Beckie’s Café, in Union Creek, Ore., is a popular stop for visitors going or returning from Crater Lake on Oregon Route 62.
Edmond and Nettie Beckelhymer, relocating to Southern Oregon from Imperial, Calif., established a restaurant in 1926 at Union Creek on the road to Crater Lake. Ed Beckelhymer, nicknamed “Beckie,” was an auto mechanic and built a service station next door to the restaurant. His wife, Nettie, cooked at what became known as “Beckie’s Place.”
When Nettie died in 1934, at age 55, Beckelhymer married Cecil Nichols, who was originally from Nebraska. She took over at the restaurant and soon was famous for her huckleberry pies. A fire destroyed the building in 1937, but it was rebuilt by the following year. Beckelhymer died in 1943, but Cecil stayed in Union Creek as the cook at Beckie’s for another two decades. In her mid-70s, Cecil moved to Portland to live with her sister Bessie.
In the 1920s, Beckie’s Cafe competed with the Union Creek Resort directly across State Route. 62, but later the two businesses merged under one permit from the U.S. Forest Service.
Today, Beckie’s Café is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and it is still known for its berry pies.
Sources: "Beckie's Cafe." Union Creek Resort. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. http://www.unioncreekoregon.com/about/; LaLande, Jeff. "From Abbot Butte to Zimmerman Burn: A Geographic-Names History and Gazetter of the Rogue River National Forest." Southern Oregon Digital Archives. Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, Feb. 2007. Web. 19 Aug. 2014; United States Federal Census. 1900 and 1930.
