Saloons, Beer, and Old Kewaunee County

Blood alcohol levels and concern about operating under the influence have changed the way society thinks. In some respects, such issues have changed a whole way of life.

Surprising as it might be today, taverns and saloons were an integral part of society and culture among the hard working German, Bohemian and Belgian immigrants of Kewaunee County. Saloons were found at nearly every important crossroad. Quite often there would be a blacksmith, cheese factory or a church nearby. Perhaps a store. Sometimes saloons were part of a larger establishment that included a hotel and hall. In the days before telephones and daily newspapers, the tavern was the source of news, gossip and some even held the post office. The tavern was where one stopped after taking milk to the cheese factory. The tavern was where a family stopped after Sunday mass. While children played, the women sat outside together enjoying the company of one another, leaving the men to drink beer and discuss politics, crops, weather and more inside.

Women did not usually frequent a taproom though they did have their own entrances in such places as the Wisconsin House on the southeast corner of 4th and Steele in Ahnapee. There women could relax in the ladies' parlor - sometimes with a cigar or maybe even a pipe - with the whiskey that was brought to them. Boedecker's Wisconsin House as well as Bastar's, Nesemann's and others had "sample rooms" where spirits were served. Such rooms were places in which a traveling man's wares would be set out for inspection by local merchants.

Homemade beer whet many a whistle at early Wolf River and Ahnapee dances and celebrations. During the short time in 1866 that James Defaut was operating his 2nd Street store, sarsaparilla was in big demand. Newspapers of the era recommended purifying the blood with Ayres sarsaparilla and Ahnapee residents seemed to feel the need for such a medicinal product to sustain them. Some felt sarsaparilla kept one in good humor. Obviously it did as Defaut sold so much that his charge accounts were averaging an astonishing dollar every two weeks. George Powell was brewing during 1866 and George Laux and Mathias Simon opened another short-lived brewery in 1867. Ahnapee Brewery was built the following year. From then on, the community was supplied with good Ahnapee lager.

As important as beer was to Ahnapee, one of the village's first arguments came about because of beer and spirits. On May 2, 1877, yearly  retail liquor license fees were raised from $25 to $150. Wholesale license fees were set at $40. A week later, William Bodecker showed up before the board with a delegation petitioning review of the new fees, but the board would not reconsider. Such discussions surfaced again a few years later when saloon keepers were directed to prevent minors from purchasing alcoholic beverages by prohibiting them from playing pool or billiards in the taverns.

As population grew, so the the number of saloons and taverns. That required more product. Henry Schmiling  took Ahnapee Lager north aboard the Whiskey Pete. Rahrs' Green Bay beer went by schooner and then wagon to such places as Bay View and Dyckesville. Rahrs' beer became an Ahnapee staple after the village's brewery closed.

John Veeser ran a small brewery in Casco. It was either Wenzel Hlawacek and Wenzel Holup's or Anton Langenkamp's brewery in Carlton that prompted a request to the U.S. Post Office Department to rename Carlton Mills* as Pilsner. It didn't happen. Anton Mach started a brewery at Stangelville and went into partnership with Joseph Langer. Stephen Berni  was well known and the Bavarian Brewery was a Kewaunee fixture for a time. Borgman and Deda were brewing in Kewaunee before 1884 when the company was sold to Wallner and Deda. Woyta Stranksy and Rufus Wing had a small brewery at Stransky's milling operations in what became West Kewaunee. One of the Marchants brewed beer in the early days of Red River.

Obituaries in early papers pointed out deceased who were "fond of the drink" and the heartache they caused their families. The papers told about men going home at the close of the evening only to slip into basement entrances in the boardwalks. Horse transportation often meant slippery streets, however one who was sober could have found himself in a similar predicament! One inebriated man was known to light a 4th of July cannon with a cigar in his mouth.According to the Record, he escaped with only a few powder burns.

Habitual drinking was frowned upon, but yet it was accepted. Groups, such as the Good Templars in Ahnapee, were a temperance organizations which faded from the scene. Years later Prohibition came to Kewaunee County as it did to the rest of the country. But, that's another story.

*Carlton Mills is Tisch Mills today. The picture is taken from the 1876 Kewaunee County Plat Map.