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Family Legend has it that sixteen-year-old George Hronopulos lost his family’s prized donkey while at a fair near his hometown of Tarsos, Greece, and, conscience-stricken by his mistake, borrowed ship fare to America where he planned to earn the money to repay his father. One hundred years later, the business he created still stands on the Enid, Oklahoma Square, not far from where he started his career.
He was not yet out of his teens when he entered the United States through Ellis Island, New York, in 1900. But he, like so many others before him and since, believed in the promise that the New World held, and he set out to make a life for himself. His first job, laying rails for the Rock Island Railroad, took him to Arkansas, then to Kansas, and finally through Enid to Kingfisher. The railroad completed, he backtracked to Enid and traded his sledgehammer for an apron when he paid $95 for a four-stool café in a wooden building on the east side of the Square. When fire destroyed the café, he and his brother Christ, who followed him here in 1904, built the Silver Moon Café. It was at the time the largest and finest eating establishment in the area. An early advertisement for the Silver Moon promotes its “healthful meals.”
Many other restaurant and café owners began to depend on him for supplies like dishes, silverware, and other tools of the trade. Seeing an opportunity, in 1928 they sold the Silver Moon and opened Enid Hotel Supply Company the following year at 320 North Independence. 1929, being the start of the Great Depression, was a tough time for creating a new business, but they somehow persevered. In 1935, the business grew to a newer and larger location at 217 North Grand. With the new location came a new name, Enid China and Fixture Company. Eventually, this business split into two businesses- Enid China and Fixture Company and Enid Restaurant Supply.
In 1922, George married Helen G. Kanellakos of Sparta, Greece, a young lady visiting her uncles who had established a successful theatre business in Oklahoma. George and Helen were the first couple married in St. George Greek Orthodox Church, which he had earlier helped establish in Oklahoma City. Both George and Helen became naturalized United States citizens and had great pride in their adopted country. They made their home in Enid, where all seven of their children were born: Grace Davis, Peter Hronopulos, Martha Johnson, Effie Outhier, Audie Pitsiri, John Hronopulos, and Sodie Swinehart. With the exception of Sodie, who lives in Midland, Texas, all live in Enid.
George died in April 1958, and Helen 27 years later in July 1985, in the home where they raised their family.