The Pickwick Restaurant and Pub in Duluth, Minnesota began in 1888 as the “Old Saloon," a tasting bar located within the Fitger Brewing Company.
[3] When prohibition was enacted in 1920, one of the bartenders, Joseph Wisocki, borrowed $200 from his father-in-law and bought the business, but not the building.
In 1933, prohibition was repealed and as reported in the Lake Superior Port Cities Magazine, Wisocki threw the last glass of Near Bear into the fireplace[5] and the Pickwick remained open 24 hours that day.
[6] In July, 1945, the building was purchased from the Fitger Brewing Company for the sum of $11,000[6] The architect, Anthony Peck, designed the rooms of the Pickwick with European styled architecture to honor the area’s many immigrants.
Hidden in these artworks are a five-fingered monk, a grasshopper commemorating the insect plague and beer-brewing gnomes.