Club Forest Bar in Plover is living history

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Club Forest Bar in Plover is living history
February 19, 2011
B.C. Kowalski
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune

PLOVER -- There's a building on the grounds of the Club Forest Bar in Plover that's painted green and gold.

It may look innocent enough -- a small rectangular building resembling a small Swiss chalet, save for the Green Bay Packers motif.

But the building once served a less innocent purpose.

The bar, now billing itself as a family establishment, was once a brothel. And the innocent building in back was one of five "entertainment" houses on the property's site.

"Back then, quite a few bars in Plover, all the bars had women for sale," said current owner Pam Booth. "It was as common as beer on tap."

The bar was located next to Meehan Station -- a once busy train stop for which a nearby road is named for -- where women would come from Chicago to work at the bar.

Booth said Club Forest also was once frequented by gangsters such as Al Capone and John Dillinger.

She said original owner Helen McCabe would often tell stories about the two gangsters, who were as different as night and day.

"I remember her telling me what a nice man Dillinger was, and what an abrasive, abusive man Capone was," Booth said.

The building isn't the only reminder of the former business. The basement is a maze of staircases leading to brick walls and rooms that appear to have no access, suggesting secret activities that now can only be speculated about.

Not to mention the ghost of a former caretaker, Melvin, who is said to still patrol the grounds.

The River Cities Paranormal Society, based in Wisconsin Rapids, has been to the site several times. Their results have been inconclusive as to whether there is any paranormal activity, but employees of the bar have other ideas.

Karen Krings, a manager at the bar for 15 years, said she's seen plenty of evidence of Melvin -- jukeboxes turning themselves off and on, volumes on all the televisions turning all the way up, bar stools flying across the room.

"I said, 'That's it,' and I went running out the back door," Krings said about the first time it happened. She was cleaning after closing when the first incident happened.

Krings said she believes that Melvin -- who, as the story goes, was shot defending one of the ladies from an unusually rough client -- is still looking after the women in the bar. She said incidents occur most when there's a man with a loud or forceful voice in the building.

Maybe it's fitting then that all five of the bar's owners have been women, of which Booth is the latest.

"Melvin is a big part of our place," Booth said.