The Main Club was first listed in Bob Damron national Gay guides starting in the 1971 issue (which means the bar likely opened in 1970 or prior), as "Main Nite Club" on "N. 3rd St" in Superior. It was a mainstay of Duluth-Superior's LGBT community for its entire time on 3rd Street, hosting mayoral candidate meetings and numerous other events.

The Main Club on 3rd Street was burned to the ground on December 27, 1996 with the loss of 2 lives of the people living above the bar. Articles then named the owner as Bob Jensen, and indicated the bar had become formally "gay" in 1983.

After considering various options, including possibly rebuilding, the Main Bar relocated and was reopened in the building that had formerly been Popeye's Bar, on Tower Street in Superior. It continued to be a mainstay of Northwest Wisconsin's LGBT community and life, still hosting a softball team, numerous parties, events in the bar, and also supporting Pride events and celebrations in the "Twin Ports" area.

Even the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021 couldn't bring down this bar. Originally forced to close (like all bars and restaurants) by state and city edicts around March 2020 to stop the spread of COVID, the bar reopened as soon as restrictions were eased, and patrons tolerated the need to wear masks and stay 6-feet from other patrons for months, until vaccines became available in January 2021. Most restrictions were gradually lifted in early-mid 2021, and soon it was clear that The Main Club had survived not just the 1996 fire, but the 2019-2021 pandemic as well! But many bars and restaurants across the country had been forced to close permanently, having been unable to sustain a year or more of no or greatly reduced business. Even such national gay bar landmarks as The Stonewall and Julius in New York City had nearly gone under. The bar landscape was drastically changed. What will the future look like for bars, and especially LGBT bars?

But The Main Club DOES survive. It continues to be extremely popular in the NW Wisconsin LGBT community through 2021-- and likely beyond.

3rd Street Location (Including early National 'Gay Guides'; for more information on the Guides, click here.)

1971 Bob Damron's Address Book     Title pg   Codes Notes: Girls, Dancing	1972 Bob Damron's Address Book Notes: Girls, Dancing, "Closed Mondays"	1974 Bob Damron's Address Book     Codes
Meet and Greet in 1994 for Mayoral candidate Dan O'Neill (from Jerry Johnson collection)	Interior view of bar before after fire (from Jerry Johnson collection)
	Photo of bar after fire in December 1996 (from Jerry Johnson collection)	Article summarizing fire and impact of bar's loss (In Step vol 4, issue 1, Jan 1997)

Tower Avenue Location

Interior photos of new Tower Avenue location in 1997 (from Jerry Johnson collection)
Addiitonal photo of Interior of new Tower Ave. location (from Jerry Johnson collection)	Summer 2001 Event Schedule (from Jerry Johnson collection)	Late 2001 Event Schedule (from Jerry Johnson collection)
Article, plans for Twin Ports Pride sponsored by Duluth-Superior GLBTA Pride with activities at Main Club (G-Street magazine v1-12 June 2001)	Advertisement (G-Street magazine v2-02 AugustJune 2001)	2002 Event Schedule (from Jerry Johnson collection)
Photos of interior and customers, 2018 (from the bar's Facebook site)