The Phillips family spent a year deciding what they could do together to help bring their dream of revitalizing the tiny town of Puxico to fruition, according to Steve Phillips, partial owner of the town’s brand new destination location, The Midway.
Steve and his wife, Nikki, along with their daughter Danielle and son-in-law, Aaron, and son Matt and daughter-in-law, Dorothy, have partnered to create a home for four new businesses, including an old-fashioned mercantile. A sort opening of the Midway is planned for March 9.
“Our ultimate goal is to try to revitalize the community, the downtown community of Puxico,” said Phillips.
The Midway, located on East Richardson, is one of the town’s oldest standing buildings, rich with history and character. Built in 1920, by Dr. Levi Burris, the once three-story building was consumed by a fire in 1925 and rebuilt as a two-story building in 1926, according to Phillips.
“I’m glad we bought the building because it was in disrepair. It needed a lot of love so it’s given life back to something that’s been here,” said Phillips.
The building has been home to many things throughout the decades including a phone company, a barber shop, an IGA grocery store, Mel’s Diner and April’s Country Kitchen. According to Phillips, there were also apartments upstairs that hadn’t been utilized since sometime in the seventies.
The Midway will now be home to an old-fashioned mercantile store, Midway Mercantile; a coffee shop and bakery; a restaurant called The Spoon and Spout; a sports lounge called The Goat Pen; and The Custard Coop ice cream shop.
“It’s kind of neat to see it go full circle,” said Phillips. “Nikki dug out the history and she found that Dr. Burris was an ice cream connoisseur, that was his go to. He actually built an ice cream garden across the street next to the motel and that was where he had his evening ice cream. He even had special chairs made that had a holder for his sundae cup.”
The Custard Coop, which will offer its own unique proprietary blend of custard, features a mascot named Chaos, the family’s English springer spaniel.
“She’s been my buddy for a long time,” said Phillips, who went on to say they lost Chaos unexpectedly in December. “We love our pets just like most people do, so we’ll have dog treats for your pet too when you bring your pet for a walk.”
One goal of the business, according to Phillips, is to bring back some family-style tradition by offering pass-around meals on Sundays.
“We will bring it to your table for you to pass around like we did when I was a kid, just simple fried chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans, all the fixins, but at your table,” he said.
The restaurant will feature specialty entrees on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
“To keep it fresh, the chefs are choosing, this week might be seafood week, so it would be fresh seafood, never frozen and they’ll prepare a special menu for those evenings, and then our traditional menu, hamburgers and things will still be available,” said Phillips.
The Goat Pen, located upstairs in the Midway, is a sports lounge.
“They will have TVs for special sporting events, special activities, UFC fighting nights, live music and the availability to all the (restaurant) foods as well. If the kitchen closes on the restaurant side, they would still have food service, just a limited menu,” he said.
The Midway also offers event rooms upstairs for rental which are donned with hanging chandeliers and fully restored original wood floors.
“What we wanted to do is give a destination for people to come and enjoy the simpler things of life and take a step back in history,” said Phillips. “So the decor in the building is going to be regional history that you can learn about our region, Puxico and the areas around. We’ve tried to keep it as original as possible and give the modern-day amenities that we’re all spoiled to, but still try to keep that local history.”
The Midway is expected to have a soft opening March 9, but they are already booking events and serving food at the Spoon and Spout. The mercantile store is available to customers also. For more information, check them out on Facebook www.facebook.com/TheMidwayPuxico.