Mule Beer sign being restored

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

— A sign on a building in downtown Gravette dating to the depression and dust bowl days is being re-restored.

“McGovern’s Mule Beer, Made with Pure Ozark Water” is the subject of the sign on the side of a brick building that once housed “Frank’s Place,” a restaurant that served the libation for the big sum of 10 cents.

Patrick Hall and Lacey Parsley have been spending hours in the hot August sun brightening the colors on the sign that was discovered when an adjacentbuilding was demolished during the summer of 2003.

The sign was restored at that time, but time has caused its paint to fade and peel.

“Patrick wants to get it restored by Gravette Day,” said Lacey, who was working with paint and brush last week.

A history of the sign was researched and was reported in a story in the Gravette News Herald in July of 2003.

Mule Beer was made in Missouri and a Missouri Mule also appears on the sign. Originally brewed in Marionville, near Springfield, it was later brewedat Old Appletown after the brewery in that Missouri town was purchased by Benny McGovern who owned the Marionville brewery.

The 2003 story recounted that Frank’s Place was a restaurant run by Frank Johnson. The late Jack Russell, long-time Gravette resident, was quoted as saying he had “eaten a skimpy lunch” there when he was 14 years old. That was in 1937.

Benton County was “wet” at that time, until an election in 1944 when voters turned off the spigots and capped the bottles. It has remained so until today and is now known as“the wettest dry county in Arkansas” because of the number of private clubs.

If they choose, voters will have the opportunity to reverse that this November when the issue will appear on the ballot after a petition drive secured more than 40,000 signatures to effect the vote.

Gravette was once the site of two distilleries during its early history. Both were located in Old Town (Nebo) alongside Walnut Creek, which runs nearby in Old Town Park. One brewery churned out “Old Chalk” corn whiskey, which apparently had quite a reputation as a bonded alcoholic beverage.

News, Pages 7 on 08/08/2012