The history of this property is complicated. It is located between Webster and Vernon and was taken by the expansion of Highway 100 in 1966.
The first we see of 5515 is in 1930, as the Journal Printing Co. In 1933, 5507 was owned by Charles E. Cotton.
In 1947, a permit was approved for a restaurant and food dispensary under the name Lindahl or Lyndale Nursery. That was the year that Burton Myers bought the Hennepin County franchise for the first Dairy Queen in the area. The Dairy Queen was run by partners Hap Pearson and Roy G. Carlson.
In 1949, 5515 was still listed as a nursery owned by Roy. G. Carlson. Also listed at that address in 1949-51 was the Appliances and Gas Heating Co. That company moved to 6504 Lake Street in 1951.
As far as we can piece together, Pearson and Carlson had a falling out over property lines, and in about 1949, while Pearson continued to run the Dairy Queen, Carlson built a building at 5515 that had two drive-ins in one: the Meal-in-a-Bun and the Dari-Wipt Drive-In. We see that in 1952, another Meal-in-a-Bun and Dari-Wipt was built at Interlachen and Highway 169, two blocks west of Highway 100 and 50th Street in Edina.
From 1959-66 there are references to Dari-Wipt, Meal-in-a-Bun, and Carlson’s Drive-In at 5515. During the winter it was a Christmas tree lot.
Meanwhile, a “new Dairy Queen” was opened at 5507 on June 17, 1950 and probably operated until 1966.
