Peter H. FRANGOS

FRANGOS, MANOS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 11/23/2010 at 10:09:22

Peter H. Frangos
31 August 1887 -- 26 February 1961

Article on Peter H. Frangos Family who formerly lived in Eagle Grove, Wright County, Iowa.

Excerpts from article:

...Peter Frangos, who has been in the restaurant business since 1909. Arriving in New York City in 1907 from Messinia, Greece, Frangos started his restaurant experience in Omaha when he moved west from Lowell, Mass. In 1912 he came to Iowa.
He married Helen Manos in 1916 at Mason City, and she worked with her husband in the restaurant business until she passed away Oct. 24, 1953. Frangos first restaurant was in Eagle Grove where children Christ, Steve, Angelo and Mary were born. He later owned a restaurant at Fort Dodge, where the youngest daughter, Pauline, was born.

In 1934 the Frangos family moved to Ames and started the business in the present location at 210 Main street in the fall of 1941. Frangos is a family restaurant with all the sons and daughters working with their father to bring residents of Central Iowa a complete selection of dinners and lunches. All three sons have served their country in the Army, and Christ, who was with the field artillery in Hawaii at the time Pearl Harbor was bombed, was killed at Leyte in the Philippines on Nov. 17, 1944. One of the family's proudest possessions is Christ's Silver Star which was awarded for his bravery in battle for his country.

..........Born in Miligala, Messinia, Greece, Peter Frangos came to this country in 1907, settling in Lowell, Massechusetts. He began his restaurant experience in Omaha and moved to Iowa in 1912. Peter married Helen Manos in 1916 and the two operated restaurants in Council Bluffs, Eagle Grove and Fort Dodge before coming to Ames in 1934. Peter was a member of the National Restaurant Association and a director of the Iowa Restaurant Association. For several years in the 1950s he was the Story County chairman of the Coffe Day for Cripple Children. Peter was also a member of the Masonic Lodge, Za-Ga-Zig Shrine, Ahepa, the Moose Lodge, Ames Chamber of Commerce and Ames Industrial Development, Inc. The Frangos family belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church in Des Moines where Peter served on the board of trustees. Peter and Helen had five children, Christ, Steve, Angelo, Mary and Pauline. All the children helped in the family business. All three sons served in the Army, and Christ was killed at Leyte in the Philippines in 1944.

http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/exhibits/tribune/10/wf_1046.htm