In search of local history
Diner buff looking for photos of old Courthouse Diner interior
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

Pictured above, Mike Engle poses in his favorite kind of restaurant, a diner located in Rhode Island. Below left, the Goodell-manufactured diner that Engle purchased in Ohio and which was manufactured by the same company that built The Courthouse Diner.

BATH — Long-time area residents may remember the last time they ate a meal at the Courthouse Diner, before the popular East Steuben Street restaurant was destroyed in a 1973 fire.

If only they had snapped a photograph of themselves at the counter.

A Troy man is looking for photographs of the interior of the diner to assist in his restoration of a diner he bought in Wellington, Ohio, and moved to Gilbertville.

“I just thought it’s my duty to save it,” said Michael Engle, who became interested in the history of diners, and western New York diners in particular, about 10 years ago.

Engle saw a photograph of the exterior of the Courthouse Diner while reading “The Heritage of Bath,” the 1998 volume published by The

Historical Foundation of Bath. He believes the diner was manufactured by the Goodell Dining Car Company, a former Silver Creek manufacturing company that built about 20 diners in the 1920s.

PHOTOS PROVIDED

“It’s one of a kind,” Engle said of his baby.

Engle, 33, is a math teacher and says this is his first foray into historical preservation. He and a friend who owns a vintage diner in Towanda, Pa., are currently restoring the diner, which was called Cecil’s Trackside Diner when last in operation. Photographs of The Courthouse Diner interior could serve as a useful reference for their efforts.

Before it burned, The Courthouse Diner was a major gathering spot in the Village of Bath, located across East Steuben Street from the Steuben County Office Building. It occupied the same area as the parking lot of the now-closed Four Seasons Mart and was owned by the late Donald Strait.

Diners such as The Courthouse Diner evolved from horse-drawn wagons that were converted to lunch wagons as municipalities installed electric trolleys. Manufacturing companies such as Goodell introduced larger structures in the 1920s that included modern amenities such as bathrooms and tables.

Anyone in possession of an interior photograph of The Courthouse Diner is invited to contact The Courier at 776-2121 or e-mail scanews@stny.rr.com