Dolly Eagan Fuller was born in 1874 in Milk Nob, Nebraska to homesteaders Maybelline Eagan and Weldon Fuller. With the US economy still recovering from the Civil War and three years of locust swarms in the prairie making life difficult, Maybelline and Weldon sent their oldest child Dolly back to live in Roxbury, New York with her cousin Nora Eagan. Dolly, who at 16 was considered a prime candidate for marriage, was enthralled with the industrious and unmarried Nora. Nora had built her own house from hemlock logs harvested on her back acreage and ran the town blacksmith’s shop, one of the only female blacksmiths in the United States.

Roxbury’s citizens began to speculate about Nora and Dolly’s relationship after two years had passed and Dolly continued to rebuff her many suitors. Neighbors, who had tolerated Nora’s mannish appearance, were now more brazen with their scorn, especially witnessing Dolly’s flamboyant character and clothing. Dolly never seemed to care, though, and with Nora’s self confidence rubbing off on the impressionable Dolly, went about her daily life and her job keeping the books for the smithery with her trademark toothy smile. There is no evidence that their relationship was anything other than familial but in her typical way Dolly would not discourage speculation.

In 1882 Nora’s health began to deteriorate with complications from lead poisoning (a common disease among blacksmiths) and could no longer tend the business. With Dolly unable to take over, the business was shuttered. The town gossip had focused so much attention on the two women and Dolly’s outrageous personality that it was nearly impossible for Dolly to find work. Finally, the indefatigable Dolly hit on an idea that would change the sleepy hamlet of Roxbury forever: she would convert the old blacksmith shop to a saloon where women and men could be together without restrictions. It was an idea shocking for the time, as women in a bar were considered loose and men felt restrained by their presence. Dolly would hear none of that: she knew that the time was right for a change in strict rules governing adults’ behavior. Famously, she said “if they do it in the barn, they’ll do it in public.”

Reaction to Dolly’s “Public Saloon” was immediate: everyone wanted to know what was going on in the old blacksmith’s barn. Nora, her health improving, built a rear entrance which led to a trail through the woods. No one wanted to admit to the town scolds that they fraternized in the Public Saloon, and no one wanted to be seen coming and going. But the saloon was such a hit it was expanded twice in five years, and a third time in 1890, adding their second floor and dance hall.

By this time Dolly was such a public figure she felt bold enough to advertise her saloon regionally. Bowing to pressure from skittish publishers, Dolly obliged to cover the eyes of her own portrait – but her manner of dress and trademark smile gave little doubt to anyone who was running the business. In time the gossip turned in her favor, and Roxbury became one of the country’s most progressive villages, in the forefront of women’s suffrage, public education, and blacksmith reform. The town (allegedly due to Dolly’s intimate relationship with Woodrow Wilson) was even unofficially exempted from Prohibition with the federal authorities under presidential orders to not prosecute in Roxbury for the sale or consumption of alcohol. The postcard below dates from pre-prohibition 1920's- Dolly had started calling the saloon "Public Lounge" to fit with the emerging cocktail culture of the era.

Nora died in 1937, and Dolly ran the business until her death in 1948. She never did marry, but she kept the close companionship of many over her lifetime. Her last party was the G.I. Ball welcoming home Roxbury’s returning WWII soldiers. She passed away surrounded by her many friends and customers and is buried in her family’s plot in Milk Nob.

The history of Public Saloon was forgotten, as many of the customers died or moved away and the moral climate in the country again turned conservative. The saloon was eventually turned into a feed store and then sat empty for thirty years. The rich story was discovered by its current owners in 2005 who once again saw the time being right for a space which brings together all different types of people. After 6 months of renovations, Public Lounge was born. Artifacts of those early days can be seen at the bar, and the bar's advertisements all pay homage to Dolly's obscured portraits. With Dolly’s can-do spirit and irrepressible warmth in the old beams of the bar, a whole new generation of people are learning to “do it in Public”.

*veracity not confirmed