Spirits of Christmas Past

Thanks to everyone who visited the blog this year to tramp around with me on the underside of Oshkosh history. I’ve had a great time researching and writing these stories. And I’m looking forward to a pack of new stories lined up for next year. But I thought now would be a good time to take a look back. Here’s a spirited trek through Christmas past in Oshkosh…

Bring us some figgy pudding…
I was researching a speakeasy operator named Peter Bruette this past summer when I came across a nugget that still makes me queasy.

Back in 1910, Peter Bruette launched a saloon on Main Street with a guy named Fred Doemel. It was common for saloon keepers in those days to offer a Christmas meal to their customers as a token of appreciation. For their first Christmas in business, Bruette and Doemel showed their appreciation in a rather nauseating way: roast possum.

December 24, 1910.

I had to know if they ever repeated this feast. I was hoping it might have become a sickening, annual event. Well, that didn’t happen. This was the lone serving of their marsupial meal.

The Bruette and Doemel saloon is long gone, but the building it inhabited still stands. Here it is at 452 North Main Street.

Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow…
Younger readers may not be aware of this, but the oldsters will know… There used to be places in Oshkosh called beer depots. A folksy name for a liquor store.

These weren't just alcohol dispensaries reserved for adults. Beer depots were part of the neighborhood. Kids were welcomed. It was usually the best spot around for candy and soda. Like their parents, those kids were often on a first-name basis with the proprietor. One of them was named Jordy.

In 1962, Jordan Jungwirth left his sales job at the Cook Coffee Company and opened a beer depot on the northwest corner of 9th and Rugby. He was 49. This was a risky move, but it paid off. Six weeks after opening his shop, Jordy took out an ad in the Daily Northwestern thanking his new friends and wishing them a Merry Christmas…

December 21, 1962.

Jordy’s had been at that corner for 50 years when it closed in 2012. It was the last of the true beer depots in Oshkosh.

9th and Rugby, circa 2010.

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch…
Getting into the Christmas spirit can be a struggle for some of us. This little tale is about a pack of humbuggers who said to hell with it.

Just a few days before the Christmas of 1904, Oshkosh’s two breweries teamed up with a couple of Milwaukee breweries and a few of the local beer bottlers to make a grouchy announcement: you’re going to have to pony up an extra 50 cents for a pony barrel full of beer. And no more Christmas Presents!

December 19, 1904.

The Scrooge behind this poorly-timed announcement was William Glatz. He started out as the bookkeeper for the Oshkosh Brewing Company. He became the company president just before this ad was published. As president, Glatz would play the Grinch role to the hilt. His stinginess made local saloon keepers so angry that they launched Peoples Brewing in 1913, just to spite him. At least we got another brewery out of it!

William Glatz

O Tannebaum…
Oshkosh taverns tend to develop peculiar holiday traditions. The old nevergreen at Witzke’s for example...

Witzke’s at 17th and Oregon.

After a Thanksgiving in the late 1970s, someone brought a ragged Christmas tree into the bar. The balsam was propped up in the corner to inject some of the old holiday spirit into the place. An ornament with a snowman painted on it was placed at the top. Other embellishments were less conventional. Some smartasses began hanging dollar bills on it. The holiday sarcasm seemed about right.

When the season was over, the tree was taken to the basement, oddball trimmings and all. It was carted back up when Christmas came again the following year. The tree was brown now, but still intact. This annual ritual was repeated for almost 20 years. Cliff Sweet was a longtime bartender at Witzke’s. He became the tannenbaum’s caretaker.

Clifford Sweet, 1925-2003.

"We bring it up after Thanksgiving and leave it up a day or two after New Year's,” Sweet said in 1995. “It's been a conversation piece for many years. I don't even know who first brought it in. Nobody has ever taken any of the money off it. People will add something each year. They'll put a bulb on it, but the trimmings are never taken off. It's been brown for quite a few years. The needles are petrified. They don't even fall off anymore. I give it a shot of vodka every morning.”

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas…
A couple of blocks up from Witzke’s is the Acee Deucee tavern. This place was launched by the Koplitz family in 1876.

The Koplitz Saloon at 14th and Oregon, now Acee Deucee.

The Koplitz clan were migrants from the Rhineland of western Germany. The region had been famous for its wines since Roman times. The Koplitz family brought that tradition with them to Oshkosh. For decades, they produced wine that they sold from their saloon. Brothers Ted and Frank Koplitz also released a holiday wine each year. They called it Glee Wine. Its arrival in early December was a reminder that Christmastime had arrived.

December 16, 1911.

The Koplitz’s Glee Wine was an Oshkosh version of German Glühwein (Glow Wine). This was a spiced and strong red intended to be heated before serving. A cup of it was supposed to give you a healthy glow. If you want to give it a go, here’s a Glühwein recipe you can easily make at home. This is an old Oshkosh tradition that’s well overdue for revival.

“The Best Home Made Wine.” The Koplitz wine wagon, 1908.

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree…
Over at 16th and Nebraska, the Schobloski family celebrated Christmas in a most strenuous manner. I think it’s best to let the reporter from the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern tell the story. This appeared on December 27, 1880.

“There was a general row in the family of John Schobloski, south of sixteenth street, Saturday night. It seems that all the Schobloki relatives had gathered at the house of a son-in-law and tapped a keg of Christmas beer, which flowed freely until a row ensued and the party wound up by the participants mopping the floor with each other and performing other gymnastic feats of strength and skill. The police were engaged today in making arrests.”

I suspect the inspirational keg of beer came from Horn & Schwalm’s Brooklyn Brewery. The brewery was not even a block away from where the Schobloski’s festival of fists occurred.

A portion of the old Horn & Schwalm Brewery still standing near 16th and Doty.

Don we now our gay apparel…
Beer drinking and Christmas have always gone hand in hand in Oshkosh. The city’s brewers loved the season. They relied on the hefty beer drinking of the holidays to get them through the winter months when sales slumped.

Oshkosh brewers helped rouse the local thirst by offering a strong, holiday beer. It was usually released during the week of Thanksgiving. They’d dress their holiday-brew bottles with decorative caps and labels to commemorate the season. This stuff still looks good...

If the fates allow…
Here’s a photo that may seem a little out of place here. It shows the Wisconsin Public Service building decked out for the Christmas of 1935. This beauty stood at the southwest corner of Washington and State streets.

I wanted to include that photo for a couple of reasons. First, this building began life as a saloon. Oshkosh architect William Waters designed the structure for August Uihlein, the head of Schlitz Brewing. It was built in 1891 and was known as the Uihlein Block. The corner unit was occupied by a tied-house selling Schlitz Beer. Here’s the Uihlein Block during its saloon days (this photo has been colorized to give a truer sense of the building’s appearance).

And here’s a look at the lovely bar inside…

The other reason I wanted to share these last three photos is because they were given to me by Dan Radig. I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately. Dan loved Oshkosh history. Over the years, he built an incredible collection of historic photographs and never hesitated to share them. Dan passed away on June 7th. I knew him for about 15 years and admired him deeply. I miss him.

Daniel Radig, 1956-2025. This photo of Dan is from 1996.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
     See you in 2026.
          Prost!

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