Manufacturer: Carr China Company
User: Elite Cafe
Pattern name: Ellwood, Underglaze Print Pattern #7000
Distributor: H & R Supply Co. – Hotel and Restaurant Supply Co. – Atlanta, Georgia
Date of examples: Unknown

A platter dug by Russell Schaffer in Vicksburg showing the Ellwood pattern with the Elite Cafe topmark.

Postcard courtesy Lucius Marion Lampton, MD Historical Images Collection, Special Collections Department, Mississippi State University

Postcard courtesy of cardcow.com

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Notes: Two matching examples of this pattern for Elite Cafe – with "Elite" in a script font and "Cafe" in all caps in a sans serif font, attached to Elite within a swoosh – have been found. Both have the same H & R Supply Co., Atlanta, backstamp. Both were made by Carr China, one on a green-lined platter and the other on Carr's Ellwood pattern with green lines as well. The Ellwood example was found by Russell Schaffer of Vicksburg, Miss., and who dug the platter there and provided the two photos, shown above.

There were Elite Cafes located all over the South that could have been within the reach of an Atlanta supplier, but we feel confident that the source for these pieces was the Elite Cafe located in Vicksburg, not only because of the platter dug there, but because of the 1926 ad, shown above, announcing the restaurant's reopening after a renovation, "compliments of the Hotel and Restaurant Supply Co. Atlanta, Ga."

Located at 1317 Washington Street in Vicksburg, it is not known when the restaurant originally opened, but the first owner was an Ed Burris, who sold the restaurant to Frank Saines in 1919.

The ad referenced above in The Oct. 22, 1926, issue of The Vicksburg Post said:
"Careful selection of new fixtures for The Elite Cafe has resulted in Vicksburg now having one of the prettiest and most up-to-date Cafes in the State. Our counters are of the very best that money can buy, they being white enamel vitrolite, and we have tables for both ladies and gentlemen.
"Only Western Meats served here, sea foods in season, and all foods served are prepared under the supervision of none but first class chefs.
"The complete equipment of both dining room and kitchen was sold and set up by The Hotel Supply Co., of Atlanta, Ga."
And the ad goes on to say:
"Compliments of Hotel and Restaurant Supply Co.
Atlanta, Ga.
Restaurant and Institution Supplies, Vitrified China, Silverware, Glassware, Kitchen Utensils, Labor Saving Devices, Special Items for Hospitals."

Another remodeling in 1937 including the addition of air conditioning.

In December of 1953, a tornado damaged many of the buildings in downtown Vicksburg, including the Elite Cafe. On April 8, 1954, it was announced that Bell Bros shoes had "leased the Washington street building occupied for many years by the Elite Cafe," and a May 21 story said that the "Elite did not reopen after the tornado."

Longtime owner Saines, who was born in Greece, died in October 1954.

Sources:
The Vicksburg Post, Sept. 13, 1912; Oct. 22, 1926; April 8, 1954; May 21, 1954
Lucius Marion Lampton, MD Historical Images Collection, Special Collections Department, Mississippi
State University
Russell Schaffer, Ellwood pattern example photos

Contributors:
Susan and Ed Phillips
Ed Babcock: research