information established early 1920s food type chicken city romeoville state illinois country united states coordinates 41 40 26 n 88 03 27 w 41.673862 n 88.057587 w 41.673862 ; 88.057587 coordinates 41 40 26 n 88 03 27 w 41.673862 n 88.057587 w 41.673862 ; 88.057587 other locations lakewood colorado website whitefencefarm il.com white fence farm is the name of a restaurant chain with locations in the chicago metropolitan area and lakewood colorado . the original location is in romeoville illinois . contents 1 early history 2 change in ownership 3 competition 4 other locations 5 see also 6 references 7 external links early history edit the original white fence farm location is in romeoville where it was established in the early 1920s on us route 66 . it was founded by stuyvesant jack peabody son of peabody coal company founder francis s. peabody and himself ceo of peabody coal at the time . it was opened on a 12 acre plot that jack peabody owned across u.s. route 66 joliet road from his 450 acre lemont horse farm where thoroughbred racehorses were bred boarded and trained . 1 the story was that jack peabody often had weekend guests at his horse farm but there was no restaurant in the area where he could entertain them so he started one himself . the roadside restaurant which opened in a converted farmhouse was known then for its hamburger sandwiches and guernsey milk products including ice cream . by the time u.s. route 66 opened in november 1926 white fence farm had already served several thousand customers . it was reviewed several times during the peabody years by the early restaurant critic duncan hines who had been a fan of the restaurant since the late 1920s . after prohibition ended jack peabody promoted california wines at the restaurant and helped to revive the california wine industry as he had earlier helped to revive thoroughbred horse racing in illinois during the 1910s and 1920s . peabody operated the restaurant successfully until his death in 1946 . 1 after that the restaurant was first leased to several different renters then eventually sold by jack s son stuyvesant peabody jr. change in ownership edit since 1954 the restaurant has been owned and operated by the hastert family . robert hastert sr. was the first family owner manager . hastert had begun as a wholesale poultry dealer at the aurora poultry market during world war ii and later owned the harmony house restaurant in aurora illinois which he had opened four years before he bought white fence farm . 2 the property had gone through several operators and or owners after being sold by the peabody estate . family legend has it that bob hastert sr. settled on the purchase price for the restaurant property with the previous owner an acquaintance who had gone bankrupt by using the flip of a coin . 3 hastert was uncle to and his son bob hastert jr. was the first cousin of former speaker of the house rep. j. dennis hastert r il . 4 bob jr. who had converted an industrial sized hospital autoclave into an outsized pressure cooker for the restaurant s unique method of cooking the chicken took over the operation of the restaurant after his father s death in 1998 . 1 bob sr. s wife doris also worked at the restaurant usually as a hostess . 5 laura hastert gardner daughter of robert jr. is the restaurant s current owner and manager . the restaurant s famous fried chicken recipe was added to the menu during the 1950s by bob hastert sr. who by his granddaughter s admission told the chicken recipe origin story several different ways at different times and may have just as easily borrowed the recipe from someone else as brought it with him from harmony house . 1 the restaurant building was expanded several times under the hasterts . it now has several dining rooms with seating for more than 1 000 customers . it also features a side room and gallery that includes an antique car collection other antiques and jack peabody s collection of original currier & ives prints among other nostalgic displays . during the summer the restaurant has an outdoor petting zoo . 1 3 competition edit white fence farm bills itself as having the world s greatest fried chicken which is pressure cooked and refrigerated in bulk before being individually flash fried to order . ever since the hasterts acquired the restaurant it has been in near constant competition with its nearby rival dell rhea s chicken basket for the title of best fried chicken on route 66 in illinois and best corn fritters . once a matter of dueling billboards on route 66 the competition is now limited to a contest between menu items . whereas dell rhea s can claim that it began serving its famous fried chicken years before its competitor did white fence farm prides itself in serving an alcoholic brandy ice dessert made strictly for adults . 6 other locations edit the colorado location is largely similar to the romeoville location ; however it is owned and operated as a separate enterprise by the charles wilson family and is the only incidence of franchising that the hastert family has ever allowed . 1 white fence farm also operates several satellite carry out locations throughout southwest suburban chicago an enterprise that was begun by bob hastert jr. 1 see also edit list of chicken restaurants references edit a b c d e f g traska maria r. white fence farm an unlikely peabody venture lives on mayslake peabody estate newsletter spring 2012 breslin meg mcsherry october 24 1998 . white fence farm owner r.c. hastert obituary . chicago tribune . retrieved july 24 2014 . a b metcalfe kornecki lynne may 30 1993 . pickin the right chicken . chicago tribune . retrieved july 24 2014 . goldsborough bob july 8 2010 . robert j. hastert 1936 2010 ; ran white fence farm restaurants . chicago tribune . retrieved july 24 2014 . trebe patricia august 16 2006 . doris mae hastert 1913 2006 ; longtime lemont restaurant owner . chicago tribune . retrieved july 24 2014 . pang kevin september 8 2011 . get your fried chicken fix on route 66 . chicago tribune . retrieved july 24 2014 . external links edit official website white fence farm tv commercial retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title white fence farm & oldid 723563084 categories economy of lakewood coloradopoultry restaurantsrestaurants in coloradorestaurants in illinoisromeoville illinoisu.s . route 66 in illinoisvisitor attractions in jefferson county coloradohidden categories coordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 3 june 2016 at 19 53 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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