PHOTO OF THE DAY: BACK TO THE BAR

This photo was posted by Heritage Hall Museum & Archives and posted on its Facebook page on Monday. Here’s the history that accompanied the image.

This familiar building in the middle of Third Street between Main and Poplar – we know it today as Hootz – has been home to a liquor store and bar for 60 years.

The City of Freeman built the structure in late 1964; it was known as the “City Bar” for the next four decades.

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.

In June 1964, the city voted to budget $20,000 for construction of the Freeman Municipal Store and called for bids.

The city had earlier purchased the lots on the south side of the east half of Third Street between Poplar and Main (currently City Hall) and chose the west end (the present site) for the new municipal store. It had been the location of the Freeman Courier office until Mendel sold the paper to Glenn and Vernon Gering in 1960.

Bids were opened on Sept. 8. Three days later, the city awarded the bid to Herman Mensch. His bid of $19,900 was the lowest of the four submitted; the highest was $24,894. In December, the city was purchasing furnishings for the new establishment.

It opened in 1965, the only structure on the site. It wasn’t until 1971 that the new Freeman City Hall – including the public library and fire station – was built adjacent to the east.In the late 1990s and early 2000s, city officials became increasingly concerned about the operation of the city bar. In 1999, the city had put the operation to a public vote; voters approved it by a 60% margin.

But the bar had a $4,000 deficit in 2004; it was the third time in 10 years the operation had run in the red. After months of discussion, in June 2005, the City Council voted to seek proposals for someone to lease the bar; an operating agreement would include monthly rent and a percentage of revenue going into city coffers. However, the liquor store would remain a municipal operation because the city retains control of the off-sale liquor license in town.

In August, the city awarded the lease to Ron Baker and in October, the establishment became known as Bake’s. Ten years later, the city voted to change the lease from Baker to Jay Hofer who opened the bar as Hootz in December 2015.

Many of the details about the history of the bar come from the Freeman Courier, including legal notices published by the city of Freeman that document the steps city officials took in the 1960s.

Our archives and exhibits provide countless details about our community’s history. We’re open weekdays from noon to 4 although we’re holidays during the fall/winter months. That includes today, when we observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: BACK TO THE BAR

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