The Dutch Kitchen Years, 1924–56
Josie Dodd with staff of the Dutch Kitchen, ca. 1930
Courtesy of the State Archives of Florida
About 1924, Josie Dodd opened a restaurant called the Dutch Kitchen in the basement of The Columns on Adams Street. In 1931, Ada Summer Clark and her daughter Ethel Stewart bought and expanded the Dutch Kitchen, which remained in business until 1956. They joined The Columns to the Union Bank with a brick addition used for dinner parties and as a meeting room for civic organizations.
In the early 1930s, the owners partitioned the Union Bank into two addresses, and many businesses rented these spaces over the years, including a beauty salon, a drapery shop, an appliance store, an exterminator, a charity thrift store, and the county library.
Left: Union Bank building, August 10, 1952
Right: The Dutch Kitchen, owned and operated by women, was located in The Columns from 1924 to 1956. The Union Bank is visible to the left, ca. 1940. Notice the brick structure connecting the two buildings.
Courtesy of the State Archives of Florida
