PHOTO OF THE DAY: BACK TO THE BAR
Here’s the rest of the story.
The city entered the alcohol business in 1949 after voters approved the operation of a municipal liquor store and bar by a 2/3s margin – 246-116. Owning the liquor store gave the city control of liquor sales and revenue that reduced taxes. An attempt to establish a municipal store two years earlier had failed 132-185.
In his October 27, 1949 edition – prior to the second vote – Freeman Courier publisher J.J. Mendel, wrote “We are no prophet, neither are we the son of a prophet, but it looks like Freeman will join the neighboring towns and vote for a municipal saloon in this election to ease the tax burden.”
Initially, the city operated the liquor store and bar, leasing space in the wooden building the Freeman VFW had just purchased as its meeting hall on the south side of Third Street between Main and Juniper. In 1964, the VFW erected a new brick building on that site; it remained the VFW Hall until closing in the late 1990s. In 1997 it became home to the Underground Zone youth center, Rumours Bar and Grill, the Broken Spoke, Geo’s Bar and Grill, and (most recently) the Brickhouse Lounge. It is currently unoccupied.
When the VFW decided to build a new building in 1964, it informed the city that its plans did not include space for the municipal store. The city temporarily moved it to the building on the east side of the north end of the 200 block – today, the Freeman Lumber Warehouse – as it made plans to build a new municipal store and bar.