Miller's Steak House

From HistoryWiki

Miller's Steak House, 7011 N. Western Avenue

This restaurant was originally known as Bill Simmons Steak House.

According to family member James Miller, at the end of World War II, Harvey Miller, who owned a commercial HVAC company called Murphy & Miller, Inc. installed one of the first available air conditioning units in the restaurant, but Mr. Simmons defaulted on the bill. After some discussion, Mr. Miller took over the restaurant to make good on the debt. In the 1950's, the family added another location, naming it Miller's on Ridge, to accommodate a growing business.

At its peak, the restaurant served over a ton of barbecued baby back ribs each week. An early innovation was to offer full carry-out meals in a box, and in the 1950's, customers at their winter homes in Florida and Arizona started ordering freezer boxes of cooked ribs, steak and roast beef, delivered by plane.

The Ridge location closed and was demolished in the 1970's. In the late 1970's, the Western Avenue location was sold to the restaurant manager, Ruth DeWald, but the restaurant was ruined when sprinkler pipes froze one cold January, then flooded and ruined the building, which was demolished in 1993.

In the late 1970's/early 1980's, The Miller family operated Miller's at 33 W. Kinzie, now the site of Harry Caray's Italian Steak House.

Meanwhile, Murphy and Miller, Inc., continues in operation as a family business, with offices at 600 W. Taylor Street and in Elk Grove Village.

Photos

RPWRHS photo S013-0802, Miller's Steak House, 7011 N. Western Avenue, September 1973.

RPWRHS photo S013-0803, Miller's Steak House, 7011 N. Western Avenue, September 1973.

RPWRHS photo S013-2207, Miller's Steak House, 7011 N. Western Avenue, Tuesday, July 6, 1993.

RPWRHS photo S013-2211, Miller's Steak House 7011 N. Western Avenue, being torn down, Tuesday, July 6, 1993.

RPWRHS photo S013-2212, Miller's Steak House 7011 N. Western Avenue, north of Fair Muffler Shop, Tuesday, July 6, 1993.

RPWRHS photo S013-2213, Scrap dump truck behind Miller's Steak House7011 N. Western Avenue, Tuesday, July 6, 1993.