The 840-square-foot restaurant, located at 2434 Kentucky 144 (formerly U.S. Highway 60 East), Owensboro, Kentucky, opened on June 28th, 1955. Originally named Wyndall’s Wonder Whip, after E.A. Nonweiller, D. Wyndall Smith, and John T. Rutledge filed incorporation papers with the state to offer ice cream, soft drinks, and sandwiches. In 2015, when Seth Woodward heard that it had closed after 60 years in business, he stated, “I was shocked and genuinely sad that another piece of our history and culture could be permanently lost. I ate a fair amount of food there when I was younger,” Woodward said. “I’m an East End guy who wanted to bring it back.” Therefore, Seth bought and reopened the restaurant, known today simply as the Wonder Whip. “This place is a landmark, a part of the community,” Seth stated. “The day we reopened, traffic was backed up down the street, trying to get in. It was an unprecedented volume of business.”
Known by some as the second fast-food place in Owensboro, Wonder Whip was the first to sell hamburgers and fast food. Today, the top seller on the menu is still the Wonderburger, a quarter-pound hamburger on a toasted five-inch bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, and pickle, cooked on an old-fashioned flat-top grill.