PARK RIDGE—This story took place 110 years ago this week, in January 1914. At the time, the people of Park Ridge got quite the kick out of it. We hope you will, too. This is the tale of the saloon that sold only one drink.
Park Ridge at the time had several hotels within walking distance of the railroad station. Prohibition was still six years away, and each hotel had its barroom that was widely patronized by overnight guests and townspeople alike. One January afternoon, an innkeeper sent a couple of local boys on an errand: they were to bring a box of choice liquors from the express office of the train station.
When the two boys returned to the hotel, one of the bottles, an expensive brand valued at $4 ($120 in today’s money), was missing. They denied all knowledge of the bottle, and with no proof of a crime, they were dismissed.
The next morning, a neighbor started spreading the word around Park Ridge about the cut rate at which top-shelf liquors could be purchased at a private house in town. A local basement barroom was serving 15-cent drinks for the bargain price of only 10 cents.
The hotel men ventured to the house in question, where they found the missing bottle, empty, on a shelf in the cellar. Beside it were 13 flasks of various liquors. The two lads—brothers—eventually admitted that they were the proprietors of this makeshift saloon. They had served the drink in question, and, with the help of another youth had stolen all of the liquor on the shelf.
The three ne’er-do-wells were marched to the hotel, where they were put to the third degree. They also had to scrape together $10 to cover the goods they had taken. In the end, they got away with a harsh reprimand.
The net receipts of their saloon operation had been one 10-cent drink, which opened and closed their career.