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By Billy Singleton | Contributing Writer

In September 1926, the Union Banner Newspaper announced the opening of a new place of business in the Gowan Building on Seventh Street between Second and Third Avenue North. Advertised as the best place in Clanton to eat, owner Burns Goodgame proudly proclaimed that the Dixie Café would be open twenty-four hours each day to provide delicious hot meals prepared in a newly equipped kitchen. During four decades of operation, the Dixie Café would not only serve as a gathering place for politicians, civic leaders, clubs and travelers but would also become known as one of the only restaurants along the Dixie Bee Line Highway where travelers could get a good hot biscuit regardless of the time of day.

Described as “A charm to thousands of people over Alabama,” the celebrated biscuits were prepared daily by Mattie “Ma” Williams. Described as the Chief Cook but not bottle washer, Ma Williams worked in the kitchen of the Dixie Café twelve hours each day, seven days a week. During the month of February 1930, Williams baked 12,560 biscuits using Whitewater Rose Plain Flour and clean, cool water to produce the best results. In addition to homemade biscuits, Williams baked fifteen pies each day along with a variety of cakes and pastries.

Patrons would drive all the way from Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma, and other places just to get one of the good hot biscuits because as everyone knows, “A good hot biscuit in a café is a rare thing!”

The Dixie Café was not only well known for its delicious food but also for participating in some unusual business promotions. In July 1934, the business became a co-sponsor with Hayes Chevrolet to conduct a one-hundred-hour non-stop endurance drive. The promotion began early on a Tuesday morning as the driver of a new 1934 Chevrolet sedan was handcuffed to the steering wheel by Sheriff Gillespie. During the next one-hundred hours, the driver would only stop in the event of an accident or to have a flat tire repaired.

The automobile would be refueled two times each day at Teel’s Service Station, but the rules required that the car remain in motion during fueling. The Dixie Café provided meals for the driver, but all orders were “to go” as stopping to eat was not permitted. The Union Banner offered a special invitation for readers to ride in the new Chevrolet but were warned that they had to catch it on the run.

According to an announcement of the event, when the promotion ended, the driver would be placed in an ambulance to be carried to the hospital for an examination. Following the evaluation, the driver was put to bed in the window of the E. L. Klinner Furniture Company to catch up on his neglected rest.

Another unusual event occurred in August 1934 when a man was buried alive in the vacant lot next to the Dixie Café. According to the announcement, he was to be taken up at the end of a week from the time he was put underground. The site was popular with visitors as the grave was arranged to allow spectators to see and talk with the occupant each day. No explanation was given as to the purpose of the live burial.

The Dixie Café would also achieve notoriety as the first business establishment in Clanton to provide a television for customers. Provided by the Tiffin Furniture Company, the television was installed to allow diners to enjoy the East-West baseball game in Birmingham featuring Dizzy Dean and Mel Allen.

In addition to serving as a meeting place for civic groups that included the Lion’s Club, Pilot Club and VFW, the Dixie Café hosted the organizational meeting of the first Peach Festival Committee in 1947 that was chaired by J. Archie Ogburn. The restaurant also hosted wedding receptions and notably was the site of the 1954 Maid of Cotton competition won by twenty-year-old Virginia Littleton.

Although ownership of the Dixie Café would change numerous times over the years, its reputation as one of the best restaurants in Alabama remained intact. Traveling people would always speak a good word for it and its fame became widespread.

Although the passing of a century has brought many changes since Ma Williams spent one-half of her day preparing meals in the kitchen of the Dixie Café, one thing that will never change is the delightful aroma of a homemade biscuit baking in the oven.