Landmark 1850 Inn

The Italianate building was constructed in the late 1840s as the New Cologne House, serving as a saloon, inn, and weighing station for farmers hauling produce between Racine and Milwaukee counties; it has anchored the corner near today's Mitchell International Airport ever since. Joe Halser III bought the tavern in 1983 and spent decades restoring it in late-19th-century saloon style, complete with a potbelly stove, vintage icebox, pressed-tin ceiling, and stained glass. Halser kept the bar open for 40 years, reportedly until the day before he died in 2022, after which the tavern went dark. Linda Garcia, who had worked at the inn in the 1990s, connected with Halser's sons in fall 2023 and reopened the bar on April 13, 2024, preserving its historic interior. As of 2026 it operates as a neighborhood tavern and live-music venue celebrating 175 years of tradition.

Local lore holds that Racine farmers who drank too long at the saloon after selling their produce in Milwaukee would fall asleep in their horse-drawn wagons on the way home — trusting the horses to know the route.