Historic Steak ‘n Shake nominated to National Register

The Steak ‘n Shake restaurant at 1158 E. St. Louis St. in Springfield, Mo., has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, according to KOLR / KOZL.

Owner Gary Leonard has been part of the restaurant nearly as long as it existed:

“I came down here with the family in 1973 and started working in the restaurants in October of 1973 when I was 14 years old,” he says.

His family has been in the restaurant business for decades. Their histories so intertwined that when Steak ‘n Shake sent a nostalgic picture to grace the wall, one of the women in the picture ended up being Gary’s mother. […]

“I am second generation in the restaurant industry and that is actually my mother and she was helping with that opening in the ’50’s,” says Leonard. […]

“This restaurant actually opened in 1962. So this is our golden anniversary here so it’s been open for 50 years and a lot of what you see here is original to 1962.”

Leonard’s restaurant is also and undeniable part of many people’s nostalgic trips down Route 66   “We see a lot of people doing Route 66 especially in the summer time. In fact, we just had a group from Czechoslovakia yesterday that came through and there from Chicago to Santa Monica.”

“I think it’s a piece of Americana that just doesn’t exist as much any more,” Leonard says.

The Missouri Advisory Council On Historic Preservation will vote on about 20 nominated properties next week. If the Steak ‘n Shake passes muster with that panel, its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places is almost a certainty.

One thought on “Historic Steak ‘n Shake nominated to National Register

  1. Definitely deserves to be on the NRHP. Too bad the original one in Bloomington, Illinois, can’t be brought back.

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