Chicken Inn to be inducted into Hall of Fame Sunday

The Chicken Inn ballroom near Creston, a hot spot for live music and great food in Creston for so many years, will be inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this Labor Day weekend.

The late Harvey Briles of Creston, owner of the Chicken Inn for more than 30 years, was aware of the enshrinement as staff from the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall had contacted him about the rich history of the building.

“Harvey loved that old place,” said Pat Briles, wife to Harvey for 31 years. “This enshrinement is an honor for all those who’ve ever been associated with the Chicken Inn over the years, and it’s an honor for Harvey who I’ve always said, loved that place as much as he loved his children.”

Harvey died May 7, 2011 at Greater Regional Hospice Home.

But, the history of the Chicken Inn, documented on the Iowa Rock and Roll website, is largely told by Harvey.

And, that history starts with Harold and Elsa Collings, who owned a small building on the edge of Creston that specialized in serving chicken dinners. Their restaurant became so popular in the 1930s the Collings decided to find a new location and expand operations.

In 1936, they located and purchased the perfect spot three miles west of Creston where there was a small vacant “roadhouse” called The Maples. It had been closed down several years earlier for selling bootleg liquor during the era of prohibition.

Harold and Elsa began rebuilding the facility to be used as a restaurant/bar and named it, “The Inn.”

At The Inn, the Collings raised their own chickens in a pen behind the building, which they used in their specialty chicken dishes. The chicken dinners became so famous in the area that the customers, when describing the restaurant, began calling it the Chicken Inn.

Since then, it has always been known as the Chicken Inn by the locals, even though, to this day, the sign outside the building only says The Inn.

In the 1940s, the Collings developed a unique technique for preparing their chicken and the restaurant became increasingly popular, drawing guests from all over southwest Iowa, as far away as Omaha.

“Grandma made wonderful fried chicken,” said Deborah Jensen of Creston, Elsa’s granddaughter. “She baked the chicken part way, refrigerated it, then battered and deep-fried the chicken. I don’t know what people loved so much, but they would drive long distances and stand in long lines for her chicken.”

Colonel Sanders

In later years, a rumor began circulating that Colonel Sanders had stopped at the Chicken Inn at some time in the late ’40s on his way from Louisville, Ky., to Omaha and liked the chicken so much he copied the Collings’ chicken recipe and used it in a new Kentucky Fried Chicken business he started in 1952.

Although no one knows, or necessarily believes there is any truth to the story, the rumor only helped the Chicken Inn become that much more popular in the ’50s and ’60s.

Early stages

In its early stages as a ballroom, local bands played on weekends. Then, as the decade of the 1940’s rolled on, Harold Collings, because of the notoriety of the Chicken Inn, got acquainted with booking agents in Omaha and Chicago who helped him feature big bands who were crossing Iowa at the time. Some of the biggest bands of the day performed there, including Guy Lombardo, Lawrence Welk, Blue Barron (Harry Freidman) and the Sammy Kaye Swing Band.

As the big band era slowed, country music became popular. Some of the biggest country stars of the ’50s made appearances there including Kitty Wells, Ray Price, Charlie Pride, Roy Acuff and Johnnie & Jack.

Finally, in the ’60s and ’70s, the Chicken Inn turned to rock and roll and the place was a southwest Iowa hot spot for the best rock and roll bands of that era from the Iowa/Nebraska region.

Many Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bands were scheduled regularly at the Chicken Inn during those years including such groups as The Runbles, The Notorious Noblemen, The Coachmen, The Crestmen, The Fortes and The Green Giants, to name just a few, plus most of the popular rock and roll bands from Des Moines and other areas of Iowa and Nebraska.

On Friday evenings, the Chicken Inn held teenage social events and Saturday evenings were devoted to adult events. Steve and Marilyn Maltzahn of Creston, who have now been married for 42 years, first met as teenagers at the Chicken Inn in the mid-1960s.

“We’d go to the (football) game on Friday night, then we’d go to the Chicken Inn,” Marilyn said. “It was standing-room only there on Fridays. It was just a fun place for us to go. People from Clearfield, Lenox and even Atlantic were coming on Fridays. It was the in thing.”

And, with all those teenagers, someone had to be on patrol.

“Grandma patrolled the area with a lit cigarette,” Jensen said. “She’d burn her way through the crowd looking for troublemakers. Grandma rarely had to call the sheriff. If there was trouble, she pretty much pulled them out by the ear or led them down the stairs. If they were drinking, and she smelled it on you. You were out. There was no horseplay at the Chicken Inn.”

Larry Means of Creston remembers Elsa the same way.

“If you were caught doing something wrong, she didn’t mess around, you were out the door,” Means said.

In 1974, the Chicken Inn was sold to Briles, who continued to operate it for more than 30 years as a restaurant/bar/entertainment center and as late as 1979 featured country artist Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadours.

Joyce Abbott, retired first-grade teacher at Creston High School, was at the Ernest Tubb concert in the late ’70s

“That was one of the highlights of my life,” Abbott said. “He had so many hit tunes then. I saw in the paper that he was going to be at the Chicken Inn and I told my husband, we have to go. I got a chance to talk to him that night. He was so nice.”

Today, the Chicken Inn, still maintained by the Briles family, has live music during jam sessions on Wednesday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. Charlie Westman said Wednesday, anywhere from a dozen to 20 musicians attend, and anywhere from 60 to 80 other dancers meet each Wednesday.

The Chicken Inn and its 60-plus years of history will be inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2 p.m. Sunday at Okoboji High School Theatre for the Performing Arts in Milford.