About

1910 may not have been the best year to make a cross-country journey for most people; the farther west the journey, the less developed the land. In good weather, a horse-drawn wagon, tumbling across prairies, rivers and rugged terrain, might cover nine miles in a daylong journey from dawn until night, giving travelers plenty of time to reconsider the decision to head west.

A man could expect to live about 48 years in 1910, and even less if he were to risk everything to make a journey across the United States. Few men in 1910 were willing to let the fear of the unknown stand in the way of their dream of a better life for themselves and their families in America.

Oklahoma had only been a state for four years by the time Herman (Henry) Kamp, arrived by train from St. Louis in 1910. Henry, a German immigrant, was on his way to the Pacific Northwest when he stopped in Oklahoma City and decided to stay. He soon contacted his brother William Kamp and told him to join him in the grocery business with a small grocery store in Oklahoma City. The store would eventually be known as Kamp Brothers Grocery at NW 25th and Classen Boulevard.

Throughout the century that followed the Kamp Brothers’ arrival in Oklahoma, the Kamp family name has been woven into the culture of our state. As both the Kamp family and the business grew, Kamp Brothers Grocery became a celebrated Oklahoma City icon with a sterling reputation putting the customer first and offering the finest quality meats, deli, bakery and other products available.

2010 marked the beginning of a new century and a new chapter for the Kamp family. The November 2010 opening of Kamp’s 1910 Café commemorated 100 years of the Kamp Brothers’ legacy of providing exceptional food and unsurpassed customer service in Oklahoma City. Owner Randy Kamp, a third generation Kamp, honors that legacy by sharing the Kamp family’s commitment to value the customer above everything else and to offer the kind of dining experience that reminds customers why the Kamp name has remained the benchmark for an Oklahoma City icon for more than a century.