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An establishment that quenched the thirsts of Blount countians for 60 years has drawn its last draft.

Demolition was completed Thursday on The Frog, which has occupied the pad at the corner of East Broadway and Washington Street at Veterans Memorial Bridge in Maryville for part of two centuries.

Jimmy Sparks started the Viaduct Cafe on this location in 1946 after he came home after World War II, where he had been a cook in the U.S. Army. He then changed the name of the bar to The Frog, which it remained for decades.

After 25 years operating the bar, Sparks decided it was time to retire and chose his successor.

Charles McKeel, a native of Monroe County, had been working in the area for a motion picture distribution company trucking films from Atlanta to regional movie theaters.

McKeel, who had been a patron of The Frog, was in the establishment when Sparks told him he wanted to retire and asked McKeel if he wanted to buy the business. McKeel thought it was a good idea and wrote Sparks a check as a down payment on the spot.

He later purchased the actual property on which The Frog is located from the Dr. Carson estate.

McKeel operated The Frog for 35 years before closing its doors last year. A frog wearing a royal cape and crown was the logo of the establishment in its later years.

As other bars opened on Broadway in downtown Maryville, McKeel said business slowed down and it would not have been cost-effective to bring the old frame building up to city codes.

It was reportedly listing and in danger of collapsing.

Over 35 years, McKeel said he developed "a lot of good friends at The Frog. I had very little trouble. I don't put up with it. Most people just wanted to be treated with respect.

"I never did like a loud crowd anyway," he added. "I was ready to go home and go to bed by 10:30 or 11 p.m."

Maryville Police Chief Tony Crisp said, "I've known Charlie for years. He didn't put up with any nonsense."

Winery contemplated

McKeel may be 70 years old, but he is not looking at sitting back and enjoying his retirement. Instead, he is weighing the advisability of establishing a winery on the property.

He started Thistle Hill vineyard on 32 acres he owns on the banks of Fort Loudoun Lake off Disco Loop Road in Friendsville, where he lives.

He has planted four varieties of grapes on four acres and plans to add five more acres of different varieties, bringing his vineyard to nine acres.

McKeel said this is the first year he was to have grapes to sell, but the rainy weather destroyed his crop. The businessman, who was dressed in overalls and a straw hat Thursday, said he has contacted New York suppliers of vineyard products and they are going to ship him some treatments to spray on the vines to keep the wet weather from rotting the grapes.

He has a vintner friend who will help him develop his own wines from his grapes. "You have to be knowledgeable about how to make wine," he said.

One big question is whether state and local law will allow a winery at the location.

If he does start a winery, it will have a tasting room and be the sales location for the bottled wines. He is not sure whether the product would be manufactured partly at the farm or in the winery itself.

McKeel said as he mulls whether to put money into the wintery enterprise, he will fill in the area with dirt and sew the property in grass.

The local Sparks Trucking Company was hired to do the demolition work.