Community history
One Batesville drive-in, four names, and a whole lot of Saturday nights.
Then and now
Before
After
Photos
The story so far
Same Batesville spot. Three names — four, counting the one before the Hum-Dinger. Darrick's post asked which one neighbors remember it as, and the comments rebuilt the whole chain.
A 1975 ad from the Batesville Historical Center bills The Corral as “Formerly The Hum-Dinger,” pinning that chapter in time.
Jim Owens, who ran it as the Corral and the Hobo Hut, filled in the whole chain in the comments — Dairy Queen to Hum-Dinger to Corral to Hobo Hut to Weiler's.
Timeline
Albert 'Al' Fullenkamp opened it as Batesville's Dairy Queen; his son built the building.
After a disagreement with Dairy Queen, the same owner renamed it the Hum-Dinger — the Saturday-night cruise spot.
Al kept the property and ran a Saturday-night auction house out of the buildings behind it.
The Hum-Dinger sat empty for a few years.
Jim Owens opens it as The Corral and runs it four years — a 1975 ad bills it “Formerly The Hum-Dinger.”
Jim sells it to a woman who worked at the Ford dealership next door; she closes after eight months.
Jim reopens it as the Hobo Hut — Marti Clark worked there that year, when Jim and Sharon Owens owned it.
Jim opens Owens Country Kitchen by the interstate. Carleen Weiler, who worked at the Hobo Hut, takes it over.
Jim and Sharon Owens sell the Hobo Hut to Bin and Carleen Weiler. It becomes Weiler's Hobo Hut — Bob Weiler's Hobo Hut for over forty years.
What neighbors remember
Her uncles Albert Fullenkamp and Louie Ferringer owned it in its Dairy Queen days; Albert later kept the property and ran an auction house out of the buildings behind it on Saturday nights. Her grandma was a Saturday-night regular who usually went home with a jigsaw puzzle for the round oak table in her living room. Joan Schornick remembers the auctions too.
— Tamara Lamping
Al Fullenkamp opened it as a Dairy Queen; his son Lynn still lives in the area.
— Jim Velma Placke
Her mom and dad owned it twice — first as The Corral, then again after stepping away for a couple of years.
— Terri Owens
As kids they harvested half an acre of potatoes, then went for ice cream as the reward.
— Marlene Kirschner
In '69 he cruised around it in his '63 Impala convertible, waiting for the drive-in to open.
— Jerry Metcalf
As a toddler and young child, the family car headed to the Hum-Dinger after dinner on Saturday nights for ice cream.
— Paul Anthony Freese
The Hum-Dinger was the place to roll around, burn rubber, and show what you had, car-wise. The Dairy Queen days are vaguer in his memory.
— Ricochet Weiler
Remembers all three eras.
— Marilyn Weberding
Al Fullenkamp opened it as a Dairy Queen — his son owned and built the building, opened as DQ, then after a disagreement with Dairy Queen changed it to Hum-Dinger. The Hum-Dinger sat empty a few years. Jim opened it as the Corral and ran it four years, sold it to a woman who worked at the Ford dealership next door — she closed after eight months — then reopened it as the Hobo Hut. Later he opened Owens Country Kitchen by the interstate, and Carleen Weiler, who had worked at the Hobo Hut, took it over.
— Jim Owens
Worked there when Jim and Sharon Owens owned it in 1981, when it was called the Hobo Hut. Her youngest daughter couldn't pronounce it and called it the “Hobo_But.”
— Marti Clark
It has been Weiler's Hobo Hut to him for over 40 years — and Hobo Hut before that, back when his mom worked there. He says Jim and Sharon Owens sold it to his parents, Bin and Carleen Weiler, in the 80s.
— Bob Weiler
Burned a lot of rubber pulling out of there in his '57 Chevy after the drive-in movie let out.
— Dan Laker
Loaded up the car after barnyard basketball, hunted for dimes so everyone got a Dairy Queen treat — 60-plus years ago.
— Lillian Powell
His mom worked there back in the fifties.
— Greg Fullenkamp
Her daddy used to have breakfast there with his buddies.
— Theresa Schaefer
Remembers Ken Camp parking his Bentley out front — very upscale for Hobo's.
— Michael Cambron
They just drove around the Humdinger to see who was out and about.
— Terri Jo
Remembers ordering pizza there.
— Millie Werner Koehne
Remembers it being The Corral in the '70s — but doesn't know who owned it.
— Dea Fasbinder
It was a Dairy Queen for a while.
— Tim Ryker
Worked at the Humdinger. The dili-burger was a double burger with coleslaw.
— Betty Rominger
Remembers a giant milkshake in the late 1960s, counting train cars across Highway 46.
— Matt King
The Corral's five-way chili came before Skyline.
— Joan D. Paul
Worked for the Owens in the mid-80s, then for Bin and Carleen Weiler. They brought the boys in at closing in their jammies.
— Shannon Waechter-Gordon
His mom worked there when it was the Hum-Dinger.
— Ron Gerdowsky
Still to learn
See also
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Last updated November 13, 2026. New memories appear here after review.