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Item Name
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Kleer-Vu Lunchroom
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Creator
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Jason Ritter
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Lede
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Generations of country cooking
Access Information - The lunchroom sits on the corner on the corner of S. Highland Ave. and E Sevier St. Current hours are 11:00 am- 6:00pm tues -thurs
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Story-Subject
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The building standing at 226 S. Highland Ave., on the corner of E. Sevier St., has not always been the Kleer-Vu Lunchroom. Wilhelmenia Patterson acquired the building as a grocery store in the late 1960s. The lunchroom itself began in a rear storage room a few years later, only serving around a dozen people at a time. Wilhelmenia eventually passed the business on to her daughter, Rebecca Patton. After taking ownership, Rebecca let go of the grocery business and transformed the entire place into a restaurant.
By the late 1980s Kleer-Vu Lunchroom was serving an average of 100-125 customers per hour between 11am and 2pm. Along with tremendous popularity, the restaurant has been the recipient of several awards. Among their honors, Rebecca Patton received “Woman-Owned Firm of the Year” as part of Minority Enterprise Development Week in 1991. Even as recent as 2020, Tennessee Magazine listed Kleer-Vu as the best “Home/Country Cooking” restaurant in Middle Tennessee. Patton and her beloved lunchroom also had the honor of serving the author of "Roots", Alex Haley, in 1989.
Today, Kleer-Vu Lunchroom remains operating six days a week, serving fantastic meat and three style meals for over fifty years in the heart of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
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Subtitle
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A Lineage of Local Fare
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Source
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File #28: “Historical Kleer-Vu.jpg”
Rutherford County Archives and GIS Department.Historic Property survey, "226 S. Highland St." Rutherford County Archives. 1980. https://rcgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=b0481352a43442de87bc2080d0f166c6. Accessed on November 30, 2021.
File #29: “Kleer-Vu 2010.jpg”
Rutherford County Archives and GIS Department.Historic Property survey, "226 S. Highland St. 2010." Rutherford County Archives. 1980. https://rcgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=b0481352a43442de87bc2080d0f166c6. Accessed on November 30, 2021.
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Official Website of historic site/monument
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https://www.facebook.com/Kleer-Vu-Lunchroom-106971791048710/
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Related Resources
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DeGennaro, Nancy. “Nine area restaurants that might be older than you.” Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, TN), Aug. 11, 2021. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2561028405/3DDFD8AA670A4A17PQ/1?accountid=4886 Accessed on November 12, 2021.
Hoover, Kathy. “Being A Southern Means Eating Like One.” Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, TN), Feb 10, 1988.
Lockhart, Kelley. “Kleer-Vu, Patton to Claim Minority Enterprise Honor.” Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, TN), Sep 29, 1991.
“New Business Licenses Listed.” Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, TN), Nov 11, 1984.
TTM Editorial Staff. “Best of Tennessee 2020.” Art. Tennessee Magazine. December 2020. https://www.tnmagazine.org/best-of-tennessee-2020/?fbclid=IwAR3_xJQzpSYyPx04rv819LmfHybn70iCMvDhmxJcXerz-UGzM_OopwObxb8. Accessed on November 12, 2021.
Weiler, Patsy B. “Yum! Kleer-Vu is Just Like Sunday Dinner at Grandma’s.” Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, TN), April 27, 1997.
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Bibliographic Citation
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Jason Ritter, “Kleer-Vu Lunchroom,” Momentous Murfreesboro , accessed September 11, 2025, https://momentous-murfreesboro.mtsu.edu/admin/items/show/12.
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Title/Location
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Kleer-Vu Lunchroom
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Address
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226 S. Highland Ave. Murfreesboro, TN 37130
