Clarksville Diner

Clarksville Diner in Decorah, Iowa, from Chip Peterson.

Historical Overview

A stainless-steel diner stands just a few blocks from the river Seine in Paris, France. Wedged amid much-taller buildings belonging to a French multimedia company, this small, sleek, 1930s-era diner seems out of place - and that's because it is. Its original home was in the West Windsor communities of Penns Neck and Clarksville. Now sitting across the ocean, this slice of mid-century Americana is one of West Windsor's most interesting icons - and undoubtedly its best-traveled one.

This polished-steel, pre-fabricated art-deco style structure is a rare intact example of a "Silk City" diner manufactured by the Paterson Vehicle Company of Paterson, New Jersey. Its workmanship - including a mosaic tile floor, Formica countertops, wood-grain plastic, neon signs, and more - demonstrate care in its construction and is archetypal of classic 1930s-era American roadside architecture.  Diners as a whole evolved from older "lunch wagon" cars and were reminiscent of railroad dining cars. Like trains, diners were often designed to be moved from place to place - and the Clarksville Diner was no exception.[1]

Inside the Princeton Grill, date uknown.

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The Clarksville Diner was originally called the "Princeton Grill."[2],[3] It was installed by John and Martha Will[4] at the eastern corner of Route 1 and Washington Road (where the AT&T store is at the time of this writing in 2023[5]) in 1939, replacing an older lunch wagon of the same name.[6],[7] A 1939 article lauded the interior: "Princeton Grill & Diner gives one the idea of rapid service. It is finished so as to be pleasing to the eye and stimulate the appetite. Its continuous service in good foods is a great aid to those who desire to get real food at popular prices and be on their way."[8]

In 1951, James and Jane swift acquired the Princeton Grill and moved it 3.3 miles south along Route 1 to the historic West Windsor/Lawrence community of Clarksville.[9] It was renamed the "Clarksville Diner"[10] and replaced an older (c. 1920), smaller diner[11] - again, of the same name[112] - at the southeastern corner of the intersection of Quakerbridge Road and Route 1.[13] This was next to the "Princeton Cabins"[14] (later the "Clarksville Motel")[15] - a series of roadside bungalows for travelers.[16] There was also a gas station there.[17] Business continued to grow throughout the '50s for the Swifts - so much so that in 1961, they opened the larger "Colonial Diner" on the opposite side of Route 1.[18] The Swift family ran both diners for many years to come.[19]

Clarksville Diner, 1987. From Central New Jersey Home News.

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The Clarksville Diner deteriorated over the years and business suffered. It finally closed in 1986, and the complex took on the air of a ghost town.[20] Around that time, the Quakerbridge Road overpass over Route 1 was constructed to replace the previous at-grade crossing. Despite the deceleration ramp connecting Route 1 northbound to Quakerbridge Road eastbound being redesigned to avoid destruction of the diner, it still cut off the Clarksville Diner further from the road.[21] At some point, Terranomics - a Washington, D.C. based developer - purchased the property. The firm offered it to Lawrence Township for use as a concession stand on its athletic fields, then to Rider College, but both institutions rejected the offer. Instead, it was purchased by Gordon C. Tindall - a railroad worker with a lifelong love of diners.[22]

In 1988, Tindall relocated the diner 900 miles northwest to Decorah, Iowa,[23] and worked for the next four years to rebuild it as one of only a handful of authentic diners in the Midwest. The Tindalls opened it in 1992 with historically-authentic furnishings and architecture.[24],[25] The following year, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[26] However, despite these efforts, the diner did not make good business and was sold to Canal+ - a French multimedia company.[27] In 1998, and in line with the mobile nature of diners in general, the Clarksville Diner was shipped overseas to the headquarters of Canal+ in Paris, and serves as a mixed-purpose space/studio.[28],[29] Its approximate address is 49 Quai du Point du Jour, Boulogne-Billancourt in Paris, about 200 feet from the river Seine.[30],[31] It remains West Windsor's unofficial ambassador to Europe, an ocean away from its humble roadside Americana roots.

Clarksville Diner in Paris, May 2011 (in the center of the photo). Viewed from an address of 49 Quai du Point du Jour, just feet from the Seine.

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Go to Clarksville

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Bibliography

1. Tindall, Gordon C. “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.” Decorah, Iowa, October 19, 1993. Certified by the State Historical Society of Iowa on October 19, 1993. However, the Clarksville Diner was removed from the Register when it was shipped to France.
2. "Princeton Grill & Diner." Princeton News (Special Advertising Feature Section). March 2, 1939.
3. Tindall, Gordon C. “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.” Decorah, Iowa, October 19, 1993. Certified by the State Historical Society of Iowa on October 19, 1993. However, the Clarksville Diner was removed from the Register when it was shipped to France.
4. "Princeton Grill - Announcement." Town Topics. November 11, 1951.
5. Princeton Grill. Photograph. West Windsor, NJ, n.d. West Windsor History Museum. Probably from 1940s. Shows Princeton Grill next to the Red Lion Inn (itself at 261 Washington Road), which places it at the eastern corner of the Penns Neck traffic circle.
6. Princeton Grill Lunch Car. (1933, July 5). Short Order Cook. Trenton Evening Times. 
7. "Princeton Grill & Diner." Princeton News (Special Advertising Feature Section). March 2, 1939.
8. Ibid.
9. "Princeton Grill - Announcement." Town Topics. November 11, 1951.
10. Jane Jerab. (1958, August 17). Looking for a place to stay?. Town Topics. Princeton. 
11. Tindall, Gordon C. “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.” Decorah, Iowa, October 19, 1993. Certified by the State Historical Society of Iowa on October 19, 1993. However, the Clarksville Diner was removed from the Register when it was shipped to France.
12. Clarksville Diner. (1943, September 3). Short Order Cook. Trenton Evening Times. Trenton. 
13. Princeton Cabins. (1951, May 23). Princeton Cabins. Daily Princetonian. Princeton.
14. Tindall, Gordon C. “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.” Decorah, Iowa, October 19, 1993. Certified by the State Historical Society of Iowa on October 19, 1993. However, the Clarksville Diner was removed from the Register when it was shipped to France.
15. "Princeton Grill - Announcement." Town Topics. November 11, 1951.
16. Princeton Cabins/Clarksville Motel. Photograph of a Postcard. West Windsor, NJ, n.d. West Windsor History Museum. Probably from 1950s-60s. Shows Princeton Cabins/Clarksville Motel in "Clarksville, N.J."
17. Tindall, Gordon C. “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.” Decorah, Iowa, October 19, 1993. Certified by the State Historical Society of Iowa on October 19, 1993. However, the Clarksville Diner was removed from the Register when it was shipped to France.
18. "New Diner Open." Town Topics. February 12, 1961.
19. Tindall, Gordon C. “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.” Decorah, Iowa, October 19, 1993. Certified by the State Historical Society of Iowa on October 19, 1993. However, the Clarksville Diner was removed from the Register when it was shipped to France.
20. Ibid.
21. Primavera, Peter. “An American in Paris.” Garden State Legacy, December 2023. 
22. "A Piece of Americana, New Jersey Diner on Its Way to Iowa." The Press. April 21, 1988.
23. "After years of work, vintage diner getting a new lease on life." The Des Moines Register. May 10, 1992.
24. Ibid.
25. Tindall, Gordon C. “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.” Decorah, Iowa, October 19, 1993. Certified by the State Historical Society of Iowa on October 19, 1993. However, the Clarksville Diner was removed from the Register when it was shipped to France.
26. Ibid.
27. Primavera, Peter. “An American in Paris.” Garden State Legacy, December 2023. 
28. Ibid.
29. "Decorah diner heading east." The Muscatine Journal. October 23, 1998.
30. Primavera, Peter. “An American in Paris.” Garden State Legacy, December 2023. 
31. Example: "Clarksville Diner, Paris, France," Google Maps, accessed September 19, 2023, https://www.google.com/maps/place/49+Quai+du+Point+du+Jour,+92100+Boulogne-Billancourt,+France/@48.83039,2.2541881,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x47e67a93b566a0e3:0x2fe01fc31921e18!8m2!3d48.83039!4d2.256763!16s%2Fg%2F11rnclm40n?entry=ttu.