page_title: White Tower Hamburgers
section_title: Peak and decline
hierarchical_section_title: White Tower Hamburgers / History / Peak and decline
caption_attribution_description: A former White Tower Diner that was used as a Korean Street Food Restaurant in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, USA
context_page_description: White Tower Hamburgers was a fast food restaurant chain that was founded in 1926 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With its similar white fortress-like buildings and menu it is considered to be an imitator of White Castle chain that was founded in 1921. The chain was successful and expanded to other cities, including Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York City, Albany, Boston, Richmond, Virginia, and as far south as Sarasota, Florida. During the Great Depression, White Tower sold hamburgers for five cents. The whiteness of the restaurant was meant among other things to evoke the notion of hygienic conditions, and the chain had staff dressed as nurses, dubbed the "Towerettes," to help make this argument.
  At its peak in the 1950s there were 230 White Tower locations. The chain began a slow decline. The last location, in Toledo, Ohio, is still open and operational.
context_section_description: In 1941, White Tower Management Corporation moved its headquarters to Six Suburban Ave., Stamford, Connecticut. At its peak in the mid-1950s, the chain had 230 stores in several states. It tested the "Tower-O-Matic" automated restaurant in the 1950s and 60s with little success. It also attempted a sit-down restaurant called Marbett's. Many later suburban White Tower restaurants featured curb service with car hops.
  Brock Saxe took over as president of White Tower Management Corporation in 1970 from his father, T. E. Saxe, when he retired. Brock changed the name of White Tower Corporation to Tombrock Corporation on the corporation's 50th anniversary as it also owns a chain of steakhouses called Brock's. With the migration of people to the suburbs and most of the White Tower locations in the city, by 1979 only 80 Tombrock Corporation-owned locations remained. Tombrock Corporation branched out into franchising Burger Kings and Golden Skillet Chicken. Today, Tombrock Corporation, having exited the  restaurant business as an operator, is a real estate investment and management company based in New Canaan, Connecticut. The last White Tower Restaurant is located at 1515 West Sylvania Avenue in Toledo, Ohio. In 2004, the company's trademark was listed as expired in 2005.
caption: Former White Tower restaurant in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania
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