The KC Matchgirl was born and raised in the big city, but she has plenty of kinfolk that live out yonder, along a distant country road. And when you need gas, something cold to drink, a fresh, hot pizza- or just a clean restroom- you pull into a Casey's.
A common sight across the American midwest, a Casey's General Store is most often found in rural towns with populations less than 5,000. With 1,700 locations in 12 states, Casey's founder Donald Lamberti (you notice his name is not Casey), started his first general store in 1959. Located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, it operated as an old country store until 1968 when the building was remodeled as a convenience store. Soon after, a friend convinced him to purchase the Square Deal Oil Co. in Boone, IA and Lamberti decided to name his new business after that friend, K.C. Fish. (No relation to the KC Matchgirl.)
The new store was so successful they kept adding locations, again in small towns where the "Mom & Pop" stores were starting to close their doors, and a marketing plan was born.
Despite the "general store" moniker, Casey's has never been old-fashioned. In most cases, Casey's is the most modern business located within those small town limits, providing jobs and freshly baked items like doughnuts and pizza. (KC Matchgirl has found Casey's pizza to be okey-dokey!)
And the modern Casey's General is not only found in small towns anymore, they're creeping into the suburbs; there are even 2 locations with Kansas City addresses. Big City customers are likely to do a double-take someday when they spot a Casey's way out yonder on a country road.
Compare the late 1970's matchbook to one from 2013.
It is a little known fact, at this point, that the KC Matchgirl was once fluent in Spanish. Once, as in, when I studied the language in my formative years, to the extent that I was awarded "membership" in the Spanish Honor Society. While I would hardly consider myself fluent today, I could read the name on this matchbook that hails from Mexico.
Featuring a scenic view with a reflection of a building, palm trees, festive colored lights, the spray of a fountain, I surmised that Del Lago (The Lake) must be a resort. In this age of search engines, all I have to do is type in "Del Lago resort" and it takes me to a resort of the same name- in Maine. (What?)
Looking inside this deluxe matchbook (40 matches) the next clue is "nuevo bosque de Chapultepec", of which I can only translate 2 out of 4 words. But I know Chapultepec is a place name, so I type that into the search engine and Bing! (I actually used Yahoo) After some scrolling and clicking, I found an image that matches the lake, the fountain, and a building.
Bosque de Chapultepec is a huge park in Mexico City that dates back to the early 1900's. The nuevo (new) Chapultepec was created in 1964, with a larger lake, the Monumental Fountain, and several lakeside restaurants.
Did I mention that Chapultepec was huge? There are 3 lakes, a zoo, museums, an amusement park- and Del Lago! Which is actually a restaurant, not a resort.
But, somehow the building was not exactly the one pictured on the matchbook, even though the phone number is the same. Current photos seemed to show a larger, more modern building- could it be that Del Lago had been remodeled?
Alas, one can not find everything on the internet, or in English either. But a Flickr search turned up a photo merely captioned "Mexico City 1968" that showed a blurry Del Lago in the background behind some canoers on the lake, matching the building on the matchbook.
Since the change in its overall appearance, the restaurant is now named El Lago and is known for its international cuisine. There is a lovely view of the lake and fountain from the tall, angled windows.
