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f/8 and Be There
Fred Lynch

Remember Wimpy's?

Posted Thursday, September 24, 2009, at 5:10 PM

Remember Wimpy's Drive-In?

This photograph was taken June 22, 1968.

It shows Wimpy's located at the northeast corner of Kingshighway and Cape Rock Drive in Cape Girardeau.

What looks like a flashing red light hangs over the intersection across from Arena Park. Cape Rock Drive looks under construction.

Frank Lewis, who died in 2007, operated the restaurant/grocery store with his brothers. He started working there in 1947, five years after it opened.

According to a news story in the Southeast Missourian April 20, 2007, Wimpy's was the place to be in the 1950s and 1960s.

Freeman Lewis said people would drive to Wimpy's on a Saturday night, then down Broadway, then back to Wimpy's.

With Cape Girardeau growing, the Lewises decided to sell the land of the family business when Farmers and Merchants Bank was interested in buying property in 1973. It remains a bank today with a branch of First Missouri State Bank at the site.

Bill Lewis moved Wimpy's to South Kingshighway, where the business switched to serving breakfast and lunch only, until he closed the doors for good in 1997.

Comments

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  • Do you remember U-High? At my job we got a newbie and he moved here from Oklahoma,he said tho he grew up in Cape, i said yeah, guess you went to Central and he said where else and i said well i went to U-High and he said never heard of it and i said BOY I AM REALLY OLD! LOL

    -- Posted by yellowrose on Thu, Sep 24, 2009, at 9:47 PM
  • We hung out at Wimpy's, spent out money enjoying the company of our friends. They hired a rent a cop who watched how long we hung there. After so long we would be asked to leave. Many of us left and never came back. Wasn't long they closed not realizing how much business the drove away.

    -- Posted by huffhuff on Fri, Sep 25, 2009, at 6:40 AM
  • I went to wimpy's on when it moved to the Kingshighwa location. I was 10-12 years old and remember it as a cool plae to grab a quick bite!

    -- Posted by Happy2BHere on Fri, Sep 25, 2009, at 9:58 AM
  • i miss wimpy's...

    -- Posted by TommyStix on Fri, Sep 25, 2009, at 12:16 PM
  • I loved Wimpy burgers. The history of the restaurant shows us why there are too many banks in Cape Girardeau and not enough good hamburger joints.

    -- Posted by beinggreen on Mon, Sep 28, 2009, at 9:21 AM
  • Good grief! Everybody knew about U-High! As student teachers, we all tried to get assigned there, but few made it.

    -- Posted by goat lady on Tue, Dec 8, 2009, at 7:11 PM
  • I did my student teaching at University High School in 1972.

    -- Posted by Rocket_Surgeon on Tue, Apr 13, 2010, at 9:10 AM
  • Here's what Wimpy's looked like in 1966, 1967 and 2009.

    http://www.capecentralhigh.com/cape-photos/wimpys-in-1966-1967-and-2009/

    That might have been my dad's construction equipment working on that intersection. He had a contract to widen the road along there about that time.

    -- Posted by ksteinhoff on Thu, Jun 10, 2010, at 3:12 PM
  • Going to Wimpy's was a Saturday family gathering spot when I was young, fast forward to the Kingshighway location for cruising and dating in my teen years. Nothing could beat their food, except for the Blue Hole BBQ....now that was BBQ at its best.

    -- Posted by GoneHunt'nAgain on Sat, Feb 16, 2013, at 4:26 PM
  • I loved Wimpy's! Everyone drove up and down Broadway, (looking for guys/girls), circling Phister's, ending the oddessey at Wimpy's, repeating the trip as many times each evening as each were allowed to have use of the family car. Everyone who was anyone knew the route and enthustically honked, waved and if they were lucky got to stop and converse with the other participant, the object of their quest. Ray,64(classmate at Notre Dame)and his brother, Herman Wiedefeld, 63 were long employees.

    -- Posted by capejoyce on Mon, Feb 18, 2013, at 6:26 PM