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(Photograph by Paul J. Jakubovich, courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society)
This Queen Anne–style cream brick building houses a restaurant, but atop the angular corner turret a banded globe, the trademark of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, recalls that this once served as a brewery-owned saloon. The saloon’s well-preserved exterior features attractive ornamental brickwork, especially the soldier courses above the second-story windows. In the nineteenth century, breweries built or bought taverns and then leased them to operators who could sell only that brewery’s beer. Schlitz’s taverns were well known for their social and cultural activities, including ethnic singing, musical groups, and theatrical performances. Around 1920, however, antitrust law compelled breweries to sell all real estate not directly related to beer production. Most taverns like this one were subsequently sold to their managers.