GaryLand Tours - Your guide to Milwaukee-Muskego Historic Tours

The 2nd Historic Pub Crawl in the Muskego Historical Society Historic Saloon-Tavern-Bar Series is now history.

The weather cooperated and made for a very pleasant evening to be out and about Muskego.  The first tour in the series was March 16th, 2013 and now the second on April 27th, 2013.  We generated a lot of excitement at R & B's Stage Coach Inn where upon arrival, Bonnie Acker greeted us with trays of sausage & cheeses.  We assembled in the back room for stories about the sights we passed along the way, such as the Ellarson Farm (now Muskego County Park), the Muskego Spaghetti Factory across from the Muckey School and so on.  Upon arriving at Mather Lanes we stood outside in the mild evening breeze and pointed out the 1946 bowling alley addition by Morty Smith and the 1961 fire which destroyed the upper floor. 

We looked across the Recreation Trail to the site of Frank Ctibor's Hotel & Saloon and told the story of their famous parrot that would call out the coming of the trains.  Once inside we all took our libations into the sectin of the building that once housed the lobby of the old Thomas Savage Hotel and the Interurban Train Station and place chairs in a circle to hear some stories about the various farmers that brought milk to this location for shipment to the many Milwaukee dairies.  We tried to imagine the sight and sounds of thousands leaving the Muskego Beach Amusement Park walking past Horn Bros. General Store and taking position on the loading platform for the journey back to the city on one of the many interurban cars that were waiting for the return trip in the loop up the right of way, now Horn Field. 

At El Vallarta we assembled in the lower level where Sandy & Bob Hoormann allowed us to get a first hand look at where Ben Heil established Muskego's first bowling alleys circa 1919.  Here we shared stories of Marathon Dances during the Depression of the 30's at the Starlight Ballroom of Muskego Beach and the names of the famous acts that performed there along with roller skating and wrestling events.

From there we moved on to JD's on Hillendale where the pace picked up and the music was appropriately loud for a Saturday night.  Some of the tour goers opted to take refuge back in the bus so I joined them for awhile to tell some stories about the history of the Hillendale route between Muskego and Waukesha, the nearby Nike sights and the old gravel pit access alongside JD's.

Returning back to Marx Pioneer just in time to surrender the bus before 11pm we had just enough time for a last round of goodbyes to our fellow historians and a night of pleasant dreams.  We hope to see our new found friends at the June 8th ribbon cutting for opening of Pioneer Drive and again in fall when we will continue the Historic Pub Crawl series.

Adiós,

Gary, GaryLand Tours