10/08/2026
Sad to see them go. These places were where all the excitement was back in their prime.
Some thought it would never happened but now Wabash has lost one of its most iconic restaurants PENGUIN POINT. The once iconic, popular drive in restaurant is now just a memory. This is a recent picture of the drive in being torn down. Once just a corn field, the Stouder Brothers (Wallace and Lloyd) took a chance in 1950 and opened their first Penguin Point there. Later they would move to Warsaw and spread their chain throughout Indiana and elsewhere. But they always kept a drive in in Wabash. It started right here in Wabash in 1950 when the Stouder brothers (Wallace and Lloyd) opened their first drive in restaurant. They were known throughout northern Indiana for their Tenderloin sandwich, Big Wally, chicken and the best fries in the area made from Idaho potatoes. Carolyn Streby adds this to the story of Penguin Point “Dad (Lloyd Stouder) used their refrigerator payment to have petty cash to open. Mom (Leta Stouder) and Aunt Mary Stouder car hopped. Dad ran the fountain. Uncle Wally the grill. As far as the location at 13&15, it was a corn field. Dad bugged the farmer to the point that he finally caved and sold part of the field at 13&15. Only one problem. The bank wouldn't loan the money without a cosigner. So Grandpa and Grandma Wilber Stouder cosigned. And thus began the adventure of Penguin Point.” Soon teens were hanging out there. May Lou McCallum remembers “sitting in our cars watching people and talking to everyone, while having a cherry coke." Bonnie Kay Corn was a carhop there in the 1960s and “car after car would make the rounds around the Point.” Rickey Lucas remembers the “cruising scene- Penguin Point, the Curb, and A&W. The best fast food places in the world.” Joe Lawson says he would “cruise by the Point several times to see who was with who. Back and forth between the A&W and the Point, drag race through the cut, and chase someone or another during the night.” Not only was it the scene to make but the food was great. Dawn Pulley Ervin has “ vivid memories of special times as a child, sitting next to my mom on the ride home with a bucket of the most intoxicating smelling fried chicken on my lap. I couldn’t wait to get home. Tammy Draper misses “their tenderloins. I'd get extra sauce on the side to not only dip my sandwich in but my French fries as well…they were better than McDonald's. The drive in may be gone but many of us have fond memories of the food they served, the great people who worked there and the fun times.
