{"id":6860,"date":"2016-04-28T17:24:19","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T22:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/?p=6860"},"modified":"2016-05-02T09:07:17","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T14:07:17","slug":"partying-in-pretzel-alley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/2016\/04\/28\/partying-in-pretzel-alley\/","title":{"rendered":"Partying in Pretzel Alley"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s blog celebrates National Pretzel Day (Tuesday, April 26th) by spotlighting a turn-of-the-20th-century Davenport institution: Pretzel Alley.<\/span><\/p>\n

The alley was and is\u00a0just\u00a0across from the Davenport Public Library\u2019s Main Street location, running from Main to Harrison Street in the block between 3rd and 4th Streets. But Pretzel Alley was much more than just a place.\u00a0It was a lively social club, starting out as a\u00a0break-time and after-hours gathering of men\u00a0who worked at the H. Korn Baking Company on Harrison Street — hence the \u201cpretzel\u201d moniker — and other businesses nearby.<\/p>\n

The five Korn brothers (Billy, Charlie, Otto, Harry, and John) and\u00a0Alex Anderson were among the founders of the group. Merrymaking was the main order of business, fueled by liquid refreshments.\u00a0Regular singing, dancing, and practical joking enticed more and more local fellows to join the happy fraternity, eventually including influential businessmen and other community leaders. The Pretzel Alley gang formed a band and a choir, and so many members played on the\u00a0Davenport baseball team that it was popularly renamed “The Pretzels.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0official organ of the organization was the\u00a0Pretzel Alley Wurst-Blatt<\/i>, published by Alex Anderson,\u00a0Davenport Democrat\u00a0<\/i>employee and the”first, last and only mayor” of the “free and Independent Commonwealth of Pretzel Alley, State of Scott County, U.S.A.” (1)\u00a0The organization’s annual\u00a0elections were grand occasions that attracted much attention in the local press. Despite the efforts of many “challengers,” Anderson was elected mayor of Pretzel Alley several years in a row with his famous slogan \u201cCan\u2019t Lose.\u201d Even when he\u00a0moved\u00a0across the Mississippi to work as a Rock Island hotelier, Anderson’s leadership continued.\"AAndersonobit2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

William H. \u201cBilly\u201d Korn, treasurer of the H. Korn Baking Company took Pretzel Alley\u2019s party philosophy to the state and national levels when he announced the formation of the \u201cSalty Order of Pretzels\u201d at the Master Bakers’ of Iowa\u00a0convention. Declaring himself the leader, or \u201cBig Twist,\u201d he hoped to add a bit of fun to these meetings. (2)\"Korn\"<\/a><\/span>In 1910, when the City Council changed the alley\u2019s name to \u201cLibrary Lane\u201d to legally accommodate the Hotel Davenport\u2019s\u00a0saloon, and the “moisture exchanges” on the alley closed, “Pretzel Alley turned up its toes, leavin’ nothin’ behind but memories of the good old days.” (3)<\/span><\/p>\n

(posted by Katie)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n

(1) Purcell, W. L. “Pretzel Alley.” Them Was the Good Old Days<\/em>. [Davenport, Iowa]: Purcell Printing Company, 1922. 211-216.<\/p>\n

(2) \u201cDown in pretzel alley: Davenport’s salty thoroughfare was nationally famous in early 1900’s<\/span>.\u201d\u00a0Davenport Democrat\u00a0<\/em>January 11, 1955: 5.<\/p>\n

(3) Image from A Portfolio of Cartoons as Published by the Davenport Times, 1912-13<\/em>. [Davenport, Iowa]: Davenport Times, 1913?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s blog celebrates National Pretzel Day (Tuesday, April 26th) by spotlighting a turn-of-the-20th-century Davenport institution: Pretzel Alley. The alley was and is\u00a0just\u00a0across from the Davenport Public Library\u2019s Main Street location, running from Main to Harrison Street in the block … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[747,1549,1042,1552,1215,1554,1054,1553,1548,1550,1551],"class_list":["post-6860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-history","tag-alex-anderson","tag-bakers","tag-davenport-democrat","tag-h-korn-baking-company","tag-harrison-street","tag-hotel-davenport","tag-main-street","tag-national-pretzel-day","tag-pretzel-alley","tag-pretzels","tag-william-h-korn"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXc-1ME","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6860"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6877,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6860\/revisions\/6877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}