BP-S-0040

BP-S-0040

This location was first home to Wesley's Saloon and was built along with several other nearby businesses after the land was filled in 1846. Its prime location along the central road and lack of competing venues in its immediate vicinity helped to strengthen its business. The saloon was a low class establishment, which offered nothing in the way of entertainment or gaming, and drew regular patrons for having some of the cheapest beer and whiskey to be found in the city. Elmer Wesley figured that the local patrons would be among the poorer and working class citizens who were in that area in order to build and live in the newest houses and duplexes as they were being constructed nearby. After a generation, the neighborhood saw the lower class people leave for other developments and the commercial areas which shared the street began to serve more upscale clients. Elmer's son Nicholas wanted to reinvent the saloon to accommodate this new kind of business, and do so by completely upgrading and changing everything that the saloon had, including its name. Carbondale took this opportunity to have a direct hand in how the reinvented saloon would be furnished and presented. Nicholas originally proposed the new name of the bar to be "Mallard Green", but Carbondale compelled the name be changed to "Duck Green"; Carbondale stated that he felt the shorter name of "Duck" would make it more memorable to the public, but his private intent was to not have the location bear a name similar to that of Millard Fillmore. With the name settled, Nicholas permitted Duck Green to be a bar where "companion girls" would be part of the employed staff, and on hand with the intent to mingle with patrons as a means to compel them to stay and spend more money on food and drink. Duck Green became one of the many regular locations where The Runners would conduct business until 1953. At that point, the address block of BP-S-0000 through BP-S-0200 was purchased and razed to make way for the construction of the Bluepoint Tower, which opened in early 1955. A bar within the Bluepoint Tower was named Duck Green to commemorate the former bar which once stood there, but it was not owned by the Wesley family and only remained open under that name for two years. Since 1957, the business which remained in operation for the longest period of time in the location was a Bennigan's that operated from 1981 until 2008.

Testimonial:

"I worked at the Duck sometime around when the Depression hit the States. I was there before that October, actually, but I was getting tired of school and wanted to earn some money to help my father stay where we lived. I lied about my age when I went up for the job, and I got away with it - well, I want to say it's because of the pure charm I had at the time, sure, but I made sure I went in fighting by wearing a loose bra that I was able to stuff and push up when I went in for the interview. When Mr. Wesley sat and asked me questions I kept doing this thing where I'd sorta turn my torso to the side a bit when I would first speak, I'd sorta do this to give some dramaticism and weight to my figure, so I thought. Considering how I had to act there, I'm surprised he took me on after I was doing all of that. The place was nice, though, the place was very classy and moody with all hard, dark woods for the benches and tables, and lots of stained green glass and dark green fabrics for decorations on the walls and such. I remember that the plates and cups were all green glass too. The food was OK, but I remember most being served burgers and light lunch food as opposed to steaks. They were good though. Anyway, we were encouraged to wear all of a similar green when we worked, but the better gals who stuck around longer were able to get away with something as simple as a green blouse of even some green shoes. I know I was able to find some bright green heels that Nicholas liked a lot, and once he saw those he gave me the clear to work for the day. The best days was when I was assigned to men who were doing business meetings there. That happened a few times. And by best I just mean the pay, really, because some of those boys were just a hair trigger temper or were just so thick in the head that I had to just sit there with a fake smile for a few hours. Those times weren't hardly fun and all, but they were far better than the other usual work I did which was being a literal shoulder to cry on for those broke saps who came in during the 30s. I'm glad I worked there when I did, because it helped to save up enough money for me and my fiance to marry and move to a nice house in 1934. I never had a reason to go back there once I stopped working it, but I was still sad to hear it go in 54."

- Cecilia Torres, 19120816 - 19681203