Formerly: Zaharakos Confectionery · Zaharakos Ice Cream Parlor
Columbus, Indiana · Founded 1900
A Columbus confectionery turned soda fountain, restored after a 2006 closure with its 1908 Welte orchestrion returned to service.
Zaharakos opened in downtown Columbus as a candy store on October 20, 1900. The Zaharako brothers expanded into soda and ice cream after visiting the 1904 St. Louis exposition, creating the richly furnished fountain experience associated with the business today. After closing in 2006, it was purchased and restored by Columbus businessman Tony Moravec, reopening on June 6, 2009.
Greek immigrant brothers James, Lewis, and Pete Zaharako open Zaharakos as a candy store in downtown Columbus.
Source: Zaharakos history page; WRTV, "Zaharakos: Where history and tradition are served daily"
The Zaharako brothers visit the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, an experience that shapes the business's later soda-fountain expansion.
Source: WRTV, "Zaharakos: Where history and tradition are served daily"; Zaharakos press release
Zaharakos adds soda fountains and ice cream to its candy-store business.
Source: WRTV, "Zaharakos: Where history and tradition are served daily"
The business adds a Welte orchestrion, a self-playing instrument designed to reproduce orchestral music from paper rolls.
Source: Zaharakos press release; WRTV, "Zaharakos: Where history and tradition are served daily"
The interior gains a solid mahogany back bar and a 40-foot Mexican onyx and Italian marble runner.
Source: WRTV, "Zaharakos: Where history and tradition are served daily"
Zaharakos closes after more than a century of Zaharako-family operation; the Welte orchestrion is sold to a California collector.
Source: Zaharakos history page; Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana award history
Columbus businessman Tony Moravec purchases Zaharakos and begins its restoration, including efforts to recover the sold Welte orchestrion.
Source: Zaharakos press release; WRTV, "Zaharakos: Where history and tradition are served daily"
The restored Zaharakos reopens with its soda fountain, Welte orchestrion, and expanded museum spaces.
Source: Zaharakos history page; WRTV, "Zaharakos: Where history and tradition are served daily"
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Zaharakos and multiple retrospective accounts identify its Mexican onyx fountains as World's Fair acquisitions, and the fountains remain central to the restaurant's historic presentation. This pass did not inspect primary invoices or exposition records, so the acquisition history is plausible rather than documentary-proven here.
Zaharakos is strongly associated with its Gom Cheese-brr-grr and related Gom-style sandwiches. The sources reviewed identify it as a house specialty but do not establish that the restaurant invented the sandwich or the name.
The Welte orchestrion was installed in 1908 but was sold to a California collector when Zaharakos closed in 2006. Tony Moravec later repurchased it during the restoration, and it returned before the 2009 reopening.
Zaharakos operated under Zaharako-family stewardship until it closed in 2006. Tony Moravec bought and restored the business beginning in 2007, and it reopened on June 6, 2009.
Zaharakos has operated continuously without closing since 1900.
Zaharakos closed in 2006 and reopened under Tony Moravec's ownership on June 6, 2009 after restoration.
Source: Zaharakos history page; WRTV, "Zaharakos: Where history and tradition are served daily"
Zaharakos opened in 1900 as an ice cream parlor.
The Zaharako brothers opened Zaharakos as a candy store in 1900; soda fountains and ice cream were added in 1905 after their visit to the 1904 St. Louis exposition.
Source: WRTV, "Zaharakos: Where history and tradition are served daily"; Zaharakos history page
Zaharakos endured because Columbus treated it as more than a restaurant: its onyx fountains, mahogany back bar, mechanical music, and soda-fountain collections made it a local cultural landmark. Its survival was not uninterrupted. The business closed in 2006, its Welte orchestrion was sold, and Tony Moravec's subsequent restoration recovered the organ and reopened the expanded restaurant and museum in 2009.
Zaharakos opened in Columbus, Indiana, on October 20, 1900, as a candy store founded by Greek immigrant brothers James, Lewis, and Pete Zaharako. The business added soda fountains and ice cream in 1905, later installed its Welte orchestrion in 1908, and became a major local gathering place. It closed in 2006, then Tony Moravec restored and reopened it on June 6, 2009.
Zaharakos has roots in a 1900 confectionery, but it is not a verified claimant to Indiana's oldest continuously operating soda-fountain title because it closed from 2006 until 2009. It is best described as a restored historic Columbus soda fountain and restaurant with early-20th-century fixtures and a museum collection.
Tony Moravec owns and operates Zaharakos through Zaharakos, Inc. Moravec purchased the closed business in 2007, led its restoration, recovered the Welte orchestrion that had been sold during the closure, and reopened the restaurant and museum in 2009.
329 Washington St, Columbus, IN 47201
(812) 378-1900
Current posted hours are generally 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; confirm service, museum access, and special-event hours before visiting.