



Our Story
When Dorothy “Dee” Smith and Pat Clay established their partnership, Route 66 still wound through Springfield’s bustling downtown, Elvis had just joined the Army, and most local folks had never tasted pizza. Seeing an opportunity, the two friends decided to introduce the Italian staple to the Queen City, banking on their St. Louis-style recipe to make it succeed. And it worked! Opening the original Pizza House at Glenstone and Bennett in October 1958, their delicious thin-crust pies were an immediate hit.
Five decades later, a change in landlords resulted in the loss of their longtime home. Stacey Schneider, who first worked at Pizza House when she was 15, was into her fifth year as the restaurant’s manager. “We were planning a Golden Anniversary celebration when the eviction notice came,” Stacey recalls. “Pat had left the partnership years earlier, and after 50 years, Dee said it was time to let it go. I said no way. It’d been too good a thing for too long and we couldn’t let all our customers down, so I took it over.”
A new location was found at 312 East Commercial Street, and just 20 days after the last day of business at the original site, the restaurant was back in operation. A loyal customer base and ever-increasing number of new converts soon made Pizza House an anchor in the economic renaissance of the C-Street Historic District. In 2014, when demand for additional seating led to expansion into an adjoining property, Schneider bought both 125-year-old buildings. “It was the perfect move for us,” she affirms.
Now, with over six decades of continuous operation, Pizza House has achieved iconic status as a Springfield culinary tradition, and it all started with a simple recipe that hasn’t changed in over 63 years: still proudly rolling out the same baked-to-order, hand-tossed, micro-thin crusts topped with fresh ingredients that keep people coming back year after year, generation after generation.
“Over and over again, people have told me ours is the best pizza they’ve ever had,” Schneider says. “The tradition of generations of families coming in, along with being able to enjoy the reactions of new customers, is what keeps us going. I feel blessed and proud to have such a great career doing what I love, and being a part of peoples’ lives. I’ve always said this was meant for me, and I was meant for it. This is not my restaurant; this is our customers’ restaurant. It puts a smile on my face every day.” And, we hope, on yours, too.