By Stephen D. Bowling

For more than fifty years, the TeePee Burger building served travelers from across the region with gasoline and good food. Located on Highway 15 South near the foot of “Alpine Hill,” the business was an icon and an essential stop for late-night eaters and truck drivers throughout much of its existence.

Tommy B. Howard and Paul George Burton announced the construction of a new service station on Highway 15 South near the mouth of Miller’s Branch in October 1967. The new structure, they announced, would be built on land owned by James Stephen “Penny” Hogg and located “just beyond the new Robo Carwash.” 

Howard and Burton planned to build a dairy bar with “indoor seating and service” and a drive-in restaurant to complement their Texaco-branded gas station. Trucks hauled dirt to divert Miller’s Branch, and in the fall of 1968, crews started the foundation for the new building. Community members referred to the place at the new service station because no name had been decided for the business.

In fact, the business did not have a name. Howard and Burton decided the best way to name the new business would be to have a contest and allow nominations from the public. They announced the contest in a special ad in The Jackson Times on October 17, 1968. The partners advised the public that a “county-wide” contest would be looking for the “lucky person who selects the best name for this new business. Start Thinking!”   

The final details of the naming contest were announced on October 24. The contest rules required anyone who wished to make a name suggestion to write it on a postcard and deliver or mail it to Tommy Howard before November 15. The winner, chosen by Howard and Burton, would receive a $25 Defense Bond. 

The construction was near completion when the last name suggestions were rolled in by the United States mail. The community submitted more than 1,800 entries. After a few days of consideration, Howard and Burton announced the business’s new name would be the “TeePee.” According to the advertisement in The Jackson Times, the name was suggested by John D. Bach, a fourth grader at LBJ Elementary, who developed the name by taking the “Tee” for Tommy and the “Pee” for Paul. At last, the new business had a name.

In its final form, the building offered 32 seats for dining, Texaco gasoline, and a wide variety of food, including hamburgers, short orders, french fries, Dairy Whip Ice Cream, hotdogs, and coffee. Patrons could also earn Top Value Stamps for every gas and oil purchase. The business also offered fresh-made Hole In-One donuts and “other family-friendly menu items.”

Howard and Burton announced the TeePee’s Grand Opening would be celebrated on April 3, 1969. Howard and Burton embraced the concept of the teepee and created a Native American mascot for the new business. 

“The Chief” endorsed the TeePee’s menu, especially the namesake TeePee Burger. The burger, which sold for 45 cents each, featured a “double-decker on a bun, and we make our own hamburger…NO frozen meat.” The Chief also promoted the chicken, oyster, and shrimp boxes sold by the new owners. The TeePee also planned breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus and promised twenty-four-hour service.  

Huge crowds showed up for the grand opening on April 3 and nearly overwhelmed the cooks and the waitresses, Loma Clemons and Lillian Callahan. The crowds continued to pour into the restaurant and the TeePee ran out of several items on the menu. Out front, long lines of cars and trucks waited their turn at the gas pumps to get gas at the special “first-day price” of 50.9 cents per gallon for diesel and 57.9 cents for regular.

The popularity of the new eatery continued over the next few months. Tommy and Paul invited patrons to “fill up your car, fill up yourself” with some of our “deelishus TeePee Burgers.” The burgers became the staple meal, and customers from Breathitt County and many points south flocked to the diner to eat the famous burger. The new sign installed out front advertised the TeePee Burger, steaks, seafood, shakes, and fried chicken offered inside.

Regulars started to spend hours at the TeePee’s counter telling stories and discussing the day’s political news. One resident noted with a smile that “most of the world’s problems had been solved at the TeePee but then were washed away by the strength of the coffee.” 

By the middle of 1976, “TeePee Tommy” Howard purchased Paul Burton’s interest in the restaurant and owned the restaurant outright. Encouraged by the popularity of the business and the daily political discussion, Howard filed for the 1977 Democrat Party nominee for Breathitt County Sheriff. The result of the May 1977 Democratic Primary was not as successful for Howard as his restaurant had been, with Elliott Herald winning over Howard and eight other candidates. Howard continued to run the TeePee.

At 2:45 p.m. on Friday, June 23, 1978, a fire broke out in Howard’s apartment upstairs over the restaurant. The blaze moved quickly through his residence and destroyed most of his belongings. The Jackson Fire Department responded to the scene and quickly extinguished the blaze. Chief James Burnett told The Jackson Times that the restaurant received water damage but closed only long enough to clean up. Howard remodeled and upgraded the upstairs while the restaurant continued to sell TeePee Burgers downstairs.

A small building was added in 1980, and a new business was located on the TeePee property. Debbie Porter and Gertie Evanoff opened the TeePee Cut and Curl Beauty Shop, offering the “finest hairstyle you have ever had.” Their grand opening celebration offered all customers 20% off perms and free coffee.

On May 25, 1981, a disagreement broke out between two men in the parking lot of the TeePee. A 30-year-old Clayhole man pulled his pistol and shot Henry Clay Hudson once in the side of the head. Hudson, 23, died two days later at the University of Kentucky Hospital. The reputation of the TeePee suffered because of the shooting, and business slowed.

On November 15, 1982, former State Representative and decorated World War II Veteran Thomas B. Howard, Jr., owner of the TeePee, died at 56. His wife, Cleta Howard, daughter, Pattie, and son, Jack B. Howard, inherited the business. Over the next few years, a series of lessees operated the TeePee with varied success. 

By the first of March 1983, the building and its reputation got a facelift. Jesse and Martha Jackson took over the operation of the TeePee and continued to serve the famous hamburgers. New paint and fixtures spruced up the place. The TeePee had new hours, too. They no longer operated the diner twenty-four hours and set the hours from 4:30 a.m. until midnight. The hardest aspect to change was the rough image the business had gained, but they also worked to change the culture. 

“We want this to be a family restaurant as well as a fast-food restaurant,” Jesse Jackson told The Jackson Times. He told customers that the Jacksons “feel eating should be a pleasant experience in pleasant surroundings.” The Jacksons worked hard to change the restaurant’s image in the community. “They are all welcome as long as they’re good boys,” Jackson said. “We don’t want any trouble.”

There was no more trouble from “bad boys,” but customers also stayed away. By August 2, 1984, the business was under new management and had returned to its 24-hour service. The new managers offered various gimmicks to attract customers, including television raffles, more Top Value Stamps, and multiple drawings.

On August 7, 1985, Joe Harrell, the District Supervisor for the Greyhound Bus Lines, visited Jackson, looking for a business to host the Jackson station. Harrell noted that the Greyhound Station in Jackson at Elmo’s Diner had closed in 1984, but a new station was needed. Mayor Frankie Noble took Harrell around Jackson to several businesses, including the Old Country Inn and the TeePee. 

Several months later, Greyhound announced that the TeePee would host the Jackson Greyhound Station beginning on December 25, 1985. The station remained at the TeePee until May 1988, when it moved to a small building beside Paul Brewer Motors.

Business continued to decline at the Tee Pee as other fast-food restaurants opened in the community. McDonald’s, Hardees, Long John Silver’s, Wendy’s, and others took many customers from the business. The new business operators looked for other means of making a profit.

On April 1, 1991, the Kentucky State Police and the Jackson Police Department came knocking. In a sweeping city-wide raid, more than 15 law enforcement officials confiscated twenty-three illegal video poker gambling machines, including five they hauled out of the TeePee. Six individuals were charged with promoting gambling in the first degree. The TeePee closed later in 1991 for several months but was reborn the following year with new operators.

Jewell (Harvey) and her husband, Carmen Pardo, leased the TeePee and remodeled the building. The couple reopened the Jackson landmark in August 1992. They brought to the TeePee more than 28 years of restaurant experience. The couple announced that the business was all new with “new owners, new menu, new atmosphere, new cooks, new specialties, and new equipment.” 

The Pardos specialized in the Chicago-Italian Beef Sandwich and the Kentucky Hot Brown, which were widely enjoyed by diners. They also offered delivery within the city limits. The new sandwich and the delivery offer were not enough, and by November 1992, the TeePee was again offered for lease.

A series of lessees operated the TeePee in the following years. In April 1994, the state police came calling again. An undercover investigation discovered more gambling machines in two Jackson businesses. Another collection of video poker machines, three this time, was taken from the TeePee, and one female was arrested for promoting or permitting gambling.

On April 21, 1995, former TeePee owner Paul G. Burton, 53, of Louisville, died. Although he successfully operated a paving company in Louisville, his obituary still listed his ownership of the TeePee Burger and, later, the Family Diner as two of his greatest accomplishments. He was buried in the Bethany Cemetery in Louisville.

The TeePee experienced another opportunity for success as a restaurant when Larry and Perlina Fugate leased the business to open their culinary offerings. 

The TeePee received a new name, and Perlina’s Restaurant opened on June 28, 1996, offering home-cooked meals, including soup beans and cornbread, sauerkraut and hot dogs, and banana pudding daily. The new operators cleaned the building and repainted the exterior, removing the TeePee lettering on the sides. The restaurant did not operate long before it closed.

In 1997, Jane Hogg and the heirs of James “Penny” Hogg sold the TeePee building and the property to Patricia A. Howard, Tommy Howard’s daughter. 

On March 7, 2005, a new business opened in Jackson and found a home in the small addition on the side of the TeePee. Cash Express opened its doors, offering “pay-day loans” and other financial services. Their business grew quickly, and they soon relocated to the main building where they operated for several years.

Patricia Howard sold the property, including .739 acres and the old Tee Pee Building, on February 16, 2018, to John Lester and Marilyn Smith. On Saturday, May 4, 2019, the structure was used by several local fire department members for training. In the day-long exercises, crews set and extinguished fires throughout the building. Late in the afternoon, they “let it go,” and the structure was razed in a controlled burn. By Sunday morning, the once proud and busy TeePee was nothing but ashes.

For fifty-one years, the building on Highway 15 South that housed the TeePee Burger and Gas Station was a Breathitt County landmark. All that remains of the TeePee Burger today are an empty lot, old photos, and memories of a unique eatery once located on Alpine Hill in Jackson. 

---

© 2024 Stephen D. Bowling