Kansas town loses its truck-stop restaurant, a onetime mecca for cheese fries and shakes

Denise Neil
·2 min read

Anyone who grew up in a small Kansas town probably had a relationship of some kind with a truck stop.

For me, it was the Hitch’N Post truck stop on East Wyatt Earp in Dodge City. It had a restaurant attached that served standard American truck stop fare: pancakes with sticky syrup, burgers and fries, and chicken fried steak. Dodge City high schoolers would go there for late-night sustenance, and I have vivid memories of being taken there in the wee hours during high school “initiation.”

The empty interior of Charlie’s Restaurant, which operated at the Newell Travel Center in Newton but closed earlier this week.
The empty interior of Charlie’s Restaurant, which operated at the Newell Travel Center in Newton but closed earlier this week.

Earlier this week, the people of Newton lost their longtime truck stop restaurant when Charlie’s Restaurant, the tenant at the massive Newell Travel Plaza at 200 Manchester Ave., closed its doors. An assistant manager at the restaurant said that business wasn’t as good as the owners, who lease the space, thought it should be.

The travel plaza, which first opened in 1981 on the edge of Newton where I-135 and U.S. 50 merge, will continue to operate. It was built by Charles Newell, who opened the truck stop with two of his sons. According to a story about the business published in The Eagle in 1983, Charles planned the two-story truck stop for 16 years and decided it should include a restaurant, a convenience store with groceries and a motel. In 1996, The Eagle published a story about the travel plaza that called it a “city unto itself” and estimated annual revenue of $10 million.

Kerry, Charls Sr. and Charlie Newell are pictured in front of the Newell Travel Plaza in 1983, when it was two years old.
Kerry, Charls Sr. and Charlie Newell are pictured in front of the Newell Travel Plaza in 1983, when it was two years old.

Generations of Newton residents remember dining at truck stop’s restaurant. Teenagers would crowd into booths after football games and order cheese fries and chocolate milkshakes. Bethel College students would meet there for late-night hangouts. Families would go there for breakfast after church on Sundays, and many Newton natives spent gleeful hours in the truck stop’s arcade.

Local business organizations would also use a private dining area in the restaurant for meetings: I spoke to the Newton Rotary there in May of 2022.

A photo taken inside the restaurant at Newton’s Newell Travel Center in 2004
A photo taken inside the restaurant at Newton’s Newell Travel Center in 2004

The Newells sold the business in 2021, and it now operates as a Pilot/Flying J. Many residents say the business is not what it once was, and the town now seems much more excited about the fancy new QuikTrip going up nearby at 1515 E. First St. It’s expected to open any day.

I was unable to connect with managers at the travel center to ask if the restaurant space might get a new tenant. I’ll let you know if I get any information.