The “Colonel” and Fried Chicken in Ossining

Those rare occasions when my parents would drive to Highland Avenue in neighboring Ossining, New York and buy chicken from the “Colonel,” as my mother would say, is another vivid childhood memory. For those who have not figured it out yet, the Colonel was Colonel Harland Sanders the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, or KFC. The death of Sander’s father in 1896 when the boy was six forced his mother into the workforce and young Harlan Sanders into the kitchen to cook for his younger siblings. Overtime he developed his cooking skills and years later he ended up as a cook in a Corbin Kentucky service station that he owned serving hungry travelers from his own table in the stations living quarters. Out of this experience he started the idea of serving complete takeout meals, which he dubbed “Sunday Dinner Seven Days a week.” News of great tasting food soon spread throughout the state of Kentucky and during the Great Depression Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon gave him the title the Kentucky Colonel in 1935. Overtime Sanders focused his business on fried chicken dinners made with a secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. He first expanded to a larger facility across the street from his Kentucky service station in Corbin and during the post World War II years he started selling KFC franchises. In 1965 the company went public and the New York stock exchange listed in 1969 as grew to some 600 KFC franchises across the country including one Ossining, New York. Now his regular chicken with the secret herbs and spices seasoning was good, but when the Colonel came out with that extra crispy chicken, he had me hooked! I loved that stuff served up with his sweet cole-slaw served in those little white squeaky cups with the spoon/fork, remember those! That served up with biscuits had the three musketeers—Randy, Marshall, and Freddy in the back seat of the car quiet and very focused on good eating! The Ossining KFC is still there and with exception of a makeover of the façade it’s the same place as remember it as a young child.