Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company


The Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was a manufacturer of roadside diners from 1917 to 1952. The company produced some 2,000 of the long, narrow, primarily metal buildings, perhaps more than any other firm. Prefabricated in a factory and trucked to their locations, the diners resemble and are often confused with actual railroad rolling stock. The company's motto was "In our line, we lead the world".

History

Jerry O'Mahony of Bayonne, New Jersey, is credited by some to have made the first "diner". In 1912, the first lunch wagon built by Jerry and Daniel O'Mahoney and John Hanf was bought for $800 by restaurant entrepreneur Michael Griffin and operated at Transfer Station in Hudson County, New Jersey. The wagon helped spark New Jersey's golden age of diner manufacturing, which in turn made the state the diner capital of the world.
The Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, produced some 2,000 diners from 1917 to 1952.

Existing examples

United States

Overseas examples include:
At least 26 pre-war Streamline Moderne-style O'Mahony diners still exist. These include the smaller 50' × 10' Mickey's Diner serial number 1067 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, which is one of several listed on the National Register of Historic Places; the 40' × 16' Collin's Diner serial number 1103 in North Canaan, Connecticut; and the 1938 Summit Diner in Summit, N.J. The Road Island Diner was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service on August 21, 2009.