The Stone Front Hotel
In October 1948, Mary Vergles of the Stone Front Hotel faced a 45-day business suspension, being accused of “Sunday sales; sales to drunks; permitting gambling; and violation of the barmaid act.” At that time, the ‘barmaid act’ made it unlawful for a bar owner “to employ any female at his licensed hotel, restaurant or eating place to mix or serve liquor or malt or brewed beverages behind the bar.”
The Stone Front Hotel (present-day Anthony’s Hotel & Tavern) at 202 Brinton Ave was originally built by Mary’s father, Paul Lovre Sr, circa 1925, where Paul and his wife Annie operated a grocery store and raised their four children. Following the death of Annie (1934) and Paul (1945), the children inherited the building. The Stone Front Hotel would then be owned by Paul Jr and owned/operated by his sister Mary and her husband Mike Vergles.
Since the law did not allow a woman to serve drinks from behind the bar, Mike Vergles, who worked most of his adult life as a welder for Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing, helped his wife serve up drinks to a thirsty blue-collar town. Mike has an interesting back story. When the United States was at war in 1917, Mike lied about his age (then only 16 years old) and enlisted in the Medical Corps in Pittsburgh. He was at Camp Travis, Fort Sam Houston, Texas when his father “figuratively” grabbed him by the back of the neck and yanked him out of the service. But Mike, having put in at least three months military service decided that he was going to find some way to serve. Nine months later, he went back to Pittsburgh and enlisted in the Navy under an assumed name, “Edward John Smith,” where he served stateside through the end of the war. He re-enlisted with the Navy and served overseas from May 1919 to September 1922.
When Mary was faced with her business suspension in October 1948, all she could do was to ask the courts to hear her appeal, and on November 2, 1948, the judge granted a hearing, allowing Mary to continue the bar operations until a court date was set for December 7, 1948. Eight days before the hearing, her husband Mike suffered a stroke and passed away at the age of 46. Mary, now a widow, appeared before Judge McWherter on her set court date. We don’t have a transcript of the hearing, but based on the newspaper report, it’s possible that the Judge was sympathetic to her current situation. The charges against Mary were tossed out, and the Judge ‘refused to believe’ the liquor control agents, stating “all charges were denied by the owner and other witnesses.” In other words, if she said she didn’t do it, well, then she didn’t do it.
In time, Mary would sell her share of the business to her brother Paul and his wife. Mary would again remarry, and later died on July 1, 1967. Ironically, later that year (December 1967) Governor Raymond Shafer signed into law a bill that lifted the ban on female bartenders and allow the sale of alcohol on Sundays.
So, the next time you are served by a woman behind the bar, be sure to leave a nice tip, and raise your glass to Mary Lovre Vergles and her husband Mike, two of Trafford’s past residents. Cheers.
