How do you get into The Forge?
We have not confirmed it. The Forge is in the directory because it calls itself a speakeasy, and that is the whole of what we can stand behind about its door.
Drinks of the era
We have not seen this venue’s own list, so what follows is the period rather than the bar: Blood and Sand, Bobby Burns, and Rob Roy are all drinks of this era, and each links to its origin and its build.
Where The Forge sits
The Forge is in Gardner, Kansas, in Johnson County, in the Great Plains of the United States.
This is currently the only verified hidden bar our directory lists in Gardner. If you know another, tell us.
Kansas holds 17 listed venues in this directory. See them all on our Kansas speakeasy guide.
Prohibition in Kansas
Kansas did not wait for the federal government. Statewide prohibition took effect here in 1881, 39 years before the Eighteenth Amendment came into force nationally on 17 January 1920. By the time the Volstead Act was being enforced across the country, Kansas already had an established illegal trade and the habits that went with it.
More on the period in our history of Prohibition in Kansas.
What the newspapers recorded in Kansas
Searching the Library of Congress run of Kansas newspapers for speakeasy, blind pig and bootlegger across 1920 to 1933 returns dated pages anyone can open. These are from Kansas:
- The Topeka state journal, November 22, 1920 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- Western Kansas world, April 14, 1921 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Topeka state journal, February 26, 1921 — read the page at the Library of Congress
- The Topeka state journal, May 4, 1921 — read the page at the Library of Congress
Planning a visit
You can reach The Forge by phone on (913) 414-2158, through its own website, and on Facebook and X.
The address is 117 S Elm St, Gardner, KS 66030. Open in Google Maps.
What we have confirmed
For The Forge we hold street address, telephone number, official website, and social accounts. We do not yet hold opening hours, a published drinks list, an online booking link, or a listed-building record.
It is in the directory because the description in the source data describes it as a speakeasy.
Overture Maps carries this venue; OpenStreetMap has no matching record.
The source data classifies the premises as a bar.