Because Mother’s functions as Rensselaer’s student coffeehouse, many of those who are thinking about coming to the shows may wonder why Mother’s doesn’t serve or stock wine but its name includes the phrase wine emporium.

When Mother’s first opened its doors to members of the Rensselaer community on October 17, 1973, it began life as an entertainment venue known for serving beer and wine to students. Back then, RPI students could “enjoy really great music, drink some cheap wine, and see some great talent ... We loved [the] music,” said Julie Calzone, president of the Union Programming and Activities Committee when Mother’s was created.

During the late 1970s, Mother’s stopping serving alcohol, possibly because it was too disruptive to the performances, said Tom Duchesneau, a Mother’s staff member.

The name Mother’s Wine Emporium was kept, however, due to the coffeehouse’s popularity among performers and its patrons. At 30 years, Mother’s is likely “the oldest continuously operating coffeehouse in the country,” said Rick Hartt, director of the Rensselaer Union. “Performers all around the country know the name as Mother’s Wine Emporium. There are also a lot of patrons who know the [venue].”

Mother’s was originally created by Donna Dorl, the Union program director in 1973, as a friendly alternative to rowdy concerts. The coffeehouse was built on the site of the old television parlor on the Union’s Rathskeller level, and operated on a budget of only $5,000 during its first year, less than the cost of one large concert at that time.

Mother’s functioned then as “a small performance venue. It was a place for [un-established] performers to go to build their careers. A lot of performers groomed themselves in places like Mother’s,” said Calzone. She noted that college coffeehouses like Mother’s were important during the 70s because today’s music clubs “didn’t exist as much. College campuses were generally the [venues] that were funded.”

Patt Webb and the Dawson Boys were the first two musical groups to perform at Mother’s at shows in October of 1973. Since then, more than 100 music groups have graced the stage at Mother’s to entertain audiences composed of students, alumni, and members of the local community.

“Mother’s is a highly respected coffeehouse nationally and internationally,” said folk artist Eileen Thomas. “We really get to know [the] students. So many return and come back to campus ... They come from all over.”

Eileen and her husband Elkin have given performances at Mother’s every year for the past twenty years, since meeting Hartt at a concert in the Catskills in 1983.

Musical artists like Eileen and Elkin Thomas “chose to come here and play. It was such a well-known coffeehouse even [when I was here],” said Lisa Beer O’Shea, chair of Mother’s between 1983 and 1985.

O’Shea enjoyed “creating the music program and seeing the blend. It was a way to see the outside boundaries of RPI. There’s nothing in school that’s like this ... It was a great time.”