History of Amery Dairy Queen
1952-2010

In 1951,while Oscar and Sadye Anderson were traveling through Minneapolis,they decided to stop at a Dairy Queen for a cone.
The next day,Oscar suggested to his son, Norval (Stub) that they should buy a franchise for a Dairy Queen store for Amery.

Norval mentioned that a customer of their grocery store, George Johannsen, delivered mix for the Dairy Queen Company and he would talk to him about how to go about obtaining a franchise. When contacted, George recommended speaking to his supervisor, Mr. Merlin Miller.

Mr. Miller met with the Andersons and explained to them that their purchase of a franchise had been approved by the Dairy Queen Company, but the franchise was still contingent upon the Wisconsin State Legislature voting to allow the Dairy Queen Company to operate in the state of Wisconsin and to call it's product ice milk rather than ice cream.

While the legislation was still pending,the Andersons went ahead with their plans and purchased four lots on Keller Ave from Northern Supply Company. These lots are now part of the property at 319 Keller Avenue South. For the most part, these lots were swamp land and a portion of the area had to be filled in to provide the right space upon which to build the Dairy Queen store.

The legislature approved the Dairy Queen Company's request to operate in Wisconsin and the Andersons purchased the franchise in February of 1952. The first Dairy Queen in Wisconsin opened in June, 1952.

In 1965 a corner lot was purchased from Cities Service Oil Company. The gas station had been destroyed in the big fire on South Keller.  The present Dairy Queen is located on that corner lot at 221 South Keller Avenue.

In 1977 Norval and Eunice's son, John, joined the family business by becoming the manager of the Dairy Queen store.

Remodeling was begun in the Fall of 1981 to add additional seating as the store had become a Full Brazier Dairy Queen....meaning it now had a full line of hot food to go with all those delicious treats!

Over the years, the menu has expanded and in addition to great hamburgers, chicken strips and cheese curds, we also have a very popular line of Frozen Dairy Queen Cakes. These are available in two styles. The regular cake is layers of chocolate Dairy Queen, cold fudge and chocolate crunch and vanilla Dairy Queen. The Blizzard flavored cakes start out the same, but are topped with the Blizzard flavor of your choice, when ordered in advance...but we always keep a nice variety on hand for quick purchases.

As of the Fall of 2008, we have become a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill. This is the new Dairy Queen food restaurant concept for Dairy Queens. This required us to do some minor remodeling, updating and getting a new outdoor sign.

John and his wife Laurie are the current owners/operators of this store and we hope you have enjoyed this FYI moment! :)

Feel free to browse, print off, and call in an order from the menu on the next page.

Thank you for allowing us to live and make a living in this wonderful place we call HOME.