歪歪漫画

Editor's note: This is part of a 15-story series titled "If These Walls Could Talk" completed by Pioneer reporters with help from the Beltrami County Historical Society for our 2023 Annual Report.

By Davey Mills鈥� reckoning, the 209 Minnesota Ave. NW address was a saloon as early as 1898. Mills first co-owned Bar 209 with Jason LaValley in the building in 2006, then bought his cousin out, did a major remodel, and ran it until February 2011 when he sold it to Derek and Brett Leach.

The Leach Brothers (Brothers Group LLC) ran Bar 209 at its original location until opening their new bar in the old American Legion building at 219 Minnesota Ave. NW in 2018. After the business relocated, they kept the Bar 209 name and sold the old building to Mike Wiltse.

Under 鈥淪aloons,鈥� the 1904 Bemidji City Directory lists the Peerless Buffet at 209 Minnesota. Bemidji had an overabundance of saloons in its early years, with a total of 27 saloons listed in a four-block area of downtown Bemidji and four listings in Nymore. By some accounts, that number almost doubled in the years prior to Prohibition.

The Buffet was shut down by Sheriff Thomas Bailey in 1905 but reopened and continued its ups and downs under a number of different proprietors. The front of the building sustained major fire damage when the Merchants Hotel across the street burned down in 1907.

When prohibition came to Bemidji in 1914, saloons were shut down for about 20 years. A number of businesses came and went at 209, including restaurants, a pool hall and a soft drink distributorship (some were shut down for breaking liquor laws).

When Prohibition ended in 1933, there were new licensing rules and restrictions and a new phenomenon: municipal or city-owned establishments. The city rented the building at 209 Minnesota and opened City Liquor Store No. 2 in the spring of 1934. The building had at least three apartments upstairs that had been listed as a hotel in the early days.

Linda Lemmer, who worked at Muni No. 1 on Third Street, which had both on-sale and off-sale liquor, says No. 2 did not sell packaged or off-sale liquor; only on-sale drinks.

The law changed in 1970, and municipal stores were no longer allowed to sell drinks on-site 鈥� only off-sale; on-sale drinks were sold exclusively in privately owned establishments.

Eugene 鈥淕ene鈥� Schwartz bought the building from Sam Meyerson in 1968, according to his daughter Debbie Schwartz Little, and ran Gene鈥檚 Place until he sold it to Jim Hamilton in 1989. Gene鈥檚 wife Cleo worked days at the bar and Gene worked nights.

鈥淗e loved owning the bar and he loved people,鈥� Debbie said.

A few years after purchasing the bar, Gene added the back room and occasionally had live bands. A walk-in cooler was also added and a mug freezer for frosty mugs. Debbie says Gene鈥檚 was the first privately owned bar in Minnesota to get pull tabs, and Gene sold them to benefit the Bemidji Figure Skating Club. His stepsons Scott, Joe, and Jeff Mayer also worked at Gene鈥檚.

Hamilton bought the bar from Schwartz and kept the original name. Between 2000 and 2002, it was Smiley鈥檚 Bar & Grill. Mike Nickerson bought it from Hamilton and sold it to Jason LaValley and Tony Newby, who named it Bar 209. Davey Mills, LaValley鈥檚 cousin, bought out Newby and used one of the apartments upstairs for his lumber business (Mills Hardwoods) office.

Mills and LaValley fixed up as much as they could do cheaply, and business improved, but then the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act (MCIAA) and the Freedom to Breathe (FTB) amendment were passed and set to go into effect on Oct. 1, 2007.

Mills bought out LaValley and closed Bar 209 to do a major remodel, relocating the bathrooms to the back, repairing and replacing floors, building a new bar and doing major work on the walls, electrical and plumbing.

鈥淭here were four inches of layers of flooring 鈥� carpet over linoleum,鈥� Mills said.

When they tore it all up, the entry door had to be lowered to meet up with the actual floor. Smoke and soot coated the cement and brick walls that had probably saved the building from being destroyed by fire over a hundred years ago when other buildings in the area burned.

One wall had to be knocked out by sledgehammers; a back wall, blackened by soot, was sandblasted to clean up the Chicago brick. Mills chiseled stucco off another wall.

After three months, the bar reopened.

鈥淲hen we opened the doors, it was like someone hit a light switch,鈥� Mills said. 鈥淚t was a different clientele.鈥�

With the smoking ban, people who had never before come into the bar came in now. They ordered food, had a drink or two, and left 鈥� not like some of the old regulars who sat at the bar most of the day downing whiskey waters. Custom brews were becoming popular and Bar 209 had 18 taps. People came in for sampling.

Bar 209鈥檚 鈥淜egs & Eggs鈥� breakfast for BSU homecoming became an annual event offering all-you-can-eat eggs, bacon, hashbrowns (and beer) for $10.

鈥淭he first year we went through three kegs; the second year, six kegs,鈥� Mills added. 鈥淭he third year, the line stretched around the block. I was cooking eggs like crazy. Full pitchers were being sent out and empty ones were handed back nonstop. We went through 12 kegs in four hours.鈥�

Mills sold Bar 209 to the Leach brothers in February 2011. They operated the 2,100-square-foot bar until they moved to the former and much larger Legion building, where they reopened Bar 209 and launched Red Stu Breakfast Bar in June 2018. They continued the Kegs & Eggs homecoming event until 2020 when Covid shut things down, but they plan to bring it back this year at their current location.

After sitting empty for five years, the building will have a new look in the coming months when Mike Wiltse moves his business, Your Mom鈥檚 Tattoo Atelier, to 209 Minnesota from its current location in the Elks Building at 110 Fourth St. NW.