A walking tour of iconic bars and restaurants
CANANDAIGUA — Flannigan’s Restaurant opened in 1866 in downtown Canandaigua, and the establishment owned by John ,soon became a popular and well-known place for oysters throughout the region.
And to end their 19th-century day, perhaps a drink and a toast to the good men and women of the village of Canandaigua. Yes, that’s right, the village, not the city – not yet anyway.
Over time, Flannigan, a Democrat, would become an influential behindthe-scenes person in local and state politics and would play a part in Canandaigua becoming a city – and in the process, remaining a place where visitors could drink during a time when temperance was the buzzword of the day.
Stroll downtown today, and it’s hard to believe in the same place where Peacemaker Brewing Co., Acquilano’s Wine Cellars, the Niagara Bar & Restaurant, Bubby’s Tavern and so many others operate successfully, the likes of Thos. E. Murphy Restaurant, James T. Barry Wines and Liquors and the Coyle Bros. Tavern of another time were threatened.
And it wasn’t easy for Flannigan and his cohorts.
The effort required some nifty political tiptoeing, as prior to 1913, two votes to make Canandaigua a dry village had failed. But, according to Benjamin Falter, director of education for the Ontario County Historical Society and leader of a summerlong series of walking tours of the city’s old watering holes, Flannigan and other like-minded businessmen of the day feared a third time could be a charm.
But they saw a sign of hope in a loophole in state law.
“If we become a city, then we don’t have to worry about whether or not we’re going to become dry anymore,” Falter said.
But first, mix up a bee’s knees or grasshopper cocktails, and learn more about the tour.
Walking into Canandaigua’s past
Falter came to the Historical Society from the Rochester Museum and Science Center. His wife saw the job opening here and thought he would enjoy and thrive in the role.
She was right, and it is a perfect fit, he said.
Hired in late November 2021, Falter thought there was a real place for a regularly scheduled live walking tour. They first explored the historic churches of North Main Street in Canandaigua, and “that was successful enough that we decided to keep doing them,” Falter said.
Next up were tours of local cemeteries, the Ontario County Courthouse, Canandaigua Pier and Kershaw Park and an insider tour of the Historical Socety’s museum on Main Street.
“We’ve had growing success with each tour,” Falter said. “People seem to enjoy getting to walk around and learn about the history of these places. It’s a really exciting program that I really, really enjoy doing.”
Falter had wanted to do a tour of the downtown area, but he needed a unifying theme. Why not a tour of the places in Canandaigua where you could get a drink before Prohibition?
Francine Bremer, who took the tour with husband Robert, has been on tours that Falter has led, and he does a tremendous job, she said, especially providing details and the history of the area.
“I like the topic, number one,” Francine Bremer said. “He’s very good so I figured it would be a fun time.”
And that’s the way Falter approached it, as a fun way to look at the history of Main Street and how it’s changed and evolved over the years.
That and the alcohol business is nearly a universal human experience.
“Humans have been making alcohol since civilization began. Beer was made in ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt,” Falter said. “It’s something most people have an experience with even if they weren’t drinkers themselves. It’s all around us. I also think people find Prohibition fascinating.”
Temperance and Canandaigua
Ten people are meeting up in the public square across from City Hall and near the courthouse, set to begin what is billed as a 90-minute tour, with some stops for history lessons.
No booze, by the way.
This is near where the former Canandaigua Hotel used to stand, before it burned down in the 1970s, Falter said. State Sen. John Raines lived nearby; he was responsible for a provision in an unpopular state law that tried to limit the sale of alcohol on Sundays, Falter explained.
Americans were drinking on average seven gallons of alcohol a year in the 19th century, compared to a third of that today.
“There was a reason the temperance movement took off,” Falter said, as he led the tour down Main Street toward Niagara Street.
Did efforts to limit drinking in Canandaigua take? Not really.
The Webster House, Boswell & Egan Liquors and the Imperial Hotel are just a few of the old watering holes folks on the tour can learn more about, along with some stories about the people behind them and who frequented them.
A lot of those buildings are no longer standing, Falter said, but some are, if almost none of them are the businesses that they used to be.
The Green Front restaurant is an exception.
The original eatery opened in 1928 and once was a speakeasy, which required a password to enter.
This was not a well-kept secret, Falter said.
“People were going to drink,” Falter said, during a stop outside the restaurant under a shade tree. “Americans really liked to drink and really didn’t like Prohibition.”
Jessica VandeMar, who is working on a history project of her own where she works as marketing manager at the Finger Lakes Visitors Connection, said she didn’t know half of what Falter had been saying on this tour, but said it’s so interesting to hear about the history of the area.
“We were at the Green Front for lunch the other day,” VandeMar said. “Who knew it was a speakeasy once upon a time?”
This and all sorts of other historical tidbits await tourgoers.
Falter tells the tale of the biggest rum-running arrest of the time where historians believe was at the Webster House, which sat where Commons Park is today.
Revenuers seized 150 gallons of illegal alcohol on an early morning August day in 1926. The rum runner in question, who was charged with unlawful possession and transporting of alcohol, was believed to have stopped for the night as Canandaigua because he was between larger cities.
Or maybe not.
“People needed to drink here, too,” Falter said, even if some thought differently, which brings the story back to Flannigan and his restaurant.
Could one vote in Canandaigua lead to another?
The state Legislature was considering an amendment to the state constitution that would grant women the right to vote at about the time business owners feared losing their ability to sell alcohol.
Women made up a lot of the temperance movement, Falter said, so if the voting amendment went through (which it did in 1917), women voters could push for another vote that would make Canandaigua a dry village.
Villages and towns were allowed to exercise a local option when it comes to allowing alcohol in their boundaries, Falter said, but cities were not allowed to exercise that local option and had to abide by whatever the state law was on access to alcohol.
Meaning, bottoms up in cities.
Falter said over two weeks, Flannigan and other Canandaigua business leaders persuaded local government to set a public vote on the matter and held it, just over a week after setting the vote.
“It was very, very quick, this attempt to get it across the finish line before women potentially would gain the right to vote,” Falter said.
Prohibition in Canandaigua
Canandaigua, of course, became a city, almost overnight, Falter said, and the seats at the bars were filled.
Until Prohibition came along, that is. The walking tour winds up at City Hall, where Falter explains how “absolutely swamped” judges and their courts with alcohol-related cases during Prohibition and how many of the overwhelmed judges had to be lenient, as it seemed every “Tom, Dick and Harry” was before them, Falter said.
Glenna Renaud of Canandaigua knew some about Prohibition, but joined the tour to learn more about where the old buildings were and what was inside them.
Renaud walked away with a more extensive understanding of what went on in her hometown.
“You can read a book and all but it’s better to have someone tell you and show you on a walking tour,” Renaud said.