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The Diamonds / Tri-County Truck Stop

144 Old Hwy. 66, Villa Ridge, MO
Phone:

East < GO > West

The Diamonds restaurant opened here in 1927 but burned down in 1948. The owners then built this ultramodern streamlined style building to replace it. The new building opened for business in mid-1949. According to a newspaper article at the time the dining room in this building was 160 feet long and 40 feet wide, big enough to serve 6,500 people a day. Many of those customers arrived on something like 70 intercity buses a day.

GPS: 38.472650,-90.856939

Not bad for a business that started out in early September 1923 with the owner, Spencer Groff, sitting in a chair by the side of the road selling fruit to passing motorists. The next year he built a proper fruit stand with an actual roof, he called it the Banana Stand. (I wonder if he actually sold bananas?) That was followed by a larger place, open 24 hours and still called the Banana Stand.

When the road out front became Route 66 Groff built the first Diamonds Restaurant, with the building shaped like a diamond (see the 1st postcard below). In that building the restaurant became a huge success. This was the building burned down in 1948. In 1938 Groff had retired and sold the business to Bill Eckelkamp and Noble Key, both long time employees.

After the fire they didn't waist any time getting the business back up and running, first in a temporary space across the road and the in the building shown at the top of this page.

This was a pretty grand place for a roadside restaurant for the times. It featured its own bakery and smokehouse, chrome tables and chairs, glazed tile interior walls, terrazzo floors.

After being bypassed by I-44 in 1967 this location was closed and the restaurant was moved to a new Diamonds Restaurant & Motel about 2 miles further east at the Gray Summit I-44 Exit.

In 1971 the Tri-County Truck Stop moved into this building and operated here until closing in 2006. There was some talk of the building becoming an auction in 2015, but I don't know if that happened or not. The building was heavily damaged by a tornado in the on March 15, 2025.

The building is rumored to be haunted, and there are many such discussions on the web

The building is located where Old Missouri 100 and US 66 split, on the east end of Villa Ridge. This building was for sale when we saw it in 2012.

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Vintage Advertising Highlights

(Front)
The Diamonds
Junction of U.S. Highways 50-66 and Mo. 100
THE OLD RELIABLE EATING PLACE
180,000 GALLONS OF FRESH RUNNING CRYSTAL WATER
THE EATING PLACE - THE MEETING PLACE
(Back)
THE DIAMONDS
Located at the Junction of U.S. Highways 50-66 and Mo. 100.37 Miles Southwest of St. Louis. Known from Coast to Coast for Fine Food and Courteous Service.

This card shows the cabins across the road behind the restaurant. (The back of this card is blank)

WORLD'S LARGEST ROADSIDE RESTAURANT THE DIAMONDS RESTAURANT
35 MODERN TOURIST COTTAGES
AT JUNCTION U.S. 66 - U.S. 50
Mo. 100
P.O. Villa Ridge

SERVING OVER 1,000,000 CUSTOMERS A YEAR
NOVELTIES AND CAFETERIA SERVING AREA
DINING AREA AND QUICK LUNCH COUNTER

The Diamonds
Restaurant - Service Station - Motel
Villa Ridge, Mo.
Jct. U.S. 50 - 66 - Mo. 100
37 mi. Southwest of St. Louis
World's Largest Roadside Restaurant
Serving over a million people a year.
Known from Coast to Coast

DIAMONDS RESTAURANT
Interstate 44 - Gray Summit Interchange
35 miles west of St. Louis
The Diamonds Restaurant - World's largest roadside restaurant. Serving over one million satisfied customers each year. Located on Interstate Highway 44. " \ Minutes West of Six Flags Over America" New 162 unit motel adjoining.
Villa Ridge Missouri
Phone 314/742-****

NOTE: These four postcards tell a bit of the history of the Diamonds Restaurant and Cabins/Motel. The first postcard shows the version that burned down in the late 1940s. The second card is the version that came next. The third card is especially informative when it comes to the restaurant, not so much about the cabins. The last card is for the last Diamonds Restaurant (now torn down) location at the Gray Summit I-44 Exit.
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Photo(s): 2012