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He built restaurant, now he tears it down Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Burger King owner John Rachor took the controls and knocked a big chunk off his own building early Monday morning. Built in 1977, the Big Y restaurant is being torn down to make way for new road construction. Burger King at Big Y comes down, with owner�s help By Paul Fattig The man operating the rumbling heavy equipment that took the first bite out of the old Burger King restaurant during demolition early Monday had no appetite for its destruction. But John Rachor, along with his wife, Susan, had opened the fast-food restaurant as young franchise owners at the site known as the Big Y in Medford on Sept. 7, 1977. If it had to come down, he wanted to be the one to strike the first blow, his wife explained. The construction crew acquiesced, since Rachor, with a bachelor�s degree in diesel engineering, is an old hand at operating heavy equipment. "We were there from the very beginning 23 years ago," she said of the Big Y site. "He had even hammered a few nails. We put everything we had into it, hoping to make it work as a young couple just starting out. "We were a little bit sentimental about this," she added. "We were disappointed to see it go. It was more than just a building for us. It was a beginning." Removing the restaurant paves the way for rerouting traffic often congested at the intersection of Table Rock Road, Crater Lake Highway and North Pacific Highway, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation. When the $16 million project is completed, a traditional four-way intersection will be installed. Although construction on the new roads isn�t expected to begin until this spring, the prep work called for removing the Burger King along with the nearby Rogue Valley Exxon service station and car wash by Oct. 20. The Burger King, which closed Sept. 10, has reopened at a site off Crater Lake Highway near Delta Waters Road. The Rachors now have 11 Burger Kings in Southern Oregon, from Canyonville to Klamath Falls as well as throughout the Rogue Valley. But the Big Y restaurant was their sentimental favorite. "John did just about everything, from opening to closing," she recalled. "He was the manager, a crew person. "He did it all," she added. "When he was too exhausted to continue, he would come home and I�d take over for him." Both hailing from the Myrtle Creek area, the Rachors had two young children at the time they started what was the first Burger King franchise in Southern Oregon. "People thought we had lost our minds," she said. "There wasn�t a lot built up around us. The Rogue Valley Mall hadn�t been built yet. It was a real gamble. We had sold everything we had to open it." But the restaurant was a financial success for the Rachors, now married for 32 years. "It was time for that restaurant to be remodeled but it will be hard to replace that location," she said. "That was always one of our best restaurants." When the staff was preparing to move from the old facility to the new site, a longtime employee found the Rachors� original business license issued in 1977. "We�re going to frame it and hang it at our new restaurant," she said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.