The Warren County Historical Society will be hosting a special event on Thursday, June 27 at the Wright City Lions Club to celebrate and remember the famous Big Boy’s Restaurant. A plate lunch meal using many of the original recipes will be served and a program will be held after the meal to reminisce and share the rich history of this long-ago establishment.

Tickets are available online at https://warrencountymohistory.com/event/big-boys-restaurant-100th-anniversary-celebration/ or purchase with cash or check at the Warren County History Museum on Tuesday’s or Thursdays 1 pm – 4 pm. The last day for ticket sales will be June 11. No tickets will be sold at the door.

Big Boy’s Restaurant still holds a special place in the memories of those who worked there. 

Margaret Dixon needed money to buy makeup and new clothes, “So, like most teens,” she recalls, “I got a job.” 

It was March 1965 and her parents had just moved her and her nine sisters and one brother from St. Louis County to Wright City. There weren’t many options for teens seeking work in the rural, farming community — and fewer still for young women. Big Boy’s Restaurant had just reopened after a change in ownership and a three-month renovation with a “Now hiring” sign out front. 

“So, I trained as a waitress,” said Dixon.

Big Boy’s Restaurant was under new ownership after the founding Chaney family retired after forty years behind the chicken fryer. Kurt Nathan bought the restaurant and encouraged his son-in-law and daughter Ed and Lola Baseel to come operate it with him. Within six months, Mr. Nathan decided to move on, leaving Ed and Lola to dive in with their hearts and minds. This became the start of “The Baseels’ Big Boy’s era”.

“We had so much fun. We made good money, especially after football games and on weekends. Eddie and Lola — they ran a tight ship, and they taught you how to be a good waitress and about customer service. I worked with other kids in high school around my age,” Dixon said. 

Big Boys’ parking lot pulled right off U.S. 40 — and later sat a few blocks away from Interstate 70 when it was opened in 1965. Many celebrities came through in the peak seasons, including Ozzie Smith, Astronaut John Glenn, Chuck Berry, and Indiana University Basketball Coach Bobby Knight.

Dixon recalls it wasn’t the few hundred local farmers and families that sustained Big Boy’s in those days, it was travelers. But travelers were seasonal, and the gas constraints of the 1970’s crimped traveler’s appetites for long-distance chicken dinners. The Baseels turned to daily lunch specials to help recruit more local diners.

Still, Dixon remembers Eddie and Lola Baseel took care of their staff, most of whom relied on tips to make up for the $2 a day base pay when times were slow. 

“Eddie would come in and slip a $20 in your pocket because he knew when times were slow. And we had a dishwasher that had bad feet, and he took him to get special shoes every year,” said Dixon. 

Dixon and former waitress Jan Lutz still make some of the famous Big Boy’s recipes. 

“I loved their chicken, slaw, cornbread, and pickled beets,” said Dixon. “I crave a restaurant like that now.”