KY -- Corbin -- Colonel Harland Sanders Cafe & Museum:
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- KFC_081012_011.JPG: Birth of a Legend: Kentucky's Most Famous Citizen:
Colonel Harland Sanders began the part of his life that brought him fame in a small gasoline service station on the opposite side of this highway. Born on September 9, 1890, near Henryville, Indiana, he left school at twelve to support his family. He held a variety of jobs as farmhand, soldier, railroader, secretary, insuring salesman, and ferryboat operation until 1930 when he came to Corbin, moved his family into quarters behind the station, and started pumping gasoline. This was then a main rote to Florida from the north. Traffic slowed during the Great Depression so Sanders, who enjoyed cooking, augmented his meager income by selling meals to tourists. His food was liked. His reputation grew and his career as a restaurateur began.
(flipside)
Birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken
In 1932 Colonel Harland Sanders bought the small restaurant near this site. Here he combined good cooking, hard work and showmanship to build regional fame for fine food. His restaurant and a motel, now gone, flourished. To serve his patrons better Sanders constantly experimented with new recipes and cooking methods. Here he created, developed and perfected his world famous Kentucky Fried Chicken recipe. In 1956 plans were announced for a Federal highway to by-pass Corbin. Threatened with the traffic loss, Sanders, then 66, and undaunted, sold the restaurant and started travelling America selling seasoning, and his recipe for fried chicken to other restaurants. His success in this effort began the world's largest commercial food service system and made Kentucky a household word around the world.
Presented by the innumerable friends of Kentucky's greatest goodwill ambassador
- KFC_081012_036.JPG: The HARD Way
It is comparatively easy to prosper by trickery, the violation of confidence, oppression of the weak, sharp practices, cutting corners -- all of those methods that we are so prone to palliate and condone as "business shrewdness."
It is difficult to prosper by keeping the promises, the deliverance of value in goods, in services and in deeds -- and in the meeting of so-called "shrewdness" with sound merit and good ethics.
The easy way is efficacious and speedy -- the hard way arduous and long. But, as the clock tickets, the easy way becomes harder and the hard way becomes easier. And as the calendar records the year, it becomes increasingly evident that the easy way rests hazardously upon shifting sands, whereas the hard way builds solidly a foundation of confidence that cannot be swept away.
Thus we builded, *
Sanders Courts
and Cafes
Asheville, MC
6 miles out on Knoxville Road
Corbin, Kentucky
Junction US 25-25E-25W
* Dictionary:
Present participle and verbal noun.
To fashion or frame according to a systematic plan or by a definite processes; to create; to BUILD a reputation.
- KFC_081012_063.JPG: Colonel's Mock Resignation:
Colonel Sanders' sense of humor is evident in this handwritten "resignation" to Ona Mae Ledington, manager of Sanders Cafe. It is believed to date to 1941 when the Colonel left Corbin for Seattle to manage a 9-restaurant chain during the war years. No doubt the humor of the document reflects many actual conversations with restaurant employees over the years.
Ona Mae Ledington continued her association with Colonel Sanders and was a KFC franchisee until her death in 1997. She was instrumental in the restoration effort at Sanders Cafe in 1990.
Text:
Dear Ona Mae:
Please accept my resignation from any more work for your place of business. I hate to do this to you for you have been so nice to work fer. But my health wont permit to work anymore.
It will come y Saturday for my pay. You will please have it ready and oblige. Yours truly HD Sanders
PS This is effective now. I quit work already this morning. I have on my new britches and clean shirt now. I want to get me some new shoes when I get paid off.
- KFC_081012_070.JPG: Model Motel Room
- KFC_081012_078.JPG: Model Motel Room:
Harland Sanders employed an innovative marketing strategy for his motel when he rebuilt the Cafe and part of the Motor Court in 1940. As a rule, the lady of the house carefully "checked out" a motel room before allowing her family to "check in." Recognizing this tendency, Sanders constructed a replica of his motel rooms in his new cafe. He believed that once they saw his clean, modern rooms, they would be inclined to have their families stay there. He insured that the ladies would inspect his accommodations by locating the entrance to their restroom inside the replicated motel room. He located a pay telephone in the closet of his motel room which also exposed cafe customers to the quality of his motel.
This room was finished on the outside to exactly replicate his Motor Court including a hallow-tile wall, window, front door, shutters, window box, gutter, and a glue shingle roof. The interior is finished and furnished exactly like the motel, complete with Celotex walls, carpeted floor, tile bathroom, and a maple bedroom suite.
This rare example of the Colonel's marketing genius appears today as it did in the 1940s. The block walls, shingle roof, front door, interior walls and window opening are original. Photographs and personal recollections guided recreation of the room setting which is complete with an original suite of maple furniture from a Sanders Court motel room. The ladies' restroom is reconstructed in its original location, as is the small "powder room" which separates it from the motel room.
The 1940 vintage pay telephone works, but only for local calls.
- KFC_081012_086.JPG: Colonel Sanders' Kitchen:
This is the kitchen where Harland Sanders perfected his secret recipe of eleven herbs and spices for breading chicken. Here in 1940, he first experimented with the concept of pressure frying which allowed him to reduce the cooking time for chicken from thirty to nine minutes. The combination of the recipe and the cooking process led to the creation of what he called Kentucky Fried Chicken. In a larger sense, his effort to deliver a good dinner product on short notice marked the beginning of the "fast food" revolution.
The size and finish treatment of the restored kitchen was determined by physical evidence in the building and the recollections of employees who worked for the Colonel. Original white floor tiles were discovered in place, and the white plywood ceiling was intact under two later ceilings. Colonel Sanders wanted the walls, floor, and ceiling white, so he could tell at a glance if things were clean. To assure customers of the cleanliness of the kitchen, he built openings through the wall so the public could see everything clean and proper. This concept of open kitchens became a standard for KFC in 1982.
The window on the outside wall has been removed, but its framing was still intact allowing it to be replaced exactly.
Using a surviving original mirrored panel and historic photographs, the elaborate case front for the "Frigidaire" cooler was recreated.
The floor plan and equipment placement are characteristic of 1940 and are based upon the recollections of those who worked in the Cafe. Equipment of the size, age, and brand used by Colonel Sanders has been located and installed.
- KFC_081012_105.JPG: The Colonel's Country Ham Breakfast:
While Colonel Sanders is most famous for his fried chicken, it was his country ham that brought folks in for breakfast. The Colonel used Smithfield hams and served a large portion complete with biscuits, red-eye gravy, fresh eggs and grits. As his menu stated "$1.70 -- not worth it -- but mighty good."
To promote his morning specialty, he had Corbin photographer Walter Ott take a picture of waitress Leota McBurney beside a table displaying the best breakfast he had to offer.
The Willett maple "deuce table" and two chairs are part of the original furniture purchased in 1940. All the dishes, silverware, and the sugar packet holder have remained with the Cafe since 1940. A red gingham checkered napkin and glass honey stand complete the setting and are also from the Cafe.
Originally located on the back wall of the rear dining room, the Willet maple hutch is an original fixture from the Cafe. This piece has remained in the Cafe since 1940, having been removed only to be restored. It was originally used to store honey stands, cake plates, glasses, napkins, and tablecloths.
- KFC_081012_109.JPG: Dining area model
- KFC_081012_124.JPG: Colonel Sanders Highway Sign:
The nine foot exterior sign was made in 1969 for former Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisee Health Marsh of Kannapolis, North Carolina. He used this highway sign and others like it to direct customers to his stores in Kannapolis, Concord, Salisbury, and Mooresville, North Carolina.
After being removed from its roadside location, this sign was reused as construction material in the addition of a mansard roof on the Kannapolis KFC. The Kannapolis franchise was purchased by JRN Inc. , and during a pre-renovation inspection in 1990, John R. Neal discovered the sign which had been hidden from public view for years. He directed the sign be carefully removed and restored for use in the museum at Corbin.
Repair of the metal structure and restoration of the paint finish was executed by Dr. Jack R. May of Columbia, Tennessee.
- KFC_081012_153.JPG: "Buckets" of matches in the original packaging bearing the image of Colonel sanders, circa 1968.
- KFC_081012_157.JPG: Colonel Sanders business card
- KFC_081012_181.JPG: Sanders Court & Cafe:
On July 4, 1940, the Harland Sanders Cafe you see today reopened after a disastrous fire destroyed in 1939. Adjacent were seventeen motel rooms and a Pure Oil service station. Business was brisk until the onset of World War II when rationing a war materials kept use of the automobile to a minimum.
Tourist traffic increased after the war. Canvas awnings gave way to metal awnings, and a large neon sign appeared. The Colonel was renowned for his country ham, Kentucky biscuits, chess pie, buckwheat cakes, mock oysters, pecan pie, and other southern dishes. By 1952, his secret recipe for fried chicken was perfected, and that dish became the centerpiece of his menu.
In 1952, Colonel Sanders entered into his first franchise agreement with Pete Harman, a young restaurant owner from Salt Lake City, Utah. Operating from his Corbin cafe, the Colonel mixed and shipped packages of his secret ingredients to a few carefully chosen franchisees, who purchased the seasoning, and paid him a royalty of five cents for every chicken sold.
The opening of Interstate 75 drastically affected his model and restaurant business. In 1956, at age sixty-five, he sold his cafe and court for just enough to pay his debts and taxes. With only his Social Security income of $105.00 per month to sustain him, he started anew and began to build a new business based on his franchise concept.
- KFC_081012_192.JPG: Where It All Began:
America in the 1930s was a society in love with the automobile and the freedom of travel it provided. Harland Saunders recognized the opportunity to meet the growing demand for gasoline, food, and lodging along the side of the nation's highways. In 1930, he came to Corbin, Kentucky and went into the service station business selling Shell Oil products on US Highway 25. The "Dixie Highway," as it was known, was a major thoroughfare from as far north as Cleveland to as far south as Miami.
In 1931, he crossed the highway and leased the service station of competitor Ancil McVay. He sold Gulf Oil products for a time before entering into a long-term arrangement with the Pure Oil Company. He expanded what had already become a bustling lunch trade and started cooking three meals a day for the traveling public. AS prospering cafe business encouraged him to look at another opportunity -- lodging. By 1937, he was operating one of Corbin's first motor court and cafe complexes which he boasted was "known from Canada to Cuba."
Tourist trade was a leading component of the local economy. Cumberland Falls was a major attraction and enticed many travelers to spend the night. It was in this economic and social environment that Harland Sanders developed a secret recipe for fried chicken which would make him the town, and the state where he created it world famous.
- KFC_081012_205.JPG: 1940 Site Model:
This model is an accurate HO scale reproduction of the Harland Sanders cafe and Sanders Cort as they appeared in 1940. Details and structures which no longer exist have been recreated from available photos and documents of that area.
- KFC_081012_218.JPG: Colonel Sanders Weathervane:
This Colonel Sanders weathervane was installed atop the cupola of George and Frances Fray's Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Shelbyville, Tennessee, in the mid-1960s.
Dr. Jack R. May of Columbia, Tennessee conserved the sign and created the background for its presentation here in the Sanders Cafe and Museum.
- Wikipedia Description: Harland Sanders
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harland David Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders (September 9, 1890 – December 16, 1980), was an American entrepreneur who founded Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). His image is omnipresent in the chain's advertising and packaging, and his name is sometimes used as a synonym for the KFC product or restaurant itself.
Early life and career:
Sanders was born in Henryville, Indiana. His father died when he was five years old, and since his mother worked, he was required to cook for his family. He dropped out of school in seventh grade. When his mother remarried he ran away from home because his new father beat him. During his early years, Sanders worked many jobs, including steamboat driver, insurance salesman, railroad fireman, farmer, and enlisted in the Army as a private when he was only 16 years old (by lying about his age), spending his entire service commitment in Cuba.
The restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky where Colonel Sanders developed Kentucky Fried Chicken
At the age of 40, Sanders cooked chicken dishes and other meals for people who stopped at his service station in Corbin, Kentucky. Since he did not have a restaurant, he served customers in his living quarters in the service station. Eventually, his local popularity grew, and Sanders moved to a motel and restaurant that seated 142 people and worked as the chef. Over the next nine years, he perfected his method of cooking chicken. Furthermore, he made use of a pressure fryer that allowed the chicken to be cooked much faster than by pan-frying.
He was given the honorary title "Kentucky Colonel" in 1935 by Governor Ruby Laffoon. Sanders chose to call himself "Colonel" and to dress in a stereotypical "Southern gentleman" style as a way of self-promotion.
After the construction of Interstate 75 reduced his restaurant's customer traffic, Sanders took to franchising Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants, starting at age 65, using $105.00 from his first Social Security check to fund visits to potential franchisees.
Sanders sold the Kentucky Fried Chicken corporation, in 1964, for $2,000,000 to a pair of Kentucky businessmen. The deal did not include the Canadian operations, where Sanders continued to collect franchise fees. In 1973 he sued Heublein Inc. (the KFC parent company at the time) over alleged misuse of his image in promoting products he had not helped develop. In 1975 Heublein Inc. unsuccessfully sued Sanders for libel after he publicly referred to their gravy as "sludge" with a "wallpaper taste".
In 1965 Sanders moved to Mississauga, Ontario to oversee his Canadian franchises. Sanders later used his shares to create the Colonel Harland Sanders Trust and Colonel Harland Sanders Charitable Organization, which used the proceeds to aid charities and fund scholarships. The Colonel continued on with Kentucky Fried Chicken as its spokesperson and collected appearance fees for his visits to franchises in the United States and Canada. His trusts continue to donate money to groups like the Trillium Health Care Centre; a wing of their building specializes in women's and children's care and has been named after him.
Death and legacy:
Colonel Sanders is the official face of KFC, and appears on the logo as well as numerous advertisements and promotions of the fast food chain.
Sanders died in Louisville, Kentucky, of pneumonia on December 16, 1980. He had been diagnosed with acute leukemia the previous June. His body lay in state in the rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol; after a funeral service at the Southern Baptist Seminary Chapel attended by more than 1,000 people, he was buried in his characteristic white suit and black western string tie in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.
He had a son, Harland, Jr., who died at a young age, and two daughters, Margaret Sanders and Mildred Ruggles.
Since his death, Colonel Sanders has been portrayed by voice actors in Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials on the radio, and an animated version of him has been used for television commercials (voiced by actor Randy Quaid).
The Colonel's secret flavor recipe of 11 herbs and spices that creates the famous "finger lickin' good" chicken remains a trade secret. Portions of the secret spice mix are made at different locations in the United States, and the only complete copy of the recipe was formerly kept in a vault in corporate headquarters. On September 9, 2008, the one complete copy was temporarily moved to an undisclosed location under extremely tight security while KFC revamped the security at its corporate headquarters. Before the temporary move, KFC disclosed the following details about the recipe and its security arrangements:
* The recipe, which includes exact amounts of each component, is written in pencil on a single sheet of notebook paper and signed by Sanders.
* The recipe was locked in a filing cabinet with two separate combination locks. The cabinet also included vials of each of the 11 herbs and spices used.
* Only two executives had access to the recipe at any one time. KFC refuses to disclose the names and titles of either executive.
* One of the two executives said that no one had come close to guessing the contents of the secret recipe, and added that the actual recipe would include some surprises.
For a short period of time he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
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