Infamous Moorhead Saloon Brought Back From Dead…Sort Of

An old bar in Moorhead once known for debauchery is now open for lunch.

The seedy past of Moorhead is coming to light.

“It’s been so much fun to discover what a terrible sin city Moorhead was in the good old days,” exclaims Maureen Kelly Jonason, Executive Director of the Cultural and Historical Society of Clay County.
 
The new “Wet and Dry” exhibit at the Hjemkomst Center shows what happened to Moorhead when the state of North Dakota went dry in 1890.
 
“City administrators at the time decided to just throw things wide open,” explains archivist Mark Peihl, “and by 1900 there were 48 bars in Moorhead. 3700 people in the town at the time.”
 
One of the most infamous bars was Rex’s.

Built in 1910, illegal activity flourished there.
 
“Liquor, prostitution,” adds Kelly Wombach with the Cultural and Historical Society, “everything that went with our little nickname ‘Sin City’.”

In 1913, Matthew Wambach was hired to run the bar.

The debauchery continued through prohibition, until the saloon was rebranded as a café in the 1950’s.

The original building burned down in 1961.

A replacement lasted in downtown Moorhed until 1973.

Today, Wambach’s great-grandson, Kelly, runs a café at the Hjemkomst Center, which shares the exact address with the original Rex’s.
 
To honor history, the snack shack at the museum has a new, old name.
 
“The Rex was, I think, the perfect choice for a new name,” says Wambach
 
Rex’s was perhaps the most infamous spot in Moorhead.

It had more liquor violations than any other bar in Clay County.

But with the new Rex’s cafe, that part of its history will stay in the past.
 
“No alcohol here,” Peihl clarifies, “Just really, really good food.”
 
One thing Wambach is trying to resurrect instead of alcohol and prostitution is a sandwich.
 
“It was a rare roast beef sandwich with blue cheese and onions that was made famous by that Rex café.”

Time will tell if that aspect of Moorhead’s history will soon land on your plate.
 
Rex’s Café is open from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Wambach is considering expanding to Saturdays this summer.