A Hidden Gem for Sure!

After our son’s belated birthday celebration and our grandson’s high school graduation we headed home across Missouri on US Hwy. 36.  When it was time for lunch, we stopped in the town of Macon where we’d found a possible ‘winner’ on Laurie’s cell phone. 

This is downtown Macon Missouri, the County Seat of Macon County.  As you can see, it’s a pretty peaceful place.  Although it looks like much wasn’t going on, the town has a population of about 5,350, not too far off it’s high in 1980 of 5,680. 

The town was laid out in 1856.  The county seat used to be the town of Bloomington…and it no longer exists.  During the Civil War the residents of Bloomington were mostly southern sympathizers and that raised the ire of General Lewis Merrell, the commander of the Federal post at Macon.  There was talk of burning Bloomington down but at the suggestion of Major Thomas Moody, the then county seat was destroyed more slowly and humanely.  The County Seat was moved to Macon…and Bloomington spiraled into permanent decline and extinction! 

Macon’s Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks chapter #999 at 212 Rollins Street was established in 1905 and this large 3-story building was constructed in 1922.  The building offers dining, dancing and pool tables.  There is a service bar used for special events such as weddings, receptions and fund raisers.  The top level is used for lodge meetings and there is an exercise room for members use.  The lodge’s website and history can be found at https://www.elks.org/lodges/home.cfm?LodgeNumber=999.  

Factoid:

·       Macon is known as the “City of Maples”.  The city received its nickname because in 1872 a local resident donated 10,000 maple trees to the city as a settlement for back taxes he owed that totaled $116.00.  Today the city is home to 275,000 maple trees…

The earliest post office in Macon operated out of a hotel back in 1857.  Following the Civil War, the post office occupied several sites.  This big post office at 218 North Rollins Street was opened in 1912.  It has since been replaced by a new structure.  From what I could determine, it’s now occupied by local businesses and possible serves as a residence too…

Factoid:

·       Those of us of a certain age fondly remember a TV series that debuted on CBS in 1964.  Patrick Lilley (b. 1953), one of the stars of this show, was born in Macon Missouri.  He was better known by his stage name “Butch Patrick”.  He was that little monster, Eddie Munster.  Later Patrick recalled that although he had plenty of experience at the time he auditioned, he may have gotten the role because of his bad teeth.  As he said, his teeth were so bad that the fangs were actually his and when he closed his mouth, they still stuck out.  He was shorter than most other kids too.  Another little factoid about Patrick…in 2016 he married Leila Murray in Macon Missouri.

But hey…we really stopped in Macon for lunch so how did that go?

This was our luncheon destination…the Apple Basket Café.  It is located directly across the street from the Elks Lodge.

It was a bit after lunch on a Monday but this place was busy!  Note the line of people paying their bills.  The ‘feel’ of the Apple Basket defines what a small town country restaurant should look like.  The staff all appeared to be ‘tenured’ and everybody knew everybody.

The dining area is more than double the size indicated in the top photo.  In addition, if you look through those curtains there is another room, in this instance populated by a group of ladies.

Since we still had a long drive ahead of us, we didn’t want to eat a monumental meal.  We stuck to a couple of juicy burgers.  They were made with lean ground beef, hand formed into patties and served on a grilled bun (key fact!) and served with lettuce, tomato, pickle and onions.

Depending on toppings and whether or not it is a 4 oz. burger or an 8 oz. burger, prices range from $5.00 to $8.50.  Most sides are another $1.25.  The menu is huge and the price is right!  A basic 2 egg breakfast with bacon, ham or sausage and a biscuit, toast or English muffin with hash brown potatoes is $7.00!  Coffee with refills is a bargain at $1.25…

The Apple Basket Café has a head cook and another person who is in charge of pies…perhaps all desserts.  We love fruit dumplings and pies.  I also noted that sometimes they offer Biscuit Bread Pudding to their patrons.  We were determined to skip dessert…mostly so I wouldn’t fall asleep at the wheel from carb overload!

However, our friendly and very persuasive waitress convinced us that we should try something because it was all so good!  So we shared that lovely slice of coconut pie.  Yum!  The good news is that I managed to stay awake the rest of the day…

The food was very good, the atmosphere was relaxing, folks were friendly and the prices are right!  We will return either coming or going on our next trip to Omaha. 

The Apple Basket Café is located at 215 North Rollins Street in Macon Missouri.  They are open from 6:30 AM until 8:00 PM Monday through Saturday and from 7:30 AM until 2:00 PM on Sundays.  Phone: 660-395-7015.  They are on Facebook.  You can check out their expansive menu at https://www.facebook.com/ashleysapplebasketcafe/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave