brock’ died about 1969 after 56 years in the food service to Princeton and son Freeman, and his friendly wife continued on for six additional years until 1974, a total of 63 years of the Brock enterprise on lower Mercer Street. When Leston Brock got too old to run a full restaurant, he set up his peanut stand at the front door of his son’s restaurant. He started out and ended up selling popcorn and peanuts, doing the best he could with the means available.

Even years after the restaurant closed, customers who ate there can describe it perfectly. It was a small restaurant, not a lot of room. As soon as you walked in the door you saw the bar stools. They had red plastic seats and chrome legs. If it was not busy Freeman would be sitting on one of the bar stools and Letha would be sitting at one of the booths working, always working. She would be filling up the salt and pepper shakers, rolling the tableware in napkins or something, always busy. The atmosphere was always relaxed and welcoming. In view of the counter was the hotdog cooker and the steamer to heat the buns. The best meat hotdogs were placed on the steamed buns. Homemade chili, mustard, onions, and ketchup if you wanted,  finished off this scrumptious meal. The hamburgers and fries were another wonderful choice. Freeman’s pizza could not be beat. The sauce was great, the crust was extra thin and it was covered in pepperoni and melted cheese, the taste was out of this world.

Letha didn’t let you off easy either. She had her glass display positioned just right to show off her homemade pies. Coconut cream, chocolate and lemon meringue. The pearly meringue was sky high, cooked perfectly with little beads of meringue browned to perfection to decorate the top. You couldn’t finish off a meal without a slice of pie.

You turned to the right to reach the back of the restaurant. There were two long rows of booths in the back room. After taking and delivering your order the Brocks left you alone to just sit and talk as long as you wanted.  It was a very social place and greatly missed after it closed.