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Historic Route 66 restaurant burns down
By Greg Cima
gcima@pantagraph.com
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BROADWELL — A Route 66 diner-turned-museum in Broadwell was destroyed by fire Monday afternoon, little more than three months shy of the business’s 70th birthday.

A neighbor to the building called 911 after spotting smoke about 3:35 p.m., and firefighters saw a thick plume before they arrived.

It took about 45 minutes to contain the flames.

“We came out of Lincoln and it was like, ‘Oh, geez, that’s going heavy,’ ” Lincoln Rural Fire Chief Dean Kukuck said of the smoke.

After the fire was out the damage was clear: The middle of the roof collapsed, the front of the store was scorched and the back of the building was a framework of blackened wood. The building’s interior and most contents were destroyed, but the fire didn’t spread to an attached former filling station.

The cause remained under investigation Monday night.

The restaurant closed in 1991 and owner Ernie Edwards converted the building in 2003 into a museum with a refurbished dining room and artifacts from the restaurant and the route.

He opened the restaurant in 1937, when he was 20 years old.

Kukuck said there was a lot of fire in the back of the building when firefighters arrived, and there was little visibility inside. Part of the ceiling came down on several Lincoln city and rural firefighters as they entered the front of the building, but none was injured, he said.

“It scared them more than anything else,” the chief said. “They shouldn’t have been in there.”

The fire had too large of a head start for firefighters to overcome, the chief said, and two ceilings and multiple layers of siding also hurt firefighters’ efforts.

Broadwell residents said they remembered the restaurant for everything from the red barstools to the special sauce on the Pig Hip sandwiches. Robin Ingram, a resident of Broadwell, said she had visited the restaurant and museum for decades, and the business will be missed.

“Really, in Broadwell, that was the only place to go,” Ingram said of the place when it still was a restaurant.

Edwards’ wife, Frances, said she and her husband were coming home from a trip to Lincoln when they saw the smoke. She said the fire came as a shock because of her husband’s plans for the museum during a celebration of his 90th birthday in June.

She said her husband planned to put up a big tent and make Pig Hip sandwiches, which he hasn’t made for years. Her husband cooked all the food when the restaurant was open, she said.

Edwards said the celebration will go on without the museum June 9 and 10, when Broadwell marks the village’s 150th anniversary.

Firefighters carried damp soot-covered boxes into Edwards’ neighboring, undamaged house. The original menu was in one box, singed but intact.

The menu said the restaurant charged 15 cents for a toasted cheeseburger and 5 cents for a cup of coffee.

“I made a fortune with my 5 cent coffee,” Ernie Edwards said.

The restaurant became the Pig Hip after two years as the Harbor Inn, a name taken from the ship-themed wallpaper used on the walls. Frances Edwards said it was the cheapest wallpaper available.

Ernie Edwards hoped to start a franchise, and he patented the secret sauce used on his baked ham, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. He’s still keeping the secret, and he said he’ll take the formula to his grave if there are no buyers.

Ernie Edwards’ mother ran the Pig Hip during his three years in the military, he said, and he ran it from when he returned until 1991. Ernie Edwards said he always enjoyed his work at the restaurant, but “54 years of the restaurant business is pretty much all a person could handle,” he said.

Ernie Edwards said he hung nine pictures of governors inside the building Monday morning, and he hadn’t been inside for at least a month. He sold almost everything from the business in an auction in 1992, but the work on the museum kept him active in recent years.

“It’s given me another 15 years on my life,” he said.

He said that before the fire, he was trying to decide what to do with the building. He said he didn’t think the building had more than liability insurance.

“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but I knew I had to do something,” Ernie Edwards said. “So this made up my mind.”

Take a look
Fire destroyed the Pig Hip Restaurant in Broadwell Monday afternoon. The iconic restaurant had been in operation for 54 years starting in 1939 and had been used as a Route 66 museum for the past four years. (Pantagraph/LORI ANN COOK) (March, 5, 2007)
Firefighters continue to douse hot spots at the Pig Hip Restaurant in Broadwell Monday afternoon. The iconic restaurant had been in operation for 54 years starting in 1939 and had been used as a Route 66 museum for the past four years. (Pantagraph/LORI ANN COOK) (March, 5, 2007)
Ernie Edwards dons his signature chef’s hat while standing in his Pig Hip Museum, which used to be a restaurant by the same name, in Broadwell. (Pantagraph/KAREN WALTERS)
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Reader comments on this story - 16 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Kerry (from the suite life of ZACK AND CODY) wrote on Mar 16, 2007 5:14 PM:

" This musem sounded very interesting. I am sure they will be able to rebuild it, i hope things go well in rebuilding it. Hope your alright!! Hang in there tight!! "

Franny! wrote on Mar 16, 2007 5:04 PM:

" Oh my lafanda. I never thought this would ever happen to a restaurant! What ever had caused it must have been bad i was very shocked when i heard the news about it. Me and the children were so sad. This was the very first restaurant we had ever been to along route 66. I hope they start rebuilding soon. If this were still up today i would reccomend it. "

No name!!! wrote on Mar 15, 2007 1:34 PM:

" This is very sad to what happen to my fav resturant!! "

mark huster wrote on Mar 7, 2007 11:22 AM:

" My wife Kim & myself visited Ernie in 07/06 and feel lucky tob have done so. We took a b&w photo with him in his famous hat with my wife & it's a classic. We had phone conversations with him since 1996 and never met somebody filled with so much history of the old road days. Please help in restoration if anybody can,we live in Chicago,the start of The Mother Road. "

Steve R. wrote on Mar 6, 2007 9:33 PM:

" Ernie is one of the most gracious and generous people I've ever met in my travels up and down old RT 66. Thank goodness he and Fran weren't harmed but it's a shame so much irreplaceable displays have been lost. I hope something can be done with the surviving building to allow Ernie to continue greeting roadies for as long as he'd like to. "

Toni - Indianapolis wrote on Mar 6, 2007 6:00 PM:

" Please, try to rebuild! Rt. 66 memories need to be preserved for future generations! "

aig fan wrote on Mar 6, 2007 10:54 AM:

" this resturant had the best pig hip sandwiches you could ever imagine. the place had a lot of history. I never saw the museum, but I bet it was great. my sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Edwards for the loss of this building. "

Alfred wrote on Mar 6, 2007 10:35 AM:

" Ernie still has Pig mailbox; you can see it from the interstate. Sad. "

Chelly wrote on Mar 6, 2007 7:36 AM:

" I am so sorry that it was a total loss. I was on I-55 yesterday in that area about 4:30 PM and saw all the crews there. Fortunately noone was hurt. "

There's still some hope wrote on Mar 6, 2007 6:04 AM:

" the museum can be saved. Township boards are encouraged by the state to grant up to $10,000 a year to museums within their borders. Other grants are available. The pictures indicate there's enough structure left there for restoration. The firemen deserve a lotof credit for keeping it from becoming a pile of rubble and ashes. A little hope can save the museum. Route 66 tourism is a growing enterprise. Some of our best historical sites are gone because some influential person "gave up" or had something else in mind that usually paled in value. "

Rodney Paddedpockovitch wrote on Mar 6, 2007 5:29 AM:

" To Too bad... YOU are so correct sir. Driver is that a coal mine I see over there? And could you speed it up, Damn I just despise these boring trips to Springfield. "

Retrired Prison Guard wrote on Mar 5, 2007 10:44 PM:

" Ate there many years and the Food was GREAT sorry to hear the place caught fire and such a shame to lose an historic landmark such as this. "

Eric Bair wrote on Mar 5, 2007 8:59 PM:

" I'm very sorry to hear this news. I was lucky to visit with Mr. Edwards on the July 4th weekend of 2005. He is truly a gentleman and very smart as well. He showed me a few things he did as a young man, and I was really impressed! I hope someone can help him rebuild a new place and maybe talk him into making those sandwiches again! "

Jerry wrote on Mar 5, 2007 8:51 PM:

" That's a shame "

Too bad... wrote on Mar 5, 2007 7:52 PM:

" Restaurants like these are what made 66 interesting. It's a shame there aren't many mom & pops like this anymore. On the interstate all it is is one McDonald's or Cracker Barrel after the next. "

Sympathy wrote on Mar 5, 2007 7:08 PM:

" for your loss to fire "
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