Shaker's Cigar Bar

History:

Shaker's Cigar Bar - Milwaukee, WI

Once an apple orchard owned by a wealthy family in Walker's Point, the property then became home to South  Side Cemetery. The property was sold,  most of the bodies were moved to Forest Home Cemetery in the Lincoln Village neighborhood but it is believed that some are still buried under the building.

Construction on the building started in 1894, during a smallpox epidemic in Milwaukee and was completed a year later. The building was known as the John Paula Building.

1894-1905 - Cooperage Manufacturing beer barrels for Schlitz Brewery

1905-1922  - Oil distribution

1922  - The front door remained locked, a patina of coal dust and oil remained in the front windows. The entry to the city’s newest  speakeasy, owned by Al and Frank Capone was through the alleyway entrance. The speakeasy saw 300-400 people a night. Entrance into the speakeasy was obtained with a secret knock, and the exact phrase “We’re here to inspect the soda bottles”.

1924-1940 ABC Soda Company bottling operation was located in the front of the building, and served as a cover for the liquor being produced and consumed on site. The St. Louis ABC Brand was owned by Frank and Al Capone who led the brewing syndicate out of Chicago. You can still find wooden crates at different garage sales in Milwaukee.

1922-1946 The second and third floors housed a brothel. In the Capone-era 1920s an Irish brothel girl by the name of Molly Harvey Brennan once plied her trade in the third floor penthouse. It is thought she was murdered in her penthouse on the third floor. Molly came to 422 S. 2nd St. when she was 16-years-old,

and quickly ascended the ranks due to her connections with a prominent and wealthy

politician. The girls working downstairs charged between $2 and $5 per appointment and would have between eight to ten appointments an hour. Molly demanded $25 just to walk up the stairs to her private floor. A torrid love affair with the son of her wealthy benefactor resulted in what employees suspect was her murder in 1929, at the hands of her lover.

1986-present day - Shaker’s Cigar Bar -  In 2001, Bob (current owner) and some of his friends were getting rid of an old shed on the back of the property. While they were tearing it down, they found a false floor, and underneath it was a sack of bones. Some of the bones were animal bones, while others were charred human remains. So they called the police. They took the remains to the medical examiner, and about a week later got the information that the bones had been there for over 70 years and belonged to a woman. She was between 18 and 20 years old when she was killed. She had been murdered. Her body had been dismembered and then burned in a very hot fire, like in a fireplace. Because of the authentic period look and feel, Shakers claims to be a location featured in the 1990’s Warner Brothers movie Dillerger. Prior to the property being a cemetery, there was an apple orchard that belonged to a wealthy family in Walker’s Point (when Walker’s Point was one of three settlements that would later make up the City of Milwaukee).The family had one daughter, who employees believe was named Elizabeth. The story goes that Elizabeth, who was fond of climbing the apple trees, fell one day, breaking her neck. The spot where she died is believed to be where the women’s room lounge is now. Her ghost is not reported to be menacing in nature, but playful, often trying to get the attention of the women in the stalls, by gentle knocks or raps, sometimes leaving the water running for employees to find the next morning. There is a safe that sits in the basement. It’s been dated to the pre-Civil War era, and although Bob has brought in professional safe-crackers, both from the federal and criminal level, none have been able to get it open, leaving its contents a mystery. It tends to move from place to place without anyone’s help. In the basement, at one point they did GPR on the floor and it is said there are three bodies buried in the one corner where the old entrance used to be that the mob used. There is also an original cistern in the basement as well, still open.

Claims:

Voices, apparitions, shadow figures, objects being moved

Experiences:

Tapping sounds, disembodied voices, shadow person moving through doorway