It was 1898 when a food service revolution was brewing across the bridge in Camden — but almost no one realized it.
That was the year Horn & Hardart Baking Company was founded, building up from a tiny, countertop lunch joint in Center City that introduced New Orleans-style coffee to the region.
That same restaurant would expand to national fame for popularizing a different concept: The automat. Likely inspired by the advent of the assembly line, automats were cafeterias where diners retrieved food from a series of vending machines.
The first one opened on 8th and Chestnut streets in 1902. By 1941 there were over a 150 Horn and Hardart locations, all — you guessed it — automated. The brand also had a “terrible” children’s show, per Fred Rodgers, who once worked on it.
Eventually the wonder of a coin-operated family dinner faded, mostly because urban sprawl and drive-thrus became a thing. The last of the automats closed in 1991.
For more on the rise and fall of this industrial Philly wonder, follow along with the thread below.
