Rogers Cafe
402 Nicollet Ave.
Minneapolis
The Rogers Café was located in the basement of the Rogers Hotel, 402 Nicollet Ave., which was owned by John Edward “Tooze” Rogers.
TOOZE
Tooze was born on September 21, 1869, in Sulphur Springs, Illinois. His father gave him the nickname “Tooze” when he was a baby. He came to Minneapolis when he was 20, 1889, and began as a bellhop but showed a penchant for starting businesses, mostly in the entertainment and liquor realms. He started his first saloon, the Mint, on Washington Ave., with just $225 for capital. (Ron Feldhaus, The Bottles, Breweriana and Advertising Jugs of Minnesota. 1850-1920)
THE ROGERS HOTEL
The history of the building is a bit hazy. Some sources say that Rogers built the hotel, but there was something called the Mackey-Legg Block that goes as far back as January 1883, and Tooze didn’t arrive in Minneapolis until 1889.
The permit cards show that a two-story stone building was erected at 400-410 Nicollet in 1885 at a cost of $120,000.
A history of the hotel written in 1936 said that in 1896, Tooze walked into a one-story building on Fourth street near Nicollet and said, “this looks like a likely place to start a hotel.” He bought the place, and in 1908 he bought the Hyser Hotel and combined them into one building. (Minneapolis Tribune, August 8, 1936) A different report said it was 1910, also naming the other hotel as the Hyser.
But this is confusing because the Hotel Hyser was located three blocks away from Fourth and Nicollet. Could they have meant the Hotel Kyser? The Hotel Kyser is noted on the permit card. A newspaper search only finds it in 1896, with no address. Yet another account says he bought the Kyser Hotel in 1908.
A permit for a five-story addition is found in city records in April 1903. Kees and Colburn were the Architects. In 1904 it was reported that a 40-room annex, built onto the back of the hotel, was about to be completed. Four of the five floors on which the rooms are located have been furnished and put to use. Rogers was arranging for a café in connection with the hotel, with an entrance on Fourth Street. (Minneapolis Journal, November 9, 1904)
In 1910 it was reported that he had consolidated the Hotel Hyser with the Rogers Hotel and was fitting up a rathskeller which would accommodate 500 people at a sitting. He also expected to add 100 rooms by annexing the floors of the adjoining Eastman block above the first story. (Minneapolis Tribune, January 1, 1910)
Eventually the Hotel ran 132 feet on Fourth Street and 113 Feet on Nicollet Ave. and included 140 rooms. (Minneapolis Tribune, August 8, 1936)
THE ROGERS CAFE
The Rogers Café was built at a cost of $200,000 (Minneapolis Tribune, August 8, 1936), and opened to the public on September 4, 1910, after an informal opening on September 3, 1910.
Nearly 500 people attended the opening. The Minneapolis Tribune tells the story well:
Upon entering the café visitors were confronted with a maze of dazzling lights and mirrors. It was hard to get a conception of the size of the café on account of the mirrored pillars. Even in the center of the room a dinner party can have almost as much privacy as in a small room on account of the view being shut off by the pillars.
A miniature waterfall, reflected in several directions greeted the entrants from the Nicollet avenue side and the Hiawatha-Minnehaha fountain came in for its share of comment.
The arbor room, on the Fourth street side, looks a mile long because of reflections.
The uncertainty of the café is one of its attractive features. The Hoo-Hoo Room, with its decorations of black cats, is a neat little apartment, and the Blue Goose Room is the pride of Mr. Rogers.
A soda bar, a glass refrigerating case, and a musicians’ box line one side of the room.
“I could have sold 100 tables more,” said Mr. Rogers. “I am totally pleased with the way the people took the opening and I know the café will be a success in every way.” (Minneapolis Tribune, September 4, 1910)
Two of the groups that were known for entertaining at Rogers were:
- Arnold Frank and the Rogers Café Orchestra
- Hal Keller’s Band
THE NEWSIES FRIEND
Every Thanksgiving while he owned the Rogers Hotel and Cafe, Tooze invited all the newsboys of Minneapolis there for dinner. There they dined in the elegantly decorated rooms and were the most important guests of the day. He would walk among them complimenting them, giving words of encouragement, calling many of them by name for he had a fabulous memory for names and faces. (Feldhaus)
THE DEATH OF TOOZE
John E. Rogers died on January 22,1912, at the age of 43.
He died of shock following a five-hour operation for intestinal adhesions. He was awake throughout the majority of the operation and in his own inimitable fashion was instructing the many doctors. He had been ill for just a few days. Although he knew his time had come, he was calm and relaxed until the end.
By request of the thousands of his friends, his body was laid in state so that they all might say their last goodbyes. Funeral services were private with fellow Elks acting as pallbearers. From the time he owned the Unique Theater he had had church services held there each Sunday morning for people who would not or could not ordinarily get to church. The Sunday following his funeral a memorial service was held there for him. Not another person could be crowded into the theater and there were about 500 left outside so a second service was held. (Feldhaus)
After Tooze died the family went to court over his many properties for several years. Four brothers and a sister operated the hotel for a time while the litigation was going forward. When the suit was settled the hotel was in the name of Tooze’s widow, Mrs. Mae E. Rogers, who operated the hotel until she died in 1920. When Mrs. Rogers died in 1920, the hotel passed to Mae’s sister, and the sister’s husband operated it.
The ads below tells us that W.H. Boody was the manager of the Cafe after the passing of Tooze. We find ads for 1915 and 1916, but it’s difficult to know if the Cafe was open during the legal struggles of the Rogers family over the ownership of the hotel.
ANOTHER TRY
On August 6, 1927, it was announced that the Rogers café “will be recreated as the New Rogers café, offering a dining and cabaret service, after having been entirely redecorated and refurnished.” It will be under the management of Charles M. Schwartz, who had worked as a page at the hotel 20 years ago and as head waiter at the Café in its old iteration.
The new café promised a variety of entertainment and a popular dance orchestra, led by Arnold Frank’s Minnesotans. The interior featured a Minnehaha fountain “in which the figure of Hiawatha is shown in the act of carrying his Indian sweetheart, Minnehaha.” (Minneapolis Tribune) That’s basically what the small print at the top of the ad below says, and what the artwork is supposed to depict.
Unfortunately, this was deep into Prohibition, which bit into everyone’s business.
In April 1930 the hotel went into receivership.
THE CAFE RIDES AGAIN
The end of Prohibition brought new life into the Cafe, and a spate of ads shows that the show indeed went on! But there seemed to be a plethora of Grand Openings… The first one, on November 4, 1933, featured “Pal” Palmer’s Orchestra. The proprietors were listed as Harold Allen and “Walt” Lindberg.
Another Grand Opening was advertised about six months later, on April 28, 1934. Entertainment was provided by the Rogers Cafe Rhythm Queens, “Minneapolis’ Most Popular Women’s Orchestra.”
Yet another Grand Opening was ballyhooed a week later, and the Club and featured “the Most Versatile Girls’ Orchestra in the City.”
In July 1934, the ads began calling it the Rogers Cafe Nite Club. Would Tooze have approved of this new turn of events?
Finally, in the winter of 1935, licenses were revoked, and padlocks were put on the doors.
THE MILNER HOTEL
On midnight, August 7, 1936, the Rogers Hotel went out of existence when it was sold to Milner Hotels, Inc., a chain with 73 other hotels.
ROGERS STAGE LOUNGE
The Rogers Stage Lounge made its appearance in March of 1943. The address of the place had changed to 27 S. Fourth Street. The manager was Joe Meyers, a “well known Minneapolis night club impresario.” Entertainers mentioned at the opening included Harry Habata and his music maestros, and vocalist Audry Hines. The Times Picture Paper described it as a “cozy, chummy little club.” (March 18, 1943) This venue lasted until about 1947, it appears.
In June 1943, it was reported that a work of art in the form of ornamental plaster wall designs had been uncovered at the Rogers Stage Lounge that dated back to the days of the Rogers Café, “part of which occupied the space which is now the Rogers Stage Lounge.” Not exactly sure if that means the Café was bigger or vice versa. (Minneapolis Times the Picture Paper, June 3, 1943)
THE END
It appears that the Rogers Stage Lounge may have lasted until at least 1947. But the hotel was becoming seedier and seedier, and by 1960, the Milner Hotel had become a flop house, located in the redevelopment district targeted for demolition. It was given the wrecking ball starting on August 30, 1960. Records show the buildings demolished were a two-story building measuring 45 x 105 x 22, and a five-story building measuring 120 x 126 x 60.
In 1965 the block was replaced by an eight-story building designed by architect Pietro Belluschi to be used as the headquarters for Xcel Energy. When it opened, it was downtown’s largest single-tenant office building.