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ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Saloons
Taverns
WATERTOWN: “SECOND CITY” IN
WISCONSIN,
PLANK ROAD BONANZA FOR
LOCAL TAVERNS
“After the
completion of the plank road, Watertown,
early a place of promise, became the second city in the State and a bonanza for
taverns; their story, however, has been well told in local histories. People and produce from the country to the
west and north for many miles PASSED THROUGH WATERTOWN TO MILWAUKEE, and land
seekers made it their headquarters. J.
B. Van Alstine, for years the popular landlord of the
Exchange, declared that he thought business dull in those palmy days unless he
had a hundred guests and as many horses to care for. Two of the old taverns are still running [in
1915], the Watertown House, now the Commercial, and the Buena Vista, which was
opened in February, 1848, by Capt. Henry Bogel, a
veteran of the Mexican War. During the
regime of William Wiggenhorn and his son, Eugene, the Buena Vista was the
rendezvous of German revolutionist refugees, among them Carl Schurz and Emil Rothe, while on Sundays German services were held in its
hall.”
Derived from “The
Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin” by J. H. A. Lacher,
1915. Contracts for construction of the
road were let in October of 1848.
Click to enlarge
1864
Common Council
Proceedings. All licenses for taverns,
saloons, groceries, and for the sale of strong, spirituous, ardent or
intoxicating drinks or liquors, and all other licenses, except for exhibition,
shall be issued for one year and shall expire on the first Monday of May in
each year; except in special cases, the Common Council may issue the same for a
fractional portion of a year, to expire on the same day. WD
1891
05 06 USE
OF LIQUOR LICENSE FEES
. . . proposed for cedar block pavement
About sixty-two
licenses to sell liquor will be issued by the city this year. This brings into the treasury the sum of
$12,400. An estimate on the cost of
block pavements shows that this money would pave about ten blocks in
length. Counting about twenty-two blocks
from the St. Paul depot to the Northwestern depot, the license money for as
little as two years would give a cedar block pavement from depot to depot. This would be a first-class outlay of the
money. WR
Cross reference note: There were instances around the country where cedar blocks were cut from the bodies of small trees in six-inch lengths, the bark and sapwood trimmed off and the blocks set on end. Set on end upon a gravel bed, the interstices between the blocks were tamped with gravel and sand, making a wood roadway six inches in depth.
A BONANZA FOR TAVERNS
After the completion of the plank road, Watertown, early a place of promise, became the second city in the state and a bonanza for taverns; their story, however, has been well told in local histories. People and produce from the country to the west and north for many miles passed through Watertown to Milwaukee and land seekers made it their headquarters. J .B. Van Alstine, for years the popular landlord of the Exchange, declared that he thought business dull in those palmy days unless he had a hundred guests and as many horses to care for. Two of the old taverns are still running, the Watertown House, now the Commercial and the Buena Vista, which was opened in February, 1848, by Capt. Henry Bogel, a veteran of the Mexican War. During the regime of William Wiggenhorn and his son, Eugene, the Buena Vista was the rendezvous of German revolutionist refugees among them, Carl Schurz and Emil Bothe, while on Sundays German services were held in its hall
Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 10 22 1914, pg 148.
08 01 BARTENDERS A BIT ROWDY
Considerable
Disorder, Several Scuffles
Yesterday, the Bartenders Local No. 694, Watertown, held their annual outing at the Sauerkraut club.
By 5 o’clock in the morning the commissary department was beginning to assemble, and at 6 promptly the flag went up on the pole of the dining hall. A few minutes later Art Gehrke with his assistants were in sight atop of the refreshment wagon. Gracefully alighting from the wagon Art Glaser dove onto the wash boiler full of fried chicken and attempted to hide one of the fowls for his own personal use, but was discovered in the attempt by Henry McGowan, who lectured severely on honesty being the best policy, and was later ducked in the river in token of appreciation.
There was considerable disorder on the start, and several scuffles, but the arrival of Jack Evans, special officer of the day, put a stop to all foolishness. Evans, clad in a uniform made in New York specially to fit his shape, was a terror to evil doers, and if a fierce glance failed to do the business, the officer would pull his six-shooter and club and charge. This usually fixed em.
The arrival of the orchestra was the signal for music, and Pat Diekoff mounted the roof of the ice house and sang an appropriate song to the fish in the river. As no one disputed the fact that “many brave hearts were asleep in the deep,” he was allowed to finish. Henry Lange also warbled a few as he operated on the accordion. Later on, most of the crowd took a hand at the music, and for a time it was thought that the water of the Rock river might start running the other way. T
The noon-time dinner was something to be long remembered, and full justice was done to the fried chicken, mashed potatoes and all the rest of the splendid eats.
About 2 p.m. arrived there on the scene Denninger the photographer, who with marvelous dexterity lined up the bunch and had them look at the little birds while he immortalized them on the film. As the day wore on, games were in order and some champion horse-shoe pitchers were developed, and some records broken.
A number of prominent citizens dropped in during the day, among them being Mayor Mulherger who had his picture “took” with the rest.
1932
02 20 WATERTOWN WINE CELLAR NIPPED IN RAID
4000 Gallons of Liquor
Destroyed by U.S. Officers.
John Francis Kehoe, proprietor of Watertown's most famous wine cellar was under arrest today while 3000 gallons of his choicest product floated down the Rock River. Federal agents raided the basement of Kehoe's white frame house on the south side of town (believed to be 1309 River Drive (formerly Nashotah)) last night and found two dozen 50-gallon barrels of wine in one room and 17 more 50-gallon barrels in another room. They poured it into a sewer which flows into the Rock River and took the generous Kehoe to Madison for arraignment.
The wine cellar was a favorite stopping off place for persons driving between Milwaukee and Madison and the generosity of its proprietor was almost overwhelming. Customers drank all the wine they wanted while sitting in the cellar or talking with the host. It made no difference whether they stayed one hour or 3, the wine was flowing without cost. But when anyone left, he would pay $1.00 a quart and take a supply home or on a party.
The cellar resembled an old-fashioned German wine room, with barrels lining the entrance and fancy bottles, earthen jugs, demijohns and steins of all description along the wall.
Cross reference
note: 1300 block of River Drive, odd
side of the street. The lot is or was
for sale, the house was torn down. My
mother grew up in the 1400 block of River Drive and I (TomnBetty
Pirkel) heard a lot of stories about Johnny. I remember him when I was a kid seemed to be
a quiet kind old gentleman. Back in the
day River Dr. was Nashotah St.
02 20 ROUTE
7 FARM BREWERY SEIZED BY DRY AGENTS
[same date] The Gustav Plath farm house, Route 7, Watertown, also was raided by Federal men last night. They found 1000 gallons of beer in tanks, 18 half barrels and complete brewery equipment.
1959
07 10 HOURS
Whether Watertown taverns are to be permitted to remain in operation until 1 a.m. the year around became an issue here last night and the subject has been made one special order of business in connection with the next regular meeting of the city council on July 21. A petition for the 1 a.m. closing was filed by the city's tavern group of the Tavern League of Jefferson County which is now seeking to have cities and townships in the county to change their present ordinances so taverns may remain open until 1 a.m., a policy that is now possible under the recently enacted state law by the Wisconsin Legislature. WDT
1993
07 10 FRAUDULENT I.D. DETECTION
Three Watertown locations will be featured in a film aimed at teaching the state’s bartenders and police officers how to detect fraudulent I.D. cards. A film crew from a Madison advertising agency set up shop at the city park and recreation department, Jewel’s tavern and the Press Box Sports Bar Monday. The taverns were selected to depict average Wisconsin bars, said a spokesman from the state Department of Transportation. The DOT contracted with Knupp & Watson Advertising Agency to create a film to demonstrate how to detect fake, altered or borrowed I.D.s. The film will be distributed free to people who sell alcohol and will be used in bartender and police officer training programs.
Cross Reference:
History of Watertown, Wisconsin