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Grill gone after 67 years
Opened in 1940 The Grill, formerly known as The Alabama Grill and before that The Rose Inn, opened for business in 1940 as a service station with a cafe. Back then it was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Chester Mathers. They then sold it to Willie Earl McGilberry in the mid-1940s. McGilberry changed the name to The Alabama Grill. He sold it to Albert Lambert, who expanded the eating area, continued to sell gas and added living quarters to the back of the building. There were several other owners after that including Mrs. R. A. Irons and nephew John Echols, Ellis Little, Cecil Pruitt, Herbert Slade and a Mr. Webster. Sims bought in 1962 A. L. "Red" Sims bought the restaurant in 1962. Sims tore down the original building, which was about 75 feet north of the present building, and built a new restaurant in 1973. "I told Red I sure was glad he moved that building so people could see mine," laughed Laverne Mott, who owned a radio and television shop lo- cated behind the restaurant and knows the history of the place well.
The property owner, Charlie Gaston, has sold the land. The building will be torn down to make way for a Walgreens drugstore to locate there. "We bought the restaurant Jan. 1, 2002. We shut it down for 10 days to renovate and when we opened back up we had the barbecue meat smoker. It was Valentine's Day 2002 and it was a memorable experience. Troy and I had never been in the restaurant business and people were lined up to get in. They parked across the highway, at the gas stations across the highway. I will never forget it," Wells said. Name shortened to The Grill The name of the restaurant was shortened to The Grill by Wells and Stabler. Wells, who is a pharmacist at Rite Aid and Stabler, who is a construction contractor, got into the business to help a friend. "I had a guy I was trying to help. I asked him what he wanted to do and he said he wanted to do barbecue. Troy was building my house for me at that time and I asked him about the building. The guy I was trying to help couldn't go in as a partner at the time and Troy asked if I wanted it. We allowed the other guy to manage it, but he left after four months," Wells said.
For awhile Wells was coming in
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