The newest downtown bar in Galesburg sits inside one of Galesburg’s oldest buildings. Bar 65 at 65 South Cherry Street has been open now for a few weeks in a building originally built in the 1890s. The former Downtown Lounge/GP’s/Jerseys is now owned by Sam Burdick who has been in the bar business for over 20 years. “We started about five and a half to six months ago,” Burdick tells WGIL. “Signed the papers on the first day and (then) just went in and started swinging hammers. It was a group effort between my wife, my daughter, my son and I and some very good friends and local contractors. We put our heart and soul into this building. We stripped it down to the original floor, the original walls and started building up from there. The layers and layers that we took off were kind of interested – they were kind of a time capsule. I think the finished product will speak for itself.” Burdick boasts the new bar’s warm and comfortable atmosphere. Many of the features in the pub are re-purposed items found inside the building. The bar has tin on the front – salvaged from the building’s basement that used to house a barber shop. The bar also has wainscoting throughout that was found in what used to be the building’s upstairs apartments. Burdick says a lot of the decor are re-furbished vintage beer signs and pictures of the building from 1907 when it was a pool hall. The bar surface is 200-year-old walnut. The table bases are refurbished street lamp bases. The bar features a 14-foot rolling library ladder to service the back bar. Burdick also wanted to feature the building’s window seats once again. The pub will soon feature live music once or twice a month to further create Burdick’s warm and comfortable atmosphere. Bar 65 does not sell food, but Burdick says patrons are more than welcome to bring in food from the surrounding popular downtown eateries.
