Halverson's Supper Club, closed in 2017
Many of us have happy memories of Halverson’s,
near Lake Kegonsa, from it’s 90 years of providing more than just food to the greater
Stoughton community. Excerpts below are
taken from the Madison Area Guide, February 1983 edition. That article was written by Ronnie Deane.
“The
mistletoe still hung over the entrance when we dropped in between holidays for
lunch at Halverson’s. Hardly necessary,
for the place is always merry with “kissing Norwegian cousins” from nearby
Stoughton. Strangers wandering in never
feel left out but seem to be caught up in the spreading sociability. It is no wonder someone coined a phrase which
exactly describes the ambiance of the place – “Where friends are like family”.
The family filled the place that day, attesting to the years of consistent good food as well as the hospitality. The Rotarians were meeting in the Back Forty, a new addition since we last reported on Halverson’s for the Guide. Upstairs in the Eagle Room, the first expansion, at least two bridge groups had gathered as well as dads and moms with happy offspring home from college. The original, Log Room, my favorite, was where we dined. Built from timbers cut on Harold Halverson’s farm, those green oak logs were so tough the nails had to be soaped to penetrate the wood. Sort of a symbol of the stability of this Lake Kegonsa land which has prospered families since 1831. That’s when Abe Rasdell established a trading post on this spot and scouted for Colonel Dodge’s troops in the Black Hawk War. Here’s where, before him, the Potowatomis and Winnebagos hunted and fished. And here’s where Stener Halverson settled when he arrived with the first wave of Norwegian immigrants.
It was Stener’s grandson, Harold, who saw the commercial possibilities of the property as vacationers from Chicago began to come as far north as Stoughton. He established one of the first grocery stores in the area, built a row of winterproof cabins, and carved out a channel to the lake to bring the “waterfront” to his boating guests. And it wasn’t long before the reputation for Halverson’s home cooked (sic) reached out around the lake and to neighboring towns. Now, 50 years later, the magnetism is still there. Some Stoughton people show up two or three times a week. The Madison following is immense. An in summer, cars with Illinois license plates line up in the parking lot. “And people who read the Guide in hotels, hospitals, or wherever else it’s distributed, come out to get a fresh breath of country air, to find a little peace in the view of a lovely lake, and to enjoy reasonably priced home cooking,” Bob and Barb Montague, the present owners, said.
Bob came
into the business with his father-in-law, Harold, shortly after World War
II. Following Harold’s death, and a
tragic family accident in which Bob’s wife was taken, he purchased the business
from the Halverson family. Later he
married Barbara who adapted to the business like she was born into it.
Madison
Area Guide, February 1983 article written by Ronnie Deane - Where
Friends Are Like Family, Halverson’s
Halverson's Supper Club's former Facebook page can be found here, closed in 2017
