Woodstock’s Public House reopens after Old Courthouse construction

Nearly a year after construction closed the Public House of Woodstock, co-owner Kathryn Loprino was eager to welcome back customers last Friday.

Public House, which has been located in the Old Courthouse since 2014, closed last October as part of the $22 million renovations on the 166-year-old Old Courthouse and Sheriff’s House.

Aug. 18 marked Public House’s soft reopening, Loprino said. With October marking 20 years in business, the Public House will commemorate both its reopening and anniversary at that time.

“We’re going to celebrate that the whole month,” Loprino said, adding plans are “still in the works” for what the celebration will look like.

In the meantime, the Public House has a new head chef and will be slowly expanding the menu in the coming weeks, with the full menu ready to go for the celebrations in October, Loprino said.

Loprino said she hopes to include more food that comes from the Woodstock farmers market and locally owned businesses.

“Our Public House menu has always been more eclectic,” she said. “The menu will change based on what’s available.”

Some changes to the menu include smaller, more affordable lunch portions and a special steak-and-seafood menu on Friday and Saturday evenings.

“It would be like a finer dining experience,” Loprino said, adding the steak-and-seafood diners will have their own section of the restaurant.

Businesses beyond the Public House are also now beginning to open up.

The Records Department, a new record store that is part of the retail incubator program in Woodstock, will have its grand opening ceremony Friday, said Arlene Lynes, owner of Read Between the Lynes and a Chamber of Commerce member.

Also in the Old Courthouse will be the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce; a new wedding venue by the owners of Ethereal Confections called Courthouse Square; and two new-to-Woodstock ventures, Algonquin-based Makity Make and Milwaukee-based Mobcraft Beer, Woodstock Chamber of Commerce President Brad Ball said.

The city and Chamber also still hope to fill another spot in the retail incubator, Ball said.

Though the building is now open for business, Woodstock City Manager Roscoe Stelford said some work is still in progress and he expects it will be finished in September.

We’re very fortunate to have a pretty established clientele. A lot of our regulars ... are friends as well.”

—  Kathryn Loprino, co-owner of Public House

The city of Woodstock took over the Old Courthouse in 2012, but extensive renovations began in February 2022. The renovations included fusing together the Old Courthouse and Sheriff’s House, building Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant entrances and replacing the roof, among other items.

Over the course of the renovations, workers encountered obstacles, including finding a room at the Public House filled with rocks, which had to be hand-shoveled out. Workers found load-bearing walls they did not know were there, Loprino said.

Those issues led to the Public House, originally scheduled to re-open in March, not opening until August.

“All of our floors were lowered 2 feet,” Loprino said. “That uncovered some issues.”

With nearly 11 months without customers and business, Loprino said she used the time to volunteer in the community and stay connected to customers and residents through social media.

“We’re very fortunate to have a pretty established clientele,” she said. “A lot of our regulars ... are friends as well.”