Oshkosh Beer: The 50-Year Club

Oshkosh had more than 90 taverns in 1975. All but a few of them are gone. Some were condemned and knocked flat. Others went broke and were turned into another kind of business. A bunch of them were sold and given new names sometime after 1975.

Outside of Tosh’s on the old Wisconsin Strip. Tosh’s is among the taverns of ‘75 that didn’t survive.

There are just 12 left from the class of 1975. Twelve taverns that had the same name and address in 1975 as they do in 2025. It’s time for a bar crawl. Here, in order of seniority, are the 12 members of Oshkosh’s 50-Year Club.

#1 Jerry’s
1210 Ceape

This is the oldest bar of the bunch. In fact, Jerry’s appears to be the oldest existing tavern in Oshkosh. The tavern’s lineage stretches back to April 1878, when Herman “Onkle” Heinze received the first license for a saloon at this location. Heinzie’s Saloon also featured a bowling alley that ran along the east side of the building.

Jacob Wenzel purchased the saloon in December 1883. This picture was taken around that time.

The saloon became known as Jerry’s in 1911 when Gustav “Jerry” Wesenberg took over. The tavern is now in its fourth generation of family ownership.

Gustav “Jerry” Wesenberg in front of his bar, circa 1960.

#2 Acee Deucee
1329 Oregon

Acee Deucee was built in 1876 for Anton Koplitz. He was a German-born farmer living in the Town of Black Wolf. The place began as a grocery store run by his sons Anton and Edward. In early May of 1878, Edward purchased a liquor license and began the transition from grocery to saloon. There has been a bar here ever since.

The Theodore and Frank Koplitz Brother’s Bar, circa 1900.

The bar became Acee Deucee in 1944 after Jimmy Pollnow moved out of his bar at 1301 Oregon. He took the Acee Deucee name with him. Pollnow relocated a block south to 1329 Oregon, which has been the home of Acee Deucee ever since. This is the Southside's longest-lived tavern.

#3 Oblio’s
434 North Main

Oblio's resides in a building designed by Oshkosh architect William Waters. Its construction was completed in late 1884. The following spring, the first saloon opened here. It was called the Schlitz Beer Hall and operated as a tied house owned by August Uihlein, the chairman of Schlitz.

Main Street Oshkosh 1887. The sign for the Schlitz Beer Hall can be seen at the upper right corner of the photo.

The Oblio’s name came in 1974 when Mike Hottinger and Jon Voss bought the business. They took the name Oblio from musician Harry Nilsson. He was on acid when he was visited by thoughts of a strange boy named Oblio. Nilsson turned his hallucination into the main character of his 1970 concept album The Point!

I guess you had to be there.

#4 Mabel Murphy’s
701 North Main

June 14, 2021.

The first bar at the northwest corner of Main and Irving was opened by Albert Thom in 1890. He had groceries in front and liquor in the rear.

Thom's Grocery and Saloon, circa 1891.

It became Mabel Murphy’s in 1974. But the Mabel’s you see there now is an altogether different model. The old bar burned to the ground in 2019. The new Mabel’s reopened on the same plot in June 2021.

Early morning, May 7, 2019.

#5 Houge’s
51 West 7th

Gottlieb Luhm launched the first saloon at the southeast corner of 7th and Nebraska in 1889. He called it the Third Ward House. Above the saloon, Luhm ran a boarding house occupied by Southside factory workers. In the early 1900s, the saloon was owned by Rahr Brewing of Oshkosh and operated as a tied house.

Henry Kossel behind the bar. He became the proprietor of the saloon in 1912.

In 1956, Carl Houge bought the property and put his name on it. Hogue tore down the old saloon in 1966 and replaced it with the current building. It’s been Houge’s for 74 years.

#6 Trail’s End
500 Merritt

Trails End in the mid-1960s.

Back to the east-side for another institution still going strong. What is now Trails End got started in 1892 when young John Steir opened the first saloon here. He hooked up with the Oshkosh Brewing Company three years later and turned it into a tied house.

Van’s Tavern in the early 1930s. Bill Vandenberg bought the bar in 1923 and ran it for nearly 40 years.

The bar became Trail’s End in 1960. This may be the best-known tavern in Oshkosh. It’s been made famous by the hot dogs they’ve been serving there for the past 100 years.

Bob Winkelman of Bob’s Trails End. Winkelman has had the bar since 1985.

#7 Nigl’s
556 West 9th

The lot at the northeast corner of 9th and Ohio was purchased by the Oshkosh Brewing Company in January 1897. About six months later, OBC opened a tied house on the property, with a dancehall above and a saloon below. The Nigl name became attached to the saloon in 1900. It looked nothing like the building you see there now.

Nigl’s Saloon, circa 1900. The seated man in the white shirt is the proprietor, Joseph Nigl, Sr. His son, Joseph Nigl, Jr., stands in a light-colored shirt next to the children. Nigl, Jr operated the tavern across the street at the northwest corner of 9th and Ohio.

Joseph Nigl Sr. retired in 1901. His spot behind the bar was taken by his 21-year-old nephew, Alois Nigl. Alois was there for the next 30 years.

Behind the bar at Nigl’s, 1914. Alois Nigl is on the left, the shorter of the two men.

Fire, rebuilding, and remodelling have shaped this place into what it is today. But 125 years later, it’s still called Nigl’s. No other tavern in Oshkosh has retained its name for as long as this place has.

#8 The Stadium
301 Knapp

Joseph Suda bought the vacant lot at the southwest corner of 4th and Knapp in 1904. A few months later, he got a loan from saloon owner Herman Steckbauer and began building. In 1906, Suda opened his own saloon there.

A photo from the early 1900s. “Suda’s Tavern” is written on the back. Photo courtesy of Dan Radig.

Harold Koeck took over in 1941 and named it the Stadium. In 1996, it was renamed TG’s Bar. That name stayed until 2004 when it went back to being the Stadium. Hence the sign saying “Back Again” that hangs over the door today.

#9 Jockey Club
24 East Gruenwald

The early history of this Nordheim tavern would have been lost if not for the crimes committed there. For example, we might not know that there was a saloon at this spot in 1910 if the owner, George Davis, hadn’t been busted for selling booze to minors. And we wouldn’t know that Davis ran it as a blind pig in 1911 if he hadn’t gotten caught selling liquor without a license. His son, Luther Davis, took up the family tradition. Luther was busted for running a speakeasy there in 1924. The following year, Wisconsin Governor John Blaine pardoned him. This place was always special.

The 1960s, when George Genal ran the Jockey Club. Photo courtesy of Dan Radig.

The Jockey Club name was pinned to it in the summer of 1932. It was still a speakeasy. The bootleg booze was so lucrative that the Jockey Club offered free fish fries on Saturday nights. Crime pays. In 1933, Prohibition ended, and so did the free fish. The Jockey Club went legal, and the outlaw romance faded. But the Jockey Club remains.

#10 Leroy’s
701 Knapp

Thee Leroy’s Bar.

The home of Thee Leroy’s Bar was built for Leo Schmutzer in 1909. Schmutzer started off there selling shoes and such. That business went nowhere. So 1914, Schmutzer took out a liquor license and turned the place into a saloon.

It became Leroy’s Bar in 1949 when Leroy Youngwirth took over. Leroy ran the bar until 1991. He passed away nine years later. But Leroy is not forgotten. He was one of those old-school Oshkosh tavern keepers who could be simultaneously awful and wonderful. His name still hanging above the door is the type of tribute he would have appreciated.

Leroy Youngwirth.

#11 Parnell’s
2932 Fond du Lac Road

Some may object to Parnell’s being classed as a tavern instead of a restaurant. The objection is overruled. There’s too much tavern history here to cross Parnell’s off this list. This place goes back to at least 1938 when Herbert Lemke opened a classic, rural-route tavern here.

The bar became Parnell’s in the summer of 1974.

August 8, 1974.

Since then, Parnell’s has grown into something akin to a supper club. But the tavern is still at the heart of this place, so it belongs in our 50-Year Club.

#12 Kelly's
219 Wisconsin

At just 50-years old, here’s the baby of the bunch. Kelly’s was born in January 1975. It emerged from the bones of a gas station.

The former occupant at 219 Wisconsin.

Kelly’s is the lone bar on this tour that has had just one name over the course of its history. When Kelly’s opened, it joined a bracket of other taverns that formed the Wisconsin Strip: Tosh’s, Andy’s Library, My Brother’s Place. All of those have been bulldozed. Kelly’s is the sole survivor.

Hipsters on the Strip in the 1970s.

That’s the Oshkosh 50-Year Club. There are few cities our size with so many enduring taverns. This would be a great bar crawl. Don’t wait too long. Even the best of them can slip away…

Al Repp behind his bar in 1966.

Al Repp closing his bar for the last time in 2018.

Repp's 2019

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