Published: April 25, 2006 Business: Growth & Development Ogle County fixture to be torn down by summer By Rowena Vergara ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR BYRON — An Ogle County restaurant and bar where couples have gone for catfish and dancing since 1919 will be torn down this summer so the state can widen Illinois 2, a curvy and scenic highway not home to many restaurants to begin with. Indian Village restaurant, one mile west of Byron and about seven miles from Oregon, closed March 4 after it was purchased in late January by the state of Illinois. An auction of the restaurant’s kitchen supplies, furniture and appliances was held earlier this month. “It’s kind of an Ogle County icon,” said Kay King, who owned the restaurant along the Rock River with her husband Denny for 33 years. Closing the restaurant was inevitable, King said, adding that the state had been interested in the property for years. “We could’ve held off a few years, perhaps, but we’re at that age where we’ re retired,” the 60-year-old said. “We’ve raised our grandchildren and we’ re enjoying our time with them more.” Byron city officials said they are unsure of when roadwork will begin at the site. The story of Indian Village’s presence in Ogle County is an oft-told one, repeated by generation after generation of restaurant patrons. King said the restaurant started as a barbeque stand called Shep’s Place in 1919. Years later, a man of Native American descent purchased the restaurant and renamed it Indian Village. The Kings took ownership of Indian Village — known simply as “the Village” by faithful diners — in 1973, after they worked part-time there. The main dining room gave customers a view of the Rock River, with Exelon’s Byron nuclear plant rising in the distance. Farther back in the restaurant, customers sat along a horseshoe-shaped bar and packed a large dance floor. The restaurant, open Wednesday through Saturday nights, became a popular supper club for elderly men and women and a dancing hall for couples and sometimes widows, who frequented the place alone because “they felt comfortable coming there,” King said. “We treated our customers like they were sitting at our own kitchen table. That was our livelihood and that was our social life,” King said. Janet Tomsic of Oregon watched four owners run the restaurant in her 30 years as a server there. Tomsic, 88, retired from the restaurant in 1971 but still has good memories of the eatery known for its catfish, family-style chicken dinners and prime rib. “It wasn’t only a paycheck I was getting. It was enjoyable and I liked the people there I worked for,” she said.