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Wreck Pioneer Tavern for Fuel
Old Mud
Inn on
was popular
with travelers
The Milwaukee Journal, 01 28 1928
One more landmark of pioneer days in
Wisconsin was erased when the Mud Tavern on the western outskirts of this city
was torn down last week. The timbers of
the old hostelry which once rang with the merry-making of pioneers who stopped
off on their way from Milwaukee met the ignominious end of being cut up for
firewood.
In the early days the road leading
to this tavern at certain seasons of the year was almost impassable, on account
of a long stretch of mud, and the building was constructed principally of clay
and mud from which the tavern was given its name. The tavern was built some time in the forties
and was for many years a great resort, not only for travelers but for city
people.
Plank Road
A plank
road was built from Milwaukee through this city to Madison and on to Green
Bay. Before the advent of the railroads
into this region the road was the main thoroughfare for freight and travel.
At the rear of the inn there was a
large barn for the teams of the travelers who put up there for the night. To the west of the tavern was a large park,
targets, bowling alleys, bandstands and picnic grounds. A short distance east was a brewery (1), just
east of which was the old plank road tollgate.
The tavern and its surroundings were well equipped with everything to
make things lively for pioneer travelers of those days, and for many years it
enjoyed a large patronage.
Two Taverns Left
Sixty years ago, when a small boy,
the editor of The Watertown Gazette
lived within three blocks of this tavern and remembers many of the doings of
the people of that neighborhood during the Civil War times. Up to 1866 Mud Tavern presented a creditable
appearance, and had to the north and west of it one of the best kept flower and
fruit gardens in the state. Since then
the tavern changed hands many times, and usually a pretty rough class of people
attended the various “socials” given there.
In the front part of the tavern a saloon
and dance hall was conducted and usually the crowds that attended the Saturday
night dances held there turned them into roadhouse orgies.
The tavern is the last relic of
pioneer times to be removed west of the Rock River, but there are still two road
taverns east of the river in a fair state of preservation, one the building on
the right as you turn near the electric power house to cross the Oconomowoc
Street bridge, known as the Boston House (2) in early days, the other about two
miles east of the city on the left on the Oconomowoc Road.
(1)
Corner of Dayton and
(2) On the southeast corner of
Oconomowoc and Concord avenues was the historic Boston House, a well-known
business. It included a large dance hall. Travelers over this section of the
plank road always looked forward to a stop at the Boston House.
