Clara's on the River, the restaurant that has occupied Battle Creek's landmark 1888 train depot for more than three decades, will close its doors next Sunday, serving its final brunch. Co-owner Ross Simpson thanked the community in a farewell message, writing that “it has truly been our privilege to serve you” and adding, “Thank you for decades of support!!!”
The restaurant, located at 44 McCamly St., transformed the historic Michigan Central Railroad Depot into a dining destination when it opened in 1992, according to MLive. Restaurateurs Peter Jubeck and Ross Simpson bought the vacant depot in 1989 and officially opened Clara's on the River on June 8 of that year, per Wikipedia. The restaurant celebrated its 25th anniversary in June 2017, and its closure will end decades of operation inside one of Battle Creek's most recognizable historic buildings, the outlet notes.
Rising Costs Squeeze a Beloved Landmark
MLive's reporting states that Clara's on the River faces continued high food and energy costs, along with increased competition from national chains. The restaurant also could not afford maintenance expenses for the building's 35-year-old HVAC system, according to the same report.
Those pressures echo national trends. National Restaurant Association data from 2026 shows wholesale food costs remained more than 35% above pre-pandemic levels, a squeeze that put roughly 15% of U.S. restaurants at risk of closure, according to WBAP. Full-service casual dining spots like Clara's faced higher closure risk than fast-food operations, the report adds. Separately, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that the Consumer Price Index for food away from home rose 3.4% year-over-year through July 2026, following a 4.1% increase across 2025 — inflation that has consistently outpaced grocery prices over the same stretch.
A Depot With Deep Civic Roots
The Michigan Central Railroad Depot, built in 1888, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the building features Lake Superior red sandstone masonry and a clock tower with timepieces replicated to match their appearance from more than a century ago.
The depot supported Battle Creek's growing transportation needs and the U.S. Army training center at Fort Custer, and it served as a departure point for soldiers heading overseas during both World War I and World War II. Thousands of people gathered there in 1936 to hear Republican presidential candidate Alf Landon, and famous visitors over the decades included inventor Thomas Edison and President William Howard Taft, who delivered a speech at the site on September 21, 1911, alongside Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and C.W. Post, according to 95.3 The Ticket.
Regular passenger service ended in 1982 when Amtrak moved operations five blocks south to a consolidated facility, leaving the depot vacant for seven years, per Great American Stations. Before restaurateurs stepped in, the Junior Women's League, Friends of the Depot, and the City of Battle Creek all worked to prevent the building's demolition, the MLive report notes.
Original Details Preserved Inside
Even as a restaurant, the depot retained pieces of its railroad past. The building includes restored white oak ceilings and red oak wainscoting, original Bradley Hubbard brass lanterns, and a fireplace room where passengers once waited for trains, per MLive's account.
The space also houses railroad memorabilia in the former ticket agent's office, artifacts from the Kellogg Company, and a display case holding some of the first cereal boxes printed in Battle Creek. Over the years, Clara's became known locally for its extensive 17-page menu of classic American comfort food and a riverfront patio overlooking the Kalamazoo River that hosted live summer evening jazz performances, according to Pure Michigan.
A Familiar Pattern for the Clara's Brand
Clara's on the River was created as a sister establishment to Clara's Lansing Station, which operated inside Lansing's historic 1903 Union Depot from 1978 until closing on June 26, 2016, according to 99.1 WFMK. After that closure, the Gillespie Group redeveloped the Lansing depot, reopening it in September 2022 as Michigan's first Starbucks Community Store while preserving its original 1903 quarter-sawn oak interior features.
Whether Battle Creek's depot follows a similar adaptive-reuse path remains an open question. The city was awarded a $50,000 Certified Local Government grant in 2025 from the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office to draft comprehensive historic preservation design guidelines, a framework that could shape decisions about the depot's next chapter, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
The closure adds to a string of long-running Battle Creek institutions facing turnover. Hoodline previously reported on the Bailey Park Thriftway fire, another multi-decade community fixture lost within the past year, while the city has also seen new chain development and state-backed revitalization dollars flow toward long-vacant sites nearby.
