Starting over: Iconic drive-in restaurant in Perry County moves into historic building
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A decades-old drive-in restaurant set to close in Perry County has found a new home less than a mile down the road. Six months after shuttering the S.R. 66 location in Cannelton, Whitney Harlen and her husband, Dillon, reopened Walls Drive-In for carry-out service in the former Can-Clay corporate headquarters on May 17.
“Saturday evening after we closed, we sat out back for an hour, figuring out, ‘Here are areas that we need to fix on this side, and we need to do this better.’ We took all of that, all those discussions, and we came back in on Sunday, and Sunday was so much smoother,” Harlen said.
The Harlens announced plans to reopen the restaurant on Washington Street just a few weeks after the drive-in closed in November. The couple is working to turn the abandoned administrative building into a dine-in restaurant and ice cream parlor.
“That was a big part of doing the carry out, so we could have some money coming in, so we could afford to finish doing it. Because it got to the point where if we didn’t open, we were going to be stuck at that point as far as having the finances to keep pouring into the building,” said Harlen.
Cannelton Mayor Morris “Smokey” Graves, who helped the Harlens acquire the Can-Clay property, said the couple planned to relocate to the city’s center.
“[They’re] two great kids who are putting their hearts into this,” he said. “That’s why we made it possible for them to get in there as quickly as they could because we wanted to keep them a part of the community.”
About Walls Drive-In
Walls Drive-In opened on S.R. 66 in Cannelton in 1964, serving classic food such as burgers, chili dogs and milkshakes. The business has been passed down through the family for generations.
“My great grandpa, Lewis Walls, started it, and it was originally called Puppy Palace when they first got up and going. He passed away within the first year of it being open, and his wife ended up running it for the next 10 years or so until my grandparents took over. My grandma and grandpa ran it for the majority of its life,” Harlen said.
After the drive-in sat empty for a few years, the Harlens reopened the restaurant in 2020, with plans to buy the property from Harlen’s father. However, the parties couldn’t come to an agreement, and the drive-in was shut down in late 2024.
“A lot of people were upset about it. Walls has been a staple for our little community for decades, “said Harlen. “I have customers who came here as kids, and now they bring their grandkids or great-grandkids.”
Harlen said the community’s support was one of the reasons the couple decided to find another home for the restaurant.
“Everybody was great. ‘You guys are on to bigger and better things. We’ll go with you wherever you go. We’ll support you.’ And that helped drive a lot of this into making sure that we could get something and get it open,” said Harlen. “Giving up wasn’t an option.”
On the move
In 2019, Can-Clay Corp. closed after more than 110 years of manufacturing clay sewer pipes and chimney flues in Cannelton. Several buildings were left behind as well as environmental waste, which the city has mostly cleaned up. Harlen said the administrative building was in her sights about a week after she learned the drive-in would have to close.
“I wanted to stay in Cannelton, and there wasn’t a whole lot of available commercial space or any space for that matter. And we couldn’t afford to build something new at that point. And then we came across this and talked with the mayor, and he was supportive of us wanting to come in and take one of these old buildings and fix it and turn it into something nice,” she said.
The renovation process included incorporating 1950s decor and setting up infrastructure for dine-in service, which wasn’t available at the S.R. 66 location.
“We had to submit plans to the state to add bathrooms. Then we have to build a ramp out back to make everything ADA compliant. So once our engineer is finished with his portion of proofreading all of our blueprints, he will submit all that to the state, and then the state will allow us approval to do those repairs,” said Harlen.
Harlen is unsure when the dining room and ice cream parlor will open, but carry-out and delivery services are available in the meantime.
“We have been funding every bit of this out of the money that we have saved over the last five years to build a house. So now we’re back to square one on that. But I think once we get the building up and going and everything done, it’ll be a worthy trade,” she said.
Future development
Graves said Cannelton owns the remaining 22 acres of the Can-Clay property. He believes economic development opportunities in the historic river town are unlimited.
“Anything from industrial to single living dwellings to multi-living dwellings, because the infrastructure is there. The plumbing, the sewers are there, the water lines are there,” said Graves. “It takes an investment to bring it back to life. It’s like a blank canvas.”
According to Greg Sekula, Indiana Landmarks southern regional office director, buildings along the Adams Street side of the Can-Clay property are within the boundaries of the Cannelton Historic District. This distinction means a developer could get a 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit.
However, Sekula believes finding someone willing to invest may be challenging for a small, rural, low-income community.
“For example, if there are residential rental units in the buildings, what kind of rental rates are you going to be able to realize in Cannelton to be able to justify the return on your investment?” he said.
Harlen has a list of buildings she’d like to acquire and renovate over the next several years. She hopes her business and others in the area will show entrepreneurs that having a successful enterprise in Cannelton is possible.
“It’s a risk, but sometimes it’s worth taking. And especially right now, so many of these properties, they need love, but you could get them at a good price,” said Harlen. “It’s up to our generation to take the reins and make something happen here. Otherwise, our town will stay stagnant.”
Graves said the number one priority is to enhance the city, and future projects will be selected based on that goal.
“It’s all about taking one step forward for the city of Cannelton and everyone who lives here. We look forward to talking to anybody who would want to come up and take a look,” he said.