The Amelung Saloon and Home

202 S. Bogy Street
Pilot Knob, MO 63663

Lots 1, 2, & 3, Block 5, Pilot Knob

The property which I refer to as the Amelung Saloon and home first came into the Amelung family in 1905 when Johanna Amelung purchased the property from the heirs of the late Caroline E. Jacquith. Her youngest son, Herman Amelung, ran the saloon downstairs and eventually purchased the property from his mother two years later. It is here that he raised a large family including both his own mother and both his wife's parents. My aunt, Nelle White (nee Amelung), owned the house until July 2003, when she passed away, keeping the ownership in the Amelung family for 98 years.

My dad has told me stories of the secret window that allows someone to see into the Saloon from the stairs and of how his brothers and he would sleep on the back balcony in the summertime. In it's heyday, the saloon contained a mahogany bar (see below), located in back were servant's quarters, and a large barn, now all gone, and a wide variety of drink were offered. You can tell that it was, at one time, a hotel with the Pilot Knob Depot located just across the street, also now gone.

Herman bought his liquor supplies from the Green Tree Brewery, who's address at the time was 906 Sidney Street in St. Louis, Missouri. In attempting to locate this brewery, the best I can determine is that it was located near the current Anheuser-Busch parking lot.

When Prohibition began in 1920, Herman shut down the saloon and returned to working in the iron mines achieving the position of Foreman. He can be seen in a 1919 photograph taken in front of the Iron Mine entrance standing in a ore car.

The Front of the Amelung Saloon. The man on the far left with his hands on his hips is Herman Amelung.

The man behind the bar is Herman Amelung. The other customers are not known.

Past Ownership:

Sold To: George Gherke
Seller: Pilot Knob Iron Company
Date of Filing: December 20, 1858
Date of Instrument: May 13, 1858
Recorded: Iron County, Missouri Record Book B, Page 59

Sold To: Chas. Roeslein
Seller: George Gherke & Wife
Date of Filing: March 27, 1863
Date of Instrument: March 25, 1863
Recorded: Iron County Record Book D, Page 259 (or 261) hard to read.

Sold To: Caroline E. Jacquith
Seller: Chas. Roeslein & Wife
Date of Filing: March 5, 1870
Date of Instrument: February 25, 1870
Recorded: Iron County Record Book I, Page 288

Sold To: Johanna Amelung (Price: $650.00)
Seller: Heirs of Caroline E. Jacquith
Date of Filing: June 7, 1905
Date of Instrument: April 30, 1905
Recorded: Iron County Recorder of Deeds, Book 52, Page 428

Sold To: Herman Amelung
Seller: Johanna Amelung
Date of Filing: December 31, 1907
Date of Instrument: November 6, 1907
Recorded: Book 51 (?), Page 263 (I question this being in a previous book than the earlier deed but this is how it is listed and recorded.)