The Kegs Drive-In

The Kegs is a drive-in built as barrels, a building that shows what it sells. It opened in 1935 as The Barrel, founded by Harry Muzzy, who according to the Grand Forks Herald in 2011 ran several barrel-shaped root beer and hamburger stands across the Midwest. A second keg and a connecting building were added in 1946, after the Wadena, Minnesota, drive-in closed to make way for a gas station. The Herald reported that after a similar stand in Devils Lake closed in 1984 the Grand Forks restaurant was the last of its kind in the region. Minnesota State University-Moorhead historian Steve Hoffbeck, who helped write the nomination, called it "roadside architecture at its finest" and an example of programmatic architecture. The 2011 article also noted that a remodel about five years earlier had replaced the orange bamboo covering on the kegs, which had begun to rot. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. It stands at 901 N. Fifth St., on North Fifth Street, where the Herald says it has been since 1946. In July 2026 the Herald reported the restaurant had been sold to new owners who took over on 14 July. It had been running limited hours, only in summer, and the buyers were considering longer hours and six days a week. The Herald lists burgers, onion rings and milkshakes. As a seasonal business, check before a late-year visit.