Here’s a quick trivia quiz for readers who remember Princeton in the 1950s.
1. My mother taught the Kindergarten Mothers Club classes in the Community Hall basement from 1956-1959. Who preceded her?
2. A section of the building across from the high school that today houses Hair Trends Styling Salon was Princeton’s first drive-in root beer stand. What was its name?
3. Locals gathered at Hotmar’s Hardware (602 West Water, today home to Twister) in March 1949 to watch college basketball games on an “Admiral receiving set.” It was Princeton’s first television. Who were the first residents to own a television set?
4. Princeton dentist Joe Drill appeared as a guest on a popular game show televised on ABC in May 1955. What was the name of the show?
5. What was the name of Princeton’s first beer bar?
Answers
1. Doris Lang, wife of former Princeton principal Edgar Lang, taught the kindergarten classes, which she started in September 1954. The group elected Mrs. Jim (Mary) Wyse as chairwoman and Mrs. Harold (Josephine) Bartel as treasurer. The fourteen members of her first class were Ann Jankowski, Diane Moldenhauer, Suzanne Prellwitz, Ellen Huelster, Bonnie Krenz, Candy Giese, Neil Kiley, Susan Hiestand, Barbara Ruhl, Ronald Bartel, Maureen Wyse, Linda Vahldieck, Kathy Stanton, and Leslie Ann Dugenske.
The first term ended with a Christmas cookie-decorating party at the Lang home.
2. Mr. and Mrs. Ernest McQueen of Beaver Dam opened the McQueen Drive-In root beer stand in June 1950.
Princeton Republic, June 8, 1950 – “How many of you have visited McQueen’s drive-in since it opened early this week? If you have youngsters, I know the answer must be often, at least, at our house when we’re out for a ride we can’t get within blocks of the drive-in without one of the three asking for root beer.” (Seen & Heard Around Town, Philip Norman, editor)
3. Verne “Muddy” Ruhl and Norbert Wielgosh were the first people to buy a television in Princeton. Hotmar’s installed an Admiral television in July 1949 at their business, The Place Tavern, 1002 West Main Street (Sosinsky’s Western House in 2025).
A week later (July 28, 1949) the newspaper reported a television set would soon be installed in a Princeton residence for the first time: “Mrs. Steve Krystofiak is the winner of the Crossley television set as the result of acting as hostess at Stanley parties. A tower is being built in preparation for the installation of the set by Millerd Mosolf, local Crossley dealer.”
The Steve Krystofiak home was located on the Montello road (Highway 23) south of the mill ditch.
The Princeton Historical Society’s folklore museum displays include the Krystofiak television, which is incorrectly labeled as the first television owned in Princeton. The mistake was repeated in the Princeton Times-Republic in July 2024 in an article about museum artifacts. The article also mistakenly reported the Mosolf store was on Water Street. The Mosolf shop in 1949 was on Canal Street. They didn’t move to 614-616 West Water Street, site of a feed store for many years, until 1955.
4. Dr. Drill appeared on the “The Name’s the Same” program in New York City. It was MC’d by Bob and Ray (Elliott and Goulding, respectively), a popular comedy duo of the day. The newspaper ran a photo of Drill and actress Audrey Meadows, one of the show’s panelists, following his visit.
The show ran from 1951-1955. According to Wikipedia, the premise was for contestants to guess the names of people whose actual names corresponded to a famous person, celebrity, place, common object, or action.
Drill’s office was located on the second floor of the building at 520-522 West Water Street, today home to Ann Marie’s Unique Boutique.
5. Sid Kautzer opened Princeton’s first beer bar in 1959. He named it the Juke Box Inn.
Following the end of prohibition in 1932 and passage of a “fermented malt beverages” bill, beer could be purchased by anyone 18 or older in Wisconsin, but the state Legislature also enacted an “intoxicating liquors” law, prohibiting hard liquor sales to anyone under 21.
Beer bars generally attracted a younger crowd than the taverns.
Princeton Times-Republic, Jan. 1, 1959 – “Final action by the Princeton City Council Tuesday night gave Sid Kautzer, operator of Kautzer’s Crying Towel, permission to retain his Class D liquor license but only operate his Class B beer license. Kautzer stated at the council meeting that all liquor and wine coming under the Class D license will have been removed from the building by the time of the Saturday opening for 18-year-olds.”
I will accept Kautzer’s Crying Towel as correct, but the answer I’m looking for is Juke Box Inn, the name Kautzer gave the bar in 1959. He also operated the bar at 504 West Water Street as Mr. K’s Thirst Aid Station when he opened in 1956 and as Mr. K’s Bar & Grill when he closed in 1984. The building is vacant after being home to the Pizza Factory from 1996 to 2024.
Thanks for playing!
If you spot any errors, please let me know.
Thank you caring and reading about local history.