The history of the Roslyn Cafe is tied indelibly with the generous Owens family of Cle Elum, Washington, the owners of Owens Meats, renowned regionally and nationally for their fine selection of meats and seasonings. According to one account, the family had several shops in Roslyn during the turn of the 19th century and came to occupy the present day Roslyn Cafe building after a fire destroyed their earlier enterprises in the summer of 1888, when the core of Roslyn’s downtown district burnt to the ground. Another theory holds that members of the Owen's family actually built the structure (as the corner stone of the cafe reads 'Owenbrough - 1896', an unusual coincidence). Purported to have been designed by an Italian architect, the ochre colored sandstone used in its construction was quarried locally.

The building of such a substantive edifice helped to give weight to a growing sense of community and stability in Roslyn, a town that was run by the Northern Pacific Coal Company under the auspices of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, who leased the lands from the Northwest territorial government. Several buildings are still marked in Roslyn with the Northwestern Mining Company logo, another division of the NPRCo. A deep seam of coal had been discovered in the early 1880’s, and subsequently was mined out of the Roslyn hills by a unique, multicultural workforce. The coal was then shipped to Tacoma and Seattle over the then new Snoqualmie rail line. In the late 1920’s Roslyn was the largest town east of the Cascades, bustling with commercial interests and over 4,000 inhabitants.

Although the history of the tenants of this building is at best sketchy, for a great many years the building was owned by a gentleman named Frank Musso (pictured here in his world WWI uniform). He then sold the building and the land around it to Mary Andler. Her ‘freezer shop’ was in business during the 1960’s and 1970’s, selling ice-cream, hamburgers and sundries. While Mary and her husband Joe never had children of their own, they loved kids, and sponsored dances every Friday night in what was the Masonic Hall of Roslyn, now the Post Office building. Mary began the Roslyn museum (which adjoins the cafe) and eventually donated that land and the lots next to it to the city. The Roslyn Museum carries a wealth of photography and information about the town’s history while housing numerous artifacts from the coal mining days.

Today the Roslyn Cafe is owned by Bret and Theresa Alexander, who have kept in touch with local resident Kim McJury, the creator of the original Roslyn Cafe and its famous mural. During the 70's, Kim's easy-going nature was the spirit behind a new vision of the venue as a bohemian cafe and local gathering place. To this day she is well remembered and the Alexander's are indebted to her and her daughter Andrea (who is head of the cafe's wait staff) for all they've done both in the past and in the present. A modernized cafe re-opened its doors to the public after a complete remodel in the spring of 2004 with new decor and a new menu reflecting more modern tastes, while still paying homage to the legacy and charm of this lovely and historic structure.