The Route 66 Bloomington-Normal, Illinois page on Facebook recently posted an interesting, if obscure, historical item for Black History Month — the Chat ‘n Chew restaurant and grocery in Normal.
Here’s the post, with Terri Ryburn of Ryburn Place (formerly Sprague Super Service station) in Normal supplying the photo:
A 2017 article, titled “Jim Crow Comes to Central Illinois: Racial Segregation in Twentieth Century Bloomington-Normal” by Mark Wyman and John W. Muirhead for the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society had this item referring to the restaurant and the future Illinois State University:
But it was also at ISNU that the first successful local attack on segregation erupted. The Pilgrim Café, a small eating place adjacent to campus which refused to serve African Americans, drew attention as veterans began returning to campus in the years following World War II. (The existence of places like the Pilgrim had led an African American postal worker in the 1930s to start a small café near the university, the “Chat ’n Chew,” open to everyone.) A letter in the campus newspaper on October 1, 1947, was a call to action: “Dear Editor: Do you know—the Pilgrim Restaurant refuses to serve Negro students of this school?” Then, for the next four days, African American and white pickets marched in front of the restaurant. Almost all of the student pickets were war veterans. As one stated, “We have attempted to defend at home those principles for which we fought abroad.” After lengthy protests, with the owners defending their policy by pointing to widespread restaurant segregation elsewhere in the Twin Cities, the Pilgrim became integrated in December 1947.
A perusal of the Bloomington Pantagraph’s archives reveals the original owner of the Chat ‘n Chew was Lutie (Blue) Anson. According to her 1940 obituary, she established the Chat ‘n Chew at 403 N. Fell Ave. in 1934. She died at age 66 after a lengthy illness.
Other items:
- The Chat ‘n Chew was damaged by a fire in 1947 but apparently reopened.
- Lutie’s husband, Luther Anson, remarried in 1948 with Clara Stevenson, according to her 1969 obituary. Luther and Clara ran the restaurant for several years, the notice stated.
- The restaurant went into probate in 1957 after Luther’s death. A probate court notice stated the value of the Chat ‘n Chew was $2,000.
- A 1990 article mentioned the Chat ‘n Chew as a black-owned business that formerly operated in the Bloomington-Normal area. “The snack shop catered to neighborhood families and black ISU students,” it stated.
A perusal of the database of businesses on or near Route 66 listed in editions of the Negro Motorist Green Book finds no entry for the Chat ‘n Chew. That’s not unusual — the Threatt Filling Station near Luther, Oklahoma, also never was listed in that guide for African-American travelers.
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