Howard Johnson’s in Broomall

Howard Johnson of Boston opened up a restaurant in Quincy, Massachusetts, specializing in ice cream, hamburgers and hot dogs. Not a novel idea. But Howard was a pioneer – in 1935 he came up with the idea of ranching his restaurant – selling the rights to local investors allowing them to use the name, food, supplies and logo, in exchange for a fee. The idea took off. By the 1960’s, it was the largest restaurant chain in the country, with more than 1,000 “HoJo’s” restaurants with their distinctive orange roof. In another innovation, the company secured rights to put its restaurants at rest stops on limited access turnpikes, giving them the exclusive right to serve travelers on those highways. In fact, the first turnpike restaurant in the country was opened by Howard Johnson’s on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Broomall had its very own HoJo’s, at the southeast corner of Sproul Road and West Chester Pike, the current site of the BP gas station. The first mention I found in the newspapers was in 1951. It was a novelty – a nice sit down restaurant in the new suburbs – and people flocked to it for their steaks, 28 flavors of ice cream and meetings of community groups. Santa showed up in 1951 so that parents did not have to take their children to 69th Street or Center City for the experience.

Unlike other area HoJo’s, which continued in business into the 1970’s and 1980’s, the Broomall location changed its affiliation and became Fishers Restaurant in 1957. Old timers recall visiting after school events, and the great cheeseburgers they served. But Fishers had a short life at the site as well, as it was severely damaged by a fire in 1962. Rather than rebuild, they sold the property and the iconic building with the orange roof was demolished to make way for a new Esso gas station.

The HoJo’s brand had a longer run, but fast food competition hurt their business. Marriott bought the brand in 1982 and converted many of the restaurants’ to Bob’s Big Boy restaurants. The number of restaurants continued to diminish and the last one closed in 2016. An era had ended.

For more on the history of Marple or information about the Marple Historical Society’s events and activities, visit our website (www.MarpleHistoricalSociety.org) or our Facebook page.