In 1943, Kline's Frozen Custard was opened by the Kline family. Grover and Johnny Kline, father and son, selected Harrisonburg as the site for their new venture. Originally from the Pennsylvania area, Grover and his wife moved to Washington D.C. to manage a Polar Bear Ice Cream store. Their son, who was working at a wallpaper mill in Chicago, decided to go in half with his father to open their own ice cream stand. The two men visited both Harrisonburg, Virginia and Beckley, West Virginia as possible locations. They decided on Harrisonburg, Virginia and the rest is history.

They purchased an old two story house on North Main Street. The front side was converted to a shop with service windows opening to the sidewalk. They resided in the back of the house and on the second floor. The Klines purchased several used ice cream machines and tested recipes. Today, these antique machines can be seen at the Staunton location still producing ice cream every morning.

Business thrived for the Klines. The shop was well received by the community and their reputation grew. Grover and Johnny could be seen serving customers everyday dressed in white button down shirts and ties. Three flavors were made each day; chocolate, vanilla, and the special of the week. A unique curly-que was swirled on the top of each cone.

During these early years, Johnny began delivering a fresh cup of ice cream every morning to a young lady across the street at the dry cleaners. This lady was Bess and she would eventually become the future of Klines. After quite some time, Johnny asked her out. He was 16 years older than Bess and she felt she did not know him well enough. She did finally go out with him and as she recalls, "I wasn't too fond of him". Johnny said, "That's okay, I'm a patient man". Patient he was and Bess grew to know and love him dearly. During their time courting, Bess began helping scoop up ice cream behind the counter. For decades to come, Bess would be the face of Klines at the service windows. The two were married in the late 1940's.

In the 1960's, Kline's Frozen Custard underwent a name change. The Department of Agriculture came through the state of Virginia and demanded that any business selling ice cream with less than 10% egg content could no longer call their product custard. Since their recipe did not include eggs, they changed the name of the business to Kline's Dairy Bar. To this day, Kline's continues to promote its frozen custard style of homemade ice cream but no egg is used in their ingredients.

Around this time, Johnny's father died. Johnny and Bess bought Grover's half of the business from his mother. They lived in an apartment across the street. In 1963, the Harrisonburg Urban Renewal forced the Klines to move. All the houses and buildings along the area were torn down in an effort to revitalize the neighborhood. The Klines chose to relocate the business to its current location on East Wolfe Street. They wanted to build living quarters above the store but their request was denied by the City.

Things continued to go well for Johnny and Bess. They worked in the store together and closed the shop in the winter. They spent winters in Florida where they kept a motor home. Johnny suffered two heart attacks in the years that followed and died from a third attack in the store one Saturday morning in October, 1974. Bess says she remembers it vividly. She never remarried.

Bess decided to put the business up for sale after Johnny's death. Sam Fletcher bought the business and resumed operations in 1974. After taking some time off, Bess came back and began helping at the store again. During the time Sam owned Klines, he hired another dear woman named Catherine Taylor. Cat managed the store at night for over 20 years and was a favorite among the teenagers who worked at the shop over the years. In 1979, Sam put the shop up for sale again. He stayed on for another year to help out.

Mike Arehart became the next owner of Klines. With the help of his father, Mike came into Klines at the age of 19 to learn the business. He had been coming to Klines as a kid for years. Bess recalls when Mike's father, Richard, approached her about the sale of the business. He asked if she would continue working and how she would feel about working for someone younger than herself. Bess said, "I told him it'd be fine as long as he didn't give me any lip". Bess continued, "I remember the first day Mike came into the shop. It was Mrs. Kline can I do this? Mrs. Kline can I do that? I told him straight away, 'I know your Dad told you to call me Mrs. Kline but you better not ever call me that again. It's Bess.'" Bess continued to work at the store to have something to do. She taught Mike many things about the business and the two developed a great friendship. Their closeness kept Bess working at the store for Mike into the 1990's when she finally retired.

One of Mike's recollections of his first day in the store was the ultimatum he received from Bess, "I had no sooner walked in the door when Bess said, 'If you're gonna mix flavors and make all kinds of other changes, I'm leaving.'" Well, you can imagine what this 19-year-old man said. Of course he wasn't going to change anything! To this day, little has changed. The policy of not mixing flavors has continued to baffle customers for years. Bess says her rule came about one day when a gentleman ordered a mixed cone that angered her. He ordered in a rather rude tone, "I want a cone with a dip of chocolate, then a dip of vanilla, then a dip of chocolate, then a dip of vanilla, and I want it just like that". Bess replied, "You'll get it today, but never again". This incident happened somewhere around the 1950's and for decades the rule has remained the same. Even after Bess retired, owner Mike Arehart continued the rule out of respect for Bess. He also kept the rule to help employees scoop faster and keep the long lines of customers moving.

Owning the store from 1979 to present day, Mike has continued to keep Klines very successful. Over the years, he has introduced new flavors and products to the menu and kept the quality high. His sister, Kim Arehart, opened a second store in Staunton, Virginia in 1997. Kim began working at the Harrisonburg location when she was 13 years old. Working with Mike and Bess, she developed a passion for the family business. After finishing her college education and pursuing a professional career for several years, Kim decided to get back in the ice cream business by opening up her own store.

A third Klines store was opened in 2005 in Harrisonburg. Similar in layout to the other Harrisonburg location on Wolfe St., this new store features take out service windows and outdoor seating. It is located on South Main Street, Route 11. Half of the building is Klines and the other half is leased to Subway. Mike owns and operates this location along with his original Wolfe Street location.

Pictures recently acquired from the Bess Kline estate:

Kline's Dairy Bar's original location in the 1940's.	John Kline in front of Main Street store in the 1940's.
Bess Kline in front of the store in the 1950's.	Store located on North Main Street (Rt. 11). Photo taken around 1952-1955.
Bess & John Kline in the early 1960's.	John Kline behind counter of Main Street location.
Photo of Wolfe Street taken by Hubert Gentry around 1964. This location replaced the Main Street store.