124 N. Main

From 1947 to 1958 there was a bar downtown that was owned and operated by women. Its proprietor, Ethel Douglas, was a powerful force in the local bar scene and a savvy business woman in a time when that was uncommon, even scorned.

Ethel’s All Girl Bar was the product of the imagination and hard work of Ethel Douglas. Ethel was born in Willow Lake, South Dakota in 1913, and attended high school there. She did restaurant work there before moving into restaurant management, serving in that capacity for seven years. In 1935, Ethel moved to Sioux Falls and worked at the Stockyards Cafe for a while, then in in 1942, she became the manager of the Skip Inn just north of the Sport Bowl on Phillips Avenue. In 1947, Ethel saw a business opportunity she couldn’t pass up - owning her own bar. The Colonial Bar, at one time a speakeasy called the Colonial Cafe, was for sale. Ethel bought the bar, which stood at 124 N. Main, and turned it into a one-of-a-kind operation: An all girl bar. The owner, servers, and bartenders were all female. The only exception was the guy who cleaned up after hours.

Ethel became very active in the Chamber of Commerce and served on several committees. in 1955 she served as president of the Sioux Falls Liquor Dealers' Association, and before that, she served as director of the South Dakota Retail Liquor Dealers' Association. She was an outspoken opponent of a Sioux Falls ordinance that prohibited the sale of food and liquor in the same establishment. Her belief that the availability of food would lessen over-drinking was not unfounded. This ordinance sheds light on the abundance of dinner clubs lining the roads just outside of town at the time.

Ethel had a daughter named Gypsy, who was born around 1932, from her first marriage. She remarried later, though she was usually referred to by her first married name. Her husband, B. H. Supple, was an Army lieutenant stationed here as adjutant in the South Dakota Military District.

In February of 1958, Ethel announced that she’d sold her All Girl Bar, and in a manner befitting the quality of her character, held a celebration at the bar to introduce the new owner, Harold Ninneman. The name Ethel’s would be dropped from the business, but the All Girl Bar went on for a short time.

On March 17, 1959 at 9:25 a.m., waitress Violet McCullough thwarted a robbery attempt at the All Girl Bar. Charles Curry of Rapid City had left municipal court where he was waiting to appear on a charge of intoxication. He’d slipped away from police custody and was hoping to fill his pockets with cash and beat it out of town. Curry entered the All Girl Bar and, with his hand in the pocket of his tan jacket, pretending to brandish a gun, approached McCullough and said “This is a stickup. I don’t want to hurt you, but I want the money from your tills”. McCullough, no shrinking Violet wielded a whiskey bottle and told him “You’re not going to get it, there’s the door. Now get out!”. Curry hesitated and, realizing the bottle had more stopping power than his pointed finger, left the bar. Curry was picked up a block to the north in another bar, calming his nerves with a beer. He was later sentenced to six months in jail for escaping capture and two more years for attempted robbery. Just because it was an all girl bar, didn’t mean they were pushovers.

The All Girl Bar was soon replaced by Geno’s Bar, which was eventually torn down to make way for parking, always a valuable commodity in downtown Sioux Falls. When you park in the Wells Fargo parking ramp, spare a thought for Ethel and her All Girl Bar.