1959 Building the Clubhouse The Clubhouse

today Interior of the Club

Interior of the Club

Club Signage

Origins of the Club and their Clubhouse

A pile of men in Park Falls, Wisconsin organized into a group called the Stein Club whose main activity entailed “having a heckuva' good time.” Jerry and George Hoefferle, residents of Ontonagon, Michigan had close relatives and friends participating in the Park Falls' Stein Club. Being very impressed with the amount of fun this group created, the Hoefferle brothers started their own Stein Club in 1956 in Ontonagon along with eight or nine of their friends, who were all between 25 and 35 years of age. They found and labeled their own drinking steins and gathered weekly at Peck's Bar, a local tavern on Ontonagon's main street. Carl Domitrovich, one of the founding members, recalls these first Club meetings,

“We started meeting down at Peck's Bar. We got more and more interest. Of course everyone used to hang out there (at Peck's) -- all our friends. We'd go two, three times a week! And, then we decided to do something, and organized. At first, we were in the upstairs of Peck's Bar. They have place to rent out for parties and that. So, we'd meet up there. We started practicing our trash band, and singing. And then me and Stanley (Carl's brother and fellow club member) bought that old Arvison place down there. So, we decided to meet there. Well, then it really took! We didn't have to be so quiet. We kept on getting more people. Then, that's when we really organized. We made up by-laws. I can tell you a little about the by-laws: You had to attend three meetings before you could be eligible to be a member. And, they said keep it clean, no dirty pictures or anything else around (the clubhouse). If you miss three meetings in a row, you're out. From then on, we had just the fun stuff."

For more on the by laws click on the corresponding link.

The Arvison place was an old farmstead on the corner of Johnson and Norwich roads. Serving as the official clubhouse, the dilapidated old farmhouse was capable of hosting larger, louder parties than the rented space above Peck's Bar. The house's main floor was supported by one large beam and a rotting post. When a party's guests danced in full throttle, the entire floor would heave and ho, shaking the drinking glasses off the kitchen shelves.

In 1959, Stanely Domitrovich bought Carl out of his share of the Arvison Farm to build a new house for he and his new wife, Nancy Rogers. So, the club members tore down the old farmhouse and utilized the lumber to build a new clubhouse just a few miles down the Norwich Road on land also owned by Carl's family. In 1958, Carl had ripped down an old sawmill and a barn (only costing $25) near Ontonagon's downtown. The basically free lumber from all three recycled buildings became the walls, floors and roof of their new clubhouse. Being the self-sufficient, resourceful Yoopers that they were, the members built the place that would host their meetings, parties and friendships for the next fifty-five years.

The Clubhouse itself boasts a full-length bar, a redesigned refrigerator that fits a full keg of beer, oak chairs from the old school, members' cast off old couches and chairs from at least three different eras, a small raised stage in the corner for the band, numerous American flags, a handmade cork board made of an old carpet remnant, cribbage boards, decks of cards…

Although the club was originally “shit-bringle brown”, the members painted it red, white and blue in honor of the 1976 bicentennial (see newspaper article to the left). The club's signage is a large beer stein with the club's basic mission: Drink, Sing and Be Merry. Although the clubhouse primarily hosts the Stein Club's monthly meetings and parties, any person or group sponsored by one of the members may use the building for other events such as graduation parties, Thanksgiving dinners, and birthday get-togethers.