WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WESTERN PANCAKE HOUSE COWBOYS?

One of the biggest curiosities for me as a child was a number of cowboy statues randomly found around West Columbus and surrounding communities. The fiberglass cowboys were nearly identical, except for varying colors in their western wear and bandannas. These iconic statues were actually part of the branding for Western Pancake House, a chain of restaurants founded by Joe and Lena Skaggs in the late 1960s, which expanded to as much as three dozen locations around the Midwest by the early ’70s. In 1984, the chain was sold, and each cowboy was left abandoned by the roadside, stuck in time and waving their hats to greet younger generations with the mystery of their existence… read more >