The beer will once again flow at a well-known landmark building where the men – but not the women – of Conroe gathered to play dominos, strike deals and pass the time.

Long before local entrepreneurs Debbie Glenn and Jay Ross Martin announced plans to open the Red Brick Tavern, the building located at 119 Simonton St. in downtown Conroe was as an iconic part of the community known as Talley’s Domino Hall.

“It was place where you go to relax, meet friends and cut a deal,” said Larry Foerster of Conroe. “A lot of oil deals were made there in the 1930s that made millionaires.”

According to Foerster, the history of Talley’s goes back to 1931 when F. A. Talley paid $5,000 for the building that opened as Talley Domino Hall the following year. When prohibition was repealed on Dec. 5, 1933, Talley’s was one of the first locations to secure a license to sell beer – though some long-time Conroe residents say the 18th Amendment never stopped the consumption of beer at Talley’s.

“During the Conroe boom years, oilmen, ranchers, businessmen and public officials gathered at Talley’s to make deals in the booths at the rear of the bar,” said Foerster. “Bartenders worked three shifts a day to keep the bustling bar open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Among the visitors to Talley’s on more than one occasion, Foerster said, was President Lyndon Baines Johnson when he was working on his original campaign for the senate.

As busy and popular as Talley’s was, it was not a place frequented by women.

“Back during that era, domino halls and pool halls were not places women went to socialize,” said Fred Greer, whose father frequented Talley’s. “It wasn’t a law or official regulation; it was just the way things were back in the day.”

Greer’s father, Homer, worked in the oilfields around Conroe when Talley’s was a popular place for local roughnecks, politicians, lawyers and businessmen to gather. He remembers going into Talley’s to meet or take messages to his father.

“It wasn’t fancy, but it was popular,” he said.

As the decades passed, however, social conventions and values changed – but Talley’s didn’t. Oil and timber blue collar jobs diminished in Conroe. And so did the traffic at Talley’s.

“There was a general decline in business,” said Greer. “The place just didn’t keep up with the times.”

F. A. Talley circa 1981. Talley died in 1982 and his death brought about the demise of Talley's Domino Hall.

That continued until 1982 when F. A. Talley died. The site was run down and a shadow of the lively place it had once been, but it continued to operate under Jimmy Lynch Jr. The building was eventually sold to the Crighton Players, a theatrical group associated with the Crighton Theatre, located adjacent to the building.

In 2000, the Crighton Players took over possession of the space and Talley’s closed. The building was used for theatrical storage and rehearsal space.

But after years of neglect and vacancy, the space occupied by Talley’s is being transformed into a new place for Conroe residents to gather and socialize.

“But this will be a family friendly place,” said Glenn. “We will welcome women and children in the Red Brick Tavern.”

The new facility, anticipated to open in April, will feature a variety live entertainment, traditional and exotic brews as well as mixed drinks and food.

Progress on the facility’s construction and opening plans can be tracked daily on Facebook and at www.theredbricktavern.com.