The Ripsaw Saloon Building: Nine Names at 1117 Railroad Avenue in Prentice

Last updated: October 2026

TL;DR: The building at 1117 Railroad Avenue in Prentice has held a tavern since the Guzinski family built it in the mid-1940s. It opened as Joe’s Bar, sold a few years after Joe Guzinski died, and passed through nine names before becoming the Ripsaw Saloon on Dec. 15, 2018. The names are Joe’s Bar, Bob & Mary’s Sportsmen’s Bar, Nutty Pine, Diamond Lil’s, Cactus Lil’s, Hitchin Post, Rumors, La Rosa, and Finlanders. One stretch in the late 1950s and early 1960s has known owners but no known business name, and the owners of the building are asking Prentice to help fill it in.

What was in the Ripsaw Saloon building before Ripsaw?

The Ripsaw Saloon occupies the former site of LaRosa’s, which puts it directly after La Rosa in the chain of businesses at that address. The Price County Review reported on Feb. 20, 2019, that the saloon “occupies the former site of LaRosa’s” and “opened its doors Dec. 15” under owner Melissa Aird. That article is the published record tying the business name to the street address, which makes it the anchor for everything above it.

The rest of the history comes from the people who lived it. On Oct. 19, 2026, the Ripsaw Saloon posted its own rough timeline to Facebook and asked customers to correct it. Eight customers answered. Their accounts overlap, contradict each other in two places, and collectively push the building’s known history back about four decades further than the original post did.

The timeline at 1117 Railroad Avenue

Joe’s Bar, mid-1940s to mid-1950s

Karen Chizek, the granddaughter of the builders, gave the account that moved the building’s origin back the furthest. Her grandfather Joseph Guzinski and grandmother Viola built the place and ran it as Joe’s Bar, coming to Prentice after their bar in Westboro burned down. They sold it a few years after Joe died in the 1950s.

Who they sold it to is the newest piece of the record, and it comes second-hand. Chizek’s aunt, Peggy Guzinski Bant, believes the family’s bar was sold “in about 1956 or 1957” to Leo A. DuBois and Lillian DuBois. Both were real Prentice residents: Leo DuBois (1903–1975) is buried in Prentice Cemetery, and Lillian Amelia Bartelt Dubois (1914–2011) died a Prentice resident. What the records do not show is a tavern. Neither obituary nor either burial record mentions a business, so the DuBois purchase rests on family recollection alone — specific, plausible, and unnamed in any document found here.

That account holds up against an independent record. The obituary of Joyce M. Bacholl, who died April 18, 2023, states that she was born in Westboro to Joseph and Viola (Kirchmeier) Guzinski, graduated from Prentice High School in 1954, and then “stayed home, and helped with the family bar (Joe’s Bar) for one year before heading to college at St. Joseph School of Nursing.” That obituary confirms four separate details from Chizek’s memory: both names, the Westboro origin, the business name, and the timing.

It also tightens the dates. Joyce Bacholl was born in Westboro in 1936, which means the family was still living there that year. The Prentice building therefore dates to after 1936, and the family was working it in 1954 and 1955. Chizek’s “mid-1940s” fits both facts.

What the obituary does not confirm is the address. Only Chizek’s account connects Joe’s Bar to this specific building.

The missing years, late 1950s to 1966

This stretch has improved from blank to thin. Joe’s Bar sold around 1956 or 1957, and Bob & Mary’s does not begin until 1966. That leaves roughly a decade at 1117 Railroad Avenue where the owners are named and the business is not. The Ripsaw’s own post first carried it as “unknown,” and the DuBois recollection is the only thing anyone has offered since. A tavern that operated for ten years under a name nobody remembers is the likeliest shape of it, since the building has been licensed continuously since the Guzinskis built it — but that is inference, not record.

Bob & Mary’s Sportsmen’s Bar, 1966 to 1976

Annette Tlusty dated this one precisely: “Bob & Mary’s Sportsmen’s Bar from 1966 to 1976.” Julie Kring-Lord remembered it independently as “Bob & Mary’s in the late 60s (?) – early 70s,” which agrees on position and roughly on the start.

Tlusty’s dates are the most specific in the entire thread, and they are single-sourced. They are also the only thing anyone offered for the 1960s.

Nutty Pine, from 1976

Tlusty’s next line continues directly from Bob & Mary’s: “Then Nutty Pine owned by Bob & Bonnie Grissmeyer.” Three separate people in the thread used the name Nutty Pine, and a fourth used it in an unrelated Price County Past and Present discussion: “Nutty Pine in Prentice.” The Ripsaw’s original post had it as “Naughty Pine,” which does not appear in any local source and was corrected in the comments.

The end date is where this breaks down. The original post placed Nutty Pine in the 1990s, but Tlusty starts it in 1976, and Barbara Johnson describes Cactus Lil’s as the business Lil sold to Kenny and Jodi’s Hitchin Post, which Craig Weinzatl dates to 1995. Those cannot all be true. Either Nutty Pine ran from 1976 into the early 1980s and Cactus Lil’s followed it, or there were two separate Nutty Pine eras. No source in the thread resolves it.

Debbie Koch added a third name to the 1970s: “Feltz’s own it in the 70’s.” That conflicts with Grissmeyer ownership beginning in 1976. The most likely reading is a handover inside the decade, but nobody stated one.

Diamond Lil’s and Cactus Lil’s, 1980s

Barbara Johnson supplied both names and the order: “It was Diamond Lils, and then Cactus Lils. Lil sold to Kenny and Jodi’s Hitchin Post. Lots of fun times!!!” That makes Diamond Lil’s the earlier of the two, which the original post omitted entirely. It also identifies the buyer, which gives anyone researching the 1990s a name to work from.

Hitchin Post, 1995 to 2007

Weinzatl dated this one outright: “Hitchin Post was 1995-2007.” The Ripsaw’s post had the same business listed as 2000 to 2010, so the comment moves the start five years earlier and the end three years earlier.

Those two versions do not reconcile, and nobody in the thread explained the discrepancy.

Rumors, La Rosa, and Finlanders, after 2007

These three names appear in the Ripsaw’s own timeline, and only one of them has a date. The Ripsaw’s post now places La Rosa at October 2016, operated by Larry and Rose — which fits the Price County Review’s account that LaRosa’s was the business immediately before the Ripsaw Saloon. That leaves Rumors and Finlanders between Hitchin Post’s 2007 end and La Rosa’s 2016 start, in an order the post gives as Rumors first, then Finlanders, with no years on either. The sequence is the page’s own; no commenter corroborated it and no record checked here confirms it.

Ripsaw Saloon, Dec. 15, 2018 to present

The building’s current chapter started with a renovation and a new name. The Price County Review covered the opening in its Feb. 20, 2019 edition, describing a renovated space at 1117 Railroad Avenue offering the comfortable atmosphere of a hometown bar. The Prentice village board approved a Class B liquor and beer license for the Ripsaw Saloon, a decision the Price County Review reported on July 30, 2026.

What’s still missing

Four things would close most of the remaining gaps. The first is what business the DuBois family ran between roughly 1956 and 1966 — the owners are now named, the sign over the door is not. The second is when Nutty Pine closed. The third is whether the Feltz family held the building before or after the Grissmeyers. The fourth is dates for Rumors and Finlanders, and a closing date for La Rosa.

The likeliest written source is A History of Prentice, Wisconsin and the areas of Hackett and Pennington, a local history with family histories and photographs that is not digitized. The Phillips Public Library holds Price County newspaper microfilm on site, and the Wisconsin Newspapers Digital Research Site covers 235 state papers including the Price County Review, though it requires Wisconsin library access. Wisconsin does not maintain a public searchable database of historical liquor licenses, so municipal license records from that era would have to survive in the village’s own files.

Frequently asked questions

What was the Ripsaw Saloon building before Ripsaw?

LaRosa’s, immediately before. Before that, in reverse from the most recent: La Rosa (October 2016), Finlanders and Rumors in that order per the Ripsaw’s own post, Hitchin Post (1995-2007), Cactus Lil’s, Diamond Lil’s, Nutty Pine (from 1976), Bob & Mary’s Sportsmen’s Bar (1966-1976), the DuBois years with no business name, and Joe’s Bar (mid-1940s to mid-1950s).

Was it Nutty Pine or Naughty Pine?

Nutty Pine. Four local sources use that spelling, including three comments on the Ripsaw’s own post. “Naughty Pine” appears in the original post and in no other source.

When did the Ripsaw Saloon open?

Dec. 15, 2018. The Price County Review reported the opening in its Feb. 20, 2019 edition.

Who built the building at 1117 Railroad Avenue?

Joseph and Viola Guzinski, according to their granddaughter Karen Chizek. They ran it as Joe’s Bar after moving from Westboro, where their previous bar had burned. An obituary for their daughter confirms the family, the business name, and the 1950s timeframe.