Last updated: June 6, 2022
Place
Oklahoma: Rock Café
Photo courtesy of Rhys Martin
Quick Facts
Location:
114 W Main St, Stroud, OK 74079
Significance:
Historic restaurant along Route 66.
Designation:
National Register of Historic Places
MANAGED BY:
Like so many Route 66 roadside businesses, the landmark Rock Cafe in Stroud began as a start up business with modest capital. Owner Roy Rives took three years to finish construction and, at times, resorted to hiring high school students as a labor force. The concrete foundation of the Bungalow/Craftsman influenced cafe was poured by wheelbarrow, and its now famous Giraffe-style sandstone exterior may very well have been the result of economy over inspiration. Some say that Mr. Rives spotted a deal and purchased the entire supply of local colorful sandstone (leftovers from a recent construction project on Route 66) for just five dollars.
When the Rock Cafe finally opened for business in August 1939, conditions were favorable. Traffic along the Mother Road steadily increased as America emerged from the Great Depression. The cafe flourished even during the rationing years of World War II, in part because it doubled as a stop for the Greyhound bus lines that carried thousands of travelers and hungry, thirsty GIs to and from home leave. Following the war, the cafe went to a 24-hour schedule, a sign that Route 66 was entering its boom years. The cafe installed its strikingly modernistic neon sign in the late 1940s.
The Rock Cafe survived the decommissioning of Route 66, but by the early 1990s, the restaurant needed extensive rehabilitation. When the current owners purchased the property in 1993, the outlook appeared grim, and it got worse when in 1999 a major tornado hit Stroud, devastating the town’s economy. Persisting through a commitment to their adopted town and to the memory of the Mother Road, the owners held on. In 2001, they succeeded in placing the cafe in the National Register of Historic Places and received a cost share grant from the National Park Service’s Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program the same year. The owners used the funds for a top to bottom rehabilitation of the cafe, including restoration work on the green tin roof, neon sign, and Giraffe-style sandstone exterior. They also restored two original entrances on the east and west sides of the cafe that had been covered over with stone. The entire dining room returned to an earlier era with booths, counter, and counter stools restored to an original floor plan. In 2008, the cafe suffered a disastrous fire. Funding from the National Park Service and National Trust Southwest Office assisted with post-fire assessment and preservation plan that led to meticulous rehabilitation of the cafe. Reopened in 2009, this welcoming roadside cafe remains a favorite stop for travelers along historic Route 66.
The Rock Café is located at 114 W. Main St. in Stroud, OK.
For more information, visit the Rock Cafe website.
See the Rock Cafe National Register nomination form.