Red's Giant Hamburg is a restaurant on

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

, which is believed to have been the world's first

drive-through A drive-through or drive-thru (a sensational spelling of the word ''through''), is a type of take-out service provided by a business that allows customers to purchase products without leaving their cars. The format was pioneered in the United ...

restaurant. It reopened in 2019.

Overview

Sheldon "Red" Chaney (May 20, 1916 – June 2, 1997) arrived in Springfield after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with a bride and a business degree. He purchased a small Sinclair gas station with several wooden motor court cabins tucked among trees on the back of the property. Eventually, a café was added in 1947. Growing weary of pumping

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

and operating the motor court, the couple decided a better money-maker would be a restaurant. Since they owned a small herd of beef cattle (and would continue to raise their own beef until the close of the business), they decided to concentrate on

hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically Ground beef, beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles ...

s. The restaurant became a staple of Route 66 and the Springfield area until its closure in 1984. Red died in 1997 a few days after the restaurant was demolished, and Julia died in the early 2000s

Sign recreation

In 2013, a fundraising campaign was established to recreate the Red's Giant Hamburg sign. The sign was installed in 2015.

Reopening

In early 2019, the ''Springfield Business Journal'' announced that Red's Giant Hamburg would be making a comeback 35 years after the original restaurant's closure. The new restaurant, located on Route 413, will be a recreation of the original Route 66 location. The project is being led by David Campbell, the owner of local BBQ chain Buckingham's, and insurance agent Greg Lott. The restaurant opened in August 2019.

In popular culture

In 1982, Springfield rock and roll band The Morells filmed their tribute song "Red's" at the location of the restaurant.

References

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External links