30-71088 - Montgomery Inn 50’ Modern Box Car

The family-owned company began on November 1, 1951, when founder Ted Gregory took over McCabe's Inn in Montgomery, Ohio, then a country town on the edge of metro Cincinnati that was just beginning to grow rapidly. At first, the restaurant, renamed Montgomery Inn, was better known as a place to drink than eat, as the restaurant side of the operation was leased out, and the food served there was less than stellar. Gregory's wife Matula would cook his meals at home and send them to her husband at the inn, usually with some extra to feed any of his friends that stopped by. One day she prepared barbecued ribs with a homemade sauce, and the dish caught on with friends.

Soon after, the Gregory's and their four children took over the restaurant and began serving ribs full-time. A local journalist dubbed Gregory "The Ribs King," a nickname that stayed with Gregory for the rest of his life. The former stagecoach stop on Montgomery Road attracted some famous customers, including entertainer Bob Hope (a longtime fan and the Inn's best-known booster), and five U.S. Presidents: Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Other famous diners include several Cincinnati Reds baseball legends, Sparky Anderson, Joe Nuxhall, Pete Rose, Ken Griffey Jr., and Johnny Bench, along with former Reds owner Marge Schott, who was a prominent patron; actors Tom Selleck and Elizabeth Taylor; singers Elton John and Britney Spears; astronauts Neil Armstrong and John Glenn; tennis player Andre Agassi; baseball players Mark McGwire and John Franco (among many other Major League players who make the Inn a regular stop during their season); National Hockey League coach Scotty Bowman. The company claims that singer Rosemary Clooney, a native of the Cincinnati area, served Montgomery Inn ribs at her wedding.

In 1989, a second location, Montgomery Inn at the Boathouse, was added in downtown Cincinnati on the banks of the Ohio River. 

Montgomery Inn began to sell its barbecue sauce in bottles in 1990, and the ribs themselves soon after. Both are regularly available at supermarkets within a 300-mile radius of Cincinnati, and elsewhere via mail order since 1994.