After the fire of May 1873, Joseph O. Dostal built this brick building to house his butcher shop.
Submitted by Nancy K. Prince
Selak Street is referenced in newspapers as early as 1863. Albert Selak owned a large part of what was Black Hawk Point, Enterprise District.
What do pilsner, Budweiser and U.B.S. have in common? They are all beers with a Czech ancestry. And one of them was brewed in Black Hawk.
Colorado Territory never became a Mecca for Czechs, as did Iowa and other places. A handful of Bohemian families did come to Central City and Black Hawk before statehood in 1876 though, here to provide food, drink, music and good times.
Albert Selak was born in Pilsen, Bohemia, and came to America in 1849 where he worked as a baker for the railroad as it moved west. When news of Pikes Peak gold hit eastern Iowa, Albert and his brother Francis packed up. On May 6, 1859, they were among the first prospectors near Gregory’s diggings.
Albert’s load included one wagon full of mash for beer, carefully maneuvered up the rocky canyon to the mining camp. He operated the Union Brewery on Selak Street at Black Hawk Point for much of the 1860s. His motto, “You Bet On Selak,” was shortened to the U.B.S. logo stamped on each barrel of lager beer shipped to saloons in Central City, Golden and Denver. After giving the newspaper editors a complimentary small barrel of his “best,” they declared it “actually above scandal” and hinted that he ran a pretty fair gaming table at his establishment as well. In 1867, 10 cents would get you a glass of the “richest lager” at Wentzel Selak’s lunch counter.
Timothy Schlessinger came from eastern Bohemia and spent a few years in Nebraska before coming to Black Hawk in 1864 where he started a wholesale liquor and food business. Two years later, Joseph Dostal moved from Iowa to open a butcher shop in Central City and hired his brother-in-law, John Hamllik, as clerk. In 1869, Schlessinger’s brother Sebald came to Central and helped Timothy establish a lumberyard in the alley behind Dostal’s shop.
Sebald lived in Golden and was one of the volunteer fire fighters who rode up Clear Creek Canyon to fight the big fire of 1873. The fire started at the rear of Dostal’s building, rebuilt as the brick Dostal Block on Main Street in 1874. That year also brought Albert Lintz from Iowa to Central City. He and Sebald opened a saloon in the Register Block on Lawrence Street. They borrowed money from German brewer Jacob Mack and lawyer Henry Teller used the bar fixtures as collateral: piano, ice box, heating stove, large mirror, four round tables, two dozen saloon chairs, glassware, a large clock and chandeliers.
Sebald managed a brass band in Golden and was in a similar band in Central City with John Hamllik and Albert Lintz. They provided “good music for all occasions” including dances, volunteer fire contest parades, even drumming up business for the local saloons and bawdy houses.
Though there were a lot more Cousin Jacks and Irishmen, this little bit of Bohemian culture added to the interesting ethnic mix of the early Kingdom of Gilpin, worth “Czeching out” next time you are in the area.
In 1863 Albert Selak sold a portion of his property to the Presbyterian Church. The Black Hawk School was built in 1870 on adjacent property. Photos courtesy of Nancy K. Prince
