Omaha Exploration

1896. By my count, that’s the year Herman Anger opened what I consider to be the oldest bar in Omaha. This is its story.

The bar that claims that honor sits in what was the City of South Omaha and was known as Albright before that. Anger opened the bar at the intersection of 23rd and Jefferson in 1896 and possibly even earlier than that. He sold the tavern to Balthas Jetter of the South Omaha Brewing Company (later the Jetter Brewing Company) in 1901. Jetter saw an opportunity to quench the thirst of workers at the nearby stockyards. With his brewing operation nearby, I suspect he used this building as a tied house to sell his own beer.

In 1904 he sold it to Paul Mollner, a German immigrant who converted the establishment into a tavern that operated under his name. Prohibition changed everything and Mollner transitioned it into a soft drink parlor. After he passed away in 1927, his son, George Mollner, kept it going. At that time, its location was identified in the newspaper as 23rd and Jefferson.

When Prohibition was repealed, he resumed the business of booze and named it Gilmore Tavern. Lacking creativity, he named the tavern after the diagonal road that it fronted. Its address changed to 6310 Gilmore Avenue after Mollner constructed an A-frame building to replace the original structure in 1938. It remained in the hands of the Mollner family after George passed away in 1947, at which point his uncle, Paul, operated it for 12 years until retiring. 1959 marked the end of the line for the Mollner family at Gilmore Tavern.

Up next in the line of succession was Robert Skoff, who lived upstairs while operating the neighborhood watering hole for a number of years. During those years, only a handful of robberies appear in the newspaper archives. Its next owner, Dean Jensen, became extremely upset over the death of a friend in 1989. After ordering customers to leave at 3 PM, he fired his shotgun. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but Jensen barricaded himself in his nearby house, leading to a 14-hour standoff before being apprehended.

These days it’s known as Kendall Tavern, for its next set of owners, Murl and Lillian Kendall. Murl had an affinity for Hamm’s Beer and began collecting all the memorabilia he could get his hands on. His extensive collection was considered to be among the largest in the Midwest and put most museum collections to shame. His collection included rotating signs, beer trays, steins, old cans and bottles in addition to coasters and matchbooks. When 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 to display in the bar. It remains there as a tribute to their father. Kendall continues to serve cans of Hamm’s at a bargain price of just $2. Kendall remains in the hands of the Kendall family, with daughter Nancy operating it today.

From Albright to South Omaha, from its original building facing Jefferson to the one that now faces Gilmore, not to mention dozens of owners, Kendall Tavern has witnessed its share of changes. Omaha’s oldest tavern, however, remains a fixture in South Omaha.

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

Until next time, keep exploring!

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Sources

• Omaha World-Herald archives
• Omaha Bee archives