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Deutsches Dorf

Third and Main

Garret Gahlmann

Holmes, Fred L., Sideroads: Excursions into Wisconsin’s Past, Madison: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, pg 75.

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Among the more pretentious saloons that had a free lunch counter was the Deutsches Dorf at Watertown, which came to enjoy a statewide reputation. Architecturally it was modeled upon the famous German drinking place at the World’s Fair held in St. Lewis in 1904. With its carved woodwork it looked more like a music hall than a saloon, and it often served this purpose.

Groups of patrons would join their voices in old German songs and ballads, and on special occasions the proprietor, Garret M. Gahlman (Gallmann), would bring a German orchestra from Milwaukee to entertain his customers. During the pre-prohibition era its massive oak bar, laden with a variety of good food, required the services of four attendants.

Deutsches Dorf Saloon Token

Mayor Charles Mulberger was without question Watertown’s most flamboyant mayor, a very popular executive. He had a law degree but never practiced law. He would come down to the business section every morning around 10 o’clock, go to the old Seager Barber Shop for his daily shave and a trim, then walk over to a floral shop and buy a fresh carnation which he wore each day in his bottonhole, then make the rounds of downtown business places, including the old Deutsches Dorf which was then the gathering place for many Watertown business men and executives. It was by far the finest saloon Watertown ever had and was located at the corner of Main and North Third Street, now the site of the Wisconsin Gas-Electric building.

Garret Gahlmann Obituary

Derived from Watertown Daily Times, 02 02 1946

Garret M. Gahlmann, 79, 1417 River Drive, died at this home on February 1, 1946. He had made his home in Watertown for the previous 45 years.

A son of the late Frederick and Josephine Baurichter Gahlmann, he was born in Clyman January 5, 1867, in Clyman. His marriage to Laura Belle Kehoe took place June 8, 1904.

Mr. Gahlmann was a member of St. Bernard’s Church and was buried in the parish cemetery.

In the death of “Gary” Gahlmann Watertown lost one of its most widely known and most popular residents. As the operator of the old Deutsches Dorf, at Main and North Third streets (216 Main), later the site of the Gas and Electric Company building, Mr. Gahlmann for years played host to thousands of visitors to Watertown. The place was perhaps the most popular gathering and stopping off point in the city of many years, when an earlier “Gemütlichkeit” marked community life here and elsewhere.

Mr. Gahlmann conducted his business along high ethical lines and many older residents, as well as hundreds scattered far and wide, remember it as a place where they could meet their friends among spacious and pleasant surroundings, with white-garbed bartenders dispensing drinks and with a lunch counter that fairly groaned with good day in and day out. And presiding over it was Mr. Gahlmann, with a cheery word of welcome for everyone.

In later years Mr. Gahlmann opened a new business establishment at the corner of North Third and Madison streets (300-302 Madison) and this, too, became know at the Deutsches Dorf, but it was on a much smaller and far less glamorous scale. He retired from business some time ago.

It can be said of Mr. Gahlmann that he had friends in every walk of life and in many Wisconsin cities, as well as cities scattered around the nation, among people who had visited his earlier place of business and who always went away with a friendly feeling for its genial proprietor.

The Poor Man’s Club

The old-time saloon was the Poor Man’s Club. Men gathered in the barbershop or sat around the country-store stove to discuss politics, but for good-fellowship, friendliness, and Gemütlichkeit they went to the saloon. To it came men from all walks of life. Within its portals a democratic spirit reigned, and all present became equals.

Standing at the bar with one foot on the rail or sitting around tables, little coteries talked companionably of their families and home and of their work. They drank a little beer, ate of the free lunch, and then went home or back to their work. Social life today offers few meeting places like the old German saloon. Compared with it, the modern tavern is an arrogant pretender.

Holmes, Fred L., Sideroads: Excursions into Wisconsin’s Past, Madison: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, pg 63.

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Compiled by Ken Riedl