Gone :(
A Route 66 classic, Ernie Edwards' Pig-Hip Restaurant began serving yummy barbeque sandwiches in 1937. What started as a tiny three-table cafe started by a twenty year-old Ernie eventually turned into busy restaurant, filling station, and even a motel. Teeny Broadwell went from a dot on the map to a real stop on Route 66!
After 66 was bypassed by the interstate (not really far away, either), Broadwell quickly slipped into nothingness. The filling station and motel eventually closed, as did all of the remaining businesses in the town, the last of them shuttering in the early 80s. Only the Pig-Hip remained, and that until Ernie & his wife retired in 1991. The Edwards' turned the Pig-Hip into a Route 66 museum in 2003. Rumor has it that Ernie would talk folks' ears off when they popped in, but no one seems to have minded. Sadly, the Pig-Hip burned almost to the ground early one morning in 2007; it wasn't long before the destruction was blamed on an electrical problem.
Today, all that remains is an empty spot where the Pig-Hip used to be, with only its signs and the motel to mark its life. The last business in Broadwell was not only closed, but has completely disappeared except in the memories of those who've been there, and the minds of those who wished they could have stopped in.
Gone :(
A Route 66 classic, Ernie Edwards' Pig-Hip Restaurant began serving yummy barbeque sandwiches in 1937. What started as a tiny three-table cafe started by a twenty year-old Ernie eventually turned into busy restaurant, filling station, and even a motel. Teeny Broadwell went from a dot on the map to a real stop on Route 66!
After 66 was bypassed by the interstate (not really far away, either), Broadwell quickly slipped into nothingness. The filling station and motel eventually closed, as did all of the remaining businesses in the town, the last of them shuttering in the early 80s. Only the Pig-Hip remained, and that until Ernie & his wife retired in 1991. The Edwards' turned the Pig-Hip into a Route 66 museum in 2003. Rumor has it that Ernie would talk folks' ears off when they popped in, but no one seems to have minded. Sadly, the Pig-Hip burned almost to the ground early one morning in 2007; it wasn't long before the destruction was blamed on an electrical problem.
Today, all that remains is an empty spot where the Pig-Hip used to be, with only its signs and the motel to mark its life. The last business in Broadwell was not only closed, but has completely disappeared except in the memories of those who've been there, and the minds of those who wished they could have stopped in.