Did you know there used to be a military base disguised as an ice cream parlor in Santee? What now is Riverview Community Church (previously Mulvaneys and Wagon Wheel) once was Greenleaf's Ice Cream Parlor which was the front for an Army base. To join in on the conversation, join our Facebook group: http://everythingeastcounty.org

Did you know there used to be a military base disguised as an ice cream parlor in Santee? What now is Riverview Community Church (previously Mulvaneys and Wa...

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Video Transcript:

Did you know that there is a former Navy base in Santee that was disguised as an ice cream parlor? We're going to learn all about it today on Everything East County.

So what's the name of that church that you go to?

So I go to what is now Riverview Church. And I hear, today, you're going to tell us a little bit about the history of that building.

Well, what little bit I know is it was built in the 1915 to 1918, and it was designed as a, part of a Navy base. But in order to hide its true identity, they called it an ice cream shop.

Interesting.

And it's almost, it's almost impossible to find anything written about it. I think probably because the war was, our involvement was so short in the war that

Right.

by the time anybody got around to it, they got rid of the property. But it was taken over and turned into a nightclub restaurant. Here's some of the pictures from some of the people that, you know, worked and—

And so what time period are we lookin' at? When—

These are probably,

When did it transition?

These pictures are probably in the 40s. But it was a nightclub and then, and it had a big dance floor.

Right.

And then eventually became Mulvaneys. Going to go back to a Wagon Wheel but then I don't know what happened at that point, it became a church.

Okay.

But the building's still there.

Yeah.

And it's, beside the barn, it's one of the more older structures that are left in the city of Santee.

And that's your episode of Food for Thought for the day. Hopefully you guys learned some cool stuff about the history here in Santee, like I did. If you guys want to come learn a little more, come check out the Santee Historical Society. These guys are awesome. Tons of cool information. It's always fun to learn about the history of where you live. And if you guys enjoyed the episode, we'd love for you guys to like it, comment on it, share it so more people can learn about all the cool stuff going on here in East County. Thanks so much for watching this episode of Everything East County.