July 24, 1936 – Upon construction of an addition to his grocery store, Joseph A. Helmer receives a new Class B license for Helmer’s Tavern at 1100 N. Dodge Street. Within the next year, the bar is re-named Hilltop Tavern – honoring the old neighborhood name of Rees’ Hill.

When Prohibition officially ended in 1933, Iowa City, after seventeen ‘dry’ years, began issuing liquor licenses once more. While dozens of new taverns opened for business over the next six years (1933-1939), today, only four of those taverns still remain. The Hilltop Tavern is one. Can you guess the other Iowa City watering holes that have survived all these 85+ years?

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