A historical interlude (1) Billie O'Hern

(This is the first in a series of historical articles that, though not directly relevant to my T, are prompted by the research and findings for it.)

All cars have keys, even Model T's. Naturally you need a key ring to keep them on, and the vast majority of key rings have a fob on them. Wether for decoration, publicity, or nowadays, security.
The spare set of keys for my T have a rather interesting fob with them, which set me on a historical investigation.
Firstly, I should state that these are not the original keys for my 1926 Coupe, but as Ford only used a limited number of keys for their cars back then, they fit.

Who was Billie O'Hern?

Just who was Billie O'Hern of Minneapolis?
As the bottle opener end of the fob says "Auto", I originally wondered if he was a Minneapolis car dealer. The Google machine gave me an answer very quickly. He wasn't a car dealer, but a saloon keeper and tobacco seller who also ran a pool room at the Cedar Avenue property.
In addition to the name and address on the fob, there is the wording "NW Main 2137", that is his telephone number. As for "Auto 38207",  that may well be the registration of a car. That would mean these keys could be for a vehicle with a plate number 38207.

This period number plate perhaps gives a clue to what the "Auto 38207" means.

Born to an Irish father and Canadian mother in 1875, Billie opened the saloon at 927 Cedar in 1902. His trade cards of the era show that he referred to himself as Billy O'Hern or in later times Wm. F. O'Hern rather than "Billie" as seen on my item. By the time of the 1918 date on the fob, prohibition was only a couple of years away. This was the year the Wartime Prohibition Act was passed that banned the sale of drinks above 1.28% alcohol by volume. Perhaps the changes of name were to give him an air of respectability in these times.

A naked lady on a key fob?
Probably quite risqué in 1918.

Let's take a look at the backside of the opener. A naked lady, stood in water. Is she bathing? It's certainly a risqué image for the times. Another bottle opener from O'Hern's that I found on the internet  has the same motif on it and was intended as a token worth 2 1/2 cents to trade in for a drink at his establishment. Is the naked lady a racy image just to titillate, or does it imply that ladies were available there? It is rumoured that Whiskey Junction at the end of the block was a brothel. But as for Billie's place. We will never know.
What of the establishment, What of 927 Cedar? It is long gone, probably demolished when Interstate 94 was built in the 1960's, as many neighbourhoods were during the construction of the highway. Cedar Avenue itself was realigned at this time which also makes things difficult to follow today.
Nowadays the address seems to be part of a warehouse parking lot. But just down the road, at 913 Cedar is the well known Minneapolis music venue, The Cabooze, and its neighbour "The Joint".

927 Cedar and the locale today. (Google Maps image)

Whiskey Junction, at the end of the block is a structure built in 1886

Perhaps "The Joint", and "Whiskey Junction" at 901 Cedar give us an indication of what Billie O'Hern's place might have looked like back in the 1900's as they are contemporary with his establishment.
Did the original owner of these keys frequent Billie's place in 1918? These were certainly the years when you could have a T in any colour you liked as long as it was black, and if you were to come out of the bar, into the street to a line of identical, black Model T's, the only way you would have of telling your car from the others was to know its number plate.
Could these keys even be from Billy's own car?
Perhaps it's just a random piece of ephemera put on the key ring by a trader to make the keys look interesting.
We will never know for sure, but it's an interesting piece of history anyway.