Dee's Bar

This site remained vacant from 1900 to 1924 and perhaps beyond. Although the Vail Hotel had been located to the west of this lot in 1900, after it burned in 1905, the four lots from Central Avenue east remained empty. Later in the 1920’s John Harri, an early Ely Mayor, built his hardware business, Ely Hardware, at this location. He sold the business to a consortium of Charles Merhar, Louis Champa, and Pete Kayute.  Ely Hardware operated here under their ownership until the 1930’s when they moved their business to Chapman Street and First Avenue (see the Ace Hardware Story at 48 East Chapman).  

John Dee (Debeltz) bought the building in 1935. In 1937, he received a license to sell hard liquor and Dee’s Bar was born.

John Debeltz was born in 1907 in Ely Minnesota, the son of Slovenian immigrants. He worked in the mines as a pump man before starting the tavern. By 1940 he had married Sylvia Ina Johnson and they had two children. John ran the business for over 35 years.  In the 1970’s he turned management over to his son Donald. Donald continued the sensible practice of “living above the store” to be close to the business activity and to limit his commute. In 2004 his daughter, Carrie, bought the business and in 2018 completed a remodel, still carrying on the tradition started by her grandfather, John Dee.

The history of Dee’s Bar is a story of slow cool beers in the afternoon and amazingly crowded Saturday nights, with music shaking the rafters. The bands playing here included the BobCats, The Electras, The Hot Rats, and the Chapman Street Blues Band. There were a series of polka bands including the ever-popular Hank Thunander Band, the Bob Doszak Band and the Richie Yurkovich Band. Country western and bluegrass bands joined the mix. There were summers in the 1970’s when there were bands playing every weekend. It’s hard to describe the energy and excitement of going to Dee’s Bar and dancing to the music until 1:00 a.m. and then walking out into the cool summer nights of Ely Minnesota. 

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1920s – Ely Hardware, John Harri Proprietor

1920s (later) – Ely Hardware, Charles Merhar, Louis Champa and Peter Kayute

1930 – Merhar, Champa and Kayute move their business to Chapman Street

1935 – John (Dee) Debeltz buys the building

1937 – John (Dee) Debeltz opens the tavern

1941 – Remodel

1970s – Donny Debeltz runs the business

2004 – Carrie Debeltz buys the business

1900 and 1907 Ely City Directories.

Ancestry.com. Accessed April 8th, 2022.

Ely, Since 1888 (The Blue Book). Ely, Minnesota. The Ely Echo, 1988

Ely Phone Directories from 1949 to 2020 (available at the Ely-Winton Historical Society.

Information from Carrie Debeltz (granddaughter of John Dee (Debeltz).