FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. — The historic Golden Frog restaurant, now almost 150 years old, is on the real estate market. So too is the companion and trendier Lily Pad restaurant across the street on the Mississippi River. Owners Ross Patzner and Sarah Hemker said running both enterprises has been rewarding but now is time to spend more time with their 12-year-old son. The asking price: $299,000 for the combined properties, although they can be purchased separately. A walk-up apartment is included.
A rich history
Since 1878 the Golden Frog has been in business variously as a German beer parlor, a grill and a supper club. The building itself is even older, dating to 1850s when Fountain City was called Holmes’ Landing. Thimas Holmes had started the settlement in 1839 when Wisconsin was still a territory. Boats stopped at Holmes Landing to take on firewood, as well as water from nearby springs. The Golden Frog opened in 1878 as Zum Goldenen Frosch with a tin frog over the corner entrance. As the local German influence waned, the name became anglicized. Patzner and Hemke have owned the business since 2014, although Panzer also was involved earlier. In 2023 they bought an old lumber yard across the street and converted it into an open-air establishmen, he Lily Pad, t overlooking the Mississippi from the second floor.
Fountian City junction. On U.S. Highway 35, Wisconsin’s “Great River Road,” through Fountain City. At t the intersection up a dugway 10 miles to Arcadia. The companion al fresco venue Lily Pad across the street.
