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.
Galvin's Dinner House started when Roy and Dottie Galvin bought the Phillips Oil gas station on
State Highway 371 (originally Highway 71) in 1940. The road was St. Joseph's main path the Kansas City.
The couple transformed the service station into
a small diner. 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"
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