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When my wife and I move to a new town, one of the things we like to do is find some new watering holes, also know as bars that we will enjoy going to. One of our favorite places to get an ice cold adult beverage is Frick's Tap in Davenport. But what I most recently found out about Frick's is that is has a very long history in the Davenport.

For those who don't know, Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836. For the first 52 years of its municipality, there was no place for anyone to stop and have a beer. Granted building the town and making Davenport a good place to live was probably higher up on the priority list, but a place to get a beer sooner wouldn't have been a terrible idea.

**Before I go into the story of Frick's Tap, if you want to know what and where the oldest bar in Iowa is, scroll past the pictures to find the answer.**

According to Wikipedia, the building that houses Frick's Tap was built in 1872. This building has housed a bakery, tavern, barbershop and living quarters in its lifetime. It also has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974.

Wikipedia says that the building has had a tavern in it since 1876, but in 1888, Charles Frick opened up his tavern that has been there ever since. Frick's Tap remained in the Frick family until 1986. It was then sold to Chuck Fogle who passed away in 1992. Fogle's wife Betty sold it to Nathan Sharp and NKP LLC in 2015, who then did a ton of renovations to make Frick's Tap the place we have come to know.

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My wife and I went in to Frick's Tap on Thursday and talked with Lexi, the bartender about Frick's history and the renovations that took place. Lexi did confirm that Frick's is indeed the second oldest bar in Iowa and the oldest bar in Davenport. She let me walk around and take pictures of Frick's to show the very nice renovations that were done 6 years ago.

During the renovations, the current owners got rid of the apartments upstairs and converted that into a event room area with another bar. That upstairs room also leads out to a patio that looks like it would be a lot of fun in the summer.

The renovations also gave Frick's a modern, updated and clean look. There is a lot of televisions, 20+ beers on tap, darts, pool, and many other amenities to make Frick's a lot of fun.

The coolest, or should I say hottest, thing about Frick's is their bar. Their actual bar is heated. Talking with Lexi, she said they keep it at a warm 85* in the winter time. She says they keep the bar heated to help warm up cold hands after coming inside. My theory is that they want to heat up your cold beer faster so you don't drink like a slow poke. Again, mine is just a theory.

If you haven't been to the second oldest bar in Iowa yet, I suggest you go and check it out. Frick's is open 7 days a week. Monday - Friday they open at 1 p.m., and Saturday's and Sunday's they open at 10:30 a.m. Frick's closes at 2 a.m. every night.

More details about Frick's can be found on their website frickstapia.com

Check out pictures of Iowa's second oldest bar below!

Iowa's Second Oldest Bar

Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836. For the first 52 years of its municipality, there was no place for anyone to stop and have a beer. Frick's Tap was built in 1872. This building has housed a bakery, tavern, barbershop and living quarters in its lifetime. It also has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974.
Wikipedia says that the building has had a tavern in it since 1876, but in 1888, Charles Frick opened up his tavern that has been there ever since.

The oldest bar in Iowa is Breitbach’s Country Dining, in Balltown, IA, which is just north of Dubuque. It opened in 1852 by Millard Fillmore who also issued himself the liquor license.

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