The Brand Restaurant and Dinner House, a landmark in Redmond since Bob Blair opened it in downtown Redmond 46 years ago, closed last week. Owner Kim Britt, battling her own health problems, decided to put it up for sale.

The restaurant, known for its beef and cattleman’s pot roast, had passed through a number of owners since Blair changed the name of his downtown Redmond restaurant, the Tumble Inn. But Blair left an indelible mark, collecting 2,000 brands from ranches across Eastern Oregon and beyond for the restaurant.

Blair, who was an energetic booster of Redmond, began by inviting customers who owned ranches to bring in their brands. He had a number of eight-inch pine squares cut and, after heating the brand over a gas burner, seared the insignia into the wood. He would then sand and varnish the plaques.

But the process was slow, and Blair enlisted the help of a Burns athletic coach and his team, and paid a group of Pendleton cowgirls to help him collect more brands.

Some of the brands were historically significant. He had the ”P” for PeteFrench, and the ”ZX” for the Chewaucan Land Company. He borrowed Meriwether Lewis’ brand, which was found along the lower Columbia in 1894, from the Oregon Historical Society and burned a plaque in 1959.

Blair built a new restaurant at its present location on Highway 97 south of Redmond in 1963. He sold the restaurant to Wallace Johnson and Darrell Davis in 1969. Jim and Vallerie Robinson of Sisters bought the restaurant in 1978.

In 1988, Rod and Theda Britt bought the Brand and made it part of their family.

Theda Britt was a reluctant restaurant owner, she said, because she had been raised in the business. But a motto suggested by a friend – ”serving you with roadhouse hospitality” – helped.

”I thought, I can do that,’ so I made it like my home,” she said, noting the restaurant was open seven days a week, 365 days a year. ”I might as well enjoy serving these people.”

The business took off immediately, she said. And there were a few tough days early on. She remembers ”Black Sunday.” Two weeks after they opened they walked into a packed house when they came to work after church. The staff spent the whole day behind the curve.

”I walked in and it was filled,” she said. ”We ran out of food, we ran out of everything.” Friends and family served coffee, and Britt called in a few extra hands.

When Rod Britt died in 2000, they kept the restaurant going and in 2002, Kim Britt took over. Theda moved back to the Pendleton area.

Britt hopes to sell quickly. She is offering the restaurant and land for $595,000.

”It’s as good a buy as you’re going to get anywhere,” she said.