Blue Front Restaurant
Known Name(s)
Blue Front Cafe
Address
116 S. 2nd St. Waco, TX
Establishment Type(s)
Café, Restaurant
Physical Status
Demolished
Description
Two-story brick commercial block building
Detailed History
Walter Hines was born on July 17 in the early 1890s in Waco and was raised in a single-parent household by his mother Alice Hines. In 1911, Walter married Victoria Harves, and they had three children: Walter Hines Jr., Delores Hines, and Shelley Hines. Walter appears to have been a Jack of all trades, as he was alternately a waiter, shoe shiner, taxi driver, barber, car repairer, chauffeur, and grocer, before settling into operating a cafe. By 1923, he operated his own grocery store at 1100 South 2nd Street and added auto repairs by 1926. By 1930, Walter was back waiting tables before becoming a chauffeur for Black entrepreneur Herbert Walker in 1936.
In 1943, Walter opened the Blue Front Cafe at 116 South 2nd Street, which he ran until he retired in 1960. The restaurant provided home-cooked foods, cigars, cigarettes, and had a soda fountain. The Blue Front Cafe was a testament to time, surviving several fires and burglaries in its day. In 1955, Walter won a prize in YMCA membership campaign for “rookie of the year.”
After Walter’s retirement in 1960, the cafe changed ownership several times before it was purchased by Ira/Ivory Kuykendall in 1963. Kuykendall renamed it as Kirk’s Cafe and stayed at this location until 1967 when the restaurant moved to 1000 Elm Avenue when the Black downtown area was cleared as part of an Urban Renewal project.
Walter passed away on September 5th, 1964, after an extended illness at the Garden Village Nursing Home at 1200 Clifton Road. He was survived by his wife Victoria, his daughter Delores, and his two sons Walter Junior and Shelley. He is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Waco.
City Directories: CD 1943 p370: 2d S 116 Blue Front Cafe; CD 1943 p536: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 2d; CD 1946 p665: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 2d; CD 1946 p466: 2d S 116 Blue Front Cafe;CD 1948 p486: 2d S 116 Blue Front Cafe ©; CD 1948 p704: restaurants Blue Front Cafe © 116 S 2d; CD 1951 p40: Blue Front Cafe (Walter Hines) 116 S 2d; CD 1951 p3: 2d S 116 Blue Front Cafe; 116 1/2 Wilson Walter B dominos, Ellis Leslie; CD 1951 p49: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 2d; CD 1953 p59: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S2 d; CD 1953 p45: Blue Front Cafe (Walter Hines) 116 S 2d; CD 1954 p43: Blue Front Cafe (Walter Hines) 116 S 2d; CD 1954 p228: Hines Walter (Victoria; Blue Front Cafe) h1425 S 2d; CD 1954 p3 2d S 116 Blue Front Cafe; CD 1954 p48: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 3d; CD 1955 p47: Blue Front Cafe (Walter Hines) 116 S 2d; CD 1955 p3: 2d 116 Blue Front Cafe; CD 1955 p46: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 2d; CD 1955 p245: Hines Walter (Victoria; Blue Front Cafe) h1425 S 2d; CD 1956 p101: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 2d; CD 1956 p3: 2nd S 116 Blue Front Cafe; CD 1956 p272: Hines Walter (Victoria; Blue Front Cafe) h1425 S 2d; CD 1958 p3: 2d S 116 Blue Front Cafe; CD 1958 p94: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 2d; CD 1958 p53: Blue Front Cafe (Walter Hines) 116 S 2d; CD 1958 p274: Hines Walter (Victoria; Blue Front Cafe) h1425 S 2d; CD 1959 p49: Blue Front Cafe (Walter Hines) 116 S 2d;
CD 1959 p258: Hines Walter (Victoria; Blue Front Cafe) h1425 S 2d; CD 1959 p2: 2d S 116 Blue Front Cafe; CD 1959 p104: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 2d; CD 1960 p110: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 2d; CD 1960 p49: Blue Front Cafe (Walter Hines) 116 S 2d; CD 1960 p257: Hines Walter (Victoria; Blue Front Cafe) h1425 S 2d; CD 1961 p50: Blue Front Cafe (J W Preston) 116 S 2d; CD 1961 p264: Hines Walter (Victoria) h1425 S 2d; CD 1961 p3: 2d S 116 Blue Front Cafe; CD 1961 p113: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 2d; CD 1962 p51: Blue Front Cafe (Mrs Cora James) 116 S 2d; CD 1962 p270: Hines Walter (Victoria) h1012 N 8th; CD 1962 p2: 2d S 116 Blue Front Cafe; CD 1962 p65: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 2d; CD 1963 p96: restaurants Blue Front Cafe 116 S 2d St; CD 1963 p3: 2d S 116 Blue Front Cafe; CD 1963 p277: Hines Walter (Victoria) h1012 N 8th St; CD 1963 p54: Blue Front Cafe (I G Kuykendall) 116 S 2d; St; CD 1964 p3: 2nd St S 116 Kirk's Cafe;
