Do You Remember The Royal Chessman?

Welcome to the start of my search for the history behind one of my favorite places, the Royal Chessman in Wilmette, Illinois. It has come to symbolize many of the good times & memories of my childhood. I really miss that place. Though it's been gone for 15 or so years, I hated to let it just slip away. I wanted to preserve it's legacy on the internet, into the 21st century & share it with other people who loved it as well.

That being said, I know next to nothing about the place beyond my own experiences, so I really need your help in completing the puzzle.



The Royal Chessman building circa 2005

The story starts, of course, with the pizza. They served thin crust (square cut), Chicago style deep dish & stuffed pizza. I ate a lot of all three. I remember the sauce as rugged, salty & zesty, perfect with beer. It was pureed, not chunky, and the flavor mixed very well with the vegetables. The crust was hearty and flavorful on it's own. The thin crust was a rather traditional style for Chicago, slightly thicker than a NY style pie, and the deep dish/stuffed crust had a classic, biscuit like texture. They did a great job in creating a unique, traditional Chicago style pie that stood up against the rest in a very big pizza town.

The owner appears to have been a guy named R. Bruce Duncan. I know nothing about him other than information from an obituary found on line in the Pioneer Press/Wilmette Life archives of the Wilmette Public Library. His wife was named Kathleen L. Trojanowski and he had a mother & sister living in Florida. Mr. Duncan passed away on Oct. 2nd, 1992 at the age of 55. You can view his obit here.

For most of it's life the Royal Chessman was a take-out/delivery place. They may of had a table or two out front, but not many that I can recall. In later years they expanded to two storefronts and added a dining room. From what I can remember, this was a bust and mostly empty anytime I was there. In fact, I don't think we ever ate in there. Perhaps one time with my sister & her boyfriend, but I can't be sure. Somewhere along the way somebody told me that a major rent increase, doubled by the failed dining room, brought it all to an end. But I have no way of knowing if this is true. His obit does call Duncan the 'former' owner, so they may have closed their doors before his death.

The last pizza I had there was a stuffed bacon with my friend Greg Murdock. 'Take The Money And Run' by Steve Miller was on the radio on WCKG when we got back into the car, headed back to my house with our fresh, hot pizza.

So, now I need your help in filling in the rest. Patron, former employes, anyone who remembers anything about the Royal Chessman, please drop me a line. Got an old menu laying around the house? How about an old photo? Send me an email at theroyalchessman@gmail.com.

Thanks for your time.