Queen mary tavern chicago gay bar
Afterwards, it was known as Stimson’s Hotel (1861), Juneau House (1863), Russell House (1867), American House (1869) and European Hotel (1875). The building was forever known as the Cross Keys Hotel, even though it operated by that name for less than 20 years. (PHOTO: Historic Photo Collection, Milwaukee Public Library) After the hotel closed in 1879, the tub was used as a coal bin for decades and eventually discarded. Apparently, the Newhall House didn’t have tubs large enough to suit the 6'4" president.įor decades, antique vendors sought to locate Lincoln’s bathtub, but it was never found. Although he stayed at the most fashionable Newhall House hotel three blocks away, Lincoln came to the Cross Keys for breakfast, gave a speech from the iron balcony, and then took a "long and leisurely" bath in a Cross Keys tub. Abraham Lincoln visited the Wisconsin Agricultural Society convention, held at 12th and Wells in the old Red Arrow Park. 30, 1859, an American president put the hotel’s hospitality to the test. The hotel never failed to deliver on its promise of "running water at all times." Before most Milwaukee homes and businesses were outfitted with city water, the Cross Keys installed wooden conduits piping water from a spring at the lakeshore. However, hot and cold water still ran from the pipes of the Cross Keys at the twist of a faucet. Out went Solomon Juneau’s log shanty, in came modern accommodations.
#Queen mary tavern chicago gay bar cracked
It was boom times in Milwaukee: Mayor George Walker was expanding the city in every direction, gas pipes were being laid, wooden buildings were being replaced by fireproof brick and the population had just cracked 25,000. 16, 1853, the hotel’s grand opening was celebrated with an old-fashioned housewarming party, including punch with raisins, baked apples with maple syrup and hot corn bread with buttermilk. During construction, a limestone plate was erected above the main entrance, reading "B. The tiny English inn was replaced with a modern four-story building in 1853. Although built of Cream City brick, the Cross Keys was painted in bold reds because Stimson found the Cream City color "sickly." Iron work was just coming into vogue, so the building was decorated with a wrought-iron balcony and iron balustrades fashioned by the Reliance Iron Works.
Everything about the Cross Keys was English, featuring heirloom silver pots of tea, plum pudding, racks of beef, Cornish hens and homemade divinity. Meatpacking pioneers Frederick and John Layton lived here when they arrived in Milwaukee in 1845. The two-story wooden frame house quickly became a local favorite for visiting Englishmen. (PHOTO: Milwaukee County Historical Society)īailey Stimson, a "mutton chops Englishman" from Cambridgeshire, established the Cross Keys Hotel in early 1843. Before being ravaged by fire and razed for parking, the Cross Keys had a long and colorful life, filled with disaster, violence and scandal.
What most people didn’t realize was that the Cross Keys was the oldest building on the oldest street in the city – and probably one of the oldest buildings in the state. Water St., long surrounded by warehouses "one sneeze from falling in the river," had become the last building standing on what had once been a dense city block. Paul looked like just another Downtown dive awaiting the wrecking ball. By 1969, the tired old building at Water and St.