Beloved Downstate Restaurant Green Gables Destroyed In Fire

HUDSON, IL — Locals are mourning a beloved downstate restaurant after Green Gables Bar & Grill was destroyed Monday in a fire.

Known for “the best smash burgers known to man,” according to its website, the Hudson eatery has been in the same family for three generations, owner Amy Tague said in an interview on WJBC’s Scott Miller Show.

“The grief is setting in,” she said in the interview Tuesday. “It’s a horrible loss. It’s kind of like we lost my grandparentsa all over again. That was our last little bit of them that we kept going.”

Tague’s grandparents purchased the McClean County business in 1952, when it was a gas station and convenience store, she said. Her grandfather turned it into a grocery store and added a grill, according to Tague, and eventually it became primarily a restaurant.

“My family is just absolutely devastated,” she told Miller. “It’s pretty much a total loss.”

The blaze began in the restaurant’s back compressor room, according to Tague, although she said she’s not sure what started the fire. Despite their tireless efforts, firefighters were no match for the combination of high winds and old wood, she said. When reached Tuesday, the Hudson Community Fire Protection District declined to provide information about the incident.

Tague told Miller she is unsure if the family will rebuild Green Gables, although they hope to do so. In a Facebook post Tuesday, the restaurant warned supporters not to donate to any existing GoFundMe efforts, as the business had yet to start such a fundraiser.

Residents also took to social media to commemmorate the iconic establishment.

“I’ve been going there since time began,” Kate Malone said in a comment on the restaurant’s Facebook page. “It’s a must have when I come back to Illinois and got my husband hooked.”

Others recalled meeting a spouse at the eatery or dining there with family members who are no longer living.

“My heart goes out to the Gables family and owners today,” said Krystal Johnson, in response to a Facebook callout from radio station B104. “Thankful for all the memories it has given me all these years.”