The Span of Rossow's Restaurant

When I first wrote about Rossow's Coffee Shop, I didn't know when it was in operation, or for how long. Now I know, thanks to this 1948 article announcing its end.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Hobart Gazette, 22 July 1948.

So, the Rossows operated it from 1936 to 1948, and the pictures included in my previous post that were taken during Hobart's centennial celebration would indeed have shown the restaurant when it was under their ownership.

It makes sense that they would have started the business in 1936. That was a year of great change for the family. In January 1936, Theodore Rossow died — that is, husband of Annie Bergmann Rossow, and father of Lillian and Grace. So the three of them left the farm and opened their little restaurant in Hobart.

The article above does not mention Annie, and likely she had retired by 1948, for she was then 73 years old and not in good health. About two months after the restaurant closed, she died.

The purchaser, if I've found the right person, was Matilda Schmidt Springman. She had been born in Chicago circa 1899, but by the 1910 Census she and her family were living in Hobart. She was only 16 when she married Tony Springman on August 21, 1915 (Indiana Marriage Collection).[1] They had half a dozen children, but evidently the marriage was not happy: by the time we get to the 1950 Census, Tillie was divorced. She was described then as a restaurant proprietor. In 1953 she married again, to Edward Rigg.

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[1] On January 10, 1916, she gave birth to a premature infant, who died the following day (Indiana Death Certificates).