Early Wayside Eateries
 Augusta Bucholz Food Stand located at 200 East Racine in Jefferson, Jefferson County, c.1979. The stand has been in operation since 1919 and continues to operate seasonally. Courtesy of Jim Draeger, personal collection. The precursor to the roadside eatery was the lunch wagon. The earliest lunch wagons filled a niche not addressed by restaurants. They catered to the worker who had money, but not time to sit down and eat. Lunch wagons became a popular American institution. They were portable, had a low start-up cost, and therefore a lower failure rate than the traditional restaurant. The lunch wagon was not intended to be permanent and few examples remain.
 Fresh Produce roadside food stand, located on USH 12 in the town of Delton.
 Nettland's Roll Inn on Highway 16 in Wisconsin Dells gave early automobile tourists a place to stop and enjoy a meal. Courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Jim Draeger. The food stand began as a modest spot for highway travelers to pause for a quick meal. They were likely based on the roadside produce stands that exploited travelers and allowed for direct marketing of farm goods to automobile travelers. As the number of travelers grew, entrepreneurs began selling goods other than produce. The earliest roadside stands were simple and utilitarian in form; they only required visibility, shelter, and a place to pull over or turn off the road. After World War I, an assortment of entrepreneurs began setting up shop, selling food to travelers along the nation's highways. As competition grew, some operators created stands that mimed the name or function of the restaurant, such as a hot dog stand shaped as a hot dog, to attract attention and customers. Others adopted the quaint little house format in an attempt to appeal to women and families. Eventually the food stand developed into a multibillion-dollar corporate extravaganza: the fast-food restaurant.
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