Omaha Exploration

At the intersection of 23rd and Jefferson sits a tavern that dates back to at least 1896. That’s when Herman Anger opened a saloon in the area referred to as Albright. Herman would sell the tavern to Balthas Jetter of the South Omaha Brewing Company in 1901. Balthas opened the first brewery in South Omaha in order to quench the thirst of stockyard workers. With his brewing operation nearby, I suspect he used this building as a tied house. One year later he renamed it Jetter Brewing Company and would sell the building to Paul Mollner in 1904.

After immigrating from Germany in 1886, Paul turned the building into a tavern that operated under his own name. Prohibition changed that as Paul moved on from the business and it was classified as a soft drink parlor. Paul passed away in 1927 at which point his son George took over. After prohibition was repealed he named it Gilmore Tavern after the diagonal road in which its entrance faces. The road had been renamed from Sarpy Ave to Gilmore Ave in 1918. By this time its address had become 6310 Gilmore Ave.

It seems that in 1938 George constructed an A-frame building for $3,500. I suspect that he replaced the existing structure which may have faced 23rd given that newspapers identify it as being on 23rd and Jefferson. After Geroge passed away in 1947 his uncle Paul took it over and operated it until retiring in 1959. This marked the end of the Mollner family operating the tavern though it retained its name. 

Robert Skoff took over and operated the tavern for a number of years. There wasn’t coverage of the establishment other than a few robberies. One notable incident occurred in 1989 after Dean Jensen took over. It seems that Dean became extremely upset after learning of the death of a friend. He ordered customers to leave at 3 PM at which point he fired his shotgun. Fortunately no one was hurt or injured but he did barricade himself in his nearby house for 14 hours before leaving out of the backdoor and being apprehended. 

It didn’t become Kendall Tavern, the name by which it is known today until Murl and Lillian Kendall bought it following that incident. Murl had an affinity for Hamm’s Beer and began collecting memorabilia from the brewery. It’s been said that his extensive collection was the one of the largest in the Midwest and would put most museums to shame. The collection included rotating signs, beer trays, steins, old cans and bottles in addition to coasters and matchbooks. After Murl passed away in 2007 his family created an arrangement of Hamm’s beer cans and pool trophies that he had won over the years. The arrangement remains on display as a tribute to Murl. Kendall continues to serve cans of Hamm’s for $2. Today the bar remains in the hands of the Kendall family as his daughter Nancy has taken over.

Please feel free to comment to share your thoughts and memories.

Until next time, keep exploring!

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