We Hoosiers have one Knight and many Castles. Our Knight looks cute when he's mad (so he looks cute quite often). I'm not certain that you would describe our Castles as "cute" but that description could very well fit the burgers made and served within their walls.
Several years ago, I wrote a cinquain about these special, little sandwiches that goes like this:

Castles
White and yummy
Traditional in their
Years of serving tiny burgers--
They're square!

Above poem taken from my chapbook LOOK INSIDE!
Copyright 1985 by Ainsley Jo Phillips

My unique poet friend, Opie R. Houston, commented that the last line could have a less literal meaning--that is, they're square in the sense of being traditional in a heartwarming and cornball way.

And White Castle hamburgers are certainly "all that"--and more!

They DO go back a long time, the first one opening in 1921. Don't quote me on this, but I think this took place right here in Indiana. I know that my dad's double cousin, Maxwell "Mac" Phillips, was a good friend of the founders and was also one of their faithful employees.

I was certainly destined to become a White Castle fan, because both of my folks had happy memories of White Castle during their growing-up years. My mom grew up in a little Indiana village called Cunot, but she and her family had relatives living in Anderson. Going and coming from visiting relatives, they nearly always made it a point to stop at White Castle as they drove through Indianapolis. Back then--and for a long time after that--Indianapolis was the place to go for White Castles (more about that later). My dad was an Army brat, so he grew up in the Ft. Benjamin Harrison area and got to go to White Castle on a more regular basis than my mom did.

When Aunt Kate and Uncle Don first started dating, they would often double-date with my folks (now newlyweds, having married on February 8, 1947). The first time they stopped at White Castle together, Uncle Don offered to treat--which was easy enough to do, as the burgers only cost five cents apiece back then. My folks usually ate two apiece, so, when Uncle Don asked how many they wanted, they told him four. Misunderstanding what they meant, he returned with four burgers for each of them. From then on, that was what they ordered for a long time--even though, in order to be more diet-conscious in their mature years, three apiece is usually the limit for them these days. As for Uncle Don, it was very common to watch him put away a dozen at a time--or more!

I remember being about four years old and returning home from visiting Grandpa and Uncle George in Cunot. As we passed through Indy, Daddy asked me if I wanted any White Castles. Well, I didn't feel all that hungry--in fact, my stomach felt a little queasy--so I told him No. Sometime later, I burped and felt better, so a White Castle sounded a little more appetizing to me. But, looking out the car window, I could tell that we were already on the northeast side of Indy and I'd changed my mind too late. I began to cry. When my folks asked me what was wrong, I just told them that I didn't feel very well, because I didn't want to admit that I was getting so upset over missing out on some silly hamburgers. From then on, when I knew we were going to be in the Indianapolis area, I always reminded my folks that I wanted to stop at White Castle and almost made a nuisance of myself asking if we were going to, because I never wanted to experience that kind of pain again.

When I became a senior in high school, some of my friends fixed me up with this nice guy who was several years older and already working at a good job. Although, after several months of dating, we ended up deciding that it would be better just to be friends only, we were talking marriage at one time. We had been to a star show at the planetarium on the campus of Butler University and decided to stop at White Castle on the way back to Anderson. At that time, the buildings were smaller, and Gary and I sat on stools with our food on a counter facing a storefront window. Like myself, Gary also loved those little square burgers and made the suggestion that we ought to open a White Castle in Anderson. He would invest the money, and we'd both work there. I thought that sounded like an absolutely romantic idea, so I asked him to check into it. He did--but found that White Castle was only locating in large cities like Indy and Louisville. This was in the fall of 1970. Years later, a White Castle DID open here in Anderson--but neither Gary nor I had anything to do with that other than eating there!

White Castle started branching out to offer other sandwiches besides plain burgers. Cheeseburgers came first. Later, fish sandwiches. Whenever I ordered a fish sandwich, I requested that they also add a slice of cheese to it. My request was never turned down--and now has become part of not only their menu but on menus in other fast-food places, too. I don't know how true this is, but my folks believe that I had something to do with making a fish sandwich with cheese popular.

Here are a couple more stories about White Castles.

Before you were able to get them all over, there was a family who moved from Indiana to California and found themselves so homesick for White Castles that they wrote to the company saying that they were willing to pay good money to have them shipped to them. White Castle obliged--and then started offering this service on a regular basis.

When I was going to college, there was this guy who decided to try to break the record re: the most White Castles eaten. I think he fell slightly short of the record before giving up before he made himself sick.

Anyway, why not go out and grab some of those little, square burgers--and, while you're eating them, think of me!





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