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By Phyllis Badgley
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Mr. and Mrs. Earl Stiff opened the Inland
Cafe on Tenth Street in 1946 to serve home-cooked meals
to truckers. Their pies soon became so popular that
travelers would send orders ahead of them on postcards. |
A Baker City Original
Ham and Eggs 50 cents, Steak Dinner 75 cents!
Hard to believe, but true. Those were 1946 prices at the
Inland Café, 2715 10th St., Baker, Ore.
The café was born when a facility was needed for
truckers. Earl Stiff operated the Inland Oil Company on
North 10th Street. Baker was the main turn-around for
well over 100 drivers and 20 tankers every day. While
the drivers left their trucks for servicing, they needed
a place where they could sit, relax and have a
home-cooked meal.
Earl, realizing this and being aware that the closest
restaurant was several blocks away downtown, proceeded
to build a 10th Street restaurant close to the trucking
facility. In March 1946, the Inland Café opened for
business. The good home cooked meals were appreciated by
the drivers as well as townspeople. |
Business was good; many
times a long waiting line stretched down the sidewalk to
the corner of the block.
At that time, the restaurant was about the size of a
boxcar, with only a counter and 15 stools. Earl
determined the height to build the counter by having
different truck drivers try it out.
In addition to the home cooked meals, the restaurant
became famous for it's homemade pies. This specialty was
so well known that people traveling across country sent
ahead a postcard order for pies to be picked up when
they reached Baker. America's favorite pie, Apple Pie,
topped the list of seventeen different varieties
offered. Recorded in 1971, total pies made that year was
6,400.
Several pie makers deserve the credit for making these
delicacies famous. Among them were family members Hazel
McBride, Lucille McCulough and Eve McBride.
Earl and wife, Clarice, reared a family of five
children, namely LaVaughn (Gould), Duane Stiff, Drucilla
(Carpenter), Carl Stiff, and JoAnne (Hardy).
In observance of the Sabbath, the Inland Café closed
each Sunday so the family could attend the Nazarene
church activities. In 1947, the café was sold to Mr. And
Mrs. G. Lowell Fuller, who chose to lease it out to a
manager. After several changes, the establishment was
leased to Loren and Hazel McBride in December 1952.
Loren was a truck driver by trade and continued to drive
while Hazel and her sister operated the cage.
After leasing the Inland for six years, the McBrides
bought the business. Excellent cooking ability caused
business. Excellent cooking ability caused business
growth and a need to enlarge the dining area. In 1958,
they added two-thirds more seating space and built a
larger kitchen.
Today, the three support posts in the center of the room
were originally the front wall of the building. The wall
directly behind the present counter was the former rear
wall.
After 19 years of service at the Inland Café, the
McBride dream of retirement came true. They sold the
café to new owners, Norman and Donita Miller, in October
1971. In 1973, a new front entrance was completed, the
kitchen enlarged and seating capacity increased to 80.
Present owners, Don and Sharon Orr, began operating the
Inland Café in 1996, marking the observance of homemade
apple pie being served continuously for 50 years. It's
still being served today. Ala mode, anyone? |
Printed here with the permission of
Baker City Herald Remembrance Page
Baker
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