Trolley's History

Trolley's Downtown Bar & Grille is owned by Rich Branham, Aaron Buerge, Steve Warlick, and Ryan MacDonald. Below is a brief history of just how it all came to be.

Rich (a sales engineer for Trane Corporation) and Steve (an architect for Bates & Associates, Inc.) bought the three-story building that houses Trolley's Bar and Grille in 1999, for the purpose of renovating the top two floors into luxury loft apartments. With that project completed, the first floor remained vacant for the next two years.

After much thought over a vacant first floor, Rich came up with the idea of putting a small, one thousand square foot restaurant in the east quarter of the first floor.  After all, even with no restaurant experience whatsoever, we were certainly considered restaurant/bar connoisseurs given the time we had spent at other establishments.   Following further discussion, the plan rapidly evolved through four phases of conception, eventually settling on occupying the entire first floor for the restaurant we would call “Trolleys.” Enter Aaron (a banker with First National Bank) who was looking for a loft in the downtown area. As fate would have it, Rich and Steve had a vacancy upstairs and Aaron opted to take the loft.  The three of us quickly became friends and the restaurant conversation perked the interest of the new downtown resident.  After finding out that our banker buddy had waited tables in high school, the realization quickly set in that we indeed had the restaurant expert required to take on such a venture.  The plan was now bulletproof.

Steve was now given the task of developing a concept for a restaurant that would fit into the extensive renovation of Downtown Springfield. Given his knowledge of architecture and the public's fascination with the historical buildings, a 1920’s theme was conceived. The name Trolley's came from the mode of transportation that defined that era. After enough talk of the three-dimensional buildings that would inhabit the space and create an outdoor ambience, we decided to throw in some money for a run to a local home supply store. The materials were purchased and we began hand crafting the environment.

Approximately four months into construction, our banker partner was nominated for and selected as "The Bachelor" on ABC. Work continued as speculation of national exposure entered the minds of all involved.  Assuming you were one of the thirty million viewers of that season’s "The Bachelor", you got a sneak peak of Aaron holding a saw in his hand.  To this day, that image remains dear to the hearts of Rich and Steve left in Springfield to finish the project.

The restaurant opened on Valentine’s Day 2003. Although we were fortunate enough to always have a good crowd from day one, it only took one year for us to the realize that we knew absolutely nothing about the restaurant business.

Enter Ryan MacDonald aka “The General” who was in town from St. Louis and happened to stop in to experience Trolley’s.  His entire post-college career spent in the restaurant industry proved to be the final piece of the puzzle and a sure recipe for success.  We are proud to say we no longer have seven different ways to make a cheese stick as Ryan provides a quality and consistency of food, from steaks to salmon, along with friendly service you are sure to enjoy.  We are proud to present Trolley's Downtown Bar & Grille and we hope you find your experience here nothing short of spectacular.

Rich, Aaron, Ryan, and Steve