Thursday, September 26, 2019

The Riot of 1974, Kelly's Super Bar, and the Death of the Wisconsin Strip

Lots of Oshkoshers remember the strip of bars that stood along Wisconsin Avenue where it approaches the Fox River. Saloons began opening there in the 1880s. Some of those bars were in business for over 100 years.

By the 1960s, "the strip" had become Oshkosh’s most notorious drinking lane. The last tavern added to the line-up is at the southwest corner of Wisconsin and High. It opened in 1975 as Kelly's Super Bar.

Kelly's in 2019

The land where Kelly's stands was residential property through much of the 1900s. A modest, two-story home was there until the mid-1950s. The home was torn down and in the spring of 1958, Hartman's D-X Service Station was launched at 219 Wisconsin Street.

Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, May 8, 1958.

It would be auto shops and gas stations there for the next 17 years. The last of them was Bob's Sunoco. It closed in late 1973.

Bob's Sunoco at the end of its run in 1973.

By then, the strip was best known for the wild Saint Patrick's Day parties that annually flooded into Wisconsin Street. Those celebrations culminated with the Saint Patrick's Day "riot" of 1974. The drunks ran amok.

On Saturday, March 16, 1974, a crowd of several thousand gathered along the strip south of High Avenue. They lined the street waiting to gain entrance to taverns already filled to overflowing. The scene gradually degenerated as revelers stopped traffic and began smashing windows. Oshkosh Police arrived in riot gear to clear the street.

The encounter began peacefully but by midnight it had turned into a battle. Four Oshkosh cops reported being injured and five squad cars were damaged. The police made 22 arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct, public drunkenness, and resisting arrest. More than half of those taken to jail didn't live in Oshkosh. They had come here for the infamous party. Here are a few pictures from that day...





The aftermath on Wisconsin Street. The sign for Bob's Sunoco can be seen at the upper left.

After the riot, work began on converting the abandoned Sunoco station into Kelly’s. The Irish-sounding moniker was no coincidence. The 1974 melee had received national attention. Oshkosh was known as the place to be on Saint Patrick's Day. Kelly's was named to take advantage of that. The new bar was up and running when Saint Patrick's Day 1975 arrived.

But the 1974 riot was not going to be repeated. In its aftermath, the city adopted a new set of ordinances that included $200 fines for blocking traffic or having an open intoxicant on a public street. Oshkosh Police sent a memo to tavern owners warning that building capacity limits would be strictly enforced and that bars would not be permitted to open before noon and had to be closed by 1 a.m. The police presence was heavy along Wisconsin Street for the 1975 Saint Patrick's Day party. The mood was subdued. Nonetheless, people flocked to the bar with the shamrock over the door.

Oshkosh Advance-Titan, March 20, 1975

The 1974 riot was a turning point for the Wisconsin strip. A series of bar closures occurred there in the years that followed. One-by-one, the older taverns were being torn down. On the west side of Wisconsin Street, a couple of the earliest saloon properties were purchased by the University and demolished.

Even the legendary Tosh's was being rehabilitated. Tosh's was on the east side of Wisconsin Street a block south of Kelly’s. It was considered ground zero for Saint Patrick's Day mayhem. In the early 1970s, Tosh's held the dubious honor of selling more Schlitz Malt Liquor than any other bar in America.

The one-story building on the corner was the site of what had been Tosh's

Tosh's was sold in 1976 to Bernard and Catherine Klinzing and John and Doreen Supple. The Supple's also owned Shakey's Pizza in Oshkosh. Their sons, Jay, Joe, and John, would later launch Fox River Brewing Company. John Supple thought the strip was ready for a bar that offered something more than a never-ending beer bash.

The new owners dropped the Tosh's name. The long, straight bar was torn out and replaced with a circular bar more conducive to polite conversation. Table seating and a kitchen were added and the bathrooms were redone. They carpeted the floors. The bar reopened as Joey's in September 1976.

"The college students have changed a lot in the last three years," John Supple said a week before Joey’s opened. "They’ve matured, and I feel they're going to school for a purpose. They need a nice place which is close to campus to get together with their friends.”

Oshkosh Northwestern, October 14, 1976.


At Kelly's, they were pursuing a somewhat similar path. The bar's manager, Tom Hayes, had branded it a "Super Bar" providing college students with a range of services that included check cashing and basic grocery items. "The most important thing a bar in this area can do is be creative and stick with their own ideas," Hayes said.

In the end, though, the old ideas won out. The strip would never shake the reputation that made it notorious. Joey's had regressed to the mean by the time I moved here for school in 1982. It had become the Whiskey Run where for $3 on a Saturday afternoon they'd sell you a plastic cup and fill it with beer again and again until you couldn’t possibly stomach any more. It was not "a nice place." But it was a lot of fun.

The Whiskey Run became Barney's and finally Encounters before the building was torn down in 2001. And that was it for the strip. All of the old bars were cleared out. Today, there's just one tavern left standing on Wisconsin Street. Kelly's was the last bar to go up there. It came when the strip had reached the peak of its infamy. But it was the beginning of the end.


23 comments:

  1. I thought and still do, that Oshkosh was making a big mistake. They failed to capitalize on an opportunity that was dropped down right in front of them. It did not have to go away - it's simply needed to be controlled. What a money maker it could have been. There was all the free promotion you could wish for. Heck, even Johnny Carson did a bit on it.

    It absolutely got out of hand, I know - I was there and for many years after. At the time we lived on campus and had a green van. We hid it in the backyard and I believe we even put a tarp up.

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  2. The manager's name was Tom Hayes, not Todd. Son of Frank Hayes, who owned the Magnet at the time.

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    1. You are correct, thanks for pointing out my error. I've fixed that.

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  3. In the early ‘70s when I was a kid, we’d go down to the strip on Sunday mornings to collect beer cans. I can believe Tosh’s was the top seller of SML, the little ally between there and The Library was so filled with SML beer cans and vomit that we quickly knew we wouldn’t find any collectible cans there. Found a lot of interesting things in that area on those Sunday mornings, full beers, bags of pot, used rubbers, and money that had fallen out of pockets. Sometime after Hartmann’s closed someone had spray painted in big letters on the side wall: Impeach Nixon. I bet it was there right until the remodeling for Kelley’s started. Me having been in the auto repair industry the last thirty years, I have met Rube Hartmann a few times , never knew he was a mechanic at one time. I knew him as a car salesman in his later days.

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  4. I remember the "Impeach Nixon" graffiti on Kelly's.
    As a child at that time I asked what impeach meant. Interesting times.

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  5. As a 1991 grad of UWO I can honestly say those were some of the best years of my life. Barney's was a great mix of college kids and "townies" as we'd call it and the Library bar. Great story.

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  6. Typical mid 90s routine...Kellys to chill for one or two and actually hang with friends......then to the Library for the $1 32 oz taps.....then to Barneys for the free hot dogs....then to the Bubbler where the guy with the mullet walked the bar, dumping booze into your mouth from the bottle...then stagger to Molly's until bar time....and finish off the night...rolling through Erberts and Gerberts for the day old break as a late night snack......it was a great area...

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  7. At some point UW-Oshkosh changed their Spring Break to run over St. Patrick's Day -- with so many students not on campus, the celebration quieted down considerably.

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    1. The UW Board of Regents changed the spring break dates and UWO put in a rule about visitors to the dorms.

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  8. Agree with QuinnUnit..
    The Spring Break change was a big deal when it came to Saint Paddys day weekend in Oshkosh.....less people were around as most students went on vacay or home, therefor the bars weren't as busy as they used to be.

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  9. I was more than fortunate to have grown up on "the strip" as my dad was the manager of Tosh's , Rocky Leib. Dad later owned the bar until he sold it. All throughout my high school years I worked at Tosh's bringing in kegs or cases of beer. Dad had hired many of the Titan football, baseball, and basketball players to work for him. It was a great time and the college kids that frequented the bar were awesome. Many still make it a point to say hello when UWO has their Homecoming. The changing of the drinking age has had much to do about the demise of the "Wisconsin Street Strip" But boy was it a fun place.

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    1. Hi unknown - won't blow your cover (1st name have an "S"?) I ran Brother's when dad was @"Harold's place" if you get this you know both of us most likely. See you at Homecoming 80

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  10. My sister and I held the Foosball table at Kelly's in the late 70's. Later, when we and friends, who also worked for Supple's (Shakeys), worked at the Picket canning factory, would come in at 6am for a beer and "maggot dogs" left over from the night before. I introduced Kelly's to friends from UW-Platteville. Never to be repeated. Good times.

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  11. Ah the strip. 73-74 was my first year at UW-O. My Brothers Place, Andy’s Library, Tosh’s, Mars (food) Second Son and a bar behind Mars. As I recall St Pats 73 featured a cycle tossed from a Scott Hall window and somebody falling down an elevator shaft.


    In 74 it was pouring rain the Friday before St Pats and still people were lined up outside the bars with police keeping control.

    The strip was tacky but that is what made it great . You could drink and “walk” back to the dorms . Add Kelly’s in 75. Sad to say it will never return. The price of progress.

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  12. Whatever happened to Mr. Lucky's Nightclub? That was the place to be in '74-75!

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    1. John (who worked there)December 31, 2020 at 10:05 AM

      It changed names and owners several times - late 70's it was the Alibi - then the name moved across the street to the old Second Sun and Mr L's became the End of the Trail Saloon- It became Molly McGuire's, now simply Molly's. Lest we forget MR. Lucky's was originally called the Red Lantern - it opened in 1971, 18 beer Bar in front, restaurant in the middle and
      "The Back Door". The back room storage area that became a 21 (liquor) bar because it was just far enough from WSU-O property to serve the "Hard Stuff" - 25 cent hi-balls Fri from 12-7 and other days happy hour from 3-7

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    2. I loved going into the Back Door underage. Lots of fun back then.

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  13. So many great memories! I graduated in 72. Loved going to Tosh's, Brother's Place and Andy's Library. I do remember standing on "The Strip" on St. Patrick's day 1971. An orange Volkswagen was thrown over the bridge. My roommate just purchased one and was supposed to meet me at that time. Fortunately, it wasn't his. Mags

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  14. Does anyone know the name of the bar that was on the corner of high and division st?

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  15. Newly married in 74, my wife and I lived in the executive house kitty corner to the courthouse. It was a bit scary watching the riot so close to where we lived. Not a good time.

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  16. Does anyone remember the name of the disco across the street from Kelly's in the mid 80's? I remember Urban Cowboy a 1/2 block off the strip and Wiskey Run, along with the Library, just can't remember the name of the disco.

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  17. Well, I read all these comments because I lived through all those times and fought all those wars and bartended in most of those bars. I was hired in as the first batch of bartenders at Kelly’s by Tom, a great guy actually. I knew him from the Magnet in the downtown area. They had, and you will agree with me on this is you ever tried them, the best chili dogs ever and for only 25 cents! I was a student at UW Oshkosh and just working my way through. I worked at Bobby McGees as well. As a matter of fact I have started a FaceBook page dedicated to McGees in the 1970s decade. The ‘women” back then, who hung out there, were outrageous, gorgeous and sexy WOW!!! Many of whom I dated. The one dude I remember, in addition to Tom Hayes, from those days was a tall hulk of a man with the steely eyes and rough/tough appearance of a Clint Eastwood gunman. He went by the name of Lars Strutz I believe. What a cast of characters.

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