A collection of items from one of the best known restaurants in recent Fort Dodge history now greets people stepping into the Village Inn.

The framed display of memorabilia from Treloar’s Inn Inc. includes a photo of the late L.D. Treloar, the eatery’s founder, plus cups, a sandwich wrapper, a sign and menus.

Treloar’s Inn Inc. was at the Village Inn location on North 15th Street from 1928 to 1976.

“The day we hung it up there was a buzz right away,” said Josh Hendrickson, the general manager of the Village Inn. “I could hardly get people to sit down.”

He said customers are so interested in studying the display that they don’t seem to notice restaurant staffers waiting to guide them to a table.

The items were provided by Ann Stoner, a granddaughter of Treloar who lives in Cedar Falls.

Stoner said Friday that she didn’t know what to do with the sign, which has LDT Approved Restaurant printed on it. She said she then got the idea of having it displayed at the Village Inn.

She took the items to the Waterloo office of Matco Restaurants Inc., which owns the Village Inn.

Hendrickson said the display was put up last week.

“There’s always been conversation about Treloar’s,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that come in here that used to frequent his store.”

According to Stoner, Treloar’s Inn Inc. was known for chicken, ribs and baked beans. Her grandfather created and patented what he called the Treloar Bar-B-Q Oven.

The business consisted of the main inn and a drive-up restaurant complete with car hops. It survived fires in 1956, 1957 and 1969.

After the restaurant closed, the buildings were demolished in 1977. The Village Inn was built in 1981, and Treloar became a customer there.

“They would always treat him with coffee when he went in there,” Stoner said. “He was very happy to see a thriving business on that corner.”

A ribbon-cutting event will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Village Inn, 2002 N. 15th St., to commemorate the Treloar’s display, according to Hendrickson.