The Lighthouse Inn, a century-old supper club and Cedar Rapids landmark, was destroyed by a fire on Wednesday morning. According to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, shortly after 5 a.m., a 911 caller reported seeing “smoke and flame coming from the roof” of the Lighthouse. Deputies along with Cedar Rapids firefighters were dispatched to the supper club at 6905 Mount Vernon Rd SE.
“Upon arrival of Deputies the roof was showing flames and was spreading fast throughout the building,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Cedar Rapids Fire responded with trucks and equipment from 4 stations for this incident. There were no occupants in the building at the time of the fire and damage was limited to the restaurant which will be considered a total loss.”
The supper club had been closed on Tuesday.
“I’m not feeling good today and I really do not want to pass anything on to my customers or my staff,” owner Steve McAtee explained in a Facebook post on Tuesday morning.
McAtee has owned the Lighthouse Inn since 2016, and had worked at the supper club for two decades before buying the iconic Cedar Rapids restaurant.
The Lighthouse Inn first opened its doors in 1912. Its Mount Vernon Road location was a rural setting then — not just away from the faster pace of one of Iowa’s biggest cities, but also outside Cedar Rapids taxing jurisdiction, which meant guests overnighting in one of the Lighthouse’s cabins didn’t have to pay the city’s hotel tax.
The year after the Lighthouse opened, the Lincoln Highway Association was launched with the mission of creating “a continuous improved highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, open to lawful traffic of all description without toll charges.”
The Lincoln Highway, one of the first transcontinental routes in North America designed for automobiles, ran from New York to California. It crossed Iowa starting at Clinton in the east and continuing until it crossed the Missouri River near Blair, Nebraska. Mount Vernon Road was incorporated into the route, later renamed U.S. 30, ensuring a steady stream of visitors to the nautically-themed inn. Those visitors proved to be a solid customer base for the inn’s supper club.
The Lighthouse’s business boomed during Prohibition, attracting not just travelers but also Linn County locals looking for a good meal accompanied by something stronger than coffee to drink. The Lighthouse also attracted some of the more notorious figures of the era.
Both Al Capone and John Dillinger were reportedly among the inn’s guests. According to local lore, one night the supper club got a hole in one of its walls when a gun Dillinger was carrying accidently went off as he was eating dinner. The wall was repaired, and the gangsters, like the guest cabins, eventually disappeared. But the supper club continued to thrive.
In its 2018 Bread and Butter dining guide, Little Village noted that “much of the menu has remained the same for years” at the Lighthouse.
“Diners know exactly what to expect down to the regularly scheduled jazz combos to the ‘fall-off-the-bone’ BBQ ribs. This restaurant is proof that it’s not necessary to follow the hottest food trends of the year to be a restaurant people frequent. A friendly staff and reliably good food and drinks go a long way.”
The Lighthouse celebrated 112 years in business in July. It was the oldest restaurant in Linn County, and was believed to be the second-oldest continually operated restaurant in all of Iowa.
The cause of Wednesday morning’s fire has not yet been determined.
