Published September 10, 2024
By Lynn Snyder
Early picture of the Woelful Saloon at 8th and Locust Streets. (Photo courtesy of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County)
In December 1885, Illinois decided to locate the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home on the Dudley estate, just north of Quincy. The lure of the soldiers and sailors who would live there with pension dollars to spend, had drawn Lorenzo Woelfel’s attention. He was operating a saloon at 190 South 6th Street in Quincy. At that time, there were more than 70 saloons in operation in Quincy.
In August 1886, Suzanne Woelfel paid $400 for a lot on the southwest corner of 8th and Locust Streets, directly across from the Dudley property. The Woelfels built a two-story building which would house a tavern on the first floor, with living space above. Thus began a contest between the Woelfels, the management of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home and the Quincy City Council, about selling spirits and beer to the residents of the home.
Various temperance groups formed throughout the 19th century. Prominent among these groups was the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). They boasted a membership of over 100,000 by the 1870’s. In response, distillers and brewers formed their own organizations such as the local “Quincy Saloon Keepers Association,” founded in 1886.
Before national prohibition began in 1919, a number of tactics were employed to limit or prohibit the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages. Local preachers were speaking of the evils of unrestricted consumption of spirits. By June 1884, despite a large and vocal beer loving German immigrant population, the city council first considered a local law mandating the closure of all businesses selling alcoholic beverages on Sundays. Although this statute was rejected by the council, aldermen successfully passed a local law that required saloon keepers to purchase a liquor license for a fee of $150. This fee would rise over the years, eventually topping $500 per year. It was thought that such a high fee would limit the number of saloons and taverns. However, by 1898 there were more than 140 saloons operating within the city limits.
Lorenzo and Suzanne Woelful began operating their saloon with the opening of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home by early 1887. Within months they were running afoul of both the home officials and Quincy officials. True to the Woelfuls expectations, a number of veterans, having time to pass and pension dollars to spend, found their way to their establishment. Occasionally the veterans drank to excess and caused disturbances.
The Woelfuls were not alone in their ambitions to serve the clientele of the northwest side. By 1891, there were three saloons operating just outside the gates of the Home. Leo J. Goerres opened a saloon at 12th and Locust Streets. South of the Woelfuls on 8th street, Herbst and Buckheit opened a third saloon. Following Mr. Woelfuls death in 1887, Suzanne ran the saloon herself. She subsequently married Julius Linneman, who took charge of tavern.
In response to the perceived threat to the resident’s health and wellbeing, the administration of the Home petitioned the Quincy city council to ban the granting of licenses and sale of liquor in areas within ¼ mile of the Soldiers’ Home. Initially the council reacted positively and passed the proposed ordinance. It soon became a contested issue, with sides being taken by the Homes’s administration and temperance advocates, vs. the Saloon Keepers Association and local tavern keepers.
Less than six months after the first residents were admitted to the Home, Lorenzo Woelfel was issued a summons for selling “intoxicants within three blocks of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home.” The local papers said he was “notified a few days ago to shut up shop, which order, it seems, he has disobeyed.” When the city refused to issue a license to the Woelfuls, they continued to operate their business anyway, and were repeatedly cited and brought into court, under “ordinance No. 55.” After hiring an attorney and asking for a change of venue, Lorenzo successfully fought the summons. Despite the efforts of the temperance minded, the residents of the home continued to patronize the so called “h*** hole on 8th street” as one local newspaper christened it.
In September 1887, a serious fracas occurred at the Woelfuls, when two veterans got into an argument. Shots were fired. According to the local newspapers, “The place is said to be the worst of its kind in the city and shooting affrays and fights have occurred there of late. The veterans addicted to strong drink visit the place, and after getting drunk, make it lively for the neighborhood. The last shooting affray occurred there on Saturday last, but luckily all who took part were unable to hit anyone.” They were too inebriated to aim their weapons. One veteran stubbed his toe while chasing his opponent and broke his foot.
Suzanne Woelful was again brought before the courts for operating an establishment without a liquor license, and, in an article on doings at the Home, the writer noted,
“The woman who keeps the h*** hole at the corner of Eighth and Locust got soldiers to swear that she sold nothing but soda-water. Could not the attorney against her find anyone to prove that assertion false? The beer wagon drives up there every morning and unloads beer kegs, and intoxicated men come out of the place every day. The principal witness for her on her last suit got so drunk there Monday that she had to put him out and lock the door to keep him out.” As the newspapers noted, it was not only residents of the Home that got into trouble at Woelfuls’, but “the worst sort” of local toughs.
A number of owners would operate the Woelful place over the next few years. In 1892, although the name of the saloon had been changed to the “Bouilvard” by its current owner, who had also erected signs advertizing a “summer garden” with “Gentlemen’s” and “Ladies’” entrances, the establishment was still receiving summonses for operating “an open grog shop on Sunday.”
Finally, in the 1920’s, after prohibition had closed all such establishments throughout the nation, Ed Murray opened Murray’s Groceries in the former Woelful building.
Lynn M. Snyder is a native of Adams County, a semi-retired archaeologist, museum researcher, and a former librarian. She is a board member and Museum Coordinator for the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County
Sources
Code of the City of Quincy, Illinois. Quincy: City Clerk’s Office.
Okrent, Daniel. Last Call: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition. New York: Scribner, 2010.
The Revised Statutes of the State of Illinois, 1891. Chicago: Chicago Legal News Company.
“Criminal Court.” Quincy Daily Herald, February 9, 1890, 3.
“How Shameful.” Quincy Daily Journal, December 21, 1891, 6.
“Police Court.” Quincy Daily Journal, July 1, 1892, 5.
“Abolish It.” Quincy Daily Whig, September 10, 1887, 4.
Resident Action Group. A Promise Kept: the Story of the Illinois Veterans Home at Quincy. Quincy: Illinois Veterans Home, 1996.
