Olive Blanche extends into Silver Spring
At the height of the Depression, Mrs. K's "daintily prepared" meals move from K Street to Colesville.
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When Washington, D.C. residents Olive Blanche Kreuzburg and her husband Harvey opened Mrs. K’s Toll House Tavern on April 1, 1930, surely some folks thought that an April Fool’s Day opening was a commentary on the nature of starting a business. |
Photo: Courtesy SS Historical Society Then: The original Mrs. K.’s quickly became a Downtown D.C. destination for 50-cent dinners “actually cooked as within the home.” |
The Kreuzberg’s cozy country restaurant was located out in the “wilds” of Montgomery County on the old Ashton, Colesville, and Sligo Turnpike — today’s Colesville Road. The structure had been known during the 1920s simply as the Toll House Tavern. The name acknowledged that a portion of the building had been used as a toll house to collect funds from travelers who used the privately owned road from the mid-1860s to the mid-1910s.
Mrs. K had supreme confidence though that diners from D.C. would drive out to the country. But with the Great Depression underway and only sparse development on the then-named Laurel-Baltimore Boulevard, locals were probably skeptical. Dale Drive, the side street upon which Mrs. K’s sits today, had yet to be cut through to Piney Branch Road (then Blair Road). Customers coming from Washington had no choice but to travel north on Georgia Avenue (or 16th Street to Alaska Avenue to Georgia) through downtown Silver Spring.
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Photo: Courtesy SSHS
Confident with success, Mrs. K expanded in 1930 and took over a former toll house on the rural stretch of Colesville road north of Silver Spring.
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Four years before opening the Silver Spring tavern, the Kreuzburgs had arrived in D.C. from Cincinnati, Ohio. They soon opened the original Mrs. K’s on the ground floor of 1721 K Street, NW (coincidence?). This address happened to be the headquarters of the National Society of Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America. Incorporated in 1898 at the start of the Spanish-American War, the society’s mission was “to preserve colonial and Revolutionary history, to inculcate patriotism in the present generation, and in time of war to obtain and forward supplies for field hospitals.”
Mrs. K’s close proximity to and appreciation of a clientele who probably exhibited a higher appreciation of the “finer things in life” was evident in her newspaper advertisements that proclaimed, “Finest foods...carefully selected, daintily prepared, efficiently served.” A July 20, 1927 Washington Post classified ad for Mrs. K’s read, “Waitress Wanted — Experienced; refinement necessary.”
Business flourished, and within a year of opening Mrs. K rolled out a second, more moderately priced “tea house” located two blocks east at 1905 K Street, NW. Named the Brick Wall Inn, an October 11, 1932 Post display ad proclaimed the latter’s ”Greatest Price Reduction Yet!” Lunches were priced at 35 cents and dinners 50 cents (as opposed to Mrs. K’s, where lunch cost 50 cents and dinner 75 cents). Meals at both locations were provided “with service” and the guarantee that neither location “knows no can opener nor soup stock pots” and that “everything is actually cooked as within the home.”
Whereas Mrs. K’s quality, service, price, and décor likely appealed to women, apparently the meal portions attracted the guys. Another advertisement stated, “That we are Tea Houses of plenty as well as daintiness is attested by our great number of men patrons.”
The last documented newspaper advertisements for Mrs. K’s two K Street locations appeared in 1933 — the height of the Great Depression, when 25 percent of the civilian work force was unemployed. Possibly for this reason, the Kreuzburgs decided to focus on their Silver Spring location, quietly opened three years earlier, and trust that their clientele would follow.
Within weeks of opening, the tavern had a mention in the April 20, 1930, Washington Post feature “Shopping with Babs,” the print version of the late-1920s local radio program. Babs proclaimed, “Toll House Tavern beyond Silver Spring has been taken over by Mrs. K, whose places in town are justly famous for their fried chicken and juicy steaks and other delicacies.”
Two weeks later, Babs used her column to invite Sunday golfers from D.C. who were going to “motor...through the cool fresh morning” and play at the nearby Indian Spring Golf Club. She suggested that they partake in a hearty breakfast at Mrs. K’s either before teeing off or after the game. The non-early risers could enjoy “real Maryland country-cured ham dinners” from noon to 8:30.
In 1934, Mrs. K’s was among 21 restaurants profiled in food critic Duncan Hines’ first edition of Adventures in Good Eating. The endorsement firmly placed the business on the American culinary map. In addition to its reputation for fine food, Mrs. K’s soon became known for its extensive antique collection, developed over the years by Mrs. K. Every Monday, when the restaurant was closed, she would go antique hunting. Her extensive Lutz glass collection graced the cover of the June 1948 Hobbies magazine, and her Old Blue Staffordshire collection, consisting of scores of plates, pitchers and cups, can still be found gracing the dining rooms.
Mrs. K oversaw day-to-day operations of the restaurant until around 1950, when she retired due to illness. After her death in 1960, management of the restaurant was continued by two succeeding generations of the Kreuzburg family.
In 1996, Mrs. K’s came under the sensitive guidance of new owners Konstantina and Theo Margas. The menu was tweaked, keeping many of the old favorites but introducing new entrées. And of course, Mrs. K’s original décor and ambience remains. In keeping with the tradition of a family-run operation, Mrs. Margas’ brother, Spiro Gioldasis, serves today as the general manager.
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On its 75th anniversary last year, Mrs. K’s held a series of celebratory events culminating in a gala dinner and dance that raised money for the Silver Spring Historical Society and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The SSHS was greatly honored to have its work acknowledged by this renowned community and business landmark. We wish Mrs. K’s Toll House Restaurant another 75 years of business success! |
Photo: Julie Wiatt Again: Mrs. K’s remains a destination for locals, serving nostalgia as well as fine food and recently celebrating its 75th anniversary. |
For reservations at Mrs. K’s Toll House Restaurant, call 301-589-3500 or visit www.mrsks.com.
If you can share with the Silver Spring Historical Society any personal anecdotes about Mrs. Kreuzburg or have any pre-1960 photographs or memorabilia of Mrs. K’s to share with us, please contact SSHS at P.O. Box 1160, Silver Spring, MD 20910-1160 or email sshistory@yahoo.com. The society’s web site is www.sshistory.org. Future historians will thank you!
Photo: Jerry A. McCoy Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) presents to general manager Spiro Gioldasis a Congressional citation honoring the 75th anniversary of Mrs. K's . Owner Konstantina Margas looks on. The extra hand holding the microphone belongs to Bob Madigan, WTOP radio's "Man About Town."
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