Oshkosh Beer: Romlow’s Last Chance

This is what waited for you at the end of Oregon Street 130 years ago…

And this is that same spot today…

Chester V’s Gastropub, 2505 Oregon St.

There are a lot of folks in Oshkosh who can't see that place without thinking of Romlow’s Last Chance. But the history of taverns at this location goes back even further than that. It begins with a guy named Theodore Schlaich.

The South End of the Southside
Theodore Schlaich had been kicking around on the southside for years, working as a blacksmith and horseshoer. He transitioned to saloonkeeper with help from the Glatz Brewery. They made a deal wherein Glatz would provide the saloon's dispensing equipment if Schlaich would sell only the Glatz Brewery’s beer. Schlaich’s place would be a tied house. By early 1894, his saloon was open and pouring brewery-fresh Glatz beer.

The John Glatz Union Brewery at 24th and Doty.

The set-up with Glatz was recast almost immediately. Glatz had been working on a merger with August Horn of the Brooklyn Brewery and Lorenz Kuenzl of the Gambrinus Brewery. On March 21, 1894, Glatz, Horn, and Kuenzl wrapped their negotiations and signed papers combining their breweries to create the Oshkosh Brewing Company. Schlaich rode the wave. His saloon became an OBC tied house.

An Oshkosh Brewing Company beer wagon making a delivery to the saloon in the early 1900s.

This wasn’t just a beer joint. It was a sporting bar. Schlaich put in a nine-pin alley that ignited the Southside’s bowling craze. Outside the saloon, he rolled out a “fast” fenced-in baseball diamond for the Brooklyns, a team composed of southsiders. They won their 1898 opener at Schlaich’s Park by pounding the Bluffers, their Northside rivals.

May 5, 1898, Oshkosh Daily Northwestern.

Schlaich and his wife, Caroline, lived above the bar. An adjoining set of rooms served as a flophouse for OBC brewers and beer wagon drivers. That cozy relationship would set the course for this place.

When Schliach left in 1901, William Jenner stepped in. Jenner had been banging around the bar from the start. He delivered kegged beer to the saloon, first for the Galtz Brewery and then for Oshkosh Brewing. Jenner is the guy who came up with the Last Chance name. As in, this is your last chance for a beer before you head off into the farm fields south of town.

A Glatz Brewery beer wagon, early 1890s. William Jenner may be the driver seated on the wagon.

Romlow’s Last Chance
William Jenner had a friend named Herman Romlow. They had worked together driving beer wagons for the Oshkosh Brewing Company. At the end of 1905, Jenner decided he’d rather be a farmer in Minnesota than a saloonkeeper in Oshkosh. When he left for the farm in early 1906, his buddy Herman donned the apron and began slinging beer. Now it was Romlow’s Last Chance. The Romlow name remained attached to this bar for the next 91 years.

Herman Romlow with his wife, Olga; Daughter, Celda; and son, Archie.

Herman Romlow ran a lively joint. A place where “Fun With the Boys in Oshkosh” was more than a legend. There were brawls, a stabbing… the typical Sawdust City mayhem. Herman was no bystander. He was arrested a couple of times for throwing punches. All that rude enthusiasm brought Romlow to the attention of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, better known as the WCTU. Better yet known as a pack of insufferable prudes on a crusade to abolish beer, saloons, and most other sources of adult pleasure.

The Oshkosh WCTU said they intended to put Romlow’s Last Chance “out of commission.” In late September 1910, they sent a 17-year-old named Louis Alberts into Romlow’s to buy beer. Young Louis put his nickel on the bar, and Herman served him a beer. The boy came back two nights later and was served again. The following morning, Susan Cooper, the WCTU’s unhinged enforcer, rushed to the police station and swore out a warrant for Herman Romlow’s arrest.

Susan Cooper.

Herman spent a few weeks fighting the charge of selling liquor to a minor. He ended up pleading no contest and paying a $50 fine (about $1,700 in today's money). The WCTU considered it an admission of guilt and demanded the revocation of his saloon license. Their wish was denied. Romlow carried on.

Everybody Knows Archie
Herman Romlow gradually retired from the Last Chance. By 1923, his 32-year-old son Archie was running the show. Archie Romlow was 15 when his father moved them into the apartment above the barroom. He came of age in that tough saloon. He took over at the worst possible time.

Archie Romlow standing in front of the saloon, circa 1920.

The saloon’s primary source of revenue was made illegal when Prohibition began in 1920. Most Oshkosh saloon keepers immediately converted their places into speakeasies. Archie Romlow took a different route. He added a gas station at the front of the property and put an ice cream parlor inside. His wife, Martha, worked there with him. They offered simple meals and staple groceries. The former saloon turned into a proto mini-mart. And in 1926, it all burned to the ground.

The fire started at the gas pump. Martha had just filled the tank of a small truck. As she drew back the nozzle, a spark jumped from the tip. Suddenly, the vehicle was in flames. Martha dropped the hose, spewing fuel across the driveway. The fire raced over the pavement to the saloon. A moment later, the entire building was burning. No one was hurt, and nothing was saved.

They were back in business less than three months later. The building you see there now is from the reconstruction that followed the 1926 fire.

The rebuilt Romlow’s Last Chance. A recent photo follows.

The curse of Prohibition finally ended in 1933. Romlow’s became a bar again. But it wasn’t like the brawling days when Herman was there. Archie was not a chip off the old block. He was good-natured and exceedingly generous. He was a familiar sight, cruising around town on his bicycle. When Standard Oil advertised its gasoline in Oshkosh, the phrase “Everybody Knows Archie” was always included under Romlow’s address. Archie may have been easygoing, but he was firm when it came to civility. If things were getting out of hand at the bar, he’d kick everybody out and close up for the night.

Archie Romlow and a newspaper ad from 1933.

Archie hadn’t sworn off all of his father’s habits. Like Herman, he ran the bar without a cash register. His pockets would become wadded with bills as the day progressed. It was common for Oshkosh Brewing Company workers to come in on payday to cash their checks at the bar. Herman had started that ritual, too. Archie kept it going, doling out their pay from a cigar box. The connection to the brewery was as strong as ever. It was often said that Romlow’s sold more Chief Oshkosh Beer than any other tavern.

"Bottled for Archie Romlow." A liquor store operated in conjunction with the bar. Archie sold a variety of liquors branded with the Romlow name.

The Broken Circle
Herman brought his son Archie into the business. Archie brought his son Herbert in. Herb, like his father, was raised at the Last Chance. He was 13 when Prohibition ended and 18 when he went full time behind the bar. He was 21 when World War II took him away. Herb saw tours of duty in Algeria and Italy with the Army Air Corps. He got through it and back to the Last Chance at the end of 1945. He was married the following summer. The torch was being passed again. It happened faster than anyone wanted.

Archie’s family. From left to right: Archie Romlow, his son Herb, his daughter Olga, and his wife Martha. 1949.

Archie died in 1950 from injuries suffered in an automobile accident. He was with his daughter Olga, her husband Glenn Tabbert, and their two children. They were bringing Archie home from a doctor's appointment in Milwaukee. Archie never liked driving. He didn’t even own a car until he was in his 40s. Tabbert was behind the wheel when they crashed into an oncoming vehicle just south of Fond du Lac. All of them were hurt, but Archie was the only fatality. He was 58 years old.

Herb took over. It was another difficult transition. When Archie began running the bar, he had to contend with Prohibition. Herb had to deal with something worse. Three weeks before his father died, Herb’s eight-month-old son, named Archie, passed away after a brief illness. Herb and his wife, Betty, would have two surviving sons, but neither would get their turn at the family bar. The boys were too young for that when Herb died suddenly in 1954 of a heart attack. He had celebrated his 34th birthday a day earlier. For the first time in 48 years, there wasn’t a man named Romlow behind the bar at the Last Chance.

Romlow’s in the early 1950s. Still serving Oshkosh Brewing Company beer and still no bar stools. There were booths in the back, though, as you can see in the next photo.

The First and Last Chance
Romlow's was reopened by Glenn Tabbert, Herb’s brother-in-law. Tabbert had married Olga Romlow, Archie’s daughter, in 1942. They lived in Milwaukee, where Tabbert worked in sales, before coming to Oshkosh. Tabbert added the incoming direction to the “Last Chance” epithet to make it Romlow’s First and Last Chance.

April 29, 1955 (click image to enlarge).

Glenn and Olga Tabbert moved to Florida three years later. They sold the bar to Victor Jordan, a lifelong Oshkosher and career cop who had just finished serving two terms as Winnebago County Sheriff. Jordan lasted seven years, selling the bar in 1965 to Lester Polzin and his son Bill.

Lester was 47, and Bill was 22 when they bought Romlow’s in February 1965. At the time, they were both working at Morgan Door. The Polzin’s version of Romlow’s is the one that most people recall. But much had changed since the days of Herman, Archie and Herb. The gas station and ice cream were gone. The brewery so closely associated with the bar was faltering and then closed. There were barstools now, but there was no Chief Oshkosh beer.

Romlow's in the 1980s. Beer signs for closed Oshkosh breweries remain above the back bar.

In 1997, William Polzin sold the bar to Mauro and Cindy Martinez, a couple who at the time lived in Fond du Lac. That was the end of Romlow’s. The old tavern became Mario's Restaurant.

Mauro Matinez.

Mario’s became Hermanas in 2014 and closed the following year. Later in 2015, the building was completely renovated and then opened as Chester V’s Gastropub by Dave Vienola and Dirk Binnema. Vienola is now the sole owner of Chester V’s.

Just down the road, a mile past their Last Chance, the three Romlows are buried in Peace Lutheran Cemetery. As it says on Herman’s headstone, "To Rest, To Wake, Not Again to Labor."

Herman Romlow, 1866-1944.

Archie Romlow, 1891-1950.

Herbert Romlow, 1920-1954.

A word of thanks to Chrissy Romlow whose late husband, William, was the son of Herbert Romlow. Chrissy was a great deal of help with this post. Thanks so much, Chrissy!

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