During World War II, the restaurant thrived with business from the Smoky Hill Army Air Field and Camp Phillips. “There were not a lot of restaurants around those days,” Martin said. The food has always been a family-style chicken dinner. “Back then, there was a budget meal,” Martin said. People could choose between the $2 […]

BROOKVILLE – As small towns go, this one is but a blink on the road for passing strangers – unless they know of its finger-licking claim to fame. All of Brookville, Kansas (population 239), is set in a thicker of elms, redbuds and rustling cottonwoods beside old state Highway 141. It is surrounded by endless […]

Its lifeblood was sapped 87 years ago when the railroad passed it by, but this tiny Kansas community has kept alive by a mixture of fried chicken and nostalgia. The Brookville Hotel, originally a feeding spot for cowboys on cattle drives, attracts 90,000 customers into its rustic dining rooms each year. They flock into the […]

BROOKVILLE – The month of December has been a time of last suppers at the Brookville Hotel. The historic former hotel in Brookville has been packed most nights with people eager to dine on fried chicken and biscuit dinners one last time before the restaurant closes after the last dinner is served Friday. The business […]

ABILENE – Construction is half finished on the new Brookville Hotel, but it’s not in Brookville. A new building for a famed restaurant? In Abilene? And it’ll be called the Brookville Hotel? “Exactly,” said owner Mark Martin. He has rationale. “Well, Kentucky Fried Chicken didn’t change the name when they opened up in Kansas.” Friday […]