ATDTDA (2): the Boll Weevil Lounge (47.28)

[Tim Strzechowski]

from _The Encyclopedia of Chicago_ (online edition):
 
The saloon in Chicago had its origin in two places. The oldest was the inn or tavern, a combination restaurant, hotel, and drinking place. Much of the city's early social life revolved around such spots as the Green Tree, Sauganash, and the Eagle. A second type of drinking place evolved from grocers and provisioners who began to sell hard liquor in wholesale quantities. At first, their sample rooms were literally places where customers could taste test the stock; long afterward, “sample room” became simply another name for saloon. By the late 1850s the term saloon had begun to appear in directories and common usage as a term for an establishment that specialized in beer and liquor sales by the drink, with food and lodging as secondary concerns in some places. Stops such as Stacey's Tavern in present-day Glen Ellyn or the Pre-Emption House in Naperville were popular among farmers journeying to the city. 
 
The rapidly growing ethnic population swelled the saloon ranks through the mid-nineteenth century, but during the early 1880s a growing overcapacity in the brewery industry began to force change. Overestimates of future growth, along with easy rail access to Chicago for St. Louis and Milwaukee brewers, left all of the producers scrambling for retail outlets. The answer lay in an adaptation of the British “tied-house” system of control. Brewers purchased hundreds of storefronts, especially on the highly desired corner locations, which they rented to prospective saloonkeepers, along with all furnishings and such recreational equipment as billiard tables and bowling alleys. Schlitz and a few others even built elaborate saloons, examples of which still survive in Lake View on North Southport Avenue. The Chicago City Council also contributed to the brewery domination by increasing the saloon license from $50 to $500 between 1883 and 1885 to pay for an expanded police force supposedly ma
de necessary by the barrooms. Relatively few independent proprietors could afford to pay such amounts. 

The new realities of business not only transformed many saloonkeepers from entrepreneurs to employees but may have contributed to many of them turning to criminal involvement to supplement their incomes. Few Chicago bars honored the midnight closing hour, and some welcomed petty gambling and prostitution. The need for protection from further legislation and the fear of tighter police enforcement drove saloonkeepers toward politics. Many of the most colorful personages in Chicago's political history, including “Bathhouse John” Coughlin, Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna, John Powers, and Edward F. “Foxy Ed” Cullerton, were barkeeps. 

Politics was also a natural avocation for saloonkeepers because of the adaptable social nature of their business. In neighborhoods where literacy was low, the bar provided the principal place for the exchange of information about employment, housing, and the many tragedies that beset the city's poor; a savvy politician could turn his access to resources into votes. In slum districts, his place provided a safe for valuables, a telephone for emergencies, a newspaper for the literate, a bowl on the bar for charity collections. In factory districts, saloons became labor exchanges and union halls, as well as providing a place to cash paychecks. On busy streets and downtown, the saloon provided a restroom. And in all areas of the city, the purchase of a drink allowed access to the free lunch sideboard. This feature usually offered only cold foods, but competition could make it elaborate. [...]

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1110.html