Ste. Genevieve County: The Anvil Saloon and Restaurant boasts famous onion rings, rich 167-year past

Nestled in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, a town full of rich history and an eclectic array of businesses and shops, lies The Anvil Saloon and Restaurant.

Owned and operated by Madeline Jett and Jerry Holliday since 1993, The Anvil provides a welcoming atmosphere and old-timey aesthetic that appeals to customers young and old alike.

"I think it's the old saloon-type atmosphere [that attracts customers]," Jett says. "You know, it is The Anvil Saloon and Restaurant, and people like the old bar, the old floors, you know, just the character of the building."

She says people from Europe, Asia and elsewhere have traveled to come and try The Anvil's famous onion rings.

"Our onion rings are our main drawing," Jett says. "People from all over the world have come here and eaten the onion rings."

Jerry Holliday entertains customers inside The Anvil in St. Genevieve on Friday, March 17, 2017.Laura Simon

Jett says the restaurant has a number of local regulars as well, of whom the business depends on throughout the town's slower tourist months.

"Through the winter months we have to depend on our regulars because the tourists don't start coming in until the weather gets nicer," she says.

Tourism tends to swell during special seasonal events and festivals in Ste. Genevieve, Jett says, like Jour de Fete, which is held every year on the second weekend in August.

"People come to Ste. Genevieve for its [history] -- that's exactly why they come ...," she says. "We're the oldest settlement west of the Mississippi; a lot of people don't know that. We're older than St. Louis."

The Anvil has a unique history itself, formerly housing a hardware store from 1850 to 1855, lending to the restaurant's name. Once purchased by the Vaeth family in 1855, the building was transformed into a gentlemen's saloon, with a large bar and back bar transported to the saloon by oxcart.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com The Anvil in St. Genevieve is famous for its onion rings, as seen on Friday, March 17, 2017.

"The earliest we can date it in the archives is in the early 1900s, but we're pretty sure that it was called The Anvil because it was a hardware store when it was built. ... And then in 1855 that's when they moved the bar in and it goes on to say that it was on a river boat, and the river was low, so they had to relieve some of the weight and that's how the bar found its way here in 1855."

With only five owners since 1850, The Anvil has been passed down through generations of families, a trend Jett plans to continue with her own children.

"[We're going to] just keep doing what we're doing, keeping it in the family for sure," she says.

Along with The Anvil's past comes a supposed brush with the paranormal.

"Some say it's haunted," Jett says.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com The Anvil in St. Genevieve, Missouri.

Several years ago, Jett says, a woman used the second-floor bathroom and came down the stairs screaming, saying she had seen the reflection of a figure in the mirror.

"She had never been here before, didn't know anything about the history," she says. "It kind of gives you goosies when you think about it."

They've had paranormal investigators assess the space and they have felt the presence of a man, dubbed "Lester" by The Anvil staff, and a little girl.

"I'm not scared," Jett says, laughing.

Located at 46 3rd St. on the square in Ste. Genevieve, The Anvil is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com Jerry Holliday entertains customers inside The Anvil in St. Genevieve on Friday, March 17, 2017.