Mautz's Tavern- A Historical Commentary

And here I thought it was Weber Tires that put East Bristol on the Map In 1976, a reporter for the Daily Cardinal (a student run newspaper of the UW-Madison) stopped by the tavern to interview my grandpa. Man, a lot went down inside and outside of this tavern in little old East Bristol: bar fights; North Bristol vs. East Bristol rivalries; live turkey hunts; pre-refrigeration ice parties, the solid-oak Frigidaire he bought in 1930 for $345 (this piece just sold at auction for $976.00), and the 'Keyeser Indians'. The bar looked almost exactly the same just a few short months ago as it did in 1976 when this photo ran in the paper, with the exception of course, of no longer having 'the man who put East Bristol on the map' behind the bar. Pa Mautz, 1976 Daily Cardinal Article, 1976

Bathtub Gin Okay, here's another great story that my Uncle Bud shared with me just a month or so ago.  Pa and Toni would make batches of liquor in a big tub right in the middle of the kitchen.  He said they would wash it out and it was the same tub they would use to take a bath in. They would make a tub full of their product, bottle it up, cap it, and then store it in the basement to ferment.  Apparently, it wasn't uncommon to be woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of a bottle that had over-fermented, exploding and popping the cap. Grandma would remark with agitation about the "loss of profit" when that would happen. I have absolutely no proof that this was the bath tub that was used in their production endeavors, but I do know that this tub was there for a very long time. It know it seemed old back when I had to take a bath in it as a kid when I would spend the night at grandpa and grandma's (yup, no bathrooms were ever added to the building so e...

My Grandpa was a Bootlegger, Part 1 I always knew my grandparents ran the tavern during prohibition, but I guess it never really occurred to me what they did to make ends meet during that time. There are stories coming out now that I had never heard about some of their homemade hooch.  One of my favorites was one that my aunt shared with us shortly before she passed. Apparently my grandparents would make their own 'beverages' and my grandfather would sell it to the construction workers down the road that were building Highway 151 at the time.  Of course after that, I had to google when Highway 151 was first built, and sure enough, it was in 1926 that the highway was originally constructed from Fond du Lac, WI to Madison, WI - of course running right by the Columbus, WI and East Bristol, WI area.  The perfect clientele in my opinion. Who wouldn't want a little happy hour beverage after a day of building a highway back in the 20's? Remnants of the prohibition era ...

I shared in a previous post about how one of my great-grandfather's was an award-winning cheese maker.  Well, now I have physical proof - actual medals awarded to him for his brick cheese at National Dairy Shows that occurred over 100 years ago. National Dairy Show Awards for Brick Cheesemaking between 1913-1917 My Uncle Bud very recently shared that somewhere inside what used to be the summer kitchen at the tavern were his grandfather, Anton Sutter's cheese medals. There was an old cupboard inside that room that I was clearing out and having received this recent intel about the medals possibly being somewhere in this room, I was on the lookout! Good thing, because I'm not sure I would've paid that close attention to the small box I discovered buried in the back of this cupboard. If it hadn't been addressed to Anton Sutter, I may have overlooked it.  So glad I didn't. What an amazing discovery! It looks like most of these were awarded to him...

Tavern Tables Tavern Tables with Drink Shelves Underneath My great grandfather, Englebert Mautz, was a woodworker by trade when he emigrated here from Germany.  Deep in a corner of the upstairs of the tavern, we found the trunk that sailed along with him from Germany with all of his woodworking tools. Englebert Mautz Woodworking Tool Chest Woodworking Tools have come a long way since the 1800s I don't know if he ever made a living off of this trade once he arrived here in the U.S. or before he became a tavern owner, but he did make the tavern tables that have sat inside Mautz's Tavern for many years.  They are still in amazing condition. Mary Ann did take measure to preserve them by keeping a plastic covering over the table top.  The glossy varnish makes them look almost brand new. Neighborhood taverns were quite common back when transportation wasn't as easy and fast as it is now. These taverns were central to a community and serve...

Exactly How Long Does a Christmas Cactus Live? While spending time with Mary Ann in the year before she passed, she told us on more than one occasion that when she was gone, she wanted someone to be sure to keep the Christmas cactus that was in the tavern. It was really old and she wanted to be sure that someone would continue to care for it.  My sister, Traci, obediently agreed to take it, not having gotten a really good visual of it since there were a lot of items stored in front of it at the time. Once all the stuff was cleared away, and we got a good look at this plant in all its sprawling enormity, well, let's just say Traci was having some regrets about her promise.  This thing may require its own bedroom. Browsing through old photo albums, I came across a photo of the plant back in its early days.  This photo was taken circa 1950s.  That would put this plant at darn near 70 years old, possibly older since I don't know exactly when they first acq...

A Look Inside - Then and Now 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 lon...