By Laura Mazur
Community Post
They didn't think that celebrating 75 years was all that unusual. But it will be like a reunion when they do.

Minster's Wooden Shoe Inn will welcome employees and customers, past and present, to celebrate 75 years of business with them this weekend.
“All the people who have worked here and been customers�"after a while, they become family,” said Margaret Meyer, an owner of the Wooden Shoe.
The bar and restaurant has been passed down through the years through the Meyer family. Meyer's husband, Fred Meyer, grew up working at the Wooden Shoe, during which time his parents, Ed and Norma Meyer, owned it for 30 years. Prior to their ownership, Fred's uncle, Herman Meyer, owned it.
The Wooden Shoe Inn was originally just the current bar room, with a residence next door to it. The years 1962 and 1971 each brought with them a room being added to the bar and eatery. The last edition was made in 1974, which is the large back room. This last piece actually sat on the lot line, making the Meyers buy the property next door and sell off what they didn't need for the restaurant, keeping the inn grounded in the same spot for 75 years.
“It's a great location of the surrounding 30 mile area,” said Fred.
Additions kept being added because the '60s and '70s were the heyday of the restaurant business locally. Today, the place stays busy on a regular basis, but it's especially full on Mother's Day, Father's Day, New Year's Eve and during Oktoberfest weekend. The Wooden Shoe is only closed two days per year�"Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The last addition also has a special mural of the buildings of Minster of the 1900s. Fred's sisters, Gayle Kuehner and Pam Sommer, who worked at the restaurant growing up, painted this mural from the town's centennial book. And although not a piece of the original picture the mural was designed from, the Wooden Shoe Brewery was placed in with the buildings, but separated by a physical door in the structure. The sisters additionally designed the faux brick and plaster design in the front bar room of the establishment.
Throughout the years, the Wooden Shoe Inn has always been known for the bar, which is made from seven different kinds of wood as an art deco piece in the 1930s. The restaurant has also drew a crowd, as well, with its chicken and without menus.
“We just never had a menu because of the repeat business. People would say they had come because they heard about the chicken, and then they would ask for a menu. Why would you need a menu if you came for the chicken?” commented Margaret Meyer.
Chicken for the locally famous fried chicken offering started in 1941 when the frialator came about. Fred's uncle and father would buy chickens off local farmers at this time. Willy Boecker sold meat strictly to the Wooden Shoe. The restaurant then went to Piqua Poultry and then Huffman's Poultry after each prior market closed. Today, the Wooden Shoe gets much of its meat from Wagner's IGA. Kuehner's Bakery provided bread back in the day, but they now get it from Dayton. Pure Gold Ketchup used to be a staple at the Wooden Shoe, also, until the Minster Canning Company closed its doors.
The location of the Wooden Shoe has also served as a depot for an interurban train station, dry goods store and a music store selling pianos and phonographs, all prior to the bar opening that started it all.
Fred worked at the restaurant growing up, as well as Margaret has fond memories of coming as a customer to the restaurant with her family growing up, but she didn't work there until after she met Fred. When the couple was first married, Fred was going to school and they worked at the inn on the weekends for their primary income. In 1968, they started working full-time when one of Fred's four sisters didn't feel well.
“That was 40 years ago in March. I've been here ever since,” said Margaret.
The couple's daughters, Georgia Richard, Jackie Close and Jessie Magoto, have all worked at the restaurant, as well as their son-in-laws have helped out. Currently, two of the couple's nine grandchildren, Tyler and Sophia Richard, are employed with the restaurant. The couple has also gotten a bit of help over the years from Steve Nelson, who has headed the kitchen for more than 40 years.
The Meyers have met many people throughout the years, including couples celebrating 50th anniversaries who had come there for their first dates. The have also hosted to visitors passing through from Florida and farther away places, such as France, Germany and other European and Asian countries.
The Wooden Shoe will be celebrating 75 years this weekend, May 16 to 18, with offerings of commemorative glasses, T-shirts and a party atmosphere after 8 p.m. Additionally will be shot glasses, reminiscent of the ones offered between the late 1940s and early 1950s, with the saying, “Take Me Home Gesundheit” inscribed.