Story
History of the
Courthouse Pub
This establishment, built in roughly 1885, was first known as Frank Willinger’s Beer Hall. There isn’t much information about this tavern, but signs outside the saloon indicate that they served Kunz-Bleser lager, William Rohr’s lager, and Schreihart beer. The picture below was taken during the 1890’s, and is also featured as a full-wall photograph in our bar area.
F. Willinger’s Beer Hall, photographed in the 1890’s
During Prohibition,
F. Willinger's Beer Hall became known as the Court Café. At about this same time, the owners constructed an addition to the south of the original building, giving it the "L" shaped appearance so popular in Greek Revival frame buildings and creating the footprint that remains today. Note the Rahr Malting Company in the background of this photo — known during Prohibition as the Cereal Products Company.
Court Café - Prohibition, 1920’s
In the late 1930's, the Pekel family purchased the Court Café and renamed it "Pekel's Colonial Inn." W. M. Willinger (assumed to be a relative of the original owners) located his insurance and investment firm above the restaurant. By this time, the white clapboard exterior had been covered with asphalt shingles.
Pekel’s Colonial Inn, 1940’s; photo taken from the courthouse across the street
Front of Colonial Inn’s matchbook cover
The classic large wooden booths of Colonial Inn.
The large wrap-around bar and additional seating.
A view of the dining room & bar from the other side.
These undated pictures of the interior of the Colonial Inn provides a glimpse of the restaurant's early appearance. Even though each owner has made changes to the building, much of the interior look and feel of the Pekel's Colonial Inn remains.
In place of the large banquet table that recently occupied this space, Pekel's Colonial Inn provided diners with musical entertainment from an electronic organ. Local entertainer Milt Detjen was one of the people who provided this musical background for dining.
Built in 2001, this is the
Modern Day courthouse pub
John Jagemann purchased the building with the intention of renovating, but was forced to tear the building down in order to bring it up to code. He rebuilt it using the same footprint as the original building with the intention of keeping the character of the older establishment, but starting a restaurant that was completely new.
Courthouse Pub opened in September 2001, and has been serving great food & delicious beers to our wonderful patrons ever since. While planning the restaurant, Mr. Jagemann had an incredible attention to detail. From the cream city bricks to the brass tap handles to the intricate tile in the pub area, everything was designed to create a particular feel for those who chose to dine with us.
The most unique detail about the Courthouse Pub was that it was set up to brew its own beers. In a tiny room behind the host stand, you will see several brass stiles in which beer is consistently (and deliciously) brewed in-house. CHP was the first brewpub in Manitowoc, and for many years it was the only place that commercially brewed beer in the city.
Within the first few years of opening, CHP also garnered a reputation for serving up a phenomenal wine list. It has consistently won the Wine Spectator Award since opening in 2001 and has a constantly rotating list that is sure to please any wine connoisseur.
Brock Weyer & Ryan Morris, Owners of Courthouse Pub since 2018
current owners brock & ryan
took over Courthouse Pub in 2018. After successfully running the restaurant for nearly 16 years, Mr. Jagemann decided it was time to retire. In the end, he decided to hand the reins over to two of his former employees who were well aware of the standards he had set for the restaurant and the style of food that CHP provided.
Brock started his career in the service industry working for John Jagemann at Courthouse Pub back when it opened in 2001. He has worked in virtually every position – from busser to server to bartender, he worked his way all the way up to Front of Operations Manager during his tenure.
Ryan began his service industry career in 1998 at Capone’s, a bar & restaurant a few blocks away from CHP. Due to their proximity, the Capone’s and Courthouse Pub staffs became close, almost like one big family! They grew to know each other very well over the years, and that is how Ryan eventually came to also work at CHP as a bartender.
Ryan met Mr. John Jagemann, original proprietor of the Pub, through this connection between the two Manitowoc establishments. While serving as the Manager at Capone’s, Ryan also began bartending for Mr. Jagemann in 2007. In fact, it was Brock’s recommendation of Ryan that secured his initial position at Courthouse Pub. During the time they worked together, Ryan and Brock realized that they had a lot more to offer than being mere employees.
In 2017, John reached out to Brock to initiate talks about the sale of Courthouse Pub. Brock immediately called Ryan to see if he was interested in this new amazing venture. We imagine that you can guess Ryan’s response. Together, they became successful Owners and Operators of Courthouse Pub on April 2nd, 2018.
They look forward to continuing on together as an exceptional team, offering both new and established culinary experiences as well a fantastic array of craft-cocktails and vintage wine, to the dining public.
Bon Appétit!