Though there are many wonderful pies baked and served throughout the Miami Valley, a few weeks ago I had an opportunity to travel Indiana to find both a special pie and the place where I enjoyed it long ago.

The pie is the Old Fashion Sugar Cream Pie and the place is Mrs. Wick’s Pies Restaurant—right next to Wick’s Pies factory—in Winchester, Indiana. My father’s cousin, Frances, introduced me to the little restaurant in the late 1980s.  Although part of the reason I am sentimental about the eating-place is because I remember the fun we had there years ago, I am also fond of it because their pies are so good.

When company founder was Duane E. “Wick” Wickersham opened his Winchester restaurant in the early 1940s, he found it difficult to get quality pies, so he decided to make his own. Even though this was during the World War II era and food supplies were often hard to obtain, Wickersham is believed to have made a variety of twenty pies a day “completely by hand.” Customers loved his Old Fashion Sugar Cream, which was made from his Grandmother’s recipe. 

A business history of the Wickersham family—written by Ruby and D.E. Wickersham—is printed on the current restaurant menu cover. It says that when they started in business, they delivered pies to customers in a 1934 Buick Sedan and, “by the end of the fourth year, we were dreaming of shortly reaching a goal of 300 pies per day. As we grew, we stuck to our idea of a successful pie-making—simply making the very best so that our repeat customers would bring new customers by word of mouth.”

The book, “Randolph County, Indiana,1880-1990” notes:  “By word of mouth, the excellent quality and flavor of Wick’s Pies spread and soon Wick’s competitors in the restaurant business became his customers in the pie baking business.” During the 1950s and 1960s, the company grew at a tremendous rate.

The Randolph County history book also mentions, “The Sugar Cream, having come from his Grandmother’s recipe, became so popular that Wick worried about other bakers trying to copy it. To protect his success, Wick sought and, in 1962, obtained the first U.S. Patent on a pie—‘Old Fashion Sugar Cream’.”

As their business expanded through the decades, the Wickershams opened restaurants; they closed three restaurants in the 1960s. Some sources say that about the same time the restaurants closed, they introduced a line of frozen pie products. They returned to the restaurant business in 1986 when they opened a new eating-place next to the pie factory. The Wickershams wanted to serve pies just like those they had served when they started in their business along with soups and sandwiches. Today, the Mrs. Wick’s restaurant serves a unique variety of pies including raisin, gooseberry, blue crumb, pumpkin cheese, pineapple and, of course, the Old Fashion Cream.

Wick’s Pies, Inc., has four major products that come in a variety of sizes:  raw pie shells that are baked by consumers, fully baked pie shells, strawberry, blueberry and peach fresh fruit glazes and pies. said  The company produces over 10,000 pies and over 30,000 pie shells in an 8 hour work shift. They annually make 12,000,000 pies and pie shells. They have also produced a sugar-free fruit glaze and a pie shell made with palm oil that contains no trans-fat.

Wick’s Pies products are sold in throughout the Miami Valley and in 35 states. Locally, they can be found at stores such as Dorothy Lane Markets, Kroger, Marsh, Meijer, Super Wal-Mart and several independent grocery markets.  Each store will probably have only a few items from the Mrs. Wick’s Pies product line—no one store seems to have everything the company distributes. Wick’s customers are also major wholesaler distributors, schools, restaurants, nursing homes and hospitals. 

Tours of the pie factory are given April through June and during September and October on Wednesdays and Thursdays starting at 9:30 am (CST). Tours for the 2008 year filled. The company will begin taking reservations for the year 2009 on January 5, 2009 at 8:00 am. Tours of the factory are so much in demand that they can be booked by the end of the first day reservations are taken.  Pie factory tours are delightful events for Church groups and social organizations. The factory is located at 217 Greenville Avenue, Winchester, Indiana.  For further information, contact Angie Davis at 1-800-642-5880.

The tour features a walk through Wick’s pie and pie shell manufacturing plant. On the tour, participants will see the process of making pie dough, forming a pie shell, filling and baking a pie, packaging the product and freezing the product. Highlights of the tour are the 120-foot by 14-foot oven, half-mile cooling conveyor and the storage freezers.

Visitors are always welcome at Mrs. Wick’s Pies Restaurant and pie factory outlet at 100 Cherry Street, Winchester, Indiana.  The restaurant is a coffee shop-type restaurant that serves home-cooked meals. Restaurant hours are:  Monday-Friday 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Breakfast is served 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Carryout is available. Call (765) 584-7437 for information.

For more information, check the company website at www.wickspies.com or email them at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Their FAX number is (765) 584-3700. The company also has a mail order service for pie. For those of us who are pie-lovers, a factory tour or a trip to the restaurant makes for a delightful day.

---