Early Days of Kentucky Fried Chicken in Lorain County

I love chicken pot pies, and a discussion about them at work recently resulted in my having to stop at Kentucky Fried Chicken to pick one up for dinner that night. (That’s the power of suggestion for you.)

As someone who really pays attention to advertising and packaging, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the box the pot pie came in had a fun, retro design with the full company name. It even had a vintage illustration of Colonel Sanders himself.

Here’s a better look at the box lid.

That got me to wondering : “When did Kentucky Fried Chicken first arrive in Lorain County?”

Well, back when Colonel Sanders launched his fried chicken empire in the 1950s, he first enlisted franchisees who would put Kentucky Fried Chicken on the menu in their own established restaurants. One of the earliest and biggest franchisees was Kenny King of Cleveland.

Thus in Northeast Ohio, many of us were first introduced to the Colonel’s chicken through Kenny King’s. The restaurant also had other things on their menu, such as the “Big King” steak burger.

Vintage city directories and phone books indicate that one of the earliest Kenny King's offering Kentucky Fried Chicken in Lorain County was at 903 Telegraph Road (State Route 113). It first showed up in the Elyria phone book in October of 1961.

Here’s the ad from the 1962 Elyria directory.

Here’s a color photo of a bucket similar to the one shown in the ad.

And here's a Kenny King's newspaper ad from the Lorain Journal of August 2, 1963.

Here’s a later ad, from the 1967 Elyria directory. Note that the Telegraph Road address is still the only restaurant in the area.

Also of interest is the use of the same Colonel Sanders illustration that was found on my pot pie box.

Even as late as 1968, the only local Kenny King’s was in Elyria. Here’s a coupon that ran in the Lorain Journal on March 20, 1968.

It looks like Kenny King’s did not make it into Lorain until the early 70s, with a Kenny King’s Carryout listed at 4300 Oberlin Avenue in the 1971-72 Lorain Phone Book.

Here's a June 29, 1973 ad from the Lorain Journal. Note that a new illustration of the Colonel was being used.

A year later, Lorain had two outlets: 4300 Oberlin Avenue and 1725 Henderson Drive. Here’s a 1974-75 phone book ad listing both of them.

Although the Lorain restaurants were Kenny King’s in the early days, my parents didn’t refer to them as such when they wanted Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was always, “How about some Colonel Sander’s for dinner?”

Anyway, in recent years the corporation has embraced its original name, utilizing it in advertising and signage along with the shortened name KFC. I’m sure the Colonel would be proud.

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UPDATE (March 12, 2018)

I enjoyed a big ol' bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken last week and was pleasantly surprised to see that it had a nice retro design, just like the pot pie box. It's a nice counterbalance to the goofy TV commercials with the celebrity Colonels.