Fire crews received the call at 8:19 Saturday morning.
A 3-alarm fire was engulfing Jimmy John's, a landmark restaurant on Route 202 in Chadds Ford that was supposed to celebrate its 70th anniversary in business today.
"From what we believe, we've been told, possibly a propane tank exploded. We're still investigating that," Chief Tom Nelling of the Concordville Fire Department said.
As many as 20 fire companies from around the area fought the smoky fire at Jimmy John's, known to generations as the place to go for hot dogs and for the toy trains that ran around the dining room delighting children.
"Everybody knew where Jimmy John's was; everybody ate at Jimmy John's. You wanted a true milkshake made with ice cream, you go to Jimmy John's," Chadds Ford resident Mary Mundth said.
"The food and the atmospehere. The trains were awesome. The only place you could put 25-cents in a vending machine and get something out of it," Terri Brown of Unionville said.
No one was injured, but when the fire was finally out, firefighters helped Jimmy John's employees try to salvage trains, signs, photos and other memorabilia, including a burned picture of the original Jimmy John's, taken in the 1940s when the place started as a roadside shack.
"We're trying to salvage as much history as we can today and hopefully, we can bring it back and with the public's support, we can do it stronger than ever," Jimmy John's owner, Roger Steward, said.
Some lifelong customers were brought to tears while they looked at the damage to the restaurant. Jimmy John's has been such a big part of so many people's lives that to many, seeing it in ruins hurts.
"This is so iconic. This is where I went every week with my grandparents for 40 years. It's sad," Kirsten Teissier of Glen Mills said.
In addition to saving keepsakes from the restaurant, Jimmy John's employees could also be seen retrieving money and coins from blackened cash registers hauled out of the building.
How soon owner Roger Stewart will be able to rebuild is unclear, but when he does, his loyal customers will be waiting.
"You just want to sit here and actually cry because it's unbelievable. You grow up going to a restaurant and now it's gone," Patrick Brown of Unionville said.