Name/Title
Galvin's Dinner HouseEntry/Object ID
2020.25.2278Description
Circa 1940
GALVIN'S DINNER HOUSE
6802 South 22nd
3619 Beck Road
Galvin's will close after Dec. 29, 2018
Galvin's Dinner House originally started when Roy and Dottie Galvin bought a Phillips Oil gas station on State Highway 71 (South 22nd Street) in 1940. The road at that time was a main road the Kansas City. The couple transformed the service station into a small diner they called Galvin's Dinner House. Galvin's served great home cooked chicken dinners (by reservation only).
A fire nearly destroyed Galvin's Dinner House in 2011 and it closed.
The iconic restaurant had since been restored and reopened in May 2013.
The following was in the St Joseph News Press December 20, 2018:
Galvin's Dinner House announced it is closing both locations on Wednesday through a Facebook post. Bill Grace owned Galvin's Dinner House for 46 years. "My family and I have tried to keep Galvin's alive, but we have exhausted ourselves in every way. God knows, I probably should have done this long ago but my heart wouldn't allow me," the post stated. It has more than 200 comments, most filled with nostalgia for the famous fried chicken and sympathy for Grace's family.
Grace started washing dishes for the restaurant in 1972 when he was 14. Bing Wolfing claimed to be Galvin's Dinner House's first customer, so it was fitting for Wolfing to partner with Grace to take the diner over in 1982.
Wolfing passed away in 2004, leaving Grace the only owner of Galvin's Dinner House. Since Grace took over, a fire almost demolished the restaurant several years ago, but it reopened in May 2013.
Grace also opened a second location for Galvin's Dinner House at 3619 Beck Road. It took the place of Chu's Garden Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant that had been vacant for a few years. Grace appreciated his family's dedication to the dinner house on the Facebook post.
"My Wife, God bless her, gave up her career for it; my son and his family, who grew up in the restaurant and was always there for us; my daughter and her family who gave it her all and tried her best to keep it going, it wasn't meant to be" the Facebook post stated. "We always had to give Galvin's a chance. Unfortunately, we just couldn't get the corner turned."
Here is a good review of Galvin's that I found on the Internet:
Not many people know about this unusual restaurant, and its devotees prefer it that way. The restaurant started out as a gas station back in 1940, doing a brisk business selling baskets of fried chicken to locals and bus passengers along Highway 371 en route to Kansas City. Over the years, the chicken stand has turned into a genteel, old-fashioned dining venue now operated by Bill Grace, who literally grew up working here. The specialty is still pan-fried chicken dinners, though there are steaks and pecan-crusted trout, all served family style with soup, salad, muffins, corn, green beans and freshly baked bread. These reasonably priced dinners include a few desserts, but the most famous is a square of baked fudge, which is now ala carte. Like everything else in this quaint little joint, it is well worth it
- Charles Ferruzza
Galvin's Dinner House hours:
5 to 8:30pm, Tuesday thru Saturday; noon to 5pm on SundaysPhotograph Details
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