116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids’ Lighthouse restaurant a ‘total loss’ after Wednesday morning fire
Iowa’s oldest supper club opened in 1912
CEDAR RAPIDS — The Lighthouse Inn Supper Club, a local institution that’s welcomed diners to its location along Mount Vernon Road in rural southeast Cedar Rapids for 112 years, was destroyed by fire early Wednesday morning.
Crews were called to the restaurant, 6905 Mount Vernon Rd. SE, at about 5:15 a.m. Wednesday by a passerby who saw smoke and flames coming from the roof and called 911, according to a news release from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office.
Upon arrival, deputies could see flames through the roof and reported that the fire was “spreading fast through the structure.” Cedar Rapids Fire responded with trucks and equipment from four stations.
No one was in the building at the time of the fire. The damage was limited to the restaurant, which is a total loss, according to the release.
Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner said the state fire marshal completed his on-site investigation Wednesday afternoon. While the cause of the fire has not yet been announced, Gardner said the fire marshal determined the fire was not suspicious.
Mount Vernon Road was temporarily closed between Dows Road and Wanatee Creek Road Wednesday morning. It reopened to traffic just before noon.
Iowa’s oldest supper club
The Lighthouse Inn is the oldest supper club in Iowa and called itself the second-oldest continuously operated restaurant in Iowa.
When it opened in 1912, the Lighthouse was in the country on a rutted, farm-to-market road. Eventually, Mount Vernon Road became part of the Lincoln Highway, which opened for travel in 1913, becoming the first paved highway across the country.
Cabins behind the restaurant could be rented, and the Lighthouse Inn’s location made it an attractive stop for Chicago gangsters. It’s rumored John Dillinger and Al Capone were Lighthouse patrons. A mobster-themed event last month celebrated the restaurant’s 112th anniversary.
Supper clubs, once ubiquitous across the state, have become rare, with only about 10 to 15 remaining in Iowa. The restaurants are known for their classic drinks and food that includes prime rib, filet mignon, baked cod and shrimp, served in a cozy sit-down environment.
The Lighthouse Inn nearly caught fire in 1964 when the former Wendy Oaks Supper Club, 35 feet across the road, was destroyed by fire.
The Gazette reported at the time the blaze “leveled the building and caused an estimated $70,000 damage. At one time, the fire nearly jumped the roadway separating it from the neighboring Lighthouse supper club, threatening that building, too. At one point heat and sparks from the fire caused the roof of the Lighthouse to begin smoking in spite of the wall of water being poured on it by firemen.“
Another supper club, The Lark Supper Club and Lounge, in Tiffin, was destroyed by fire in December 2000. That fire reportedly started in the kitchen. The cause was determined to be accidental.
The Lighthouse Inn’s current owner, Steve McAtee, bought the Lighthouse in 2016, after working there for more than a decade. He told The Gazette earlier this year that it was important for him to keep the Lighthouse Inn’s legacy going.
“I get a lot of people that say, ‘Oh, this place needs updated’ and all this, but it’s history.” McAtee said. “It’s not something that if you update … it’s going to have the same vibe or the same customers that want to come out every year.”
Attempts to reach McAtee on Wednesday were not successful.
‘There aren’t places like that anymore’
For years, the Lighthouse has been known for its live jazz on weekends.
Craig Dove, 71, of Cedar Rapids, has been making music “for years” at the Lighthouse, often playing bass with other pianists and small ensembles, and, for about the past three years, singing and playing piano full-time on Friday and Saturday nights as a solo act with invited guests. He and vocalist Nina Swanson performed there Saturday night.
“It was a great night. We had a great crowd,” said Dove, a retired physician and multi-instrumentalist. “It’s melancholy to think that was the last time that we were there. But it was a great night, so we have that for memories.”
With so many regulars and “semi-regulars” in attendance week after week, Dove likened it to television’s “Cheers,” where “everybody knows your name.” He knew them by name, and also enjoyed seeing people who came in for birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions.
“It was so unique,” he said. “There aren't places like that anymore. They’re very far and few between. You have to go to a big city like Chicago or New York or L.A. to find a true piano bar anymore. There’s no piano bars left in the area — that was it — and having an elegant place to play.”
People were always fascinated to see the inner workings of the glass-top grand piano as Dove played. They would sit around the piano bar, requesting songs from his repertoire of mostly American standards and pop tunes, and make “very generous” donations in the tip jar.
“It was a treasure we had here, right in our backyard all these decades,” Dove said. “And the great musicians that had played there over the decades — too many to count, but many, many great musicians.”
The Gazette’s Bailey Cichon, Trish Mehaffey and Diana Nollen contributed to this report.
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