Kelly's Hamburgers Becomes Casey's – March 1965

Casey's Drive-in, the defunct Northeast Ohio hamburger chain that had restaurants in Lorain, Vermilion, Elyria, Rocky River and North Royalton has been a favorite topic on this blog. As I've noted before, there's not much on the internet about this chain that had hoped to mimic McDonald's success. 

There's not much about the short-lived chain that preceded Casey's – namely, the Dania, Florida-based Kelly's Hamburgers – either. I did a post about the 1962 Grand Opening of the Kelly's restaurant on North Ridge Road across from the O'Neil - Sheffield Center back here.

Is that a McD-like arch as part of the sign?

Well, here’s another piece of the puzzle. The defunct-brands.fandom.com website notes, “Kelly's Hamburgers (going under the corporate name of Kelly's Jet System) was established in 1958 with the opening of a restaurant location in Hallandale Beach, Florida. It was a division of Continental Franchises, Inc., a company which (as the name suggests) specializes in franchises and leasing. Said company planned to open around 50 restaurants under the Kelly's name throughout the United States.

"By the early 1960's, Kelly's operated several hamburger stands throughout the states of Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Wisconsin. 

"In 1964, Kelly's merged with competitor chain Mr. Moe Drive In. This caused a small number of Kelly's locations to close and re-open as Mr. Moe a year later. Despite this however, Kelly's continued to operate under their own name throughout the following years.

"Not much is known about the Kelly's chain, with it being assumed that most of the chain disappeared in 1974, with the chain’s final locations closing sometime in 1976." 

Apparently, the merger with Mr. Moe must have muddied the waters for the sole Kelly's restaurant in Lorain County, and the owners decided to switch their affiliation to a brand new chain: Casey's Drive-in. This article from the March 6, 1965 Lorain Journal tells the story.

In that same edition of the Journal, an ad on the restaurant page sought to reassure existing customers that only the name was being changed – not the staff, food or service.

It's interesting that the mustachioed Casey baseball mascot hadn't been created yet by the ad agency, or it wasn't provided to the Journal for use in the ad.

The people behind Casey's wasted no time expanding. Within a few months, construction began on the Vermilion restaurant, as noted in this Journal article from the May 12, 1965 outlet.

For a while there were only three restaurants: the one on North Ridge, the one in Vermilion, and one on Center Ridge in Rocky River.

Oct. 28, 1966 Journal ad

The restaurant on W. 21st Street in Lorain held its Grand Opening on December 14, 1968.

Unfortunately, the Casey's Drive-ins in Lorain and Elyria seemed to be a favorite for stickup artists. Here's a news item about the restaurant on North Ridge Road being robbed, from the May 14, 1970 Journal.

The Casey's restaurant on North Ridge was vacant by the time of the 1970 city directories, but the one in Lorain stepped up to the plate to keep the chain alive during that decade. In time, the mascot was dropped, in favor of making room in the ads for more food specials and promotions.

Sept. 24, 1970

Aug. 28, 1975

The Casey's restaurant on W. 21st Street remained open up until the latter half of the 1980s, when Pine Garden Restaurant replaced it at that location.

March 17, 1988

Pine Garden was a hit with the Journal, who gave it a hearty thumbs up in its restaurant review columns.

Pine Garden is still in business at the W. 21st Street location. Sadly, the former Kelly's/Casey's North Ridge Road location remains boarded up after a series of subsequent eateries tried to make a go of it there.

The view from yesterday

The days of the small, regional burger chains designed to challenge the big boys (both literally and figuratively) are apparently over. Nevertheless, the 1960s remain a fascinating time for fast food, during which many of the now-biggest names experienced massive growth, and the little ones like Kelly's and Casey's struck out.