Every Sunday in summer, three gallons of ice cream were packed with ice in a canvas bag and sent by horse and buggy to Idlewild Park. They came from Joseph A. Greubel of Derry. According to Valley Dairy's company history, he started making ice cream commercially in 1884 and was the first person in Westmoreland County to do it.
That ice cream now has a counter at Norwin Hills Plaza. Valley Dairy Restaurants lists its North Huntingdon location at 8865 Norwin Avenue, Unit 30, and posts daily hours for it. That puts the newest restaurant along this part of Route 30 under a name whose history in the county goes back 142 years.
The Ice Cream Came First
Valley Dairy started as an ice cream maker and opened restaurants later. Here is the timeline from the company's history page, set against today:
- 1884. Joseph A. Greubel begins making ice cream commercially in Derry. He powers the beater with a belt-driven steam engine a year or two later and uses ice and salt as the refrigerant.
- 1938. His grandson, Joseph Fleming Greubel, opens the first Valley Dairy Restaurant. He had learned the craft at his grandfather's side, and the company calls him the original "Ice Cream Joe." He makes small batches of ice cream in the kitchen overnight, after the restaurant closes.
- 1946. Demand outgrows the restaurant kitchen. The family buys Fairview Dairy at 3200 Graham Avenue in Windber from the Hayes family and forms a Pennsylvania corporation, Fairview Dairy, Inc. Valley Dairy becomes the trade name.
- 2026. A 14th restaurant opens at Norwin Hills Plaza in North Huntingdon.
The Greubel family was making ice cream commercially for 54 years before it opened its first restaurant. The Windber dairy it bought to keep up with demand is, according to the company, "still the home of Valley Dairy ice cream" 80 years later. Any sundae ordered on Norwin Avenue traces back to that plant.
What That History Means at the Table
The restaurant runs on the same idea the company started with in 1938: a family restaurant with its own ice cream. The Latrobe Bulletin reported that the North Huntingdon location offers the full menu, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner served all day, plus the chain's signature ice cream treats.
Because breakfast is served all day, someone stopping in at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday can order eggs with a sundae. The posted hours are long enough to make that easy. Doors open at 7 a.m. every day of the week.
The ice cream is the reason the company exists. Valley Dairy's ice cream treats page calls the chain the "Home of the original All-American Banana Split!" and says the ice cream is "handcrafted with care in small batches." The banana split claim is the company's own. It also connects the Norwin Hills Plaza menu to the region's long attachment to that dessert.
The flavor list on Valley Dairy's ice cream page is mostly local names alongside a few standards:
- Bittersweet Sinphony
- Mint-Ting-A-Ling
- Panda Paws
- Super Hero
- Chocolate, Strawberry, and Vanilla
The company notes that seasonal flavors rotate and availability varies by location, so the case on Norwin Avenue may not match the one in Unity on a given night. Peanut Butter Cup and Strawberry sundaes appear among the featured treats.
The company history describes the ice cream as premium from the beginning, made with "fresh ingredients, premium flavorings, real fruit, hand packaging, and careful control of the product." It also says Valley Dairy ice cream is sold through the restaurants and select distributors.
Why Norwin Hills Plaza
The North Huntingdon restaurant fills in a map that had a gap. Before it opened, the chain's 13 restaurants covered nine counties, and Westmoreland County had two of them, in Unity Township and East Huntingdon Township, according to the Latrobe Bulletin. Both are well east and south of the Norwin area.
TribLive described the chain's reach as running east to Blair and Clearfield counties and south to Fayette County. North Huntingdon is the move west toward the Pittsburgh side of Westmoreland County.
TribLive reported that Norwin Hills Plaza sits near several housing developments, busy Route 30 traffic, and an Independence Health System outpatient healthcare facility. The outlet also reported that Valley Dairy remodeled an existing restaurant space at the plaza, according to Melissa Blystone, president of Valley Dairy Restaurants, a division of Latrobe-based Fairview Dairy Inc.
The new restaurant shares the plaza with other businesses, including China House, which lists its address in the Norwin Hills Shopping Center at 8865 Norwin Avenue, Unit 19.
The company framed the opening around families in the area. In its announcement, quoted by the Latrobe Bulletin, Valley Dairy said the new location "represents an exciting opportunity to bring the Valley Dairy Restaurant experience to even more families in the North Huntingdon area," and that it hoped to create "a place where friends, neighbors and families can gather and enjoy great food in a welcoming atmosphere."
Seventy-Five New Jobs on Norwin Avenue
The restaurant is also a sizable new employer for this stretch of Route 30. TribLive reported in July that the North Huntingdon location would employ about 75 full- and part-time workers. That staff covers a restaurant listed as open 13 hours a day Monday through Saturday and 12 hours on Sunday.
The company spoke openly with TribLive about how hard that kind of hiring has been. Rhonda Hazlett, a human resources representative for Valley Dairy, told the outlet:
"Like many in the restaurant industry, we've experienced hiring challenges over the past several years. However, we've been fortunate to build a strong team by focusing on creating a positive workplace, offering competitive wages and benefits and providing flexibility when possible."
For neighbors, the size of the staff matters beyond the dining room. The 75 jobs at a single address on Norwin Avenue are a mix of full- and part-time positions, and when the location was announced, the Latrobe Bulletin reported the company was hiring for all positions through valleydairy.net.
The Practical Details
The Valley Dairy locations page lists the North Huntingdon restaurant as follows:
| Detail | Listing |
|---|---|
| Address | 8865 Norwin Avenue, Unit 30, North Huntingdon, PA |
| Phone | 724-590-0920 |
| Monday through Saturday | 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
| Sunday | 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
Sunday closes an hour earlier than the rest of the week, which matters for a late sundae run after a weekend afternoon out. Seasonal flavors rotate by location, so anyone hoping for a specific flavor should call ahead. The Latrobe Bulletin noted that the company was still planning grand opening details when the restaurant was announced, and the company's Facebook page is linked from its website.
The restaurant at Unit 30 is new, and the ice cream in its case still comes from the Windber dairy the family bought in 1946 when overnight batches in a restaurant kitchen could no longer keep up.
If you'd like to talk through North Huntingdon and the neighborhoods near Norwin Hills Plaza, Jessica Milko and her team are glad to help. Let's Connect.
