Formerly: Ohio Cigar Store (Prohibition era)
Hot Springs, Arkansas · Founded 1905
A 1905 Hot Springs bar-and-casino survivor whose Prohibition-era alias and gambling history outlasted the town's wide-open years.
Founded as a bar and casino in 1905, the Ohio Club has operated at 336 Central Avenue through Hot Springs's long gambling era, Prohibition, and later reinventions. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas considers it the state's oldest continually operating bar. During Prohibition it officially used the name Ohio Cigar Store, while gambling and drinking reportedly continued behind a fake wall.
John "Coffee" Williams and his nephew Sam Watt found the Ohio Club as a bar and casino.
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club," updated September 30, 2025
Arkansas makes gambling illegal; the Encyclopedia of Arkansas reports that gambling nevertheless continued at the Ohio Club.
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club," updated September 30, 2025
During the Prohibition era, the business officially operates as the Ohio Cigar Store; the Encyclopedia of Arkansas describes a fake wall concealing the bar and upstairs gaming tables.
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club," updated September 30, 2025
Prosecuting attorney Sid McMath closes Hot Springs gambling houses, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas; gaming later resumes after local political changes.
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club," updated September 30, 2025
The Hill Wheatley Trust purchases the Ohio Club.
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club," updated September 30, 2025
The Ohio Club is listed as part of the Hot Springs Central Avenue Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club"; National Park Service, National Register Information System 85001370
Real estate broker Mike Pettey purchases the business; he and Dona Pettey later reinvent it as a bar and restaurant.
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club," updated September 30, 2025
Dona Pettey sells the Ohio Club to Saddiq and Jeannie Mir.
Source: Arkansas Times, "Historic Ohio Club changes ownership," February 3, 2023; Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club"
The Ohio Club is inducted into the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame.
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club," updated September 30, 2025
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas identifies the Ohio Club as Arkansas's oldest continually operating bar and states that it has never closed despite prohibitions on gambling and alcohol. This documents the designation in a statewide reference work, though it is not a formal comparative determination by a regulatory agency.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas states that the club officially became the Ohio Cigar Store during Prohibition, with a fake wall concealing the bar and upstairs gaming tables.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas states that Capone and Luciano visited the Ohio Club to meet local bookies during the Prohibition era. The sources reviewed do not establish the candidate's stronger assertion that they were regular patrons, and evidence for other named gangsters varies in specificity.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says Babe Ruth frequented the club and that Al Jolson performed there in 1915. These accounts are repeated in preservation writing but were not independently confirmed here through contemporary newspapers or performance records.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas calls this transport account alleged. A National Trust account repeats a similar route but gives a different arrival date, 1911 rather than the candidate's 1905. The backbar's historic character is well supported; its exact transportation story is not.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas gives the listing date as June 25, 1985, and the National Park Service identifies the Hot Springs Central Avenue Historic District as National Register Information System listing 85001370.
The Ohio Club closed during Prohibition.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas states that the business officially operated as the Ohio Cigar Store during Prohibition and that its concealed bar and gaming operations continued.
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club," updated September 30, 2025
The Ohio Club is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The club is documented as part of the Hot Springs Central Avenue Historic District, which was listed on June 25, 1985.
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club"; National Park Service, National Register Information System 85001370
The backbar's precise transportation route and arrival year are settled history.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas labels the backbar's barge-train-wagon transport story alleged, while a National Trust account gives a conflicting arrival year. The route and timing remain unverified.
Source: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, "Ohio Club"; National Trust for Historic Preservation, "The Ohio Club in Hot Springs, Arkansas," November 26, 2015
The Ohio Club's survival is tied to its adaptation through changing legal eras and ownership. Its gambling-era notoriety, landmark Central Avenue setting, historic interior, food service, and live music have kept it a public-facing Hot Springs institution after illegal casino operations ended.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas considers the Ohio Club at 336 Central Avenue in Hot Springs Arkansas's oldest continually operating bar. It dates the business to 1905, when John "Coffee" Williams and his nephew Sam Watt opened it as a bar and casino.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, the Ohio Club did not close during Prohibition. It officially became the Ohio Cigar Store, with a fake wall concealing the bar on the main floor and gaming tables upstairs.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says Al Capone and Lucky Luciano visited the Ohio Club during the Prohibition era to meet local bookies. That supports a connection to the club, but the reviewed sources do not prove that either gangster was a regular patron.
Arkansas Times reported in February 2023 that Dona Pettey sold the Ohio Club to Saddiq and Jeannie Mir. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas, updated in 2025, also identifies the Mirs as the 2023 purchasers; this establishes reported business ownership rather than a separately verified real-estate ownership record.
The Ohio Club is documented as part of the Hot Springs Central Avenue Historic District, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 25, 1985. The material reviewed here supports district inclusion, not a separate standalone National Register listing for the club.
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas describes the Ohio Club's mahogany backbar as dating from the 1880s. Its reported route from the Cincinnati area to Hot Springs by barge, train and wagon is an allegation repeated in later accounts, not a transport history verified in the sources reviewed.
336 Central Ave, Hot Springs, AR 71901
(501) 627-0702
Check the club's current schedule before visiting; the venue offers food, drinks and live music.