Can Rehabbing an Irish Pub Revive This Downtown?

Monroe — This fall, a multi-level bookstore, coffee shop, and taproom called Archer’s Book Lounge is coming to Monroe Street. The owners, Joel and Alaina Williamson, have been in Monroe for 10 years. Joel is a realtor and Alaina homeschools their children. For years, they’ve wanted to open a space downtown, partly because Monroe needs it.

Monroe Street has been dead for years. But new businesses have come to grace the city streets. For example, The Museum of Horror is front and center for all visitors to glare upon. Toledoans and Detroiters driving through town must think, “Monroe’s pride and joy, that is.” Also on Monroe Street is the “metaphysical supply store” Delirium Moon, offering witchcraft goods.

Cultural critic Aaron Renn once said that a conservative town in Indiana that voted over 70% for President Trump still had the liberals owning the coffee shop, the bookstore, and the restaurant on Main Street.

Conservative Evangelicals have been successful building big brands like Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A, but creative third spaces tend to be owned by liberals. Main Streets across the country are left for the vultures.

If one wants to change the culture of the town, one must gain ground on the main drag.

But Catholics and Protestants seem to be gaining ground. They just haven’t all opened up shop as of yet. For example, Keith Masserant, a cradle Catholic, is renovating the abandoned St. Mary’s Academy to be an apartment and business complex. Drew Bentley, a Protestant, turned Monroe’s old Masonic Temple on the River Raisin into the Michigan Wine and Beer Portal as well as the River Raisin Trading Post.

Soon, the Williamsons will be joining that number.

Before our interview, I parked in front of the old McGeady’s building and looked across the street at the witch show. It was hard to ignore the contrast of the two establishments, directly across from one another, both attempting to be cultural centers for this post-industrial town. Turning back to the abandoned bar, I noticed the “For Lease” sign in the window.

When Joel let me in, the first thing I noticed was the building was the skeleton of a traditional pub with remnants of Irish kitsch. As the Williamsons gave me the tour, I learned that McGeady’s was founded in the 1990s and morphed from a typical American-Irish pub to a sports bar and then to a family restaurant. Its eclecticism became evident on the second floor, which had a dance floor overlooking Monroe Street. Another set of stairs took you to a loft with puffy man cave couches, shabby carpet, a pool table, and an old electronic dart board. Art Deco paintings lining the walls. McGeady’s Town Pub didn’t know what it was.

When Joel and Alaina found the building for sale, they knew it was their opportunity to build a third space. The 19th-century exposed brick, wood bar, and hardwood floors were the perfect building blocks for their vision.

The purchase of the building came with a liquor license. Being Evangelical, Joel said he’d wondered, “Is it okay that I’m starting a bar?” But he told me he is glad they can use it responsibly in a way other owners wouldn’t. He wants a place where people can enjoy beer and cocktails, not abuse them.

Joel said they would have coffee, sandwiches, soup, cocktails, mocktails, and beer. With the Michigan Wine and Beer Portal offering beers from across Michigan, Joel wants a standard like Blue Moon on tap with about five other local beers from Michigan and possibly Northwest Ohio. Archer’s won’t be a bar and grill. It will be a bookstore, but also an enjoyable place to eat. It will be a place for meetings, small groups, Bible studies, book clubs, and people who simply want to belong somewhere.

“I kind of have an eclectic style,” Alaina said. “I want it to be mid-century modern with Victorian, Art Deco, and dark academia.”

She showed me some sample images of what it could look like. They reminded me of British Imperial style. Imagine an English nobleman’s place in Burma. But Alaina told me that those pictures weren’t exactly what she would go for.

“We want people to feel like they’re getting something they can’t quite afford,” Joel added. I asked him if it was like Mark Twain’s quote: “A classic is something everyone wants to have read but nobody wants to read.” After I explained further, he agreed. Even if people don’t read books, they'll want to have read them as they look at the shelves, sipping coffee from a nearby table.

Archer’s Book Lounge will be a space where people belong. It will feel like every part of it was planned thoroughly for the customer’s enjoyment. Things will be elevated.

“But it won’t be like Flyleaf,” Alaina said. I’d never heard of the place. It’s in Grosse Pointe, she explained, and is a similar idea to Archer’s but has a full bar and bistro that says “snooty.” There, the bookshelves are too close to the tables. No one can get up without bumping into someone browsing the bookshelves. Archer’s will have shelves lining both floors with plenty of space for seating. People will be able to hear each other talk and to hear their own thoughts and to read books without elbows bumping mugs and spattering hot coffee over brand new books.

Oh, that’s another thing. These will be brand new books. You can go to Dawn Treader in Ann Arbor or John King in Detroit for the used ones.

With Archer’s still in its renovation stage, the Williamsons have launched a Kickstarter and a YouTube channel. Their ambitions are big, and they will need some financial wiggle room. But if Archer’s never comes, what would be the future for Main Street?

What I realized in my tour was that Monroe was in a potential chrysalis stage. I found the Michigan Wine and Beer Portal by accident when needing a meeting place, and it was the first establishment in Monroe that I found kind of fun. I hear stories of the early days, when everyone walked everywhere and the town was bustling with life. What if it could be that way again? What if places like Archer’s—where people can walk by, wander in, and stay for hours—were all across small Michigan cities?

Conservatives don’t take risks. Practicality always wins. But the Williamsons have faith and the ambition to act. They know Monroe will be better for their work. Plus, it will be more enjoyable. They are not pushing any agenda like typical indie bookstores. No rainbow flags. Just good books, good drinks, good food. The Williamsons are doing what conservatives haven’t done for some time. They are creating an establishment they would want to patronize.

A Southern preacher once said, “American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward towards perdition.” Monroe’s Protestants and Catholics are trying to innovate the cultural centers of Monroe Street. Delaying decay doesn’t help a city. People have to gut out the old spaces. Then the hard work of renewal comes with filling the old space with something new and better. But if no one does anything, and the void remains, seven more devils will enter and set up shop.