The Owners

The owners of the Blue Moon Cafe are John Robert and Helen Zant Adcock.

Helen is a native Midlander. Her great grandparents came to Midland in 1895 and were a large ranching family.

John’s great grandmother, Sarah Mahan Wall, came to De Leon when the Indians were still around. John was born and raised in De Leon, and left in 1943 to go into the U. S. Army Air Corps. After the end of World War II, he returned to De Leon for a brief time, and then moved to Midland to go into the dry cleaning business, Adcock’s Ideal Cleaners, which has just celebrated its Fiftieth Year in Business, and which he still owns.

While in Midland, John he met and married Helen. They moved to De Leon in 1998 to enjoy a well deserved retirement and to be near John’s relatives. They bought several pieces of property in De Leon and established a water vending company and a storage unit facility. John then decided to run for the City Council and was elected in May 1999. After one year on the Council, he ran for Mayor and was elected (He has since been re-elected and is in his first year of his second term). They then found that the Higginbotham building (built in 1892) was to be put up for auction, and purchased it in June of 2000.

The decision to put in a first class restaurant in that building is a little hazy to both of them, but they began renovations in July of 2000, expecting to open by Christmas. Actual opening date was July 26, 2001. After more than a year of renovations (which included the installation of an elevator) and restoration, the cafe had it’s Grand Opening the week before the August Peach and Melon Festival and has been in operation since then, drawing customers from an area bounded by Austin, Dallas, Abilene and Wichita Falls.

When the Adcocks bought the building, it was in a pretty bad way, with holes in floors and ceilings, windows missing and a sheet of corrugated iron over the front (a modernization done in the 1950s). It had a dropped ceiling on the main floor and nothing in the way of plumbing, airconditioning, wiring or any modern conveniences. The roof leaked. Bats flew in and out. The ceiling on the main floor (above the dropped one) was beaded ceiling which looks good but leaks dust and is not ideal for food service.

The floor sloped three inches from the front to the back, and when the wooden floor was taken out in the kitchen area to put in a concrete floor, the reason for the slope became obvious. The area under the floor had a sizeable amount of (empty) old whiskey bottles. There were also some tree stumps -- the trees having just been cut off and the stumps left where they were. Unfortunately, with the exception of an Indian head penny and a buffalo nickel, there were no gold bars or other treasures. The building itself is treasure enough.

When John and Helen took possession and saw just how bad the general condition was, she cried, and he said, "Oh, it won’t be so bad. All you have to do is make it look good."

That he is still living and is largely uninjured is proof of a good and enduring marriage.

Helen is General Manager, Events Coordinator, cook, bottle washer and general dogsbody. John is Boss and Public Relations Coordinator. Translated, this means that Helen does all the work and John gets all the glory. This seems to suit them both pretty well. At least, they’re still together and working happily. Previously, they have both worked in business in Midland and ranched together for 15 years. No restaurant experience was in their background but a lot has got into it since they started the Blue Moon Cafe.

They agree that small town living suits them very well. The town seems to agree that they have provided a good boost to the economy in general, as well as a gathering place for friends. The motto "Good Friends, Good Food, Good Fun" is appropriate for the Adcocks' attitude.

They like what they’re doing and it shows.

The Blue Moon Cafe • 100 N. Texas • DeLeon, Texas 76444 • (254) 893-2455

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