'It's the first bar I went to when I turned 21,' Keith Martz - known to regulars as 'L'il Daddy'- recalled recently. Long before they became its owners, the Martzes were all customers there. Past newspaper accounts quote original owner Ralph Hannon as saying he started the bar in 1970 along Walnut Street before moving to the Main Street location. The Mark III dates back to at least 1974 at its current location, according to listings for 107 E. Court records in an apparent foreclosure case for the property list Phil Wills, formerly owner of Dill Street Bar and Grill, listed in property records as having purchased the Mark III's building in 2012. Keith, Natasha and Heather Martz, who have owned the iconic downtown bar for the past four years, blame the pending closure on legal problems they can't discuss, related to the previous owner.
31, the Mark III Tap Room's chapter in that history will close - at least for now. MUNCIE - The narrow, pink-fronted Main Street bar with its dark-wood-paneled interior, currently billed as the oldest operating gay bar in Indiana, has seen a lot of history, from the days of bricks hurled through the front window to the legalization of same-sex marriage.Īfter Dec.