209 Dodge Street (Racine, Wisconsin)

209 Dodge Street is a restaurant building along the northern bank of the Root River in Racine, Wisconsin. Originally built for The Chartroom in 1979, it has been home to Booster's Buoy since 2017.

The Chartroom and Chartroom Charlie's (1980–2014)
The building at 209 Dodge Street was built in 1979, when the owner, Richard Pugh, first proposed opening a restaurant called the Chartroom on previously vacant land next to the Pugh Marina. Pugh had no previous restaurant experience,. The Chartroom's cocktail bar opened in late February 1980, followed by the restaurant and dining room in mid-March. In 1983, Pugh sought to expand the restaurant by purchasing city-owned land used by the neighboring Racine County Water Safety Patrol, a proposal which was not received well by the county board of supervisors. The property was formerly the site of an experimental wastewater treatment facility. The following year, the city granted Pugh the use of the property for 15 years, during which time Pugh agreed to raze the existing building and beautify the nearby riverfront.

An attempted armed robbery took place at the restaurant on July 14, 1991, but failed when the robbers were unable to open the safe and left.

The Chartroom was renamed Chartroom Charlie's in 2007, in honor of its new manager Donna Daams' deceased father, a longtime regular at the restaurant. After Daams began working a full-time job elsewhere, she and Pugh decided to close Chartroom Charlie's at the end of 2014.

Wharf 209 and Booster's Buoy (2015–present)
Chartroom Charlie's was replaced by Wharf 209, which opened its bar in late May 2015 and its dining room on June 5. The new operators, Paul and Shannon Curtin, had previously founded the North Beach Oasis. The Racine Journal Times declared Wharf 209 the "Best New Business" of 2015 in Racine County. After the restaurant was the subject of repeated police reports about underage drinking and noise complaints, the Racine city council Public Safety and Licensing Committee met with Shannon Curtin in June 2016. The committee was satisfied by Curtin's efforts to stop the problem, and found that many of the police reports had not resulted in citations.

In the months after the committee meeting, however, frequent reports about the restaurant continued. Keith Randolph, the owner of Boosters Sports Bars in South Milwaukee and West Allis, took control of Wharf 209 on October 1, 2016. Randolph promised the committee later that month that the problems had been eliminated and would not return in the spring when the restaurant's outdoor seating reopened. Randolph renamed Wharf 209 to Booster's Buoy, fitting with his two other bars, in March 2017.