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Open until just a few years ago, the Tri-State
Truck Stop, located in the "old"
Diamonds Restaurant, is closed today.
Kathy Weiser, November, 2007. This image
available for photographic prints
HERE!
As
Route 66 enters
Villa Ridge, the "new" Diamonds Restaurant once stood
at the intersection of MO-100 and
US-66. The first
Diamonds, built in 1927, was constructed in the shape of a baseball
diamond, hence the name. Touted as the "World’s Largest Roadside
Restaurant,” the business was established by Spencer Groof and also
sold Phillips 66 gasoline, as well as renting cabins across the street. In
1948, the restaurant burned to the ground in a fire that blazed so so
furiously that
Route 66 had to be temporarily closed. Rebuilt, the
Diamonds continued to operate at this location (west of exit 251)
until 1967 when it was bypassed by the interstate. Picking up, lock,
stock, and barrel, including their vintage sign, the business moved
two miles eastward, but still did not survive. The original Diamonds
building then began to house the Tri-County Truck Stop and Restaurant, which
ironically, did live on beyond the Diamonds Restaurant but it,
too, is closed today. The old truck stop is located at 144 Old Highway 66.
Of the "new" Diamonds location at the intersection of MO-100 and
US-66,
nothing remains of the restaurant. Only this Travelodge stands in the
large parking lot. Kathy Weiser, November, 2007.
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