Food for Thought: Idea for First Diner in US Cooked Up in Rhode Island

Walter Scott came up with the concept of a food wagon in the 1800s.

Friends eating fast food at the table in the diner
BGStock72
1 min read
Share
Friends eating fast food at the table in the diner
BGStock72
Food for Thought: Idea for First Diner in US Cooked Up in Rhode Island
Copy

Did you know that the good old-fashioned American diner originated in Rhode Island?

Walter Scott was a pressman in Rhode Island, working first for the Providence Evening Press and then for the Morning Star. His dream of being a young entrepreneur led him to quit his job, and in 1872 he began selling food out of a horse-pulled wagon.

That led to the diner as we know it today, perfected in the early 20th century by Jerry O’Mahony.

Get the full story in the reel below.

Invasive sea squirts are crowding out native species and clogging fishing gear, leaving scientists scrambling to track their spread
Brown and the Library’s mission is to ‘serve the community, the nation and the world by discovering, communicating and preserving knowledge and understanding in a spirit of free inquiry’
Survey of 500+ political scientists reveals growing alarm as U.S. democracy sees sharp decline under Trump’s second termat 4
The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority says the evaluation will take about six months
From Martha’s Vineyard to New Bedford to Salem, Massachusetts towns that bet big on offshore wind now face economic and environmental uncertainty as the Trump administration halts new projects and permits