A Look Inside - Then and Now
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| All cleaned up and ready and ready to serve - June 2019 |
I do have a few memories of being inside the tavern as a kid in the 1970s. At that time, it was still open for business, not closing its doors for good until 1979 after both of my grandparents passed away. Although Mary Ann still continued to live there, we just inexplicably didn't go over there anymore after my grandparents died. My first time back in the tavern was in 2018 when we would stop to help Mary Ann as her health was getting worse. I knew before walking in there that much likely hadn't changed since 1979, yet it still didn't prepare me for that step back into the past.
On June 6, 2019, we decided to host a celebration of Mary Ann's life inside the tavern after her funeral service. After quite a bit of cleaning up and clearing out, Mautz's Tavern started to come back to life. Yes, the floor had sloped slightly and the keg that was still on tap was no longer drinkable, but the damage time had done still couldn't fully take away the past from the present. You could imagine, even if just for a moment, that you were back in the 1970s, the 1950s, maybe the 1930s, or possibly even farther back to right before the turn of the century when it first opened as Mautz's Tavern.
I invite you to go back in time through some of the photos we have that are circa 1950, all the way up to hosting its likely last group of patrons in 2019, when we were all there to celebrate Mary Ann. I hope she knows how special it was for people to be inside there again, some for the first time since they were children, reminiscing about how they would get candy or ice cream while dad or grandpa had a beer or two. Thank you Mary Ann for preserving this piece of history for all of us to enjoy, even if it was a short while and for one last time.
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| My dad, Henry Mautz, just chillin' at home with the dog |
A Tavern Full of Patrons
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| Circa 1950s |
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| My grandma, Toni Mautz |
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| My grandpa, Pa Mautz |
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| Even nuns patronized the tavern |
The Tavern was Our Playroom
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Just me playing with my toy phone
and toy beer bottle |
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The stove in the background
still heats the place |
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| Staci and Traci Mautz bellied up to the bar |
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Mary Ann Mautz, Traci Mautz,
Pa Mautz, Toni Mautz, Staci Mautz |
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I remember the pool table
and behind it, the jukebox |
June 2019
We Brought It Back to Life for One More Day
A celebration in honor of Mary Ann Mautz
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Debbie (Kuehn) Makenzie, Staci (Mautz) Willems
Traci (Mautz) Chisholm |
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| Jeff Mautz tending bar, just like his grandpa before him |
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So great to see my family and new generations inside this tavern, celebrating Mary Ann's life
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Mary Ann (aka Miss Mautz) was my favorite teacher in elementary school. This was the old "Alamo" school in Windsor, WI. She taught 5th and 6th grade and made learning fun. This would have been in 1960 or 1961 and I remember her well. I remember her driving a brand new Plymouth to school with the really big tail fins. It was the talk of the school. I am very sorry that we were not able to attend her celebration of life. Thank you very much for sharing the memories of the Mautz Tavern. Best wishes to the family. Derek
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