Former New York City, Fall River, and Middletown diner now in Utah and is in the National Register of Historic Places

A diner that spent decades in the Fall River area has had an interesting past. Historic even.

According to the National Register of Historic Places, “O’Mahony Dining Car #1107 was manufactured by the Jeny O’Mahony Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1939.

“Dining Car #1107 is a one-story steel frame monitor-roof model in the Streamlined Moderne style. The diner car was designed as a moveable building type and #1107 was custom-built for its first location: the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. After the fair, the dining car was purchased and moved to Fall River, Massachusetts, where it was known as McDermott’s Diner.

“Alterations during its time in Fall River included installation of a roof-top blade sign, building a one-story annex in the rear, and the covering of the clerestory glazing (circa 1940s). After fourteen years, McDermott replaced the dining car with a newer model.

“The O’Mahony was sold and moved to Middletown, Rhode Island, where it operated as Tommy’s Deluxe Diner between 1953 and 2006. During its time in Middletown, the dining car was moved once, one-hundred yards to the south, where a 20-by-40-foot concrete block and frame addition was constructed in the rear. As Tommy’s Deluxe Diner, the building experienced half-a-century of wear and tear, but relatively few major modifications.
Alterations during this time included the removal of the McDermott sign (circa 1953), replacement of the booths and some kitchen equipment (circa 1970s), installation of newer roof materials and replacement of a door and the windows (2005).

“In 2006, the current owner, Keith Walker, purchased the dining car and had it transported to Oakley, Utah, and placed it on a new foundation at the crossroads of the two main thoroughfares through the town. The dining car is oriented toward the intersection of the highways. During 2007, the dining car underwent a complete rehabilitation that refurbished all surviving original materials and furnishings. Missing and/or damaged elements were replicated using historic photographs and other extant O’Mahony dining cars as references. An
annex was built on the rear with minimal visual impact on the 1939 building.

“In 2008, the O’Mahony Dining Car #1107 re-opened as the Road Island Diner providing typical American diner cuisine. The relocation of the dining car and construction of the annex addition are consistent with the history of dining cars and diners as a movable property type in general, and with the history of the O’Mahony #1107 dining car in particular.”

The diner’s name has since been changed to the Oakley Diner.

Considered as the Cadillac of diner companies at the time, the Jeny O’Mahony Company built about 2,000 diners from 1917 to 1941 with less than a handful still in operation.

The New York City, Fall River, Middletown, and Oakley diner was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.