1841 Washington Road

1841 Washington Road has shown to be a very significant business property in Washington…for short spurts.

From 1950-1968, the first business on the property was the Certalic Flower Garden.  Joseph and Lillian Certalic owned the lot and surrounding area, and Lillian turned the front of their estate into a garden business while Joe enjoyed a career at Caterpillar.  The Certalics sold their property in 1971 to Robert Monge, a developer who envisioned creating an apartment complex called Washington West, which he would later change to Georgetown Apartments.

Monge left the northern section of the large property, 1841 Washington Road, for a commercial enterprise and leased the property to Dan Whalen and his son Dan Jr. in 1978 to open a Happy Joe’s franchise on the spot.

Happy Joe’s started in Davenport, Iowa, and by 1978 were popping up all over the Midwest with their irresistible combination of pizza and ice cream.  

Opening in September 1978, Happy Joe’s quickly became the go-to place for birthday parties in Washington.

Happy Joe’s was certainly a fun place to have a party, but it was also expensive, and a tanking economy hit it at the wrong time.  Within a year, they were clearly struggling, adding lunch buffets, pizza delivery, and other options to try to stay afloat.

Happy Joe’s closed their doors at the end of 1981 after only a three-year stint in Washington.

The Whalen’s kept their lease and, in 1982, opened up Farmer’s Meat Market & General Store, becoming the first cook-your-own-steak restaurant in the area (Alexander’s Steak House in Peoria would open in 1983).  The décor of the restaurant was changed from a kid-centered circus-type atmosphere to a rustic, dark-paneling, western feel.

The restaurant was initially very popular and, at some point, was being run by John Stevenson.  Stevenson had multiple real estate projects going on besides running the restaurant. When a few of those went south, he abruptly closed the restaurant in April 1985 without telling his employees he would do so.

It reopened in November 1985 under the management of Deb Lawrence and remained open until early 1988.

In May 1988, Charlie Fuller purchased the property and, by August, was ready to open C.C. Fullers, a restaurant/bar. One of the big changes Fuller made was to move the building's entrance closer to the parking lot.

C.C. Fuller’s became Rosie’s on May 24, 1993, and was owned by Spencer Roosevelt.  Roosevelt moved a bit further away from the restaurant fare to be closer to a classic watering hole.

Rosie’s was a hugely popular local hangout, but by 1996, Roosevelt was ready to move on to a new career, so he closed the bar.

What followed Rosie’s was s string of short-lived ventures that never really gained any traction.  Yankee Doodles (1996), Rosie’s II (1997), T.R. Wingers (1999), Great China Buffet (2000-2003), & City Buffet (2005).

In mid-2005, La Gondola purchased the property, opened its spaghetti house, and became the business with the longest tenure at the site, only to be ended by a natural disaster.

The tornado of 2013 totaled the building. Throughout the years, plans to rebuild the restaurant and even make the property an area with several little shops have been mentioned, but as of yet, nothing has materialized.