Jimmie's Cafe

At 406 1st St

1937 or 1939 - 1945 Jimmie's Fountain, then Jimmie's Café (Jim Crawford)

1944-07-14 Jimmie's Café was sold to Charles Campbell

1945-11-02 - William Geschke sold his interest in Jimmie’s Cafe to his brother and partner, Ernest Geschke.

20 September 1946 Cheney Free Press

Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Geschke this week announced sale of Jimmie's Café in Cheney to Mr. and Mrs. Benny Beck of Ritzville, who are now in charge. The Geschkes have only indefinite plans for the future, other than that they will take a vacation before entering other work. Formerly in partnership with the William Geschkes, they have had complete charge of the café since last winter.

Mr. Beck, who recently has been in the grocery and meat market business at Ritzville, had prior restaurant experience.

At 409 1st St

1945 - 1958 - Jimmie's Café (these dates are as best as can be confirmed. Jimmie's may well have moved from 406 to 409 at a later date

1945-11-02 - William Geschke sold his interest to his brother Ernest Geschke.

1946-09-20: Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Geschke this week announced sale of Jimmie's Café in Cheney to Mr. and Mrs. Benny Beck of Ritzville, who are now in charge.

1949-02-18: Ownership of Jimmie's Café transferred this week from William McKinley and Armand Luedtke to Ernest Homuth of Steptoe. McKinley and Luedtke are continuing the operation of Rollie's café as hertofore. The new owner has remodeled the café front and is refurnishing the café.

1949-12-09: Change of ownership in Jimmie's café is being followed by construction of a new café front and general remodeling and refurnishing of the café.

1951-09-07: LeRoy Comstock, an experienced cafe operator, has purchased Jimmie’s cafe from Benny Beck and already is in charge. Mr. Comstock recently sold his business, George’s fountain lunch, located at North 16 Wall in Spokane. He expects to make Cheney his permanent home.

1955-01-07 - Jimmie’s Cafe, Harvey & Fay Ashburn

1956-11-16 - Jimmie’s Cafe and the Cheney Motel exchanged owners. Mr. and Mrs. C.L. “Mac” McBride, owners of the Cheney Motel, traded businesses with Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Ashburn, owners of Jimmie’s Cafe.

The McBrides, who have never been in the business before, plan to close the cafe from November 15 to November 19 to redecorate and clean up for their grand opening November 19.

Mr. and Mrs. McBride said that they were hiring a new staff, including Ted Webb as head chef. Webb will be the breakfast and dinner cook, and will also be responsible for a new line of desserts. Webb will also bake the restaurant’s home-made pies.

The couple also said they plan to redecorate the upstairs banquet room and are hoping they will be able to lick the ventilation problem.

1957-11-08 - Grand Opening under new management of Jimmie’s Cafe, Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Reasor.

1958-04-18 - Mr. and Mrs. Michael O’Shea are the new management of Jimmie’s Cafe, Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Reasor remain the owners. O’Shea has 18 years experience in the cafe business.

Lillian Fish was a cook at the café for a time

J.A. Crawford

His story: he moved to Cheney in 1937, established Jimmie's Café at site of Malt Shop (406 1st) He says it moved to site of Maddux Cleaners (409 1st) in 1943.