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Last week we learned about Mathias Rauen, who ran the “saloon” at 2008 Main Street, and sold the business around 1921 to Joe Brown. Joseph Frank Brown was born in Stacyville, Iowa in 1888 and married Clara Traver in 1917. He and Clara moved to Spring Grove and had three children from 1918-1924.
Joe was no stranger to the tavern business, having been the proprietor of Wagner’s Sample Room and the Hotel next door on Blivin Street which he bought in March 1917. It was there in August 1919, that he became the first person in McHenry County to be prosecuted for violation of a new Wartime Prohibition Act which took effect on June 30, 1919. It banned the sale of alcoholic beverages with alcohol content over 1.28%. He was ordered to pay a fine of $50 for selling whiskey, in a case that was watched intently by the whole county.
Then the 18th Amendment to the Constitution which prohibited the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors..." was ratified by the states on January 16, 1919, and on October 28, 1919, Congress passed the Volstead Act, which provided for the enforcement of the 18th Amendment.
It wasn’t until February 1924, when Joe was now established in the Rauen building, that the county sheriff took a “bob ride” to Spring Grove and made a raid on “the so-called soft-drink parlor”. They found some whisky, beer and two slot machines which were loaded into the bob and whisked back to Woodstock. Lucy Hall, a Woman’s Christian Temperance Union worker, was the complainant.
Then, in August 1927, a bill for injunction was brought against Joe, his wife Clara, and a man named Cal Chase who worked for them. A man named Robert Jeske, "duly swore on oath" that he was served and drank intoxicating liquor about twice a week “during the past two years” at Joe’s place and showed a bottle securely sealed and labeled with the date and place of purchase. It was examined by a chemist who found it contained 2.5% of alcohol by volume. This was only one of 16 injunctions to close other prominent businesses in a two-week period in McHenry County. A hearing was set for October 24, 1928. Unfortunately, in the summer of 1928, Cal Chase left Spring Grove and could not be found. Finally, in 1929, Joe paid of fine of $350, about $6,000 in today’s dollars and reopened.
He continued to sell soda and ice cream until the conclusion of Prohibition in 1933. It was a popular place for the locals. Every Sunday, there was a great exodus from church to Joe’s place when the men came to enjoy some relaxing time before Sunday dinner. Forty or fifty newspapers would be stacked up on the radiators with the men’s names on them for them to pick up. The ice cream parlor was in the back with a separate entrance for the ladies and children.
In 1947 it was time to retire. Joe sold the business in 1947 and kept the reputation of an outstanding citizen until he died of a heart attack while gardening in 1951. The honorary pallbearers were members of the fire department of which he became the assistant fire chief in 1940. He had been elected Burton Township Road Commissioner just three weeks before his death.
Story by Laura Frumet
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