The Winter Saloon, also known as Harm's Bar, is a historic structure in

Norwood Young America, Minnesota Norwood Young America is a city in Carver County, Minnesota, United States, located about 40 miles west of Minneapolis. The population was 3,549 at the 2010 census. History Young America was platted in 1856. Norwood was platted in 1872. Norw ...

, United States. The building was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

(NRHP) on January 4, 1980.

Structure

The Winter Saloon is located on the corner of Elm and Hazel Streets in the central business district of historic Norwood, Minnesota. The town merged with neighboring Young America in 1997 to become

Norwood Young America Norwood Young America is a city in Carver County, Minnesota, Carver County, Minnesota, United States, located about 40 miles west of Minneapolis. The population was 3,549 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History Young America was ...

. The L-shaped, two story

wood frame Framing, in construction, is the fitting together of pieces to give a structure support and shape. Framing materials are usually wood, engineered wood, or structural steel. The alternative to framed construction is generally called ''mass wal ...

structure is sheathed in

clapboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

and topped with a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

roof. The orientation of the plan allows the commercial section to front the main street while the residential section is set back to allow for a front

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

and small lawn. The gable end of the commercial section forms the street facade. The original

fenestration Fenestration may refer to: * Fenestration (architecture), the design, construction, or presence of openings in a building * Used in relation to fenestra in anatomy, medicine and biology * Fenestration, holes in the rudder of a ship to reduce the w ...

remains, including the design of the store front, the four-over-four

double hung A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History T ...

windows with peaked

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

s and a

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window, often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, and is sometimes hinged to a transom. Th ...

near the top of the gable. The second floor of the commercial section originally served as a

meeting hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the grea ...

and has an exterior enclosed staircase. The residential section is divided into three

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

which front on the street. A one-story porch running the length of the street facade, and uses a simple configuration supported by three square posts with

bevel A bevelled edge (UK) or beveled edge (US) is an edge of a structure that is not perpendicular to the faces of the piece. The words bevel and chamfer overlap in usage; in general usage they are often interchanged, while in technical usage they ...

ed corners. The windows for this section are two-over-two double hung and capped with simple

Significance

The Winter Saloon is the oldest and best preserved of Norwood Young America's bars, and is a dominating architectural feature in the small downtown. The original owners, the Winter Brothers, received the first

liquor license A liquor license (or liquor licence in most forms of Commonwealth English) is a governmentally issued permit to sell, manufacture, store, or otherwise use alcoholic beverages. Canada In Canada, liquor licences are issued by the legal authority ...

in Norwood in 1891. Known as a "thirst parlor", it was located on the first floor of the commercial portion of the building. The second floor meeting hall was used by various

fraternal organization A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, "brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity in ...

s such as the Degree of Honor and

Modern Woodmen Modern Woodmen of America (MWA) is one of the largest (based on assets) fraternal benefit societies in the United States, with more than 750,000 members. Total assets reached US$15.4 billion in 2016. Though it shares the same founder, it is not ...

. The proprietor lived in the residential section of the building. At the time the first liquor license was issued in 1891 it cost $2.08. The bar went through a series of owners until

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

in 1919. In 1934, after the law was repealed, the bar was purchased by George Harms, Sr. A liquor license at that time cost $200.00. The bar remained in three generations of his family and was open at the time the building was listed on the NRHP in 1980; during this period the cost of a liquor license peaked at $1500 in 1954.Harms Bar; copy accessed from Winter Saloon file, State Historic Preservation Office in the Minnesota History Center.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota 1890 establishments in Minnesota Commercial buildings completed in 1890 Drinking establishments on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Houses completed in 1890 Houses in Carver County, Minnesota Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Taverns in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Carver County, Minnesota Norwood Young America, Minnesota

Structure

Significance

See also

References