Morris W. Henney bought his drug store at 4139 West Broadway from Henry J. Barnett in about 1939. His son, William Henney, ran the drugstore from 1953 to 1963. It was then sold to Braun’s Bakery and then the Wuollet Bakery. On May 23rd, 1945 a 160 pound, four point buck bounded into the open basement door of the pharmacy . Game Warden, Ben Cohen and Robbinsdale Policemen, Matt Spurzem and Adrian Mattson, came to the rescue, but not before the deer had done more than $600 dollars worth of damage by crashing into medical cabinets. After Cohen and Mattson dragged it outside and trussed it up, the deer was taken to Sheriff Earle Brown’s farm for doctoring and then to a game refuge.
Johnson Brothers Dairy opened in 1936, but the business didn’t survive the Great Depression and in 1939 the building was purchased by A.M. “Art” Berg’s Purity Dairy. Berg sold the Purity Dairy to Twin City Milk Producers in 1956, but continued working there as a manager until his retirement in 1965. Old timers in Robbinsdale remember the dairy sold the best ice cream cones in town. Beyond the Dairy is the Masonic Hall. The building was dedicated on September 20th, 1922. It looks much the same today as it did back then. During the early days of the Great Depression the Mason’s faced losing their building. In 1933, plans were made for the Robbinsdale Chapter to assume ownership after learning that a night club was interested in it. The organization’s efforts to pay the mortgage with rummage sales, carnivals and card parties came up short. In 1937, Worthy Patron, Vern Harrington suggested the Masons put up a stand at the state fair. A lot was selected near the grand stand. The brothers of the “Star” built a kitchen. Job’s Daughters of Bethel #39 went to work cooking and serving food in the dining area and the boys of Robbinsdale DeMolay washed dishes. The venture was so successful that the Masons were able to pay off their loan. The chapter celebrated with a mortgage burning party on November 28th, 1947.
I grew up in Robbinsdale and recently visited the Wicked Wort. I wracked my brain, but couldn’t remember what had been there before. Please enlighten me.
Joanna–
The building the Wicked Wort operates from is the original Twin City Federal Savings & Loan building. It was erected on that location sometime in the early to mid 1960’s. According to one of our historians, it replaced the very old buildings that had occupied that footprint including Trump’s Hardware and Menth’s Canteen. TCF relocated to a smaller facility that was their original drive-up bank facility on the east side of West Broadway just to the north of Sipe’s gas station at the corner of 42nd Ave. Wicked Wort owner Steve Carlyle gutted the interior of the old TCF building and installed his micro-brewery and party room in the basement, with the public serving area on the first floor. The sign on the roof is the original TCF bank sign that has been retrofitted to reflect the Wicked Wort.