This summer the Baldwin City Council voted to let restaurant owners sell liquor downtown.
Hickory Creek Barbecue will be the first venue to plug hard drinks into its menu and soon customers should be able to order a 6.0 beer or a mixed drink with their brisket and cheesy taters.
Not bad for a city that’s banned downtown liquor sales for 150 years.
Baker University, which used to own a majority of the land downtown, has much to do with the 150-year-prohibition and the recent ruling to change it. When Methodists built Baker, they sold the land near the university to pay for the college. Tucked into the deeds of sale was a stipulation banning the sale and the production of alcohol. If purchasers broke this restriction, the land would slip back into Baker’s possession.
The restriction hobbled most alcohol sales, but the lift on liquor isn’t that monumental. The Baker University Board of Trustees members swiveled their heads in the other direction when the Kwik Shop started selling cereal malt beverages (alcohol with 3.2 percent alcohol content) years ago.
"The restriction has been in place since we became a university," Long said. "What we've done in the past, when a business would come to us like the Kwik Shop, is agree to never contest or protest if they sold alcohol there." <br/>Uncharted watersUncharted waters
Uncharted waters
But Baker is tramping across new territory now. For the first time, Baker’s snuffing out the no-alcohol stipulation from the deed of sale. Ric Gere, Hickory Creek Barbecue owner and manager, worked with Baker in the courts, agreeing to pay for legal fees, to have the restriction officially lifted.
Gere thinks selling liquor will tug more people into his restaurant and improve the revenue he fetches from existing customers.
“We have clientele that constantly request mixed drinks, and we always have to tell them we serve beer only,” Gere said. “We’ll have a full bar, probably not all I want, but it’s one of those things you have to build as you go.”
After Baker removed the stipulation for Hickory Creek, the Baldwin City Council had to modify its business zoning to allow liquor sales downtown. Liquor is already sold elsewhere in town – but that hasn’t always been the case.
Statewide ban<br/>Kansas residents have sluggishly trudged down the path to legalizing liquor since 1861 when the state was founded.Kansas residents have sluggishly trudged down the path to legalizing liquor since 1861 when the state was founded.
Kansas residents have sluggishly trudged down the path to legalizing liquor since 1861 when the state was founded.
According to Alcohol Beverage Control, Kansas was the first state to pop an amendment onto its Constitution barring liquor sales and in 1919, prohibition pushed its way onto the U.S. Constitution via the 18th Amendment when prohibition became national law. Within 15 years, lawmakers made the 18th Amendment null and void – but Kansas clung to tradition and until 1948, when it let retail stores sell liquor by the bottle – bars remained illegal.
To skirt prohibition, patrons slipped bottles into brown bags, snuck them into restaurants and tucked them under tables once inside. This was called “brown bagging.” After awhile, people grew less guarded – they ditched the bags and left the bottles on tabletops.
ABC records show that legislators didn't make public bars legal in Kansas until 1986. <br/>More than two decades later, Baldwin City council member Tony Brown, also an adjunct professor of psychology, believes letting liquor sales spill into downtown Baldwin City is a good thing.&#160;More than two decades later, Baldwin City council member Tony Brown, also an adjunct professor of psychology, believes letting liquor sales spill into downtown Baldwin City is a good thing.
More than two decades later, Baldwin City council member Tony Brown, also an adjunct professor of psychology, believes letting liquor sales spill into downtown Baldwin City is a good thing.
"I was always in favor of alcohol by the drink downtown," Brown said. "If people are opposed to this, and they think it destroys the nature of our town, they don't have to buy it." <br/>University President Pat Long admits the evolving public perception on alcohol has affected the university's position.University President Pat Long admits the evolving public perception on alcohol has affected the university's position.
University President Pat Long admits the evolving public perception on alcohol has affected the university’s position.
“We’re still going to have chapel, and we’re still going to be connected with the United Methodist Church,” Long said. “Some things won’t be compromised, but some of these social issues that have evolved over the years can be.”