Tee Pee Restaurant, Historic drive-in restaurant in Indianapolis, United States.
Tee Pee Restaurant is a historic drive-in dining establishment in Indianapolis featuring a distinctive teepee-shaped stucco structure at its center. The building design includes symmetrical side wings and an extended canopy that wraps around the perimeter to shelter patrons.
Albert Ray McComb, his wife Dorothy and Ethel Hughes incorporated Tee Pee, Inc. in July 1932 and opened a summer-only drive-in on leased Indiana State Fairgrounds land at 3820 Fall Creek Boulevard and 38th Street. The teepee-shaped building sat directly on the ground with no indoor seating. It became the Tee Pee Cone Shop in 1936, and in 1939 McComb replaced it with a larger building by architect Maurice Thornton, adding indoor dining and a stuccoed teepee roof; the name Tee Pee Restaurant was adopted in 1940.
The establishment incorporated Native American architectural elements and menu themes, offering signature items like the Big Chief hamburger and fresh-baked pies.
The covered canopy allowed customers to dine comfortably in their vehicles regardless of weather conditions. The daily menu offered food throughout morning, midday, and evening hours for flexible visiting options.
The Tee Pee's name changed officially only in 1940, eight years after opening; before that it appeared in the city directory as "Albert R. McComb restaurant" and then as the Tee Pee Cone Shop from 1936. The original teepee sat directly on the ground and had no indoor seating.
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