Muncie isn’t just home to a super-rare vintage McDonald’s arch. Over on Wheeling Avenue, we’ve still got one of Arby’s classic ten-gallon hat signs standing tall, too. It’s a genuine roadside landmark! Unlike some landmarks, this one backs up its reputation: Arby’s roast beef is delicious.
Arby’s was founded by brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel near Youngstown, Ohio, in 1964. Just three years later, the chain had already made its way to Muncie. The city’s first Arby’s -a $45,000 building that local newspapers hilariously described as a “steak house1”- opened in 19672.
Despite the company’s rapid growth, plenty of people still weren’t quite sure what Arby’s actually was. Was it a burger joint? A restaurant? A steakhouse like the paper suggested, or something else entirely? To clear up the confusion, the company took out a massive newspaper advertisement explaining exactly what customers could expect when they walked through the door.
“An Arby’s is a sandwich unlike any you have ever eaten before. Selected cuts of premium beef are slowly barbecue roasted to a turn. From this your Arby’s is sliced wafer thin for tenderness and flavor, heaped high on an oven-fresh, toasted, buttered sesame bun. Simple as that. Nothing is added but care3.”
I’ve never heard a sandwich referred to as a proper noun quite like that since high school, when my grandpa would stop by the restaurant I worked at and proudly order “a Subway.” Whatever people called them, though, Arby’s caught on fast. Three more locations eventually opened around Muncie. As best as I can tell, though, none of those later restaurants sported the iconic ten-gallon hat sign. The distinction appears to belong solely to the Wheeling Avenue location.
Muncie’s Wheeling Arby’s was expanded from its original chuck-wagon layout to a larger building in 19784. The enlarged restaurant was torn down and replaced by the current stucture in 20085. Through it all, the restaurant’s cowboy hat sign still remains.
I’ve read that fewer than a thousand of these old-school Arby’s signs, which represented the company’s logo from 1964 to 19696, remain today7. That makes Muncie’s example more than just a quirky landmark. It’s a surviving relic from the early days of one of America’s most recognizable fast-food chains! It’s not bad for a sign advertising delicious roast beef sandwiches.
Sources Cited
1 Building Permit Issued for Cafe (1967, September 21). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 26.
2 (See footnote 1).
3 What Is An Arby’s? (1968, August 4). The Muncie Star. p. 25.
4 Roysdon, K. (2008, April 18). Restaurant makeovers planned. The Muncie Star Press. p. 1.
5 (See footnote 4).
6 A.M. (n.d.). The Complete History Of The Arby’s Logo. Hatchwise. Web. Retrieved May 31, 2026.
7 Russell, T. (2025, August 24). Jimmy Rosen had us stop at this classic Arby’s sign. Not for a meal, but to admire this relic—an [Status]. Facebook.
Up until recently, there was an old Arby’s building with the old sign on Keystone Avenue in Indianapolis. Sadly, it closed awhile ago.
I am old enough to remember when someone sliced the roast beef for your sandwich right in front of you.
Oh wow! I hear it comes in a bag now.
It’s already sliced and the location just reheats it? Talk about a step in the wrong direction. And to take JP’s point a little further, the beef was roasted on-site, too.
Many years ago myself and a couple of friends went through an Arby’s drive-thru right at closing time. The workers must not’ve been very happy to see us because the sandwiches contained odd nubbins and trimmings along with the slices. To this day I consider that sandwich to be the best one I’ve ever had.
My 7th grade school bus driver was a practicing vegetarian, but if he was hungry and no good options were available he’d eat an Arby’s. I have no idea why that odd little factoid has stuck with me for all these years, but I also remember that I still owe him a quarter.
Not sure if it’s pre-sliced or not. When I worked at subway in high school 20 years ago, Indiana had a law that meant you had to be 18 or older (maybe 21? Can’t remember) to operate a meat slicer. All of our subway meat came pre sliced. That must have changed, or was never a thing elsewhere, because last time I was in Michigan, the subway I stopped at advertised their meat as being sliced in-store.
I could see the spare-parts sandwich being a win! And that’s great about your bus driver.