MIDDLETOWN — In an area with endless choices of fast food and fine cuisine, Tommy’s Diner couldn’t survive.

But the classic 1940s diner, which last fall was put in storage to make way for a Tim Hortons doughnut shop, will depart today for a new life in Oakley, Utah. In a mountain and rodeo community with a population of just 1,200, Tommy’s won’t just be the first diner. It will be Oakley’s one and only restaurant — and the cornerstone of its dreams for a revived downtown, according to its new owner.

No longer will it be called Tommy’s, its new name will pay homage to the state Tommy’s called home for more than half a century.

“It will be called Road Island Diner, because it came from Rhode Island and because it’s on a traffic island,” said Keith Walker, an entrepreneur who bought the vintage diner, with its stainless steel exterior, mahogany trim and original counter equipment. “It will be our main roadside attraction in Oakley. We have no restaurants right now.”

Tommy’s looked sleek, metallic and futuristic — like a luxury rail car — when it was built in 1939. Its first home was Fall River and its name was McDermott’s. Later, it moved here, to East Main Street, where Tommy Boredemos Sr. and his descendants renamed it and ran it for 53 years.

But in May of last year, Peter Krones, Boredemos’s grandson, closed the doors of the diner after agreeing to sell the lot to Tim Hortons. He had worked there as a kid and in recent years bought out his relatives to become the sole owner of the business. But the reconstruction of East Main Road, competition from other eateries and the rising cost of fire safety mandates combined to doom the diner, he said.

Krones donated the building to the American Diner Museum, a Providence-based organization dedicated to preserving diners and diner culture. Last fall, the museum put Tommy’s in storage and put it up for sale for $27,000.

“We had phone calls from Oregon, the Midwest, Texas, Virginia, Louisiana,” said Daniel Zilka, the museum’s executive director. “There was somebody from the Fall River area interested in bringing it back. But that never worked out.

“We preferred to keep it here, but at the same time, people from Oakley put a deposit down and they made the arrangements and paid … It would be hard to refuse that.”

Zilka said he is pleased to hear of the plans to restore the diner.

“We’re pretty excited about it,” he said. “It’s probably going to be the only East Coast diner in the tri-state area of Idaho, Montana and Utah.”

That’s true, said Walker, a former councilman in Oakley. The town anticipates that the restaurant will help draw tourists, including those who come to attend major rodeo events. Oakley, at 6,700 feet above sea level, is also close to national parklands and other outdoor recreational attractions, he said. And it’s just a 15-minute drive from the resort town of Park City.

The plans for Oakley’s new downtown include the diner and some boutiques shops, “like Jackson Hole’s boardwalk,” Walker said. The diner “will be a focal point.”

He said it fits perfectly into the plans to make the downtown “old-fashioned” because “it’s such a unique piece of Americana.” The color scheme of Tommy’s — with its yellow and green enamel exterior paneling — fits into the natural beauty of the region, he noted.

Walker said he expects it will cost about $600,000 to $700,000 to refurbish the diner and erect an out-building for the rear of the diner. He expects the diner to arrive in a week and the doors to the Road Island Diner to open next May or June.

Walker, who runs a home theater electronics business, said he won’t run the diner himself.

“I don’t want to lose money,” he said. “If I break even, fine. If you run it right, it will not be a greasy spoon.”

Walker flew to Rhode Island to see the diner before purchasing it. For an hour and a half he got to inspect it at Mello Construction in Middletown. And he learned how real estate in Rhode Island can make the land beneath a vintage diner such as Tommy’s more valuable than the structure and the business itself.

“It’s just too bad that diners there aren’t appreciated as I know this one will be,” he said. “Fortunately for us, it didn’t work out for you guys.”

rsalit@projo.com