Oldest bar in Wayne County has new owners, upgrades

RICHMOND, Ind. (AP) - This old barroom sits along South D and Fifth streets.

It still has the original, subway-style flooring, an old neon sign hanging above an interior door frame and same people come in a few times a week that came in 25, some even 35, years ago.

As Indiana bars go, there aren't many older than Legends Southside in Richmond. Opened in 1858, itt's the second-oldest continuously running bar in the state and the oldest in Wayne County. And, according to its owners, it has the stories to go along with it.

In the basement, there's a pit where turtles were once kept - alive - in the event a customer wanted some turtle soup. There's still a silver dollar in the dining room floor that was put there to fill a void in the tile. The bar is completely original, built by Kramer Manufacturing, a company that went out of business long ago. There once was a tobacco store in the front of the bar, with saloon doors separating it from the bar area.

It's nuggets like these that made Tim Cole want to buy this bar in the first place. They're also the reason he wants to keep more than just the bar around; he wants to keep the history of the place alive, as well.

"When you see a place like this, you know right away that there aren't really that many places like it that are still around," said Cole, who also works in real estate and owns a local gun shop. "Things like this ought to be preserved and made new again."

Cole and his wife, Kristen, bought the bar for about $165,000 at auction in October, he said. Since then, he's been doing what he can to both preserve and revitalize the old-time saloon.

The electric and entertainment systems were upgraded to give customers access to USB charging ports, as well as more television variety, Cole said.

"When our customers come in here, we want them to be able to have a good time ... to be able to enjoy themselves," he said. "This for years has been a place that people have spent a lot of time in, not because they (wanted to) get drunk, but because it was a great place to spend time with friends."

Cole said his family, including his wife's parents, Frank and Suzanne Alter, have put in hundreds of hours of work restoring the restaurant and working on new ways to bring in people. It included replacing most all the tables and chairs - except for one that for more than 80 years has been used to play the card game sheepshead - adding a backing to a corner booth and creating a new music room concept.

The new owners have also introduced an extensive menu that includes pizza, salads, appetizers and burgers, though it's apparently void of turtle soup.

"We recently unveiled a new menu, and we're really proud of what we've been able to do with that," Cole said. "We've had a lot of great feedback already, and it's only been out for a month or so."

The most popular menu items, he said, include the Legends burger and the Penguin pork tenderloin, which is the same style sandwich once sold at the now-closed Penguin fast food restaurants around town. The Legends burger has received a high amount of praise on social media since it debuted in May, including from the former owner of The Wheel bar, Frank DeVito, who Cole said has called the burger one of the best he's had. DeVito's bar was for years known for having one of the area's best burgers.

The tenderloin, which is about the size of an adult's face, was made popular at the Penguin restaurants owned by Doug Kaler in the 60s and 70s. His mother, Lois Kaler, was asked to teach the kitchen staff how the tenderloins used to be prepared.

"Everybody from around town knew that you went to Penguin to get the best tenderloin," Frank Alter said. "So we had the woman who knows the most about how they're made come in and teach our crew how to make them themselves. People seem to really enjoy them."

Ron Spurrier, who said he's been coming to the bar on occasion for at least 40 years, said he's glad to see the improvements and investments being made to breathe new life into the old building.

"This place has been here for years, and I've been here many, many times," he said. "A lot of people have shared some great stories here, and been part of great stories, too .. It's great to see what's being done to this place."

One of the biggest risks Tim Cole said was taken when he took over ownership of the business was the choice to make it a non-smoking establishment. He said he felt it was important to make it a welcoming place for everyone, and smoking could hurt business.

"It was certainly a challenge, making people buy in ... especially those who have come here for years and it's always been a smoke-friendly establishment," he said. "But now I think people are embracing it and making the most of it."

Elsewhere in the building, Cole is hoping to add another Legends dining area, which will include an original, 19th century fire place. The bar currently can hold 46 people, according to signs displayed on the structure's interior.

"We want this to be a place as may people can enjoy as possible," he said. "We want to be able to create more stories here and have more and more generations come through here."

Cole said he and his family are invested in the building for the long haul, and are hopeful to make it one of the area's most popular bars once again.

"We're not the first people to own it, but we also don't ... want to be the last," he said. "We want Southside, Legends, Croney's - whatever it is people are used to calling it - to live on."

Chances are, all the bar's stories will live on, too.

___

Source: (Richmond) Palladium-Item, http://pinews.co/28KXolW

___

Information from: Palladium-Item, http://www.pal-item.com