Blue Boar Cafeterias was a chain of

cafeteria-style restaurant A cafeteria, sometimes called a canteen outside the United States, U.S., is a type of Foodservice, food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a lar ...

s based in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. The first Blue Boar was opened in 1931. Once a major presence in metro Louisville, it is still remembered for its old

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

location on Fourth Avenue near Broadway. During the 1930s, Guion (Guyon) Clement Earle (1870–1940) served as advertising manager. He was the brother-in-law of Frank Kennicott Reilly (1863–1932) owner of the Reilly & Lee publishing firm of Chicago. Mr. Earle was well known to the customers of the Blue Boar Restaurant through the witty jottings he created which appeared on the Blue Boar's menus. A decade earlier, Mr. Earle had served as the Superintendent of Loveman, Joseph & Loeb in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, where he published a literary review entitled ''"The Bookworm"''.

Early history

The Blue Boar chain shared common ownership with Britling Cafeterias in Birmingham and

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

, and B&W Cafeterias in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. Blue Boar was the last of these chains to close. At one point, there were 21 Blue Boar locations in Louisville, Lexington, Memphis, Nashville,

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

, and

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. As with its corporate siblings, Blue Boar was a Louisville institution, best known for its flagship location downtown. In 1961, Blue Boar locations were targeted for

sit-in protest A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...

s in the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

to fight institutionalized

racism in the United States Racism in the United States comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are related to each other, are held by various people and groups in the United States, and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and ...

. A historic marker has since been installed at the former location at 410 W. Walnut Street (now renamed Muhammad Ali Boulevard) as part of Louisville's downtown "Civil Rights Trail". The company expanded into suburban locations in the 1960s and 1970s, including a location in "The Mall", now called the

Mall St. Matthews Mall St. Matthews, formerly known as The Mall, is a shopping mall located near Louisville, Kentucky at 5000 Shelbyville Road (US 60 (KY), US 60) in the eastern suburb of St. Matthews, Kentucky, St. Matthews. History Originally named simply "The ...

, which was the first enclosed shopping mall in the state. (This cafeteria later moved to

Oxmoor Center Oxmoor Center is a Louisville, Kentucky shopping mall located at 7900 Shelbyville Road in eastern Louisville. History The 1970s Opened on February 8, 1971 on the opposing side of the Watterson Expressway from Mall St. Matthews, the mall ori ...

, a newer mall just across the Watterson Expressway.) Another location was in the city of Shively, in the Southland Terrace shopping area, which was located on 7th Street Rd. There was also a Blue Boar cafeteria located on Euclid Avenue in downtown

in the 1930s. It is unclear whether there was any connection between that location and the Louisville company. According to one source, it was patterned after Louisville's Blue Boar.

Decline

Facing increased competition from

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

outlets and changing lifestyles, the chain went into decline, and gradually closed down. Many of its locations were near locally owned department stores, and faltered after those stores closed. In 1995, the chain closed its last remaining location outside of Louisville, in Lexington's Turfland Mall and in

Clarksville, Indiana Clarksville is a town in Clark County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River and is a part of the Louisville Metropolitan area. The population was 22,333 at the 2020 census. The town was founded in 1783 by early resident George Rogers Cla ...

. It also closed its Gardiner Lane Shopping Center store in 1995, which had been open since 1959. After 1995, only four locations remained open. One of the final locations, in a shopping center at the intersection of

Eastern Parkway Eastern Parkway is a major road that runs through a portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it was the world's first parkway, having been built between 1870 and 1874. At the time of ...

and Preston Highway, closed in 1999. The last location in Louisville, in the Southland Terrace shopping center, closed in 2003.After 72 years, Blue Boar name will disappear; Owner switches cafeteria to Gilley's Grill; The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY); July 24, 2003 Unlike Britling, it had stayed with the cafeteria format rather than converting to an all-you-can-eat

buffet A buffet can be either a sideboard (a flat-topped piece of furniture with cupboards and drawers, used for storing crockery, glasses, and table linen) or a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve ...

format.

References

{{Reflist Restaurants established in 1931 Defunct companies based in Louisville, Kentucky Defunct restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants disestablished in 2003 Cafeteria-style restaurants 1931 establishments in Kentucky 2003 disestablishments in Kentucky