Location
Photo Gallery
W. A. Holtz Building when it was the Ideal Saloon operated by Wm. Wolf on the left.
Inside the Holtz Building when it was the Wm. Wolf Saloon. Wm. Wolf and Tom Smith behind the bar.
1908 – The Holtz Saloon is the second building on the right.
Tony Burner Tavern advertisement.
Burner & Redman Tavern advertisement.
Elst Jewelers operated in the Holtz Building after 1971.
Elst Jewelers operated in the Holtz Building after 1971.
Elst Jewelers operated in the Holtz Building after 1971.
The W. A. Holtz Building after renovation in 2022 and 2023.
A Brief History
W. A. Holtz Saloon
125 South Franklin Street
Shawano, Wisconsin
This building and the Schweers Hardware Store immediately south appear in many of the oldest known photographs of downtown Shawano and date from the aftermath of the 1890 fire that destroyed many of the buildings on the west side of this block. The Holtz Saloon appears little changed above the storefront from those images and is one of few buildings in the Main Street district to maintain original appearance to this day. The building has been the home of several businesses, including saloons and a jewelry store.
W.A. Holtz owned the building and ran a tavern business until the 1930’s when Ray Krumbach took over the operation, then sold it to Tony Brunner. The tavern was known as Tony Brunner’s and was nicknamed, “The Senate.” In 1958 Brunner partnered with his son-in-law, Carl Redman, and it was know as Brunner and Redman. It changed owners several times but remained a tavern until 1971 when the Elst family started a jewelry store which operated for decades. From 1908 until the early 1950’s brothers, Walter and Patrick Dolan operated the Dolan Land Company in the second story of the building.
From the 1999 National Register of Historic Places Registration application:
The Holtz Saloon has maintained its original, second-story, two-over-two, double-hung glazing. This two-story, three-bay building has a simple pressed-metal cornice, marked only by wide plain-faced brackets at either end and a single row of shallow conical protrusions extending along the cornice’s length. Each of the three second-story windows has plain stone lintels and a flat-faced, plain hood mold, and immediately below these windows is a metal storefront cornice with comer.