Deep Roots

DEEP ROOTS

By Cherwyn Cole Photographs by David J. Schwartz - Pics On Route 66

“Sell the sizzle, not the steak,” marketers have said for a hundred years, meaning that the benefits, not the product itself, is what people purchase.

But a literal interpretation of this old saying would seem to mean that you can only have one or the other. In any case, the

Steak ‘n Shake on St. Louis Street — “City Route 66” — in

Springfield, Missouri, has been serving up both since 1962.

And it’s abundantly clear that its owners, the Leonard family, never forgot that they had something very special here — and not just the sizzle.

A ‘Normal’ Beginning

In 1934, wanting to do something different, Gus and Edith Belt had repurposed their original idea of a gas station-cum- chicken restaurant, into the first ever Steak and Shake at Main Street and Virginia Avenue in Normal, Illinois. There, Belt wasn’t afraid to promote the sizzle or the steak. His advertising slogan “in sight it must be right” was meant to assure customers that the meat in their “steakburgers” was top quality. And the motto “it’s a meal” let diners know that they would feel satisfied after eating at Steak ‘n Shake. Whitepainted surfaces on the building implied purity, and a packed parking lot told customers most of what they needed to know. It was no surprise when the Belts’ popular mom-and-pop hamburger eatery grew into a multi-restaurant corporation, including several locations in Missouri.

Management of the Route 66 Steak ‘n Shake (and its sister restaurants) in the Springfield, Missouri, area haven’t forgotten Belt’s lessons. “We take pride in the fact that everything is cooked fresh to order. We have to take care of the guests, and we believe deeply in that. You get people to wait on you, get your drink, pour your refill, pick up your plate, and a lot of companies aren’t doing that anymore. We just really believe that we’re in the people business,” said Director of Operations Brandon Gilbert.

And being in the people business meant that the Leonard family’s franchise-management company heartily endorsed the idea of in-room dining. The Route 66 Steak ‘n Shake at 1158 E. St. Louis Street has become an icon, with its now-exclusive original décor and its status as one of only six restaurants in the chain that offers a sit-down dining experience. The slightly-tangled tale of this proud tradition of service goes way back to the ‘30s in two central Illinois towns — and to Springfield, Missouri, in the ‘60s — to unravel its beginnings.

Steak ‘n Shake Expands

Herb Leonard was born in 1915 in Atlanta, Illinois, but grew up on a farm with his parents, Bert and Ethel Leonard, three brothers, and a sister on a farm in Lincoln, Illinois. As with other young men his age during the 1930s, Leonard worked for a wildcatter — a driller hoping to hit oil. There was a great deal of speculation surrounding oil at the time. Fortunately, before he went bust looking for oil, the wildcatter had diversified into a small chain of football-themed restaurants in college towns. This move apparently gave his oil expedition employees another chance at employment. And so, in the 1930s, Herb Leonard found himself managing a restaurant in central Illinois instead of chasing oil downstate.

Meanwhile, Gus Belt started to expand his Steak ‘n Shake chain into other central Illinois cities in 1936, beginning its trajectory into a respected national franchise. Several years later, he bought two restaurants operating under the name Goal Post, one in Champaign, Illinois, and one in East Peoria.

“Gus Belt acquired one of the restaurants that my father was running — and so Gus acquired my father [Herb] in 1939,” explained Gary Leonard, a 48-year veteran of Steak ‘n Shake franchises in the Springfield, Missouri, area. And so, Herb Leonard re-branded the former Goal Post restaurant as a Steak ‘n Shake which, incidentally, is still there and open today.

But between the Depression and his expansion, Gus Belt didn’t have any money to pay Herb at the time. “He put my dad on a 40-60 split and Dad became moderately successful, and he worked his way up in the company. In the ‘50s, he was making more money than the owner of the company! I remember his last year of running that restaurant, this was 1953, he bought a new Corvette and a Cadillac,” Leonard explained. “They were kind of jealous of the money my father was making, and so they talked him into moving on up the corporate ladder. He worked his way up till he became vice-president of operations.”

But Belt died in 1954, leaving his widow, Edith, to run the company.

The Steakburger Comes to Springfield, Missouri

In February 1962, the Springfield Leader and Press announced that a building permit had been issued for a $50,000 restaurant project at the intersection of National Avenue and E. St. Louis Street. That was Route 66, and that was the first Steak ‘n Shake in the area. As that now-iconic location was just about ready to open, it was announced that ground had been broken for a second Springfield Steak ‘n Shake on South Glenstone, with another $50,000 building permit from the

The original stainless steel counter inside.

city. At that time, Steak ‘n Shake was operating in just four states — Illinois, Indiana, Florida, and Missouri. At its helm was Edith Belt, co-founder and chairman of the board. The E. St. Louis Street restaurant was the 43rd location opened by the company and the 15th location opened in Missouri.

The E. St. Louis Street location opened in June, featuring seating for 40 persons inside the glazed tile structure, with drive-in spaces for 70 cars. It truly reflected the iconic design and architecture of the early 1960s (and is still capable of stirring waves of nostalgia in 21st Century customers). Sleek white glazed ceramic tiles, and plenty of glass covered the exterior of the low-slung building, epitomizing the shape of Mid-Century commercial buildings. Steak ‘n Shake’s familiar slogans — including “Famous for Steakburgers,” “Tru-Flavor Shakes,” and “In Sight it Must Be Right” — on the roof overhang along with striped canvas below ringed the building. Neon signage lit up the whole shebang — and still does, just like it did in the ‘60s. The interior had large windows, chrome and red accents, and the decor of 1950s diners.

More Changes

By around 1969, Edith Belt decided to sell the Steak ‘n Shake company, and the chain went through a succession of owners, including one Bob Cronin in the early ‘70s. In an interesting turn, Cronin only wanted college graduates in the corporate offices. Of course, that didn’t include Herb Leonard, who was wildcatting oil at an age when others might have been in college. Rather than fire him, Cronin offered Herb a choice — go open up some Steak ‘n Shakes in a new area or take on some restaurants that weren’t making any money.

Those restaurants that weren’t making any money included the two in Springfield, Missouri. “This market down here was just neglected; they might get a visit from St. Louis [corporate] once a year,” said Gary Leonard. “Dad liked the area down here and thought it had potential. So that’s how we got down here.” And that’s how Herb Leonard took on the two neglected Springfield stores, the

one at 1101 South Glenstone, and the one that would eventually turn out to be the real prize, the 1158 E. St. Louis Street location that was on Route 66.

Like Father, Like Son

Through hard work and becoming involved in his adopted community, Herb Leonard turned around the fortunes of the two Springfield, Missouri, restaurant franchises, and they became money-makers. Herb’s son Gary worked in his father’s Steak ‘n Shake franchises throughout high school and college, beginning at age 14. In 1981, Gary graduated from the University of Missouri and he and his father opened up another restaurant location, which Gary ran for a decade. As the Leonard family’s success grew and their number of franchised locations increased, they formed a management company. After 66 years in the restaurant business, Herb Leonard retired, handing down the reins of the management company to Gary.

In addition to the male members of the family, Gary’s mother, Melba, achieved her own measure of fame. Initially, she was a Steak ‘n Shake employee at the East Peoria, Illinois restaurant, and that’s how she met and married Herb.

“When they had store openings, they used to make a big hullaballoo about that, and they’d have little plants and balloons, and everybody got a balloon,” Gary said. “In that iconic picture, which I think is in almost every Steak ‘n Shake today, there’s my mother, dressed up very nicely, and she’s helping with the store opening, and handing out plants.”

But when she wasn’t officiating at Steak ‘n Shake openings, Melba Leonard spent many hours volunteering for the Red Cross, square-dancing, or making her family’s favorite potato salad. She died from breast cancer in 2011, following Herb’s death in 2006 due to injuries from a fall. A Steak ‘n Shake emblem adorns their gravestone in Hazelwood Cemetery in Springfield.

In 2012, the Route 66 store at 1158 E. St. Louis Street turned 50 years old. That same year, the National Park Service announced that it had been added to the National Register of Historic Places, citing the original building and floor plan, the neon and painted signage, the original kitchen, and other features that identified it as an excellent example of historic corporate architecture associated with an iconic transportation route. The Leonards had been careful to resist remodeling.

“That restaurant essentially remains unchanged. Of course, we have to do maintenance, but from a signage standpoint, from the footprint standpoint, it’s almost exactly like it was when it opened in 1962,” Gary said. “It’s just kind of like a ‘57 Chevy that’s been maintained very well and polished and loved.”

Incredibly, the Route 66 restaurant (and the one on Glenstone also dating to 1962) are the only two Steak ‘n Shake restaurants left in the entire chain with the original interiors intact. That ambience along with the iconic Route 66 location brings travelers from all over the world.

Second-generation to Second-generation

In March 2021, after 48 years in the business, Gary Leonard was ready to retire and pass the torch to another “secondgen” Steak ‘n Shake owner. Mike and Lisa Stennett’s purchase of Leonard’s six area stores was big news in Springfield, after the Leonard family’s respectable long run.

But it was also big news in Joplin, Missouri, and a bit farther south in Arkansas, where the Stennetts were the wellknown owners of Steak ‘n Shake locations there.

You see, these two families — the Leonards and the Stennetts — were inextricably tied through the Steak ‘n Shake “family.” Mike’s father, Charlie Stennett, had officially joined Steak ‘n Shake in 1968 after working as a carhop at the St. Louis Street store in his teens. He liked to say that he only had two jobs in his life — with the US Army and with Steak ‘n Shake. Working his way up to general manager, Charlie worked for the Leonards before opening his own Steak ‘n Shake in Branson, Missouri, in 1992. “I can remember when Mike’s mother was pregnant with him, and when he was born. So, he grew up in the business also and had stores down in Arkansas; he always wanted to come back up. It was a good fit for him when I retired,” said Gary. Although he’s grateful for retirement and looking

Steak ‘n Shake’s neon lights up the parking lot.

forward to some new projects, life is now very different for Gary Leonard. “I like people, so being in that dining room, you might call it being on stage, and just to go out and visit with everyone. We had people from all walks of life, from all socio-economic standards, everybody ate with us, and we just had a pulse… you just got to know, really, the community and the people. I really literally cannot go anywhere in town where I don’t say hello to someone that I know, and that’s been the delight... and also the loss. Retiring is to lose that, that was a big part of who and what I was at that point, and I sure miss it,” he added wistfully.

Into the Future

So, after 48 years of management tailored to their community, the Leonards’ legacy has draped itself upon the shoulders of the younger generation of the Stennett family. It doesn’t seem to be a heavy load, but a welcome opportunity to Mike Stennett, who stated to local press at the time of the sale in March 2020, “Herb [Leonard] was a good mentor to my dad; to be able to walk in here and to be able to be in those shoes again is a pretty cool thing.”

Both Herb and Gary Leonard have been ingrained into the culture of Springfield, belonging to numerous civic organizations and participating in fundraisers, especially making sure to take out ads in the school yearbooks and programs. Gary is proud of how active he was in the restaurants, calling people by name and visiting at the tables as he became part of the community. He believes that helps customers to identify the restaurant more as a local business than part of a distantly managed chain, and to the Leonards, that is important.

“Having been down there since ‘62, we just had that legacy of being here and being involved with our community,” Gary said. He gives his father full credit for beginning that legacy. “He was a great guy. A good man, and my best friend,” he added. “We were just fortunate that we were able to have a restaurant along Route 66 and that we got to be engaged in that heritage, and what that meant, and the people that came, because if we hadn’t been there, we wouldn’t have had that aspect,” Gary said thoughtfully. “We would have had everything else that I talked about [the people and the community], but that part of it was, you might say, just the whipped cream and the cherry.”

The whipped cream and the cherry. The iconic vintage building and the retro ambience inside. Carhops and waitresses. Route 66 travelers snapping photos before going in for a meal. The Route 66 Steak ‘n Shake on E. St. Louis Street undeniably has it all. It’s got the sizzle — and the steak.

IN MEMORY OF

April 19, 1995, was a normal day as people began to arrive at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. As in every office, workers mulled about as they started their morning, grabbing a fresh cup of coffee, chatting with their colleagues, and catching up on urgent work. The day had just started. It was 9:01 AM. Spring was in the air and the morning showed promise. A moment later, at 9:02 AM, 168 lives, including 19 children, would be lost when a massive explosion ripped through the government building, forever altering the landscape and lives of the residents of Oklahoma City.

Prior to September 11, 2001, this was the deadliest terrorist assault on US soil and remains one of the most exhaustive cases in FBI history. The culprits, ex-army soldier turned anti-government militant, Timothy McVeigh, and his accomplice, Terry Nichols, had wanted to send a message to the federal government. It was not received as they had hoped. McVeigh was captured by accident 90 minutes later during a routine traffic stop, and Nichols soon after. But as is so often the case in America, the story does not end with these men or their heinous action.

In the same year as the attack, Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick commissioned a 350-member task force to figure out what to do with the site of the bombing. He knew that the decision was an important one. The body became the Oklahoma City National Memorial Task Force. Nearly five years later, the task force shared their idea: the land would become part memorial, a symbolic remembrance, and part museum, to tell the “guts” of the story.

The outdoor memorial was unveiled on the fifth anniversary of the bombing in 2000. Former President Bill Clinton dedicated the site which honors the victims, survivors, first responders, and anyone affected by the attack. On the former Murrah building soil sit 168 chairs made of glass and bronze, each engraved with the name of an individual victim. The chairs sit in nine rows symbolizing the nine stories of the Murrah building. Nineteen of the chairs are smaller, representing the children. Every chair lights up at night, representing a “beacon of hope” that shines over a reflection pond. The memorial sits between two gates, one stating “9:01,” the other stating “9:03.” A wall is engraved with the names of the survivors, while the rescue workers are recognized with fruit and flower-bearing trees, meant to show the “fruits of their labor.” It is a surreal, somber site that demands contemplation.

The museum opened a year later in the west end of the former Journal Record Building, formerly beside the Murrah building. The building itself was originally built in 1923 and survived the bombing despite severe damage. Dedicated in 2001 by former President George W. Bush, the museum tells the important story through a multitude of interactive mediums. Its 30,000 square feet hold special exhibits, permanent collections, fragments of the destroyed building, and augmented reality storytelling. Everything has been donated – from the victims' personal artifacts to trial documents and everything in between.

“The entire story is remarkable. It is told by the people who were impacted by it, and it is told in their voices, by them. The stories are very powerful, and the artifacts are very powerful,” said Kari Watkins, Executive Director of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. “The Gallery of Honor, where you see all 168 faces of those who were killed, and the artifact that their families chose to represent them is, to me, one of the most powerful places in the museum. The attacks didn’t change Oklahoma City, how we responded to it changed Oklahoma City, and it changed the world. People saw how Oklahomans responded and they looked at how we took care of one another. The national media coined it the Oklahoma standard,” said Watkins. “It was [the] way that neighbors helped neighbors.”

OKC is a city that has a lot to be proud of — on and off Route 66 — but this tradition of caring for one another may be their biggest.

THE GATEWAY TO THE WEST

Situated just south of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, the City of St. Louis signals the “center” of the contiguous United States to many. While not technically true, the Gateway to the West has been its moniker nearly since its founding in 1764. Often an important stop for wagon trails coming out of the east, it was also an important port along the Mississippi River on the way to New Orleans. In the 20th Century, it played another role as the newly designated Route 66 zigzagged its way through the city, heading west to the still somewhat unexplored lands beyond. While there are many landmarks in the St. Louis area along that historic route, nothing is more recognizable than the Gateway Arch.

“Back in the early 1930s, the main civic leader, a man named Luther Ely Smith, started this idea of building a memorial to [Thomas] Jefferson’s vision of westward expansion from coast to coast,” said Pam Sanfilippo, the program manager for Museum Services and Interpretation at Gateway Arch National Park. “He got a lot of local committees involved and took it to Congress, where eventually President Roosevelt signed an executive order creating the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.”

After several setbacks, including the Great Depression, the onset of the second World War, and lawsuits disputing land claims for where the monument would stand, the time and opportunity finally came for the real planning to begin.

“There was no idea what it would look like,” Sanfilippo said. “It wasn’t until 1947 when an international competition was held to come up with the design. Submissions were made from all across the world and the top five were invited to do an expanded version of their piece.”

The winning design was of a catenary arch, submitted by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen. His goal was to highlight St. Louis’s status as the Gateway to the West, and even the other entrants agreed that while their ideas were good, Saarinen’s was better. Many of the other ideas consisted of obelisks or simple buildings with museums, but the open concept of an archway, standing like a doorway opening into the promise of the West, resonated deeply.

Construction on the Arch finally began on February 12, 1963. Due to the nature of a catenary arch, which is supported by the uppermost centerpiece, the legs had to be constructed simultaneously. As one layer of the south leg was completed, the same layer was mirrored on the north leg. Each piece is constructed of reinforced concrete sandwiched between carbon steel and covered with a glistening stainless-steel skin up to the 300-foot mark. The next 323 feet are made of carbon steel. From start to finish, 142 equilateral triangles were welded together to create the Arch, reinforcing its durability.

The final piece of the Arch was installed on October 28, 1965, observed by Vice President Hubert Humphrey and thousands of spectators. The Arch officially opened in the summer of 1967, with a museum dedicated to the history of western expansion. Trams riding to the top of the 630-foottall (it’s also 630 feet wide) monument allowed visitors, on a clear day, to see 30 miles to the west.

The museum served its purpose for nearly 40 years, but by the 2010s it had become outdated with little improvement since its installation.

“Through a public/private partnership called City+Arch+River, we were able to raise funds to redesign not only the museum, but the whole entrance,” said Sanfilippo. “You used to enter at either leg, but now we have a beautiful entry and lobby centered a little further west than the legs of the Arch. It really helped us welcome people better and orient them to where the museum is now, and there’s much more green space that’s a lot quieter, and really connects us with the downtown area.”

The redesigned museum now highlights the stories of Native Americans, explorers, and pioneers throughout the history of St. Louis. The Arch itself stands glimmering on the banks of the mighty Mississippi, overlooking the skyline of one of the oldest cities in the American Midwest.

“It really makes this idea of St. Louis being the Gateway to the West more tangible,” said Sanfilippo. “Seeking better opportunities and heading out west, it really ties it all together for me. With the Arch being part of a lot of these preservation programs, it really makes it a national treasure.”