Formerly: The Comfort
Milwaukee, Wisconsin · Founded 1902
Founded as The Comfort in 1902, Mader's turned a Prohibition-era food pivot into Milwaukee's enduring multigenerational German restaurant.
Charles Mader opened The Comfort in Milwaukee in 1902, first on West Water Street, now Plankinton Avenue. The business later moved to its current Old World Third Street address and became Mader's, with German food taking center stage during Prohibition. Victor Mader owns the restaurant, and his daughter Kristin Mader manages it, continuing a multigenerational family connection to the business.
German immigrant Charles Mader opened The Comfort on West Water Street, now Plankinton Avenue, in Milwaukee.
Source: Milwaukee County Historical Society, Mader's Restaurant Collection finding aid; OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: Mader's Restaurant,' October 29, 2019.
Milwaukee city directories listed Charles Mader operating a saloon at the West Water Street address associated with The Comfort, illustrating the business's early beer-and-meals model.
Source: OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: Mader's Restaurant,' October 29, 2019.
Mader moved the business to the current North Third Street location and the restaurant became known as Mader's during the early 20th century; the exact move and renaming years remain unresolved in the reviewed sources.
Source: Milwaukee County Historical Society, Mader's Restaurant Collection finding aid; OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: Mader's Restaurant,' October 29, 2019; OnMilwaukee, 'The evolution of German food in Milwaukee.'
During Prohibition, Mader's shifted its emphasis toward German food; accounts credit Celia Mader with developing and serving dishes that became restaurant standards.
Source: Milwaukee County Historical Society, Mader's Restaurant Collection finding aid; Milwaukee Record, 'Mandatory Milwaukee: Mader's has been a downtown dining staple since 1902,' March 13, 2018; Mader's Restaurant history page.
Mader's has long claimed it served Milwaukee's first legal stein of 3.2-percent beer when federal law again permitted its sale. The claim requires confirmation in contemporary newspaper reporting.
Source: Radio Milwaukee, 'This Milwaukee restaurant poured the city's first beer after Prohibition,' March 10, 2020; OnMilwaukee, 'The evolution of German food in Milwaukee'; Mader's Restaurant history page.
Charles Mader's son Gustave assumed restaurant operations.
Source: Mader's Restaurant historical summary; OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: Mader's Restaurant,' October 29, 2019.
Gustave Mader rebuilt the restaurant into its recognizable Germanic style and expanded its decorative program with Rhineland panels, suits of armor, and other European antiques.
Source: OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: Mader's Restaurant,' October 29, 2019; Mader's Restaurant history page.
Mader's completed its most recent major remodel before a later renovation project was announced for 2020.
Source: Milwaukee Business Journal, 'Renovation project on tap at Mader's on Old World Third Street,' August 10, 2019.
Milwaukee reporting identified third-generation family member Victor Mader as owner and fourth-generation family member Kristin Mader as manager.
Source: Milwaukee Business Journal, 'Renovation project on tap at Mader's on Old World Third Street,' August 10, 2019; Milwaukee Record, March 13, 2018.
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The Milwaukee County Historical Society collection finding aid identifies Charles Mader as the founder of The Comfort bar in 1902 on West Water Street. Local Milwaukee histories independently repeat the same origin and place the original site on what is now Plankinton Avenue.
The Milwaukee County Historical Society describes Prohibition as forcing the business to focus on food and develop a reputation for German cuisine. Milwaukee reporting and the restaurant's history specifically associate Celia Mader with preparing dishes such as sauerbraten, wiener schnitzel, and pork shank during that period.
The story is widely repeated by Mader's, Radio Milwaukee, and local restaurant histories: the business says it served the first legal stein at midnight and that the event was broadcast on Milwaukee's only radio station. The sources reviewed, however, rely on the restaurant's own historical account rather than a directly examined April 1933 newspaper or broadcast record.
The restaurant's history and independent Milwaukee coverage describe the interior as containing suits of armor, antiquities, and panels depicting Rhineland legends. The reviewed record does not include an independent object inventory, provenance research, or professional appraisal, so claims that every item is medieval, museum-quality, or worth a precise multi-million-dollar total are not established.
Milwaukee reporting identifies Victor Mader as owner and Kristin Mader as manager, describing her as the fourth generation of the family to lead the restaurant. This supports a present family-run claim, though the full legal ownership and operating-entity history has not been reviewed.
Mader's has a documented 1902 origin and is routinely described as a historic Milwaukee German restaurant, but the reviewed sources do not provide a comparative record of other surviving German restaurants, their founding dates, closures, relocations, and business lineages. The register does not certify this citywide title.
Local coverage and the restaurant's presentation describe a long history of prominent guests, and one published summary names Gerald Ford and John F. Kennedy among presidential visitors. The reviewed evidence does not independently document each cited visit, so the broad association is retained cautiously and no detailed celebrity list is included.
Mader's opened at its present Old World Third Street location in 1902.
Charles Mader opened The Comfort on West Water Street, now Plankinton Avenue, in 1902. The business moved to its present North Third Street location later; the reviewed sources do not conclusively agree on the exact move year.
Source: Milwaukee County Historical Society, Mader's Restaurant Collection finding aid; OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: Mader's Restaurant,' October 29, 2019.
April 7, 1933 marked the complete repeal of Prohibition.
April 7, 1933 marked the return of legal 3.2-percent beer under federal law before full repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment later that year. Mader's first-legal-stein story should be framed in that narrower legal context.
Source: Radio Milwaukee, 'This Milwaukee restaurant poured the city's first beer after Prohibition,' March 10, 2020; OnMilwaukee, 'The evolution of German food in Milwaukee.'
Mader's armor and antiques are independently appraised at a multi-million-dollar value and fully authenticated as medieval objects.
The restaurant and promotional listings describe an approximately $4 million collection, but this review did not locate an independent appraisal, museum inventory, or provenance study supporting the stated value, age, or authentication of every object.
Source: Mader's Restaurant history page; TripAdvisor restaurant listing, accessed September 2026.
Mader's was renamed and moved because of anti-German sentiment in 1918.
The reviewed sources confirm that The Comfort later became Mader's and moved to the present North Third Street location, but they do not establish a verified 1918 move/renaming date or prove anti-German sentiment as the cause. The chronology requires city-directory and contemporary newspaper research.
Source: Milwaukee County Historical Society, Mader's Restaurant Collection finding aid; OnMilwaukee, 'Urban spelunking: Mader's Restaurant,' October 29, 2019.
Mader's endured because the family adjusted the business model without abandoning its German-American identity. When Prohibition disrupted the beer-centered tavern trade, Celia Mader emphasized dishes such as sauerbraten, wiener schnitzel, and pork shank, turning food into the lasting center of the operation. Later generations made the interior itself part of the draw, layering Rhineland-themed panels, suits of armor, and European antiques into a restaurant experience that is difficult to reproduce as a chain or trend-driven concept.
Charles Mader opened The Comfort in Milwaukee in 1902 on West Water Street, now Plankinton Avenue. The business later moved to North Old World Third Street and became known as Mader's, while Prohibition pushed the family to make German food the center of the operation. Victor Mader owns the restaurant and his daughter Kristin Mader manages it as a fourth-generation family business.
Mader's is a leading contender because Charles Mader founded its predecessor, The Comfort, in 1902 and the restaurant remains family-operated. However, the available record does not yet compare every older or similarly old Milwaukee German restaurant, including closures, relocations, and business succession. This register therefore does not certify Mader's as Milwaukee's oldest operating German restaurant.
Mader's has long said it served Milwaukee's first legal stein of 3.2-percent beer at midnight on April 7, 1933, and that the event was announced on the city's only radio station. Local accounts repeat the story, but the underlying April 1933 newspaper and broadcast documentation has not been reviewed in this record. It is a credible restaurant tradition, not yet a fully verified first-place finding.
Mader's began as a beer-centered tavern and restaurant, but Prohibition forced the business to rely more heavily on food. Historical accounts credit Celia Mader with developing and serving German dishes including sauerbraten, wiener schnitzel, and pork shank, which became the foundation of the restaurant's lasting identity.
Milwaukee business reporting identified third-generation family member Victor Mader as owner of Mader's and his daughter Kristin Mader as the manager. That evidence supports the restaurant's present family-run status, although this record has not independently verified the restaurant's current legal operating entity or property ownership.
1041 N Old World 3rd St, Milwaukee, WI 53203
(414) 271-3377
The official site lists lunch and dinner service daily, with hours varying by day; reservations are sensible for peak downtown and event periods.