2025 brought the long awaited debut of Dave’s Drive-In in Chippewa Falls which serves sandwiches, sides and, to no one’s surprise, root beer. Maryann’s Root Beer once stood on this spot on Elm Street, but it was not the only historical stand of its kind in town.
Falls Drive-In once stood on the South Side of town at 605 Park Avenue. I was lucky enough to grab a couple of black and white photos of it around 1997 before it disappeared forever. It is listed in the 1958 Phone Book and as late as the 1993 phone book. The owners, Howard Flint is listed as the owner in 1984 and his granddaughter posted family photos on Facebook from 1963 at the stand. She said Howard and wife Marie owned the stand and it appeared to be a great hangout for kids. A few social media commenters also refer to the stand as Tubby’s.
I had to edit the above picture heavily because of the quality of the original scan. It appears to be from a newspaper article from the 1980s. If someone has this photo in good shape, let me know. Like the photo, the stand fell into disrepair and was torn down shortly after I snapped my photos. In 2019, a new roadside restaurant called Anderson’s Chic-N-Fish was built and is still running as of 2026. Anderson’s offers fair foods like cotton candy, fried entrees and elephant ears.
All written content and some photos Copyright 2026, 2019 and 1997, the owner of Abide Chippewa Valley LLC. Please attribute ‘abide.news’ when sharing. Historic photos from Chippewa Herald and Deb Stone.
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