6625 Century Avenue Middleton, Wisconsin 53562-2225

(608) 831-5835 stamm@stammhouserestaurant.com

MK Cody and HA Winston started building what is now the Stamm House, Dane County’s oldest tavern, as a store and inn for travelers along the old Sauk trail from Milwaukee to Minneapolis in 1847. It was built in three sections from stone quarried nearby and completed in 1852. In its earliest years it functioned as the Pheasant Branch Hotel, which included a tavern, post office, and harness shop, serving as a stage coach stop for a growing Middleton, as well.

The hotel became a stop on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War, with portions of the basement sectioned off where runaway slaves could safely hide or escape through a 200 foot tunnel which had been dug toward nearby Pheasant Branch Creek.

Pheasant Branch Hotel 1925

The Stamm House served as a hotel until 1910, and became a speakeasy during Prohibition, being raided, shut down, and reopened numerous times. In 1920, the upstairs bedrooms were removed and the second floor was turned into a community center, hall, and library. The Stamm House was reopened legally as a tavern in 1933, and became a restaurant in 1940, initiating its ever-popular Friday night Fish Fry.

The carriage and horses insignia was added to the front of the building in 1960, and the Stamm House Restaurant continues the Friday night Fish Fry tradition, along with Chicken and Dumplings on Wednesdays   and its signature dish, Stamm House Chicken.

Stamm House Restaurant 2005