WHISKEY IN BRISTOL...pre 1916

Saloons, Bars, Distributors, and Distillers

This is a list (I have comprised from various sources over the years), of known whiskey merchants in Bristol, from its beginnings and up to 1916, when prohibition was enacted as law...

In Bristol's early days, most Inns and Houses ( Hotels) had bars for the selling of whiskey,etc. For that reason I am including these in the list.

{an asterix * indicates there are bottles known}.

HELLER BROS. 507 State St.

1854-82...J.N. Bosang

1855-62...Wm. Walters

1855.....Langhorne's Tavern

1854.....Cawood House

Ezekiel Cawood

1858.....Magnolia House

(formerly Langhorne's Tavern)

Peck & Langhorne

1858.....Lancaster House

1865-87...Virginia House

(formerly Lancaster House)

J.H. Everett & Maj. J.G. Wood

1859.....Jamison's Bowling Saloon

Edward, David, & John who owned the

above establishment,were half -

brothers of Calvin & Harriet (Smith) Jamison.

Their daughter Senah L. who married

George L.C. Wimmer, was my great grandmother.

1861.....John T. Meggison's Ten-Pin Alley

1862.....Exchange Hotel

A.L. Womack & W.W. Nickels

Main cor 4th St.

1865.....Exchange Saloon

Luttrell & Gilliam

1866.....Thomas House

J. Wheeler Thomas & S.M. Jones

1866.....Nickels House Bar

W.H. & I.A. Nickels

(formerly The Exchange)

Bar & Billiard Saloon

1866.....S.M. Jones

1869.....Central Hotel & Barroom

A.V. Spradling

1872*.....Nickel Plate Saloon

Isaac A. Nickels

1886 Front St. cor Cumberland

1873..... Virginia House Bar

J.M. Thomas

1875-1907...European Hotel & Barroom

John W. Jett

44 Main St.

By 1886 Jett moved to 646 Main St.

1880.....C.C. Harmeling ( bottled Beer)

King Block - Goodson, VA.

1881.....Thomas House (reopened)

J.M. Thomas

1888.....Stanley House

1888.....C.C. Harmeling Bar

Front & Cumberland

(Built the Harmeling

Opera House with a saloon)

1888.....A. Luttrell

1888.....W.L. Satterwhite

1888.....D.W. Shelly

1888.....Byrne Wilson

1889.....J.W. Waynick ( bottled Beer)

4th St.

1891 at Virginia & Broad Sts.

1889.....Hotel Fairmont

Geo.L. Jacoby - Bartender

1890.....Hotel St.Lawrence

Geo.L. Jacoby - Prop.

Front St.

1890.....Mann Wolf

1890.....C.G. Davis

1890.....Annex Saloon

T. Betterton

Cumberland St.

1890.....Arlington Hotel

Burke & Trammell

150 Front St.

1890-1906...Oregon Saloon

G.G. Hickman

403 Main St.

By 1896 Cumberland cor Lee

1890-1905...Twin City Bar at

Arlington Hotel

N.H. Burke

150 Front St.

1892-1906*...Phoenix Saloon

W.A. Usher

106 Front St.

1892-1907*...S.G. Keller,Jr.

512 & 516 Main St.

W.M. Marks & C.Ritchie affiliated

with Keller, as Salesmen in 1890's.

Marks located at Thomas House.

Ritchie at Hamilton House

S.G. Keller,Sr. owned a saloon in

Abingdon,VA.as early as 1888

1896-1907*...J.M. Berry Saloon

626 Main St.

1896-1916*...W.A. Fincannon

714 Main St.

1914-Mgr. State Line Whiskey Co.

1896.....Martin McHale

116 Front St.

1896.....J.W. Hyderpool

15 4th St.

1896.....J.T. Powell - Agent

Middlesboro Brewing Co.

25 4th St.

1896.....Matt Powers - Agent

Chattanooga Brewing Co.

nr Southern RR Yards

1896-1911...Columbus Ritchie

302 Main St.

relocated from Abingdon,VA., had

operated a saloon there as early as

1888, merged with Bryan in 1905.

1896-98...Likel Simon

(black bartender at Nickel's)

1896.....E.L. Wolfe

624 Main St

1896-1906*...Thos. J. Kain (Cain)

411 Main St.

1899.....Alhambra Saloon

W.D. Surface

1901-14*...Heller Brothers

M.A. & A.B. Heller

507 Main St. & 511-513 State St.

1907, Heller Bros. were in Macon,

GA., Jacksonville,FL. & Knoxville,

TN. In October, they were to open

an outlet in Middlesboro,KY

& re-locating their Macon Business

to Chattanooga,TN.

1902.....Tompkins Bros.

1902.....Goldberg & Sam Glass

1904.....Hotel Hamilton

1904.....Thomas G. Brady

519 State St.

1904-07.....Charles T. Crowell

21 4th St.

Saloon & Bowling Alley

1904.....Wm.A. Dean

804 State St

1904.....John Q. Perigen

724 State St

Heller Bros. 1904 (on right)

JNO.G. BRADY BAR @ 1913

L.SHERE CAFE' @ 1906

STAG SALOON & Bartender

1904...Wm.T. Sams &

W.B.McNabb Distillery

ie...Bristol Distilling Co.

6th St. Ext. at Beaver Creek

(this is the 1st date noted,believe they

were operating earlier.)

1904*...M.P. Dyer

15 4th St.

(relocated from Johnson City)

1904*...William Lea

742 State St, later at 644 State St.

(relocated from Greeneville)

Moved to Chattanooga in 1907

1904-06...W.H. Jett & Co.

State St.

1904-16*...Martin Lynch Co.

C.J. Dinan, Mgr. in 1909

478 Cumberland St.

202-04 Front St.

428 State St.

Martin & Eugene Lynch, Mgrs. 1914

415 State St.

1904-12*...Last Chance Saloon

A.B. McClellan

865 State St.

1904...Geo.M. McClellan

516 State St.

1904-07*...Uncle Sam Saloon

L. Mack Mantz

4th St. & 144-146 Front St.

Reported to have also operated

"The Black Bear Saloon",

where he kept a caged black bear.

Mantz opened a Penny Arcade in 1908.

1904-14...Matt R. Miller

C.L. Vires , Mgr.

Cumberland cor Lee St.

(Miller relocated from Johnson City

where he had owned The New South

Brewery & Ice Co.) In 1907 W.O. Trenor

was Miller's partner.

1904...Geo. Moore

842 State St.

1904-07...Ritchie & Bryan

116 Front St.

1904...W.O. Trenor

716 State St.

(relocated to Roanoke, VA. &

formed The Casper-Trenor Co.)

1904*...Joseph Sherfey

800 State St.

1904-16*...E. Gouge & Co.

644 1/2 State St.

Warehouse cor Moore & Scott Sts.

Office cor Moore & Commerce Sts.

Distilleries in Gouge, TN., Bristol, TN.

& Bristol, VA.

Erection of new Bristol,VA. Distillery

was announced in Nov. 1909.

1904...Pinnacle Saloon

1904...Burke Bros. Bar

150 Front St.

1904*...J.C. Brady & Son

519 State St.

Hub Family Liquor Store

1905...B.J. James - Agent

East Tennessee Brewing Co.

1905...M.H. Rush - Agent

Anheuser-Busch & Chattanooga

Brewing Co.

1906...Twin City Saloon

E.J. Swan

17 Scranton St.

1906-14...Ben T. Clark

804 State St.

relocated from Abingdon,VA.,

had operated a saloon

there as early as 1888

(Merged with Sherfey in 1909)

1906...Lindsay Bunting

Distributor for New South Brewery

& Ice Co.

1907...M.H. Rush - Agent

Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer

1907-10...L. Shere Liquor Co.

C.A. Jones, Mgr.

1909...Dixie Bottling Works

Wholesale Beer License

1909-14*...Bryan Bros. Stag Saloon

Sam N. & W.E. Bryan

116 Front St.

Purchased Claude H. Brady Saloon

1909*...M.I. Hessberg Son & Co.

Otto B. Heldreth, Mgr. replacing

W.H. Everett

516-518 Cumberland St.

Hessberg also in Richmond, Danville,

& Roanoke, VA.

1909-10*...Palace Saloon/Gem Saloon

B.S. Wade & Co.

9 Lee St.

Sold to Beamer Bros. May 1910

1909-13*...Louis Totz Co.

Luther Rush, Mgr.

507 State St.

Totz also in Roanoke,VA.

1909-16*...Bristol Wine & Liquor Co.

W.D. Larmer, Mgr.

849-853 State St.

1914 - Gordon Aronheim, Mgr.

Aronheim likely of Aronheim

Liquors of Roanoke, VA.

1909-16*...Bristol Distributing Co.

Lindsay Bunting, Mgr.

1910 - Lindsay Bunting,President

J. Bunting, Secretary

C.F. Hagan, Treasurer

102-104 Front St.

1914 J.A. Warren, Mgr.

1909-14...Holston Club

1909*...T.H. Haynes Co.

1909-11...Home Liquor Co.

1911 purchased by M.P. Dyer

1909-14...Clark & Sherfey Co.

cor State & Commonwealth

Clark sold out 1911, Sherfey 1914

1910-11...Beamer Bros. Gem Saloon

9 Lee St.

1911 Purchased by M.P. Dyer

1910...Virginia Brewing Co.

428 Cumberland St.

1911...Southern Supply Co. & Saloon

1913-14*...Southern Wine & Liquor Co.

Louis Totz, Mgr.

102 Front St./ 106-108 Front St.

1914...E. Gouge purchases Sherfey stock

1914*...State Line Whiskey Co.

W.A. Fincannon, Mgr.

1914*...Jno.G. Brady

1914-16*...Palace Saloon

9 Lee St.

E. Gouge, Owner

P.C. Fallin, Mgr.

1914-16*...Blue Ribbon Bar

J.R. Cain, Mgr.

1915-16..Fountain Bar

19 Lee St.

1884 Main Street

Nickels House on left

This Backbar was recently reported to me as having been installed in

The State Line Bar & Grill on State St. in Bristol,TN.

JETT'S BAR @ 1900

BRADY'S HUB SALOON

NEXT>>>>

(excerpt from:) **TENNESSEE DISTILLERIES: THEIR RISE, FALL, AND RE-EMERGENCE

Kay Baker Gaston

"The process of converting corn and small grains such as rye and barley into whiskey was well known to the predominantly Scots, Scotch-Irish, and Irish immigrants who poured into the Tennessee country from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North and South Carolina.

Evan Shelby's East Tennessee distillery, located at Sapling Grove near Shelby's Station on the Holston, was in existence by 1771 and perhaps the earliest on record in the state.¹ By 1785 East Tennesseans were producing significant quantities of rye whiskey which they used to pay taxes at only two shillings, six pence per gallon."

***note: Sapling Grove is known today as Bristol, TN-VA. Shelby's Station...nee Fort...stood on the bluff over-looking Beaver Creek at about where present day Weaver's Funeral Home and SESCO Co. are located.

Sources - Bibliography

i)      Library of King College, Bristol,Tenn. - Newspaper Microfilms

ii)     Bristol,TN-VA Public Library - Newspaper Microfilms &  City Directories

iii)     1904 Bristol Herald Industrial Supplement

iv)     Bristol-Goodson Industry & Resources in 1885 -W.F.Henry/Reporter

v)    Witness To An Epoch - Chas.J. Harkrader

vi)     Double Destiny   - Robert Loving

vii)    Historic Sites of Sullivan County - Muriel Spoden

viii)   Bristol Tennessee-Virginia : A History - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

ix)     Spirits & Medicinal Bottles of Bristol, Tenn.-Va.   - Charlie Barnette

x)       The Passing Years   - Bristol Historical Association

xi)      City of Bristol @ 1915

xii)     A Pictorial History - Bristol Historical Association

xiii)    Whiskey, An American Pictorial History - Oscar Getz

xiv)    Prohibition, 13 Years That Changed America - Edward Behr

xv)     The Shadow Of The Bottle - Review & Herald Publishing Co.

xvi)    Historic Sullivan - Oliver Taylor

xvii)   One Year At A Time - Bristol - 1907 - Lonnie & Kim Blevins

xviii)   Honoring Our Heritage: Faces & Places From The Past -

                       Lonnie & Kim Blevins and Roy & Carolyn Williams

xvix)   Between the States: Bristol Tennessee - Virginia During the Civil War - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

xx)      Pioneers in Paradise - Bristol, Tenn-Va. - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

xxi)     A Good Place to Live - Bristol, Tenn-Va. - V.N. "Bud" Phillips

*** NOTE:

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