The restored Owl Night Lunch wagon in Greenfield Village.

The Henry Ford’s Owl Night Lunch wagon is thought to be the last remaining horse-drawn lunch wagon in America. During the early years of this century, the Owl served food to nighttime workers in downtown Detroit. It showed up on the street at 6:00 p.m. and stayed open until daylight, attracting such diverse clientele as reporters, politicians, policemen, factory workers, and supposedly even underworld characters! Among its customers was Henry Ford, who patronized this eatery as a young engineer working at Edison Illuminating Company during the 1890s.

In 1927, Ford acquired the Owl and moved it to Greenfield Village, where it served as the first food service operation. The Owl was restored in 1983.

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