Category: Taverns

This is the category for a Manitowoc Tavern.

811 Jay St.

Haupt Brother’s Recreation – circa 1940s. Matchbook – front.

Haupt Brother’s Recreation – matchbook, back.

Haupt Brother’s Recreation – matchbook, inside.

Shipbuilders Service Club – circa 1940s. Matchbook, front.

Shipbuilders Service Club – matchbook, back.

Shipbuilders Service Club – matchbook, inside cover.

American Legion – 2010. At this site since the early 1950’s. What is the American Legion? Click on this link to find out:   American Legion

American Legion – circa 1960’s. The “Cherry Sisters” performing in their one-of-a-kind show. Photo courtesy of Micheal Novak & Teresa Marker.

American Legion – July 18th, 2012 – New front paint. Photo courtesy of Michael Novak.

624 / 724 Commercial St.

Kewaunee House – circa early 1900’s. That’s Ella Svacina behind the stove.

Kewaunee House – 1897. Frank Svancina, the father of Ella, would have been running the tavern when this picture was taken.

This image cannot be copied or reproduced without the written permission of the Manitowoc Public Library.

Svacina Tavern – circa 1930’s.

Commercial St. – 1950. Looking east down the street, the white building (with the 5 side windows) on the left would have been Ella Svacina’s. At the other end of the block you can see Ray Boehm’s bar, which was callled the Virginia Tavern at that time.

Ella Svacina’s – 1980’s. The fire department did a controlled burn of this building and the one adjacent to it (east). Photo used by permission of Herald Times Reporter/Gannett.com

724 Commercial St.

Dempsey’s Saloon – Circa 1910. Scene looking south at the corner of N. 8th St. and Commerial St. This image cannot be copied or reproduced without the written permission of the Manitowoc Public Library.

2610 Calumet Ave.

Calumet Tavern – 1972. The tavern is on the left with the overhanging sign – looking east on Calumet. Photo courtesy of Manitowoc Police Dept. files.

Calumet Tavern – 1972. This photo is looking west with the tavern on the right. Photo courtesy of Manitowoc Police Dept. files.

702 Buffalo St.

Dick Smith’s – Friday, April 29, 1932 – ad. Image used by permission of Herald Times Reporter/Gannett.com

Barn Tavern – Sunday, June 26, 1936. Ad – Manitowoc Sun Newpaper.

Normandie Tavern – December 18, 1936. Ad – Manitowoc Sun-Messenger.

Bergner’s Bar – Circa 1947-48. Matchbook, front.

Bergner’s Bar – Matchbook, inside.

Alex’s Bar – circa late 1940’s. The bar is the white building on the far right. This is now the location of the Elbow Room. In the middle of the photo is a white building (714) with a car next to it in the alley. That would have been Taydch’s Bar which now is Digger Dave’s. Across the street is a building with a Crafts sign on the side. This would be 715 Buffalo which became the Cozy Inn in the 50’s (now torn down).

Alex’s Bar – Saturday, December 30, 1950 – ad. Image used by permission of Herald Times Reporter/Gannett.com

Rocky’s Bar – Monday, December 24, 1951. Ad – courtesy of Herald Times Reporter/Gannettt.com.

Elbow Room – December 30, 1959 – ad. Used by permission of Herald Times Reporter/Gannett.com

Elbow Room – Friday, September 21, 1962 – Ad. Image courtesy of Herald Times Reporter/Gannett.com.

Elbow Room – Friday, August 27, 1971 – ad. Used by permission of Herald Times Reporter/Gannett.com

Parker’s Elbow Room – August 2009.

About

About this non-profit website:

The information on this website comes from a variety of sources: The Manitowoc County Historical Society, The Manitowoc Public Library, The Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, old postcards and other tavern memorabilia found at flea markets and on E-bay. It mostly comes from individuals contributing photos and information from their private collections.

This project is something that I thought about doing for a long time, but didn’t actually begin until the winter of 2008. But even after beginning this project in ’08, I’m surprised by the number of changes to the Manitowoc tavern scene. Old taverns have been torn down, destroyed by fire, and most commonly, gone out of business. We’ve also had some new ones open or move to a new address.

My parents were starting out as adults in the 40’s. My dad worked on the Reiss Co. coal boats as a fireman and was a frequent visitor to places such as Del’s Cardinal Bar. My mom worked at Automatic Hostess in the late 40’s and early 50’s. This was a business that supplied music to the taverns in a unique way – click on the automatic hostess name to see a bit of history that most people never knew existed.

The Map page offers an interactive map of the downtown area with markers indicating the present or past location of taverns. You can zoom in on a given area and by touching or dragging on the marker with your mouse, a picture of the present site will pop up. In some cases there is literally nothing there but an empty lot.

If you wish to see what was there – go to the Taverns page which may provide a picture of a tavern that stood on that site.

Click here to see Manitowoc Herald Times article about this website.

See John Budan’s Rock and Roll Bars – 1950s (bottom of page).

Thanks to my friends Paul Karlin, Craig Kazda, John Labinski, and Mike Gallagher for helping me get this project started.

As this project moves forward I will use this space to recognize individuals who are making special contributions of information:

Gwen Brault

Wally Fritsch

Malcolm Shaw

Tony Poklinkoski

Roger & Judi Nickels

Dave Christel Family

Mike Maher, Phil Groll, and Amy Meyer of Manitowoc County Historical Society

Mary Fabian, Charlie Mathews & Lowell Johnson of Herald Times Reporter

Marge Miley – for all her great history articles in the Herald Times

The Wisconsin State Historical Society

The Manitowoc Public Library

The Witczak Family

Michael Novak & Teresa Marker

The Lambries Family

Steve Gauthier

Rich Krueger

Kent Salomon

Gary Omernick

Darlene and Gary Herrmann

Carol (Gauger) Hanson & John Hanson

Todd Knipp & family

Alice Khail

Donna Wippermann

Kono/Brooks family

John Budan

Local index – HTTrack Website Copier

HTTrack is an easy-to-use website mirror utility. It allows you to download a World Wide website from the Internet to a local directory,building recursively all structures, getting html, images, and other files from the server to your computer. Links are rebuiltrelatively so that you can freely browse to the local site (works with any browser). You can mirror several sites together so that you can jump from one toanother. You can, also, update an existing mirror site, or resume an interrupted download. The robot is fully configurable, with an integrated help

HTTrack Website Copier – Open Source offline browser Local index – HTTrackIndex of locally available sites: · Manitowoc Tavern History

Mirror and index made by HTTrack Website Copier [XR&CO’2008]

© 2008 Xavier Roche & other contributors – Web Design: Leto Kauler.

901 Buffalo St.

Parade down Buffalo St. – circa 1896. The building on the right is the Kossuth House which was started as a tavern about 1875 by Frank Steiner. By this time it was being operated by Mathias Skarda. Photo Credit: Joe Breeze / Marin Museum of Bicycling – mmbhof.org

 

 

Kossuth House – circa 1900. Mathias Skarda, proprietor. Notice the Rahr beer sign on the door frame. Photo courtesy of the Klein family.

Kossuth House – circa 1900. Interior of tavern. Photo courtesy of the Klein family.

Kossuth House – 1906 map detail.

Kossuth House – Friday, August 14, 1931. Ad – The Evening Times.

Rod’s Tavern – January 19th, 1940 – Ad. Photo used by permission of Herald Times Reporter/Gannett.com.

Rod’s Tavern – 1950. The tavern is the corner building on the far left. Rod’s was located there from the 1930’s to the late 50’s.

The Sting – Friday, April 2, 1982 – ad. Image used by permission of Herald Times Reporter/Gannett.com

The Sting – From a 1989 drawing by Don Haag. Photo courtesy of the scrapbook of Dave Novak – Michael Novak, curator.

The Sting – Friday, June 1, 1984. Ad used by permission of Herald Times Reporter/ Gannett.com.

The Wallstreat Grill – 2008. This was just before it was remodeled and became Shooter Malone’s.

Wallstreat Grill – circa 2001 – T-shirt. Photo courtesy of Michael Novak.

908/912 Washington St.

912 Washington St.

Photo of Washington St. looking west from the 800 block toward the 900 block. Ed Weinschenk would have been the proprietor of the tavern located at 912 Washington in the present location of the Washington St. Antique Mall (910 Washington). This property would have housed two businesses at 912/910. 910 was the location of a barbershop operated by the nephew of Ed. In the 900 block there is a long white banner on the right side of the street which is displayed in front of the tavern for some type of celebration happening. Photo circa 1896 and provided courtesy of Joe Breeze at Marin Museum of Bicycling at mmbhof.org.

Detail of photo above – Banner in front of tavern at 912 Washington St. in German translated as: “Here we drink and laugh, no-one will die of thirst; I will take good care of the singers, because I am one myself.” Photo credit: Joe Breeze – Marin Museum of Bicycling – mmbhof.org.

908 Washington St.

The Red Garter – Friday, March 12, 1965 – ad. Image used by permission of Herald Times Reporter/Gannett.com

The Red Garter – circa 1970’s – matchbook, front.

The Red Garter – circa 1970’s – matchbook, back.

Red Garter Cocktail Lounge – circa 1970. On the left of the building is the Guest House Inn sign and just to the right of that is the sign for the Red Garter. Postcard courtesy of Michael Novak & Teresa Marker.

Red Garter – circa late 1960’s – mid 70’s. The original sign from the Red Garter Cocktail lounge. Photo courtesy of Steve Gauthier