Mammoth Spring Hotel
REAL. ESTATE SALES.
REPORTED BY REGISTER ROBERTS.
Henry Sherry to John Hummel, lot 5 and 6, village of Templeton, $850. [Editor – Did Fred’s father John orig. buy the property that Fred built the Mammoth Spring Hotel on? The Hummel name is most often spelled with a single L not the double LL.]
source: Waukesha Freeman May 17, 1888, page 4 of 10
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James Lonsberry, of Sussex, is one of the most progressive dealers in farm machinery in Waukesha County. On Thursday he delivered to farmers in the town of Lisbon, twenty binders, seven horse-rakes, and four mowers, and afterwards gave the farmers a sumptuous dinner at the Mammoth Spring hotel, such as only mine host F. A. Hummel is capable of serving. Mr. Lonsberry has been so successful as a local agent that he has received several flattering offers to travel as general agent for several companies.
source: Waukesha Journal June 22, 1889, page 2 of 15
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Mr. Hummel [of Merton] expects to remove his family to Sussex soon. source: Waukesha Freeman September 19, 1889, page 5 of 8.
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Grand Party at Templeton
Next Tuesday evening, Feb. 18, a grand party will be given at the Mammoth Spring hotel, Templeton. Nothing will be spared to make the occasion a pleasant one. An excursion train on the new Milwaukee, Menomonee Falls and Western railway will leave Menomonee falls at 8 p.m. and arrive at Templeton at 8:30. the train will depart on the return trip at about 12:30.
source: Waukesha Journal February 15, 1890, page 2 of 24
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The party that was given on the evening of the 18th of February by F. A. Hummel was a grand success. The excursion train which arrived at 8:30 p.m. was loaded with passengers from Menomonee Falls and other points. The evening was spent in dancing. A bountiful supper was served at midnight, after which the parties returned to the hall again and remained until 2 a.m. The only cry was, “Fred, when will you have the next dance?”
source: Waukesha Journal February 15, 1890, page 24 of 24.
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Fred A. Hummel of Templeton, was in town [Waukesha] Monday. He informs us that he will have a large addition to his hotel completed about the 20th of this month.
source:
Waukesha Freeman March 6, 1890, page 8of 8
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F. A. Hummel is making extensive preparations for a dance to be given at his hotel in Templeton this evening. An excursion train will leave Granville at 8 p.m., reaching Templeton at 8:30, and will leave Templeton at 12:30 a.m., reaching Granville at 1:30. This will give an excellent opportunity for the Granvill-ites to attend. A number of people from Waukesha will be there, for these dances are always enjoyable.
source:
Waukesha Journal September 20, 1890, page 1 of 8
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Silvester Silvernale to F. A. Hummel, lot 4, Sherry’s plat, Templeton. $250.00
source: Waukesha Freeman December 10, 1896, page 2 of 8
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Hartford, Wis., Jan. 11.[Special.]John Hummel died at his late home at
Templeton yesterday aged 80 years. He was an early pioneer of Dodge county, having settled there in 1854. In 1878 he bought a large farm just adjoining this city where he resided until a year ago, when he moved to, Templeton to reside with his son Fred. He is survived by his aged wife and seven children.
source:
Milwaukee Weekly Wisconsin January 16, 1897, page 6 of 9
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Hummel – John Hummel, an old Wisconsin settler, died January 10th at his home in Templeton at the age of 76 years. Mr. Hummell came to Wisconsin in 1851, locating near Hartford, where he resided until January, 1896, when he removed to Templeton. Five children and his widow survive him, four sons and one daughter. Two and one-half hours after his death, his oldest daughter, Mrs. Mary Bindemann, of Peru, Ill., who was visiting him at the time, died of pneumonia, contracted a few days before.
source: Waukesha Freeman January 21, 1897, page 1 of 7
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F. A. Hummell is having his hotel grained and papered. source: Waukesha Freeman December 9, 1897, page 5 of 8.
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Municipal Court – On Monday afternoon a jury was called in the municipal court to hear the case of the State vs. F. A. Hummel. The defendant was charged with selling liquor to a man who had been posted as a drunkard. A large number of persons were present from the town of Lisbon, from which the case hailed, and much interest was manifested. Hummel was found guilty and it cost him $105.00
source: Waukesha Freeman May 19, 1898, page 4 of 8
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Municipal Court News – The case of the State vs F. A. Hummel, came up in the Municipal court this morning, and Hummel entered a plea of not guilty. He is charged, on the complaint of W. H. Edwards, chairman of the town of Lisbon, with selling liquor without a license.
source:
Waukesha Republican Freeman October 24, 1898, page 7 of 8
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Delinquent Tax List
F. A. Hummel, lots 4, 5, 6, Templeton village, sec 23 – .75 cents
F. A. Humme;, lot n e 1/4 n e 1/4, sec 26 – .375 cents
source: Waukesha Freeman May 4, 1899, page 2 of 8
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Hummel – Mrs. John Hummel of Templeton died Wednesday morning at the home of her son, aged 75 years. Mrs. Hummel was a pioneer resident of the state, having resided in Washington county since 18145. Surviving her are six children. The funeral was held Friday and interment took place at Hartford.
source: Waukesha Freeman May 25, 1899, page 1 of 8
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Editor Note: Mr. Hummel was in other business besides the hotel.
F. A. Hummel of Templeton, shipped a carload of barley; also one of potatoes from here Monday.
source: Waukesha Freeman February 8, 1900,page 5 of 8
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Colgate – F. Hummel is making a boom in town now-a-days shipping potatoes; one and two cars a day.
source:
Waukesha Freeman February 15, 1900, page 5 of 8
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1900 –
U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 for Fred A Hummel listing under Templeton, saloon and hotel.
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Fred A. Hummel to F. H. Schroeder, lot 7, Templeton, $1,650. source:
Waukesha Freeman April 9, 1903, page 2 of 7
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Editor Note: After the above entry, nothing else comes up in newspaper searches. After his tax problems, and the Colgate fire which may have destroyed some of his potato/barley shipping ability, he may have left for Milwaukee.
On a postcard postmarked September 2, 1915, this editor’s grandfather, William “Salty” Miller, wrote to his mother from Templeton (now Sussex), “Hello Ma. This the place I am going to take. Will be in WB (West Bend) in a week.” The address was simply, “Mrs. Wm. Miller, West Bend, Wis”. The picture on the postcard’s front was that of the Mammoth Springs Hotel under the proprietorship of one Thomas McCloskey. The Hotel was both a saloon downstairs and hotel above. It isn’t known what William meant by his message to his mother; whether he intended to buy the establishment, or to simply work there ( Fred Keller, a Sussex area historian, wrote about the history of the hotel/saloon and nothing mentioned William’s ownership.) There further exists a picture ( in the possession this editor’s cousin, Shirley Ann Arnold, nee Miller) of William standing behind a bar that could be this hotel. It’s not sure when, or if William began working here because his father, William Sr., suddenly died a few days later on September 5, 1915 while fishing. [In the photo on the left, it appears they serve Waukesha’s “Fox Head beer”]
U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 for Thomas McCloskey in the 1919 Directory: McCloskey Thos, sec 26, 1/8 acre, value $1075; sec 23, 3/4 acre, $4350, Lisbon, Templeton.
Editor note: the 1921 Directory has him and wife, Tillie, living in Waukesha, and he’s working as a section foreman. According to the 1920 Federal Census, he was born in Ireland in 1864/65, and immigrated about the same
Dining Out
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI) – Friday, August 15, 2003
SCOUTING REPORT
THE COPPER DOCK
1474 E. Freiss Lake Road, Hubertus
(262) 628-3718
For years, the restaurant on Freiss Lake near Holy Hill was known as Anderson’s. The name made sense — its owner was Barbara Anderson.
In June, both the name and the ownership changed. The restaurant , which is known for great sunsets, a popular fish fry and a busy Sunday brunch, was taken over by Tim and Heather Leffler. Its new name is the Copper Dock.
That name is something of a story in itself.
“It was about a year ago and we were having dinner at the restaurant ,” Tim Leffler said. “Just as the sun got to the top of the trees, this beautiful shaft of copper light shone on the restaurant .”
A few months later, the Lefflers got the chance to buy the restaurant and, in looking for a new name, remembered their experience.
The couple already own Killarney’s Corner Pub and Restaurant in Sussex , but have moved from Sussex to living quarters above the restaurant . The only change they’ve made is to serve meals on an outdoor patio that offers an even better view of Freiss Lake. The menu offers steaks, fish, chicken and veal, and individual pizzas. Mark Koski is the chef. (Tim and Heather Leffler also own Killarney’s Corner Pub and Restaurant in Sussex with Tim’s father, Patrick Leffler.)
Credit cards: MasterCard, Visa. Hours: Dinner 5-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 4-10 p.m. Friday, 4-9 p.m. Saturday and 4-8 p.m. Sunday; brunch 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday; closed Monday. Prices: Dinner $6.50-$23.95; Sunday brunch $14.95.
— Dennis R. Getto
Retrospect: Old Mammoth Spring Hotel takes modern turn as sports bar
Living Sussex Sun, Posted: Sept. 17, 2008
Killarneys (earlier Dillys) tried to be a sports bar. Its new owner, Jim Wasley, has now taken the concept all the way with the renamed 4th Base on Main Sreet at Waukesha Avenue in Sussex, once the center of the old Village of Templeton.
Wasley bought the tavern July 24, then brought in as many as 20 employees at a time to perform extensive repairs and remodeling, and reopened it Aug. 4.
The story of this bar and grill began in 1887 with the anticipated arrival of the Wisconsin Central Railroad, which was laying tracks from the Fox River Valley south through Lisbon toward Waukesha.
On Oct. 19, 1887, the Waukesha World published this notice: Mr. Fred Hummell of Hartford was in the village Saturday, trying to secure a lot on which to build a hotel.
He was actually in east Sussex, which would shortly break away from the unincorporated Village of Sussex under the leadership of its founder and namesake, James Templeton.
Hummell made sure that the emerging Village of Templeton knew his name, and which side he was on, when the citizens of Sussex protested walking a mile to the new East Sussex, where Templeton had moved the former Sussex post office.
Sussex got its post office back, but Templeton kept his, too. And Fred Hummell gained not only the northeast corner of Waukesha Avenue and Main Street for his new hotel, but also the southeast corner, as well, for his home. (Hardees restaurant is there today.)
Initially, Hummell took advantage of a local attraction, Mammoth Spring, bubbling up on 13 acres south of Silver Spring Road, which some Milwaukee investors had recently purchased from William Weaver Sr.
Those investors wanted to cash in on the the spring waters supposed medicinal benefits, notably an alleged cure for diabetes, then known as Brights disease.
Hummell named his establishment Mammoth Spring Hotel, hoping to attract the healing waters patients, serving them with room and board and a tavern.
Fred Hummell, then in his 60s, also attracted a number of members of his extended family to Templeton.
The Waukesha Dispatch reported its Jan. 15 edition that the 75-year-old Fred [John, Fred’s father] Hummel had died at 11 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 13, 1897, at his homestead after a short illness.
Two hours later, his daughter, Mary Binderman of Peru, Ill., also died in her fathers home from the shock of his death and pneumonia, the paper said.
Freds [John, Fred’s father] body was shipped to Hartford for burial; Marys went to Peru.
New owners took over the hotel, and the extended Hummel family pulled out of Templeton.
Some of the new owners were the Tom and Jim McCluskey families, Stanley Stasieluk, Annie Brown and the Dave Perotti family. The building was transformed several times, once into an ice-cream shop and later into a grocery.
Soon after World War II, Bernie Krueger took ownership of the tavern-hotel-restaurant. The former Brook Hotel owner lured the Sussex Lions Club to leave that establishment as its headquarters and follow him to his new venture.
Krueger also attracted the Land O Lakes teams from Sussex to his tavern as they celebrated the 1950-51 basketball grand championship, with its trophies and banner ending up on his back bar.
A succession of owners followed Kruegers departure. Mike and Della Gales opened it as Club Midel, featuring fine food. Don Laurence and Lacy Lauer tried it out as the Don Lucy Bar.
Others followed, until it became Club 74 and later Zimmermans. Bob Ische bought it in the 1980s, naming it Dillys. Dillys later became Killarneys, its last incarnation before Wasley took it over.
The new establishment will face a newly resurfaced and widened Highway 74 and roundabout intersection with Main Street and Waukesha Avenue by the end of October, at least according to Wisconsin Department of Transportation officials.
Side note: A voters revolt in 1971 against Village President John Karnera led to the election of barkeeper Harold Tobin, who had thrown his hat into the ring just a couple of days before the election.
He served three years before he resigned, one of the shortest terms ever served by a Sussex village president.
New owner makes over Killarney s as 4th Base
It began in 1888 as Mammoth Spring Hotel.
Posted: Aug. 6, 2008 Sussex Sun
It began in 1888 as Mammoth Spring Hotel.
Most people today know it as Killarney’s.
4TH BASE – Al Wasley, the owner of Rookies Sports Bar & Grill in Okauchee, recently bought the former Killarney’s Corner and reopened it Monday as 4th Base, a sports bar. The building first opened for business Feb. 9, 1888, as the Mammoth Spring Hotel.Now it’s 4th Base, a sports bar opened this week by new owner Al Wasley of Pewaukee.
The 36-year-old Wasley, who also owns Rookies, a sports bar in Okauchee, bought Killarney’s Corner last week and has been refurbishing the 120-year-old building since then with the help of about 20 workers for its opening Monday.
The former owner of the Carousel near Richmond School at Lisbon and Richmond roads, Wasley went into the sports bar business in 2001 when he bought the Silver Saddle in Oconomowoc and renamed it after his son as Wolfgang’s Pub.
Wasley and his wife, Tracie, named Wolfgang, now a 12-year-old student at Pewaukee Middle School, after composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Wolfgang’s sister, Riannon, is a schoolmate at Pewaukee Middle School, and his older brothers, Cody and Shawn, attend Pewaukee High School.
Wasley once owned four sports bars, but downsized to just one, Rookies, until he bought Kilarney’s.
He has completely refurbished the front room with a new bar top, new wood floors, new pool tables and dartboards, and has added large-screen TVs to view sports.
The dining room in the back will remain the same, but with a new lunch menu, starting off with “a lot of appetizers,” Wasley said in an interview Monday.
The back room will not serve dinner until Friday’s fish fry, and won’t sport a full dinner menu until Monday. The new menu will offer larger portions at reasonable prices, Wasley said.
Neighborhood changes, too
The Killarney’s-to-4th Base changeover is just the latest at Waukesha Avenue and Main Street, the heart of old Templeton.
The state’s intersection-widening project took out Berger’s Olde Templeton Inn last year. (Wasley said he plans to hire some of its former employees to work at 4th Base.)
This year the village is refurbishing Waukesha Avenue north to about Good Hope Road, and railroad gates will go up at the Wisconsin Central railroad crossing there before the end of the year.
The rubble remaining from the old Mammoth Spring Canning Co. has been removed, and Bielinski Homes is working on a new development plan for the site, including the abandoned water-filled quarry of the former Templeton Lime and Stone Co., which once served Sussex and Lisbon as a swimming hole.
History
Fred Hummel opened the original Mammoth Spring Hotel on Feb. 8, 1888. He hoped his new establishment would cater to patrons of the supposedly medicinal Mammoth Spring waters nearby, but that business plan didn’t pan out.
Hummel [John, Fred’s father] died suddenly at the hotel on Jan. 10, 1897, at age 75. His daughter, a Mrs. Binderman of Peru, Ill., was visiting at the time and was reportedly so affected by her father’s death that she died two hours later.
Tom and Jim McCluskey replaced Hummel [after 1900-03] as the proprietor, and the dynamic Annie Brown took over during the Great Depression and ran an ice cream parlor there.
Stanley Stasieluk took over the ice cream parlor. The Dave Perotti family later ran a grocery store on the site.
The modern era began about 1950 when Bernie Krueger took over the place, calling it Krueger’s Tap, though it was also known as Bernie’s and Bernie’s Tap.
Other notable owners were Mike and Della Galles, who combined their names to call it Midel’s or Club Midel.
It became Don Lucy’s Club under Don Lawrence and Lucy Lauer and later Club 74 (for Highway 74).
It became Zimmerman’s in the 1980s, Dilly in the 1990s and finally Killarney’s at the turn of this century.
Wasley said Killarney’s former owners are retiring from the business, though the extended family owns the Copper Dock restaurant on Friess Lake.
Staff writer Peter Abbott contributed to this report.
Dilly Dollar surfaces in Sussex
Posted: July 24, 2012, Living Sussex Sun
Over the years there has been a lot of local taverns that have issues brass and aluminum coins “bar coins” at their establishments. These coins were worth 5 cents, 25 cents and sometimes for a tap beer. Then inflation set in and in the mid-1990s a shocking pink “Dilly Dollar” replaced the coins.
Recently, the Sussex Lisbon Area Historical Society acquired two examples of the bill-sized “Dilly Dollar” to add to collections of business keepsakes. The Dilly Dollar has an expiration date of Aug. 30, 1996, is a clever memento of times past as it was worth $1.
Dilly Dollars were from the Dilly Bar and Restaurant that existed in the late-1980s into the ’90s. Bob “Dilly” Ische was the then-owner of what is today Tailgator’s. Bob’s brother, Ray, was often affiliated with Bob. He said when, “Bob was young there was no reason to it but he dilly dallied at times and he acquired a lifelong nickname, ‘Dilly.'”
[1985/Jan. – Robert Ische of Lannon took over “Zimmermann’sCorner” in Sussex, renaming it “Dilly’s”.]The Ische family, including the father, Orval or “Duffy”, had a series of taverns. One was the Miller Hotel in Lannon on the west corner of Good Hope and Main Street. Ray and Bob divided their upbringing between Lannon and Sussex. Both were outstanding athletes with Bob playing basketball and baseball for Sussex Land O’Lakes. At one time he was chosen for the league’s all star team. Ray played starting defensive half back for an undefeated Waukesha high school team that was state rated.
It was natural that when Bob got the former Templeton bar to call it Dilly’s. It remained under his ownership for a short time.
Before Tailgator’s
Tailgator’s goes back to 1888 just Templeton was forming. It was a community built around the first railroad depot and grain elevator in the Town of Lisbon.
An enterprising man in his 60s, Fred Hummel, began building a two-story tavern in 1887 with quarters upstairs for the owner and renters. The grand opening was set for Feb. 8, 1888. Hummel named the tavern-hotel the Mammoth Spring Hotel. This was a take off from a series of men who were developing the actual Mammoth Spring that is still in place on private land south of Silver Spring Drive. The Mammoth Spring developers were trying to take advantage of the current trend to furnish mineral spring water that would cure Bright’s disease (diabetes). Hummel’s idea was to furnish the healing waters to patients who might stay in the hotel.
The next owners were Tom and Jim McCluskey. Later there was a dynamic owner Annie Brown. She at one time ran an ice cream parlor during the prohibition. Other owners of note were Stanley Stasioluk and Dave Perotti.
Bernie Krueger was running a “beer only” Brook Hotel bar where today this land is a central Sussex mini-park with the village clock. He left this business to take over the former Mammoth Spring Hotel and bar in the late-1940s and it became the place to go. He had fed and allowed the Sussex Lions Club at the hotel and they became a fixture while he was there.
Bernies Tap was also the headquarters for the Sussex Land O’Rivers (later lakes) baseball and basketball teams. A huge time was in 1951 when Sussex went undefeated for the season in Land O’Rivers basketball.
Mike and Della Galles were some great owners and called their place Midel’s or sometimes Club Midel. Then it became Don and Lucy Lauer’s naming the place Don and Lucy’s.
Later it was Club 74 (Highway 74 went past the tavern). Next it was Zimmerman’s in the 1980s and by the 1990s, Bob “Dilly” Ische took over and it laskted until the late-1990s when it changed hands, but it still retained the “Dilly” name for some time until it finally changed to Killarney’s.
In 2008, a former owner of the Carosel by Richmond School Jim Wasley purchased it. Besides the Carousel he had a business history of ownership of multiple sports bars. He immediately named his latest acquisition “4th Base” investing in an expensive sign, but had second thought and changed it to Tailgators*. Now in its fourth year the business remains successful.
Next year will mark the 125th anniversary of the Mammoth Spring Hotel-Tailgators. Owner Wasley is using the historical society’s 1905 postcard on his current menu. Meanwhile at the museum there is a menu from the 1960s Club Midel.
A side note: Ray Ische lives in Sussex today while Bob, who moved away after he sold Dilly’s, is back living in Lannon. In 1980 Bob was a Lannon trustee on the board that included Nick Quartaro and Charles DeLany.
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*Editor Note – Due to a conflict with a Milwaukee tavern, the it was changed to “Tailgators”.
For 125th Anniversary Menu
Club Mi-Del Tavern is now Tailgators Sports Bar
Posted: May 16, 2014, Living Sussex Sun
Mikes Galles Jr., a Sussex resident during the spring and summer, and a retiree to the greater Phoenix, Arizona, area in the fall and winter, lived an intensive five years from 1956 to ’61 in the Templeton part of the village of Sussex as the son of Mike Sr. and Della Galles, who owned what is the original Mammoth Springs Hotel, today Tailgators at the intersection of Waukesha Avenue and Main Street.
His parents and siblings ran the then-called Club Mi-Del Tavern. But it was more than a tavern, as it was also the home, upstairs, of the extended Galles family.
Mike Jr., the youngest of three children, was between the ages of 13 and 18 during that time, and had graduated from Sussex Main Street School, and went on to Waukesha High School, where he played football in one of the greatest-ever periods of Waukesha High School football, the No. 1 ranked state high school team at that time (there was no state playoff during that period).
There were two other Sussex players on this team that saw Mike Galles play right guard and Dan Steffen left guard. Both Mike and Dan went both ways, doing it all. Meanwhile their all-star fellow Sussex resident was the great quarterback, Bob Lawrence, who did his damage only on offense.
Now Mike, when he comes back to Sussex for the local warm season, always has his impact on the community, organizing many reunions for the Sussex Main Street School and their sister Willow Springs School from the periods when he was young. Just recently 58 of these students (many with their spouses) had one of these reunions at a midday meal at the Bone Yard.
The three-hour event was a time of back-slapping, hugs, and even kisses as they celebrated old school days; and they remain friends to this day.
At this May 8 annual reunion there was a display of memorabilia and old photographs, and, as Sussex historian, I saw this 1956 photo of the newly purchased Club Mi-Del, today’s Tailgators tavern. I prevailed on Galles to give me a copy of the photo to run with this feature. This tavern-hotel was an important part of the Sussex Templeton community from its building in 1888 to the present, 2014, a total of 126 years, of which Club Mi-Del covered five, from 1956 to 1961.
The photo, according to the Galles, was given to the Galles family by the Finney Insurance Agency of Oconomowoc. There are a series of cars on the front and the side of the tavern-hotel. Galles, who is something of a car buff, identifies the cars (from left to right) as a 1953 Pontiac, and the along the front curb, a 1949-50 Pontiac, a Kaiser Frazer, and on the extreme right side, the front end of a Ford of the late 1940s or early 1950s.
Meanwhile there is a sign up high for Pabst Blue Ribbon, one of the great popular beers of the 1950s.
The sign over the first story is hard to read, but a study shows it to probably read “Krueger’s Inn,” with “Hamm’s Beer” below it, as the Club Mi-Del sign of the new owners had not gone up yet.
Mike Galles said the renaming of the tavern to Club Mi-Del was a community event. The Galles family had come up with a variety of name proposals, and one crowded night the patrons at the bar and back tables were asked to consider the variations for a new name, and “Club Mi-Del” was the clear winner, as the new owners were Mike Sr. and Della.
Mike Sr. and Della Galles had rented the Whiskey Corners Tavern for five years prior to making the purchase of Bernie Krueger’s Tap in 1956.
Bernie’s Tap was a popular watering spot for returned WWII veterans, and the then-current Sussex Lions Club monthly meetings.
The story of Mike Galles Jr. and his family’s ownership of Club Mi-Del will continue.
Bald Facts: May 28
Posted: May 22, 2014
The Sussex Sun for two weeks now has had the feature in Retrospect about the Galles family owning the Club Mi-Del tavern/hotel in 1956-61. Back in his day as a teen in Sussex, Mike and, as far as he could remember, Bob Jones and Bob Ische, pulled a prank.
There was a WWII veteran, John Mudlitz, who frequented the club. He parked his car on the Main Street side of the building, not locking the car doors.
So the two Bobs and Mike got in the west-facing car, put it in neutral and then pushed it west for a block to where the Sussex blacksmith shop was then located.
A little later John Mudlitz came out to leave, and his car was gone. He threw up his hands in disgust and went back into the tavern to report a missing or stolen car.
Can you imagine what his report was to the constable when he later found his car one block west? It must have been a weird story of questions and “I don’t knows.”
Club Mi-Del Tavern is now Tailgators Sports Bar
This is a current photo of the former Mammoth Spring Hotel in old Templeton which was built in 1888. Today it is Tailgators Sports Bar and Grille. Formerly the property was owned by the Galles family from 1956 to 1961 and it was known as Club Mi-Del
Part Two
by Fred H. Keller
Posted: May 22, 2014
, Living Sussex Sun
Mike Galles Jr., who was the youngest son of Mike Sr. and Della Galles, last week told his story of the five years when his father and mother owned the Club Mi-Del, which is today, 2014, the Tailgators tavern at the northeast corner of Waukesha Avenue and Main Street in Sussex-Templeton.
Mike attended Sussex Main Street School and Waukesha High School during his teenage years, 13 to 18. He had been brought up prior to this as the son of the renters of Whiskey Corners for five years.
The photo with last week’s feature showed where Mike Jr. lived in the extended family quarters in the 1888 building, formerly named the Mammoth Springs Hotel.
Room and board
Now, in the back building, on the second story, were seven bedrooms for six workers at the local quarries and a special room occupied by the Sussex village blacksmith, Roman Kanewic, a Russian immigrant who studied at Sussex Main Street School as a 16-year-old boy, and later attended the engineering school at Marquette University. .
The seven roomers were on sort of “room and board” terms at the Club Mi-Del.
Mike’s chores
When his parents brought the tavern/hotel in 1956 from Bernie Krueger, young Mike had his chores in the tavern. One job was to tend to work in the basement, where there was a beer chute where cased and barreled beer would be delivered and then stored in a beer cooling room.
Mike Jr.’s second chore was peeling potatoes and cutting them into French fries to be served in the tavern dining room. And his big chore was to stock the beer bottles behind the bar after carrying them upstairs.
After the Galles
When he finished school, Mike Jr. was to work for We Energies, becoming something of an executive. Now retired, he lives the fall and winter in Arizona, and then comes back to Sussex for the spring and summer.
After five years of living and working at the former Mammoth Springs Hotel, the Galles family sold the place in 1961 to Ed Hartman, also known as “Sleepy Ed.”
A lake home
Hartman’s ownership was marred by a slow-up in business.
The sale of the Galles ownership of Club Mi-Del to Hartman was something special. Ed Hartman traded a lakefront home to Mike Sr. and Della Galles. This house was beside Pine Lake, two miles west of Hartland.
During the Galles ownership of Club Mi-Del, the family of Mike Sr. and Della consisted of first-born Betty, who married Lee Race. She was 24 when her parents bought the tavern in 1956. The second-born was Don Galles, 22 at the time, and his wife Marianne, and the third born, the baby of he family, was Mike Jr. at 13.