White Horse Inn

"Hans Huber arrived in Chicago from Munich in 1896. They moved to Milwaukee in 1902 and built the White Horse Inn in 1905. He is largely responsible for the Six Points neighborhood becoming known as "Little Bavaria" and N. 11th Street between Vliet and Walnut becoming known as "Bavarian Avenue."

The Weisses Roessl (White Horse) at 1422 N. 11th St. was a typical old-country gasthaus with Tyrolean entertainers: violins, zithers, guitars, and German singing. Hans had been a professional entertainer in his youth; in his old age, he became a professional host. He was known as the "Bavarian Ambassador" and was always very popular at local German social affairs. His son William became president, and later, building manager of the Eagles Club.

The Weisses Roessl was a haven for German immigrants, particularly if they came from Bavaria. These immigrants would arrive at the Union Depot at 4th and Michigan bewildered, hearing a strange tongue, and perhaps with doubt and fear in their hearts. Wide-eyed children would stay close to mother, who held babies in her arms. Father would be toting all their worldly possessions. 

Whenever a warm-hearted police officer saw such a group, he'd advise them where to go and who to see. If they were German with no local friends to contact, he'd load them into his buggy and take them to the White Horse. Hans Huber would cover their fare, welcome the strangers in their own language, and offer them "Mama's" homemade sauerbraten and noodles. They'd look at the photo of the Bavarian Alps, frosted on the backbar mirror, and realize they were home. Their doubts would disappear. The hope, confidence and determination that had inspired them to come to American would gleam again in their eyes.

When Hans would see this gleam, he would say, "Now don't worry. You stay right here with us until you get a job and a house." If the man were a butcher or sausage maker, Hans would contact Weisel or Usinger. If a brewer, then Pabst, Miller or Schlitz. He'd find the man a job no matter what he did. Hans would tell the coal man to give them a half ton of coal to start their home.

All of this was advanced on character and courtesy. These people whom Huber befriended made the White Horse their headquarters, their club. They'd come in for nickel beers, German wines and the 20-cent plate lunch. On Sundays, they'd bring the whole family to dine and listen to music.

The Chicago Symphony once offered the lead violinist a job and the unheard salary of $75/week. The violinist took the job, but was back to the White Horse three days later, saying "There is more to life than money. I like it here better."

Although Huber has long ago left us, when people recall the gemutchkeleit of the old Weisses Roessl, their eyes grow moist and their voices husky. Huber and his colleagues turned the "six points" neighborhood of 11th, 12th, Vliet, Walnut, Winnebago and Central Avenues into "Little Bavaria."

- "Jaunts with Jamie," Milwaukee Sentinel, February 3, 1950.

During Prohibition, Hans Huber was bonded, and the White Horse Inn was allowed to continue operating as a "soft drink parlor. However, it was raided in February 1927 and December 1930 for illegally brewing and selling beer. The 1930 raid found a "wildcat brewery" brewing 150+ gallons of beer in the basement.

Hans Huber died on March 26, 1936. He was the financial secretary of the Bavarian Society for 20+ years, a member of the Eagles Club, St. Joseph's Society, the German Beneficial Society, and the Bavarian Singing Society. His wife Katherine died in June 1936.

After Huber and his wife passed away, the inn's ownership became unclear, and the property sat vacant from 1945 to1948. By January 1948, it had reopened as a nightclub and restaurant under the management of Salvatore Bruno. On February 16, 1948, Bruno was fined for failure to destroy empty liquor bottles. State beverage agents found two bottles refilled with water in active use at the bar, noting "this practice is not uncommon in bars frequented by homosexuals."

By October 1952, the Inn was owned by Charles and Katherine Derzon, who owned American Surplus Sales Co. (later known as Derzon Coin, 449 N. Plankinton Ave.) The Inn was nearly seized in 1949, but Derzon paid $17,483 in back taxes to prevent foreclosure. Due to ongoing debts, the property was sold at tax auction on November 14, 1952. The Milwaukee Journal notes "the old tavern and 10-room boarding house has reduced sharply in value over the past six years as the neighborhood continues to decline."

It's unknown who purchased the White Horse Inn in November 1952, but it seems it was already a gay bar during the Derzon era. On October 25, 1952, Hank Greenspun, publisher of the Las Vegas Sun, publicly accused Senator Joseph McCarthy of being gay: "It is common talk among homosexuals in Milwaukee who rendezvous in the White Horse Inn that Senator Joe McCarthy has often engaged in homosexual activities."

On August 2, 1958, 25-year-old bartender Richard Edwardsen was arrested at the White Horse Inn (1422 N. 11 St.) for wearing an "obscene apron." He was charged $25, lost his bartending license, and was sentenced to mandatory psychiatric evaluation. No description of the apron was provided.

Josie Carter remembered the White Horse Inn as "one of the few bars that let Black queens inside." It was the first gay bar she ever visited -- at age 15 (in 1953.) She said that the owner (who she never named) had a "little thing for her."

Bill Morehouse bartended here between 1959 and 1961 while living with manager Bill Letts. He described the White Horse as a very old, ornate, dark-wooded tavern with a pressed tin ceiling, painted-over windows, old German murals, and ancient, creaking floors.

"It just had this feeling of being really, really exhausted," said Bill. "It was just falling apart. It was the kind of place where you'd pull a doorknob, and it would come off in your hand. Where you'd open a window, and the glass pane would just fall out of the frame. The basement had root cellars along two walls and a dirt floor. Each floor had these big wood burning stoves. The whole structure was leaning to the left. It wouldn't have taken much to bring down the house."

Both Bunny and Bill remembered the bar being the place to go for "last call." Although bars closed at 4 a.m., some lucky souls stayed inside the bar until sunrise. Bill remembered seeing people heading into mass at Friedens Church on his way home in the morning.

The White Horse was a casualty of I-43 construction. The bar closed in 1962, reopened briefly as "The Chatter Box" (a Black bar,) abandoned by summer 1963, and demolished soon after. Today, I-43 runs approximately where "Bavarian Avenue" once ran between Wisconsin and Vliet.

No photos survive of this once-famous landmark -- and VERY few photos survive of the Six Points neighborhood at all.