Formerly: Neumann's Saloon
North St. Paul, Minnesota · Founded 1887 · Building: 1887; primary building record not reviewed
A still-operating 1887 North St. Paul bar with Hamm's roots, an upstairs Prohibition story, and frogs in its front window.
Neumann's Bar is an active North St. Paul tavern with a reported founding date of 1887. Bill Neumann opened the original saloon with support from Hamm's Brewery, whose ornate back bar remains central to the venue's story. Today owner Mike Brown carries on the bar's local traditions, including the front-window frogs and the long-running claim that Neumann's is Minnesota's oldest continually operating bar.
Bill Neumann opened a saloon in North St. Paul. Local histories say Hamm's Brewery helped put him in business by providing the bar and fixtures under a beer-selling arrangement.
Source: Neumann's Bar, "Neumanns History," accessed September 1, 2026; Pioneer Press, "Neumann's Bar claims title of oldest bar in MN," August 12, 2016; Star Tribune, "What's the oldest bar in Minnesota?," July 18, 2025
During Prohibition, Neumann's history says the ground-floor business sold near beer and fishing bait while an upstairs speakeasy operated. This is a long-standing venue and local-history account, not an independently verified record of continuous lawful alcohol service.
Source: Neumann's Bar, "Neumanns History," accessed September 1, 2026; Pioneer Press, August 12, 2016; Twin Cities PBS, "Step Inside Neumann's Bar," November 22, 2021
Jim Neumann reportedly added frogs and a small front-window pond around the early 1930s. The business's own history dates the feature only as "about 1930 or so, to the best of anyone's memory."
Source: Neumann's Bar, "Neumanns History," accessed September 1, 2026; Star Tribune, July 18, 2025
After roughly 90 years of Neumann family ownership, the bar was sold to a longtime customer, according to current reporting. The precise transfer date and legal ownership sequence require records review.
Source: Star Tribune, "What's the oldest bar in Minnesota?," July 18, 2025
Mike Brown bought Neumann's Bar after the company where he had worked as a machinist was sold.
Source: Star Tribune, "What's the oldest bar in Minnesota?," July 18, 2025
Neumann's Bar continues operating at 2531 East Seventh Avenue in North St. Paul, with published daily bar hours and kitchen service.
Source: Neumann's Bar, official website and history page, accessed September 1, 2026
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Neumann's has a credible 1887 origin and is widely called Minnesota's oldest continually operating bar by the venue, current news coverage, and public-media features. But the Pioneer Press reported that state liquor-license records do not reach far enough back to substantiate the title, and this review did not compare every older Minnesota tavern or document continuous operation through each ownership change. The statewide title remains unresolved.
The business, Pioneer Press, and Star Tribune all describe a Hamm's Brewery arrangement in which the brewery provided the original bar infrastructure in exchange for Neumann selling Hamm's beer. The story is credible and consistent with brewery-backed saloon practices, but the original Hamm's contract, fixture invoice, or brewery record was not reviewed.
The venue's historical account, former-owner family testimony, and current owner Mike Brown describe near beer and legitimate sales downstairs with a speakeasy upstairs, accessed through a door with a peephole. Twin Cities PBS reports Brown's account that an employee went to jail after the operation was discovered. No contemporary arrest, court, licensing, or newspaper record was reviewed to independently establish the speakeasy or its exact operation.
Neumann's own history says Jim Neumann added frogs and a small pond "about 1930 or so," while independent reporting confirms frogs remain a current front-of-bar feature and describes the tradition as dating from the 1930s. The exact installation year, original pond configuration, and claim of frog-race betting were not verified.
National Prohibition barred legal alcohol sales from 1920 through 1933. Neumann's history says the public ground-floor business sold near beer and other goods during that period, while any upstairs alcohol service would have been illicit. A business may have continued in some form, but that does not establish continuous lawful alcohol-bar operation.
Neumann's Bar has a state-record-proven title as Minnesota's oldest continuously operating bar.
Neumann's has a credible 1887 origin and a widely repeated continual-operation claim, but the Pioneer Press reported that state liquor-license records do not go back far enough to substantiate the statewide title. The title is plausible, not conclusively documented in the source set reviewed here.
Source: Pioneer Press, "Neumann's Bar claims title of oldest bar in MN," August 12, 2016; Star Tribune, July 18, 2025
Neumann's operated legally as an alcohol bar throughout Prohibition.
The venue's history says its public business sold near beer and other goods during Prohibition and that an upstairs speakeasy operated. That may support a continuity story, but it does not establish uninterrupted legal alcohol-bar service from 1920 to 1933.
Source: Neumann's Bar, "Neumanns History," accessed September 1, 2026; Pioneer Press, August 12, 2016
The Neumann's frog pond was installed in 1935.
The bar's own history dates the frog tradition only to "about 1930 or so, to the best of anyone's memory." Independent accounts generally place it in the 1930s, but the exact year is unresolved.
Source: Neumann's Bar, "Neumanns History," accessed September 1, 2026; Star Tribune, July 18, 2025
Neumann's has survived because it preserved the features that made a neighborhood saloon memorable while allowing each owner to keep it economically useful. Hamm's brewery backing helped establish the original bar, the venue adapted during Prohibition with near beer and other sales while local tradition says an upstairs speakeasy operated, and later owners maintained the old-school atmosphere. The frogs in the front window, the historic back bar, and its claim to statewide longevity give the place a personality few modern bars can reproduce.
Neumann's Bar opened in North St. Paul in 1887, when Bill Neumann established a saloon with reported support from Hamm's Brewery. The bar says Hamm's supplied its ornate back bar in return for an agreement to sell the brewery's beer. During Prohibition, the venue's history says it sold near beer and other goods downstairs while an upstairs speakeasy operated, and the early-1930s frog display became another lasting part of its identity.
Neumann's Bar is widely described as Minnesota's oldest continually operating bar and has a credible 1887 founding date. However, the Pioneer Press reported that Minnesota liquor-license records do not go back far enough to substantiate the statewide claim, and this review did not compare every older bar or prove uninterrupted operation through each ownership and Prohibition era. The title remains plausible but unresolved.
Neumann's says Jim Neumann added frogs and a small pond in the front-window area around the early 1930s. The business dates the origin only as "about 1930 or so," and current reporting confirms frogs remain part of the bar's character. The exact year, original pond design, and stories about frog races have not been independently verified.
Neumann's long-standing local history says it sold near beer and fishing bait downstairs during Prohibition while an upstairs speakeasy operated behind a door with a peephole. Former-owner family testimony and current owner Mike Brown repeat the story, including an account that an employee went to jail after the operation was caught. This review did not locate contemporary police, court, or newspaper records, so it remains a well-known but unverified local account.
Mike Brown owns Neumann's Bar. The Star Tribune reported in 2025 that Brown bought the bar in 2007 after working for 25 years as a machinist, and a Twin Cities PBS profile also identifies him as the owner. The exact legal business entity and liquor-license holder were not reviewed for this entry.
2531 7th Ave E, North St Paul, MN 55109
(651) 770-6020
Neumann's currently lists bar hours of 10 a.m.–1 a.m. daily and kitchen hours through 10 p.m.; confirm music, food, and event schedules directly before visiting.