If you have never been to Sidney, Ohio, and I’m guessing most of you have not, allow me to set the scene. Sidney is a small Northwestern Ohio town with a population of around 21,000 people. Sidney is very small-town America. We love our Friday night high school football matchups, we all go to church on Sunday, and we farm every other day of the week. It’s about as American as America gets. We were the subject of a documentary that filmed here a few years ago titled “45365," which coincidentally is our postal zip code. Sidney is a lot of things, a somewhat closed-minded area in Ohio that holds hometown traditions and value over expansion and modernization. A great example of those values is the longtime staple, The Spot restaurant, located downtown on South Ohio Avenue.

I can remember eating at The Spot numerous times as a kid, and I still go there as an adult, just not as much. Its menu is filled with diner classics such as freshly ground hamburgers and cheeseburgers, hand battered onion rings, homemade soups and an overwhelming selection of delicious scratch-made pies — 13 daily flavors to be exact. Oh, don’t forget the Big Buy burger (double stacked with lettuce, pickle and tartar sauce, pictured below) and the chocolate malts, which are my personal favorite. The Spot is so much more than a dive burger joint in small-town America. This place has history, a very peculiar one at that.

The story of The Spot began in 1907 with a man named Spot Miller. He owned and operated a chuck wagon called “The Spot to Eat” and opened a shop selling meals on the corner of Court Street and Ohio Avenue in downtown Sidney. Almost immediately, the town officials instructed Miller that he could not sell food in this manner. The answer to the problem was the removing of the wagon wheels and making the chuck wagon a permanent structure. In 1913, Spot Miller retired and a pair of businessmen, Joe Cook and Homer Spence, purchased the restaurant and renamed it "The Cooks Spot." In 1915, franchising opportunities arose and Spot restaurants were opened in Piqua, Athens, Urbana, Lima and Bellefontaine, Ohio. To this day, the only restaurant that remains in operation is the original location in downtown Sidney.

The chuck wagon structure was The Spot restaurant from 1907 until 1934. That same year, a new permanent structure was built, and then it was destroyed by fire on New Year’s Eve in 1940. When it was rebuilt, The Spot was designed with an art-deco style. It featured clean lines and wall surfaces with white porcelain tile. Through the years and multiple changes of ownership, The Spot has been remodeled and expanded a staggering 25 times! Currently, it has the feel of a 50s retro diner with red vinyl chairs, booths and barstools, stainless steel banded Formica tables, Coca-Cola paraphernalia adorning the walls and a checkerboard tile floor. The looks sure have changed, but one thing has remained — its classic charm and delicious food!

On July 1, 1950, a man by the name of Robert Hepler became owner of The Spot. Mr. Hepler added catering services to the restaurants menu during his time as owner and this continues today. That isn’t Mr. Hepler’s claim to fame, however. You see, Mr. Hepler was a bit of a local celebrity because of his two famous grandsons — actors Chad and Rob Lowe. Unfortunately, Mr. Hepler passed away some time ago, but the childhood stories of Rob Lowe growing up at least part-time in Sidney are as plentiful as ever. My grandmother, Martha Dicke, was an employee of The Spot during the Hepler ownership-era, when the Lowe brothers were very young. Described to me as “good kids, but troublemakers," the Lowe brothers would often be in the restaurant with their grandfather, who encouraged them to play pranks on the staff. Rob Lowe has maintained a Sidney connection over the years. One example was the premiere of a feature film starring him, at the now-defunct downtown Sidney Theatre. The premiere festivities for his film “Class” featured a showing of the movie and autograph session for residents of Sidney and the surrounding areas in 1983. He was also presented with a key to the City of Sidney that day.

Another interesting fact about The Spot is that is has served sitting U.S. presidents and entertained representatives of those campaigning for that office as well. On Aug. 28, 2004, President George W. Bush’s political campaign traveled to The Spot while en route to their next campaign stop in Ohio. U.S. Secret Service agents swarmed the restaurant in advance of the president’s arrival for a security sweep as well as instructing everyone who was in the building on presidential etiquette. They also stated that patrons in the facility could stay but no one would be admitted during President Bush’s time at the restaurant. It was surely a photo-op and publicity moment for the campaign, but it worked! President Bush ate a hamburger with mustard and onions, then soon after that, it found its way onto the menu as “The Presidential Burger”. President Bush also raved about the homemade pecan pie from The Spot. It is reported, but unconfirmed, that the Bush campaign purchased all the pecan pies on hand as well as ordered pies from The Spot to be served at a state dinner at the White House. I only mention this because, for one, it is very interesting to me, and two, multiple people have mentioned this over the years, but nobody knows the truth. I know, it’s highly classified government stuff!

Most recently, on Nov. 4, 2016, President-Elect Donald Trump’s “Women for Trump” campaign rolled into Sidney to eat and engage with local residents. Mr. Trump was not in attendance but Laura Trump, his daughter-in-law; Katrina Pierson, Trump campaign spokeswoman; YouTube celebrities Diamond and Silk; and local city officials and Republican state officials were on hand to stump for Trump. It was at this time that The Spot restaurant solidified its position as a presidential campaign playground and not just a local historical landmark.

This area of Ohio, especially Sidney, has been an attraction for Republican political campaigns since President Ronald Reagan came to town Oct. 12, 1984, on his whistle-stop tour. That same day, President Reagan traveled to nearby Troy, Ohio, and ate burgers at a similar restaurant to The Spot called K’s Hamburger Shop; it is also worth noting President Barack Obama visited K’s in 2015.

Regardless of your political affiliation, attracting so many high-profile figures to this somewhat distanced area of Ohio is very unique and speaks to the quality of the people here.

So now that you know about The Spot, if you ever find yourself in downtown Sidney, Ohio I bet you’ll stop in for a ‘spot’ to eat. You never know who will walk in the front door! It is just an all-around awesome place that is made more special by the history attached to it. There aren’t many places left like this in the world, and we sure are lucky to have this little piece of Americana in Sidney, Ohio!