Edmund (sometimes Edward) Spieler was a local brewer and beer bottler in the Town of Huntington on Long Island New York’s north shore. Located in the hamlet of Cold Spring Harbor, the business was active from sometime in the mid-1870’s up until Spieler’s death in 1889.
Born in Bavaria in 1846, Spieler apparently arrived in the United States around 1870 where he first appeared in New York City’s 1871/1872 directory with the occupation “beer” and an address of 546 W. 36th Street. By 1880, census records put him in the Town of Huntington with the occupation “brewer.”
He had arrived on Long Island as early as 1878 when the Board of Excise” granted him a license for the sale of “ALE & BEER.” The announcement appeared in the May 18, 1878 edition of the “Suffolk Weekly Times.”
During the late 1870’s and early 1880’s he continued to obtain what appears to be the same license to sell ale and beer during which time he delivered his product in a horse drawn wagon. Those deliveries did not always come without incident as evidenced by this story that appeared in the August 11, 1882 edition of a newspaper called the “Long Islander.” The story definitely falls in the category of “they don’t write them like this anymore!”
In this town we have a wholesale peddler of beer. He has a handsomely painted wagon. That wagon has long borne the owner who answers to the euphonious patronymic of Spieler. Last Friday Mr. S. came to this village with a full load of his “sour lightning” – the kegs and bottles were full and so was the owner. The wagon was being turned in front of Simon Hirschfeld’s when, mindful of the request embodied in the name of the proprietor, it proceeded to “spill-her” in good style. The spoke of one wheel of the vehicle broke and down it came on its side. The stream was la(r)ger as it flowed and many stood on its brink eager to stop the waste. Some who assisted could only say in the technical phase of the newspaper man “For further particulars see our inside.”
Less than a month later, the September 8th edition of the same newspaper reported that Spieler’s beer wagon had run into trouble again.
The redoubtable wagon of Spieler. the lager beer peddler has again been on a rampage. On Tuesday while coming down the hill from Greenlawn near Merril’s Hotel, Centreport, the wagon struck a stone and one of the wheels completely collapsed, letting the vehicle down in the sand. Well the occupant of the vehicle said about everything “but his prayers,” and left for home to get another wagon.
All that aside, Spieler continued to deliver his beer by horse drawn wagon up through at least 1885 as evidenced by this item that appeared in the June 26, 1885 edition of the “Long Islander.”
There were six horses brought up on the steamer on Tuesday night last, one of which was for Edmund Spieler to be used on his beer wagon.
Sometime about 1888, it appears Spieler traded his beer wagon in and became a saloon/hotel operator and bottler. That year, the May 12th edition of the “Long-Islander announced that the Board of Excise granted Spieler an INN KEEPER’s license in lieu of ALE & BEER.
Less than two years later, on December 10, 1889 Edmund Spieler passed away, with his death notice appearing in the December 21st edition of the “South Side Signal.”
It appears that Spieler’s wife, Frances, continued the hotel/saloon/bottling business for a while after his death. The May 6, 1890 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Times” included her on a list of applicants who had been granted a hotel license by the Huntington Board of Excise that year. She was still in business in 1892 when this story appeared in the January 9th edition of the “Long Islander.”
A team of young horses belonging to Mrs. Spieler started from before her saloon Thursday and ran down the street until they came to the mill dam at the old saw mill and ran across passing safely over where it would be almost impossible for a man to drive them, and then ran through the woods to Dr. O. L. Jones’ fields where they were captured. Horses, wagon and harness were uninjured.
What became of the business after 1892 is not clear. That said, in 1894 Frances Spieler married John Wolfert who, according to a December 12 1896 “Long Islander” story, operated “a large beer bottling business” in Cold Spring and later listed his occupation as “saloon and bottling” in 1900 census records. Though I can’t confirm it, this at least suggests that Spieler’s business may have been the predecessor of Wolfert’s business or possibly incorporated into it.
The bottle I found is a champagne style beer with an applied blob finish. It fits the 1880’s era when Spieler was in business. Maybe it was on one of those wagon’s that broke down?