Fran's River Restaurant (formerly Friske's), Rt. 17 East, Kankakee, IL.

Fran's River Restaurant, 6070 Illinois State Route 17, Kankakee, Illinois. The Kankakee River is along the LH edge of the photo. The road is the original alignment for Illinois 17, before the 4-lane road was built. The Tierra Mar Restaurant is located here today.

Leroy Friske was my great uncle that built this place. I played in a sand pile in the middle of that parking lot on Sundays while my Dad,Grand Father,and uncles laid concrete blocks and built the building. My Mother would run the restaurant for 2 weeks every winter while my Uncle Leroy and Aunt Ruth went to Florida and spent time on their boat. Just read the "Office" has moved East down the street and is now in my Uncle's original "Friske's River Rest.

Hi Bill, Thank you for sharing your story with us! It's amazing to hear about your family's involvement in building and running Friske's River Rest. Do you have any other memories or stories from this time period that you'd like to share? We love to hear about people's experiences growing up in the areas we photograph. Have you been to the new location of the "Office" down the street? Has much changed in the area since the photo was taken in 1980?

Hi Alexis.My wife and I will be going to the "Office" one evening this week. It will be the first time I have walked into that building in 64 years. Looking forward to see if the bar is still the same and the pin ball machine I dumped dimes in for hours might still be there. I have tons of memories and stories about my time in and around KKK even though I lived up North,I actually grew up in the KKK River State Park as my grandparents had 3 homes in Altorf.I was there every Sunday and usually all summer long. The Park is probably the thing that has changed the most in the last 60 some years.The original entrance in Altorf is gone as well as 2 of my grandparents homes that were on the park border. My cousins one room school house in Altorf is still standing and has a house attached to it now. I just moved to Limestone last year and make the short drive to the KKK River State Park often. I was actually born in KKK but my family moved up North when I was 6 months old,while the rest of my family and great grandparents stayed here.I'm kind of back where I started from. Nice to hear from you and I love the old photos.I'll be back for more. My best regards,Bill Vandal