Beer – Bay Bottles

Wheeler & Co., Belfast

The embossed insignia on the face of the subject bottle (or what’s left of it) consisting of a wagon wheel with the embossed letters “E R’ at the top and “& Co.” below, served as the clever trademark for a mineral water manufacturer and bottler that operated in Belfast, Northern Ireland under the name of Wheeler & Co. from the early 1860’s up through 1947. This advertisement exhibiting their “wheel” trademark appeared in the advertising section of the “Belfast and Province of Ulster Directory” in 1884

In addition to bottling their own manufactured waters, the company also served as a bottler for other manufacturers, “Guiness Stout” and “Bass Ale” to name a few, all of which were bottled under what they called their “Wheel Brand.”

The company got its start, not as a mineral water manufacturer or bottler but as an apothecary business whose roots were established in April, 1852 with the opening of the Belfast Apothecaries’ Hall at 33 High Street. An item announcing the opening appeared in several editions of the “Belfast News-Letter.”

Five years later, in 1857, another advertisement for the Apothecaries’ Hall associated it with W. J. Wheeler & Company, short for Walter James Wheeler. The ad published in several October, 1857 editions of the “Belfast News-Letter” named the company as agents for a wide range of proprietary medicines and medical products.

The advertisement went on to say:

THE DEPARTMENT FOR THE COMPOUNDING of Physicians’ and Surgeons’ Prescriptions is under the charge of Mr. HENRY WHITAKER, Licentiate Apothecary, formerly of Butler’s Medical Hall, Dublin.

At this point while Wheeler and Whitaker were both involved in the business, they were apparently not in total control. That would change less than a year later when this announcement, dated May 1, 1858, appeared in several May editions of the “Belfast News-Letter”under the heading:

The announcement read:

WALTER J.WHEELER & HENRY WHITAKER respectfully intimate to the Medical Profession and the Public that they have assumed the entire control and management of the above Establishment, and that, it will be conducted by them. Their devoting themselves exclusively to the business of the Apothecary and Pharmaceutical Chemist, and living on the Premises (thereby insuring their constant superintendence), are the surest guarantees that the interests of the public will be properly attended to.

The announcement went on to describe the fledgling operation.

THE RETAIL DEPARTMENT will be always well supplied with the purest Drugs and Chemicals, Patent Medicines, Perfumery, Toilet Requisites, and all other articles usually kept in first-class Medical Establishments.

THE COMPOUNDING DEPARTMENT will be under the management of Henry Whitaker, Surgeon and Licentiate Apothecary, formerly of Dr. Butler’s Medical Hall, Dublin, who confines himself exclusively to the business of the Apothecary, abstaining altogether from Medical practice, in order that he may be enabled to devote his entire time to this Department, which will be constantly supplied, not only with all Medicines in general use, but also with all the new preparations, as they are brought under the notice of the Profession; so that Medical Gentlemen may rely upon having their prescriptions properly compounded and their views fully carried out.

1st May, 1858

Several years later, the partnership of Wheeler & Whitaker, trading under the Wheeler & Co. name, introduced their “Aerated Waters” to the public. This April 29, 1862 advertisement published in the “Belfast News-Letter” suggested they were first put on the market in the Fall of 1861.

As early as 1864, this June 30th advertisement published in the “Glasgow Herald” stated that the water used in the manufacture of their aerated waters was obtained from a series of wells located in the vicinity of Cromac Street in Belfast, later referred to as the Coromac Springs. The advertisement read, in part:

Wheeler & Co.’s Aerated Waters prepared with Water from the celebrated Cromac Springs at Belfast, the great purity of which peculiarly adapts it to this purpose, and are of uniform strength and peculiarly fine flavor. Every bottle of the genuine article bears the name “Wheeler & Co.” on the label.

In 1865, according to a summary of court proceedings, “Wheeler Co. v. James Johnston,” published in the November 13, 1877 edition of the “Belfast Evening Telegraph,” the company established a manufacturing facility at one of the Cromac well sites.

… Messrs. Wheeler & Whitaker traded at Belfast under the style of Wheeler & Co., and had an extensive business as manufacturers of aerated and mineral waters. The affidavit of Messrs Wheeler & Whitaker stated that in May, 1865, they took a lease of certain premises in Murphy Street, Belfast. A valuable well existing on the premises afforded a large supply of water of a very pure quality, and formed one of a number of wells in the neighborhood of Cromac Street, used formerly for the water supply to Belfast for domestic purposes. Wheeler & Whitaker erected machinery and works and commenced their business operations, which they had since carried on using exclusively the water of the well in question. Soon afterwards Wheeler & Whitaker adopted for their works the name of “Cromac Springs…”

In addition to their Belfast facilities, by 1868 the company had also established a presence in Dublin and Glasgow. Both are mentioned in this advertisement that appeared in the March 3, 1869 edition of the “Belfast News-Letter.”

By 1870, in addition to bottling their own beverages, Wheeler & Co. was also bottling those of other manufacturers under their “Wheel” trademark. This brief item touting Guinness Porter began appearing in the “Belfast News-Letter” as early as March 3, 1870.

If you want Guinness’s XX Porter, in Bottle, unmixed, ask for it labeled with the “Wheel” Trade Mark.

The following year the trademark itself began appearing in their Guinness advertisements as evidenced by a series of March, 1871 advertisements found in both the “Belfast Evening Telegraph” and “Belfast Evening News.”

Other brands were added over the next couple of years including HENLEY & SONS’ CIDER, touted in this April 26, 1871 “Belfast Evening Telegraph” advertisement…

… and Bass, Allsopp, Ind and Cooper’s mentioned in another “Belfast Evening Telegraph” advertisement, this one in their January 7, 1873 edition.

At the same time, the apothecary and chemist portion of the business continued to operate out of 33 High Street before moving to 37 High Street in 1881.

During this time they were associated with a number of patent medicines some of which they also manufactured including “Wheeler & Whitaker’s Balm of Licorice.”

Things changed in 1882, when two separate dissolution notices effectively transitioned the business into separately owned entities. The first, executed on April 13, 1882, dissolved the partnership associated with the Apothecary/Chemist portion of the business, leaving it in Whittaker’s hands.

A little over a month later this advertisement published in the May 24, 1882 edition of the “Belfast News-Letter” named Henry Whitaker, proprietor of The Belfast Apothecaries’ Hall, “Late Wheeler & Whitaker.”

As far as I can tell, not long after he gained control, Whitaker turned the Apothecary business over to William Hanbury who in 1890 declared bankruptcy. This notice dated January 24, 1890 announcing the bankruptcy sale appeared in the February 13, 1890 edition of the “Belfast News-Letter.

Three months later, a May 17, 1890 item in the “Belfast Evening Telegraph” announced that the

THE PRESCRIPTION BOOKS, PROPRIETARY RIGHTS and the VARIOUS FORMULAE of the SPECIAL PREPARATIONS of MESSRS. WHEELER & WHITAKER (Belfast Apothecaries’ Hall) HAVE BEEN PURCHASED by their late Senior Assistant, MR. T. N. MOFFIT…

Meanwhile, back in 1882, a second dissolution notice, this one dated October 16, 1882, put the manufacturing of aerated waters and bottling operation solely in the hands of Walter J. Wheeler. That notice appeared in the October 20, 1882 edition of the “Belfast News-Letter.”

A year later, according to a May 16 1883 story in the “Belfast Evening Telegraph” some of their bottled porter and ale was making its way across the Atlantic.

LARGE SHIPMENT OF BOTTLED BEER TO AMERICA. – At present Messrs. Wheeler & Co. are delivering at Prince’s Dock, Belfast, 400 barrels of porter and ale in bottles, for transshipment into lighters for conveyance alongside the Dominion Line steamer Toronto, which vessel will arrive in Belfast Lough on Friday morning for Quebec and Montreal. By the steamer Montreal, on Friday last, Messrs. Wheeler & Co. shipped a similar quantity, and on following weeks like shipments will be made by this firm.

In April, 1890 Walter James Wheeler passed away with the business continuing under the management of his son Frederick. After Walter’s death it appears that the company remained closely held by the Wheeler family until 1895 when they offered a portion of his stock for sale in an effort to realize his estate. The offer appeared in the May 3, 1895 edition of the “Belfast News-Letter.”

That said, during the late 1890’s, this item that appeared in the September 20, 1898 edition of the “Glasgow Herald” suggested that the company continued to be quite successful.

MESSRS WHEELER & CO., LTD., BELFAST have secured the honor of having their famed “WHEEL BRAND” AERATED MINERAL WATERS chosen as being most suitable for the use of the British Troops in Egypt; also the British expeditions from Lagos and Sierra Leone to Central Africa were supplied entirely with the Waters manufactured from the famous Cromac Springs of which WHEELER & CO., LTD., BELFAST are the Sole Proprietors.

In fact, in 1899 an August 28th advertisement in the “Belfast News-Letter” indicated they were planning an expansion of their Belfast facilities at the time.

As far as I can tell, the Wheeler family continued their involvement with the business until 1923 when a February 23rd notice announced the stockholders had decided to liquidate.

At this point it was acquired by a man named George A. Davidson who several years later was adjudged bankrupt on December 16, 1927.

Later, according to a July 19, 1947 item in the “Belfast Telegraph”

An offer of composition was made and accepted by his creditors and the money had been lodged with the official assignee for the payment of the composition.

As a result Davidson was apparently able to continue operations in Belfast. Though likely not a large operation and certainly not a heavy advertiser there are signs that the company remained active into the 1940’s. Both their Belfast Ginger Ale and “Anti Laria” Tonic Water were listed in the “Grocery and Provision Merchant Directory of Brands, Trademarks and Trade Names” in 1930 and, as late as 1939 the company was included on this list of Belfast and Ulster mineral water manufacturers published in the October 3, 1939 edition of the “Belfast Telegraph.”

Ultimately Davison, trading as Wheeler & Co., declared bankruptcy again, this time in 1947 with the notice appearing in the May 14th edition of the “Belfast Telegraph.”

This time, according to the July 19, 1947 “Belfast Telegraph” story the bankruptcy was annulled by the Lord Chief Justice in the Ulster High Court due to the actions taken in the 1927 bankruptcy case. That said, as far as I can tell, this marked the end of Wheeler & Co. as a mineral water manufacturer and bottler.

The bottle I found was blown in a mold and likely had a blob finish at one time. In addition to the “Wheel” trademark embossed on the face of the bottle, embossing on the shoulder includes the representation of four gold medals (two on each side) and reads: ” Belfast 1895 Gold Medals.”

The base is embossed with a large capital “W’ which I assume stands for “Wheeler.”

Th bottle most closely resembles the Belfast Ginger Ale bottle pictured on the far left in the following January 1, 1890 advertisement published in the “British Trade Journal,” though it does have a flat bottom as opposed to the rounded one pictured.

While not heavily advertised in the United States, references to Wheeler’s Belfast Ginger Ale sporadically appear in U.S. newspaper advertisements between 1884 and the mid-teens. This likely dates the bottle between 1895 (the date embossed on the bottle) and the mid-teens.

Edmund Spieler, Cold Spring Harbor, L.I.

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?

Paterson Brewing & Malting Co., Paterson, N.J.

Established in 1899, the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company was the culmination of a roughly ten year process that brought all six of Paterson New Jersey’s major brewing interests together under one corporate umbrella. So it stands to reason that the company history begins, not in 1899 but much earlier with its predecessors, the six individual breweries that made up the corporation. So with that in mind I thought it important to begin this post with a brief history of each of those breweries. Much of that early history was included in an 1890 publication entitled “Paterson, New Jersey, Its Advantages for Manufacturing and Residence: its Industries, Prominent Men, Banks, Schools, Churches, etc.” by Charles A. Shriner, and is presented below in quotes. Quotes from other sources are specifically referenced in the text.

THE BRAUN BREWERY

In 1855 Mr. Christian Braun, father of Messrs. Christian and Lewis F. Braun, started a brewery on the corner of Braun and Marshall Streets and conducted the business with increasing trade and success until the year 1870, when he leased the business to Sprattler & Mennel. Mr. Braun died in 1876 and his sons took possession of the business… The brewery was increased until they had a structure 75 x 200, three stories high, equipped with all the latest improved appliances for the production of a superior grade of lager beer; the capacity of the brewery is 60,000 barrels per year…

This business card advertisement for Braun’s Brewery appeared in the January 31, 1886 edition of Paterson’s “Morning Call.”

THE SPRATTLER & MENNEL BREWERY

Mr. Gustav Sprattler and Mr. Christian Mennel established the brewing of lager beer in Paterson in 1870, having leased the brewery up to that time operated by Christian Braun… In 1876 they took possession of a new brewery, which they erected for that purpose and which at the time had a capacity of 8,000 barrels per annum. In the succeeding years enlargements of the plant were made and new buildings erected until the brewery is one of the most complete in all respects in New Jersey, having a capacity of 40,000 barrels per annum. The plant covers an area of 185 x 200 feet, upon which are erected ice houses, brewery and malt houses, store houses, etc. Mr. Sprattler died in October, 1883, after which the business was conducted by his estate and Mr. Mennel…

Paterson’s “Morning Call” ran this advertisement for Sprattler & Mennel’s “Extra Lager Beer” in their December 25, 1885 edition.

PASSAIC SPRING BREWERY (GRAHAM & CO.)

The early history of the Passaic Spring Brewery was found in James A. Graham’s obituary published in the March 26, 1909 edition of a Paterson, New Jersey newspaper named the “Morning Call.”

The father of James A. Graham, whose name was also James managed his brother’s brewery on Hamburg Avenue, while the latter was in the Civil War. Their father, Archie Graham, was also engaged in the same business over seventy-five years ago, winning an enviable reputation for his excellent brew and ale.

When still a young man, while living on a farm, James A. Graham was induced to take charge for a short time of his Uncle Archie’s brewery on Hamburg Avenue, to close out the business, which was rapidly failing. So successful was he that he built up the business and was given a third interest in the concern by his uncle.

Sometime in the late 1870’s Graham’s uncle Archie passed away leaving the business to a partnership of James A. and Sarah J. Graham. A story in the October 1, 1886 edition of “The Morning Call” picks up the story from there.

The place has been modernized and enlarged until it has grown entirely out of all resemblance to the quaint little snuggery that occupied that location for many years. The extension completed in 1881 is a brick structure four stories high, with a cellar underneath that is equivalent to another story… With exceptional facilities the best of ale is made in this old facility.

This Passaic Springs Brewery’s business card advertisement appeared in the January 31, 1886 edition of Paterson’s “Morning Call.”

THE GRAHAM BREWERY (JAMES A. GRAHAM & CO.)

In 1886 James A Graham left the Passaic Spring Brewery in the control of Sarah A. Graham who I suspect was his sister-in-law. The dissolution notice appeared in the November 20, 1886 edition of Paterson’s “Morning Call.”

James A. Graham then went on to establish his own brewery the following year.

… In 1887 Graham concluded to go into business for himself. For this purpose he purchased a tract of land lying on Cedar Street and running from Straight Street to Ramapo Avenue. This gave him a very desirable location, lying in the center of the city and adjoining the tracks of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad… The building is three stories high, built of brick and has a frontage of 40 feet and a depth of 100 feet…

The opening of Graham’s new brewery was announced in the April 19, 1887 edition of Paterson’s “Morning Call”

For the first time the engine in the new brewery of James A. Graham was in operation yesterday, and all the belts and wheels which go to complete the operating machinery were revolving as rapidly as those of any of our silk factories. Despite the cold breeze and drizzling rain and snow men were busy working on the huge mash tubs and at different other occupations which are necessary in the process of producing the anti-prohibitoion liquid. “Jimmy” does not intend to make any deliveries this week, but next week, his drivers expect to have a busy time rolling barrels of XXX into the cellars of hundreds of saloons.

The barrels were certainly rolling by May, 1887 at which time Graham was advertising his Standard Ales in the Passaic “Daily Herald.”

KATZ BROTHERS BURTON BREWERY

Katz Brothers, Phillip and Bernard…began brewing in July 1877, on the corner of Goodwin and Bridge Streets, where their capacity was twenty-five barrels a day. The only difficulty they experienced was that they could not supply the demand for their product. While they were contemplating the erection of a new brewery or looking for some way in which their establishment could be increased so as to meet all the demand upon it the Burton Brewery was offered for sale… In liquidation…it was purchased in 1882. Their XXX and Canada Malt Ale and other brands were in such demand wherever they had been introduced that the firm soon found it necessary to open stores in New York and other cities and their renown as brewers ceased being provincial or local and became national. From all parts of the United States came orders for Katz Brothers’ ales and porters. Having met with this almost phenomenal success in the brewing of ales and porters they concluded to undertake the brewing of lager beer…

Their move into lager beer brewing was announced in the July 27, 1887 edition of Paterson’s “Morning Call.”

A New Lager Beer Brewery

The Katz Bros. propose to go extensively into the business of lager beer brewing in the near future. Mr. Phillip Katz is now in Bohemia, where he has engaged the services of an expert brewer, and has also purchased twelve hundred bales of the Saaz Bohemia hops. The Katz Bros. have been remarkably successful in the ale brewing, having in a few years succeeded in building up a reputation for fine ales that has caused a demand and sale of nearly one hundred thousand barrels during the last twelve months. From this we may judge what the Katz Bros. will do in the brewing of lager beer.

The 1890 History of Paterson picks up the story from there.

For this purpose they erected a substantial addition to their already large establishment… Their brewery has a frontage of 200 feet on Straight Street, 300 feet on Governor Street and 300 feet on Harrison Street; it has annual capacity of 130,000 barrels.

According to a November 19, 1888 story in the “Morning Call” the company began the manufacture of lager beer on that day and by the spring of 1888 a May 17th advertisement in the “Passaic Daily News” announced that their “Bohemian Lager Beer” was “Ready for Consumption Now.”

HINCHLIFFE BREWING AND MALTING COMPANY

In 1861 Mr. John Hinchliffe leased the old “Archie” Graham brewery; having a practical knowledge of brewing he established the business under the title of Hinchliffe & Co; he subsequently associated himself with John Shaw, a fellow countryman… The lease having expired Mr. Graham recommenced business and the firm of Hinchliffe & Co. established an agency for Cox’s then celebrated ales until they could erect a suitable brewery for themselves. In 1867 the present Eagle ale and porter brewery was built; they then admitted a new member to the firm, Mr. Thomas B. Penrose, a practical brewer… and the firm name was then changed to Shaw, Hinchliffe and Penrose. In 1872 to meet the requirements of their increasing trade and to enable them to insure a constant supply of the best malt they erected the extensive malt house which stands in the rear of the property; it is a massive brick structure 150 x 75 feet, six stories high, with slated roof… The capacity of this house is over one hundred and fifty thousand bushels of malt per season.

Penrose retired in 1878, Shaw passed away in 1881 and John Hinchliffe passed away in 1886. This left the brewery in the hands of Hinchliffe’s three sons, John, William F. and James C. who on January 1, 1887 began business under the name of Hinchliffe Brothers. An announcement to that effect appeared in the May 26, 1887 edition of the Passaic “Daily Herald”

At this point the brothers decided to add a lager beer brewery to their plant.

With this end in view they consulted the well known firm of Charles Stoll & Son, brewery architects of Brooklyn, who soon had plans and specifications drawn for the largest brewery of its kind in the city and they immediately began to tear down old buildings and prepare for the new and model ones… After eight months had gone by they had completed the lager beer brewery which is shown in the engraving as taken from the front elevation of the architect’s plans.

The storage and brew-house is five stories high built of brick and iron trimmed with granite…in the rear is a three-story ice factory… These buildings and two smaller ones constitute the lager beer brewery, which is said to be the heaviest building in the city.

The capacity of brewing is about 75,000 barrels per year. The brewery is under the direct supervision of the company, which is composed of John Hinchliffe, president; William F. Hinchliffe, vice president, and James C. Hinchliffe, secretary and treasurer, who own equal shares of stock.

In 1890, all six breweries were up and running when four of the six joined together and incorporated the predecessor to the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company. Called the Paterson Consolidated Brewing Company, the reasoning behind its formation was explained in the 1890 Paterson, New Jersey publication.

During the year 1889 representatives of an English syndicate made overtures to a number of the brewers in Paterson to purchase their entire establishments for the purpose of forming a stock company and disposing of the stock in England. After long and tedious negotiations the project fell through, but it had not been without fruit. The negotiations had brought the brewers closer together and they recognized the benefits to be derived from concerted action among men having an identity of interests. The result was the formation of the Paterson Consolidated Brewing Company.

The formal announcement appeared in the March 4, 1890 edition of the “Passaic Daily News.”

A certificate of incorporation of the Paterson Consolidated Brewing Company was filed yesterday morning in the clerk’s office of Passaic County. The capital stock is fixed at $1,000,000. The action completes a combination of four out of six breweries in Paterson. The concerns in the combination are those of Katz Brothers, ale and lager beer brewers; James A. Graham, ale, and Sprattler & Mennel and C. Braun, lager beer. The two Katz brothers, Phillip and Bernard hold 5,350 shares; Christian Mennel surviving partner of Sprattler & Mennel, 1500; Christian & Louis F. Braun, 750 each and James A. Graham, 1,000. The capitalization of $1,000,000 represents only a fraction of the aggregate value of the four breweries, but the combination is a close corporation, intended for mutual benefit and not to sell stock, and the figure is therefore made nominal. The combination is the result, indirectly, of the negotiations for the sale of the Paterson breweries to the English syndicate. The deal with the Englishmen fell through, but in the numerous meetings while the negotiations were going on the brewers found the advantage of combination, and decided to take advantage of them without the aid of any foreign capital.

Four months later, the Paterson Consolidated Brewing Company announced a major expansion of the Braun Brewery. The announcement appeared in the July 30, 1890 edition of the “Passaic Daily News”

A Monster Brewery at Paterson

The Paterson Consolidated Brewing Company has decided to erect a large brewing-house to be added to the Braun Brewery. The building will be one of the finest of its kind in the State. The main structure, which is to be built of brick, with stone trimmings, will be 42 x 44 feet in dimension and five stories high. From its top will arise a malt tower, which will have a capacity of 10,000 bushels. The addition will increase the capacity of the brewery so that it will produce 150,000 barrels of lager per year.

A rendering of the improved Braun Brewery appeared in the 1890 Paterson New Jersey feature referenced at the beginning of this post.

Three years after formation of the Paterson Consolidated Brewing Company the February 3, 1893 edition of the “Passaic Daily News” announced that the Passaic Spring Brewery had also joined the fold.

THE HINCHLIFFE’S ALONE NOW

All the Rest of the Big Paterson Brewers Have Entered the Combine.

A deed of conveyance of the property of Graham & Co., proprietors of the Passaic Spring Brewery, to the Paterson Consolidated Brewing Company was recorded yesterday at the County Clerk’s office. About two years ago all the Paterson breweries, excepting the Hinchliffe Brewery and The Passaic Spring Brewery united in a corporation as the Paterson Consolidated Brewing Company. At that time an effort was made to have all unite, but the Hinchliffe brothers and Mrs. Sarah H. Graham who is practically the sole owner of the Passaic Spring Brewery, would have nothing to do with the movement. A few days ago, however, Mrs. Graham agreed to join the majority, so that all the Paterson brewers, excepting the Hinchliffes are now united.

Finally in 1899 the Hinchliffe’s agreed to join and the new combination was reorganized under the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company name. The announcement appeared in the June 23 1899 edition of Paterson’s “Evening News.”

After negotiation extending over a period of nine years the consolidation of the Consolidated Brewing Company and the Hinchliffe Brewing Company effected yesterday afternoon and the continued interests will immediately be reorganized under the name of the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company with a capital of $6,000,000.

A month later it was announced in the August 2, 1899 edition of Paterson’s “Evening News” that all the brewery properties were now owned by the new corporation.

Notice is hereby given that the brewery plants of the Paterson Consolidated Brewing Company and the brewery plant of the Hinchliffe Brewing and Malting Company have been sold and conveyed to a new corporation just formed and known as the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company…

Not long after, a June 23, 1900 “Passaic Daily News” story announced that the Passaic Spring Brewery was to be shut down.

TRUST CLOSES A BREWERY

It is Not a Temperance Measure But a Practical Economy

On July 1 the old Passaic Spring Brewery in Paterson will close its doors. This is brought about by the consolidation of all the local concerns into a brewery trust. The plant has outlived its usefulness, and could not be worked to advantage, because of its distance from the railroads. The machinery that is good for anything, with the brewers and other workmen, will be transferred to Hinchliffe’s Brewery…

Over the next 17 years or so the trust, comprised of the five breweries, not only dominated the manufacture of beer in Paterson but according to the July 14, 1908 edition of Paterson’s “Morning Call,”controlled Paterson’s saloon business as well.

Sensational in some respects were the facts brought out yesterday at the inquiry of the state excise commission into the manner in which the excise laws of the state are being observed in Passaic and Bergen Counties and particularly in this city and Passaic.

Paramount in importance was the revelation that 335 of the 494 retail liquor licenses for saloons in this city are absolutely owned and controlled by the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company. Into this phase of the excise situation the state probers delved with surprising result, showing that the brewery holds the power of attorney for nearly all the licenses issued to the men who conduct the saloons in which their beer is sold.

It was shown in Passaic as well as in this city all prosecutions for violation of the excise laws are disposed of in the police court, the police authorities having grown weary of bringing cases before the grand jury and the licensing bodies only to get rebuffed.

Another story covering the inquiry, this one in the July 14th edition of the “Passaic News” revealed that the company, though not exclusive, was heavily entrenched in Passaic as well.

Fifty-one saloons, exactly half the number in the city, are owned by brewers, but there is no exclusive brewery monopoly as there is in Paterson. Of the fifty one brewery-owned saloons in Passaic, twenty-eight are owned by the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company, seventeen by the Hygeia Brewing Company, three by Peter Hauck and three by Ballentine’s, the two latter being Newark concerns.

As late as 1917 all five of the company’s breweries were in operation as evidenced by this advertisement that appeared in the July 13th edition of Paterson’s “Evening News.”

That said, changes were on the horizon as the U. S. entered WWI and resultant government restrictions began taking their toll on the brewing industry.

The first came in the Fall of 1917 when the company made the decision to expand into the cold storage business. The announcement appeared in the November 21st edition of Paterson’s “Morning Call.”

BREWING COMPANY TO CHANGE CHARTER

The stockholders of the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company at a meeting Tuesday afternoon in the Katz building decided to change the charter of the corporation and enter in the cold storage business. Brewing will be given up at the Hinchliffe Brewery and the building will be remodeled for cold storage purposes.

Contracts for the conversion were announced the following Spring in the “Morning Call’s” April 5, 1918 edition.

Contracts were filed with County Clerk John J. Slater yesterday, made between the United Cork Companies of New York and the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company, for the alteration of the Hinchliffe Brewery at Governor Street and the Erie Railroad. It is proposed to build over the interior of the plant to make it into a cold storage plant. The contract price is $18,465.

Many of the compartments and rooms of the brewery are suited for the purpose and the alterations are mainly to make it air-tight to conform to the new business for which it is to be used. Composition floors of cork, asphalt and concrete will be installed, and alterations made to partitions, ceilings and doors. William T. Fanning is the architect.

Later that year the company announced that two of its four remaining breweries were closing. The first, announced in the July 9, 1918 edition of Paterson’s “Morning Call,” was the James A. Graham Brewery.

The James A. Graham Brewery, Straight and Cedar Streets, one of the first establishments of its kind in the city, but in recent years a part of the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company, is to cease operations. It was ordered yesterday at the plant that no more beer is to be brewed there and the brewery will practically be closed this week. Another one of the three remaining breweries is also to be closed.

“The Graham Brewery will practically be closed this week,” said Mr. Hinchliffe, “and is in fact for sale now.”

Two days later the “Morning Call” announced that the Braun Brewery was closing as well.

One more local brewery was abandoned by the directors of the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company at their meeting yesterday afternoon. It was voted to close the Braun Brothers’ Brewery on Marshall Street at once. The company had already ceased to brew beer there. It is not the intention to dismantle the plant, but rather to keep it in condition to operate again should it be deemed advisable.

The trade which was provided for at the Braun Brewery will now be divided between the Sprattler & Mennel Brewery, Marshall Street and the Katz Brothers’ Brewery, Straight and Governor Streets. No further reductions to breweries are contemplated at this time.

The reasoning for the closures was explained in the April 9th story.

The shortage of coal which all breweries in the country are facing since restrictions were placed on their output is said to be responsible for closing the plants. James C. Hinchliffe, treasurer of the consolidated company, when asked as to the reason for closing the Graham Brewery said it was because of the curtailment of fuel to breweries by the government, and that they were allowed now but fifty percent of the former supply of coal…

Since the country’s entrance into the war the output of breweries has been regulated and curtailed. A short time ago a cut of 30 percent was ordered. Now another cut has been ordered into effect July 1, which reduces the output now to fifty percent of what it formerly was in normal times.

Later, in the June 25th edition of the “Evening News” the company announced that the James A. Graham Brewery, along with the old Graham & Co. Passaic Spring Brewery that was closed years ago, were both sold.

Confirm Report Silk Men Buy Breweries

Confirmation of the exclusive report published in the News several days ago that two old breweries in this city have been sold to silk firms was given this morning by the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company.

The James A. Graham Brewey of Straight and Cedar Streets, which has been closed for several months was sold to Janowitz Brothers Silk Co. for $40,500.

The old Graham Brewery on Hamburg Avenue and Matlock Street was purchased by Jackman & Miller, silk manufacturers for $17,000. The building has been used recently by Carlock & Co. Inc., plumbers.

Shortly after the start of National Prohibition the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company got into the silk business as well when a February 24, 1920 story in Paterson’s” Evening News” announced they were refitting the old Braun Brewery for that purpose.

One of the largest and most up-to-date silk hose manufacturing plants in the State, one that will contain the most modern and complete machinery in the country, will be put into operation at the old Braun Brewery on Marshall Street, this city, within the next four or five weeks.The project, which is being furthered by the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company at a cost of approximately $800,000, will provide employment for over 200 men and women when completed.

Still in the brewing business as well, on April 7, 1920 Paterson’s “Morning Call” included both of the Paterson Brewing & Malting Company’s remaining breweries on a list of “Beer Bottler’s License Renewals.”

Later that year they introduced a “near beer,” with less than 0,5% alcohol, called “James A. Graham’s XXX Pale.” Introduced in September the brew was advertised in the local newspapers during the Fall and Winter of 1920. This advertisement featuring their labeled bottle appeared in the December 8, 1920 edition of Paterson’s “Evening News.”

Another brand, Salvator, was specifically referenced as a Sprattler & Mennel product in this December 22, 1920 “Evening News” advertisement. It was available on draught and in bottles.

Their newspaper advertisements disappear at the end of 1920 so how long the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company continued to brew “near beer” is not clear. That said, it’s quite possible that the company continued to brew the real product up until at least October of 1923, at which time Herbert Katz, then secretary/treasurer of the company, was arrested and charged with bribing federal prohibition agents. The story made national news with Patersons “Morning Call” reporting it in their October 19th edition.

HERBERT KATZ, LOCAL BREWER, STATE OFFICIAL,PASSAIC MAN, AMONG 11 TAKEN IN HUGE U.S. RUM DRIVE.

The federal government today fired a double barreled charge into wet forces alleged to be drenching New York and New Jersey with illicit liquor. With one charge federal agents, working under orders from Washington, brought down a bag of eleven alleged conspirators, rounded up in the Hotel Pennsylvania and elsewhere and alleged to have been using $80,000 to bribe prohibition agents not to stop the brewing of real beer in New Jersey, not to intervene with the converting of industrial alcohol into strong liquor and to break the flooding of New York and New Jersey with beer from rival vats in Pennsylvania…

Trap is Set

The round-up at the Hotel Pennsylvania came at the close of the day. Federal prohibition and treasury agents, on appointment made with the alleged bribers, waited in several rooms and took their guests into custody one by one as they arrived. It was stated that a regular weekly bribe of $4,500 was accepted by one of the agents before making the arrests.

The men arrested were Harry J. Foley, former secretary to Senator Edwards and when the latter was governor, and now state superintendent of weights and measurers of New Jersey; Herbert Katz, of Paterson Brewing and Malting Company; Edward Butler of the Peter Breidt Brewing Company of Elizabeth, N. J.; Herbert Muller of the Hygeia Brewing Company, Passaic N. J.; George Seeber of the Rising Sun Brewing Company, Elizabeth, N. J….

Five months later Katz was acquitted of the bribery charge. That said, according to this March 21, 1924 “Morning Call,” story even though he was acquitted of bribery that didn’t mean that he hadn’t been brewing beer in violation of the Volstead Act.

The acquittal of Major Herbert Katz, the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company, and J. Harry Foley, superintendent of weights and measures for New Jersey, after a trial on charges of having bribed prohibition agents to permit them to manufacture and sell beer containing a larger percentage of alcohol than the law permits will probably come as a surprise to many, especially in view of the fact that Mr. Katz admitted having paid bribes to agents of the government.

Acquittal was undoubtedly due to the charge of the trial judge, who told the jury that if they believed the statements of the defendants that the government agents had deliberately sought to make criminals out of innocent men, and to that end had solicited bribes from the defendants, then the latter should be acquitted.

According to the judge, the defendants were not on trial on charges of having violated the prohibition law, but that the charge against them was bribery. It is evident, then, that the jurors believed that the defendants had been solicited for bribes, and on the basis of the judge’s instruction on this point the verdict should be no surprise.

The mistake made by the government was in trying to catch violators of the prohibition law in the act of bribery, instead of going about the business for which its agents are appointed, the detection and arrest of violators of the law…

Not long after Katz’s acquittal a May 2, 1924 story in Paterson’s “Morning Call” announced that the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company had abandoned the business of brewing altogether.

TWO PATERSON BREWERIES LEASED

Sprattler & Mennel Plant and Katz Building in Control of New Corporations.

Coupled with the filing in County Clerk John McCutcheon’s office yesterday morning of certificates of incorporation by the Paramount Malting and Beverage Company and the Hazel Brewing Company came the announcement that the Paterson Brewing and Malting Company will no longer engage in the brewery business and has leased to the newly organized concerns the old Katz Brewery at Governor and Straight Streets and the old Sprattler and Mennel Brewery at 236-248 Marshall Street, respectively.

The Paramount and Hazel corporations were organized, their certificates state, for the manufacture and sale of near beer and near ale, etc. Each has an authorized capitalization of $50,000…

Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly, less than three months later both breweries had been seized by prohibition agents. According to a July 10, 1924 story in the “Evening News:”

Prohibition agents, working under the direction of R. Q. Merrick, divisional prohibition chief raided the plant of the Hazel Brewing Company, on Marshall Street yesterday and seized beers and equipment said to be valued at $200,000. This marks the second raid to be conducted on breweries here during the past few months. A short time ago the Paramount Brewing Company plant , at Straight and Governor Streets, was seized by Director Adrian Chamberlain…

The bottle I found has a a crown finish and is embossed with the “Paterson Brewing and Malting Company” name. Machine made it likely dates to the latter half of the company’s history say 1910 – 1921. Also embossed on the bottle are the initials “H – K.”

While I can’t be certain, I suspect the letters H – K refer to the breweries of Hinchliffe (H) and Katz (K). According to this 1899 Sanborn Map the breweries were located adjacent to each other on either side of Straight Street, so it’s certainly within the realm of possibility that they shared a bottling department.

If Im right then the bottle likely dates no later than 1917 when the Hinchliffe Brewery was repurposed for cold storage.

On a final note, a portion of the Hinchliffe Brewery remains to this day.

While just a shell of its former self, today’s version still maintains a resemblance to the 1890 engraving prepared by architects Charles Stoll & Son.

Will J. Fox, Oyster Bay, N.Y.

William J. Fox was the proprietor of an Oyster Bay, Long Island hotel and saloon called the Trout Pond Inn during much of the early 1900’s. Originally called the Franklin House or sometimes Franklin’s Hotel it was named after a man named John A. Franklin who was typically referred to as “Capt.” in the local newspapers. The reasoning for this was explained in his July 12, 1907 obituary published in a newspaper called the “Long Islander.”

He was a veteran of the Civil War, having fought in the Third Missouri Cavalry and was honorably discharged.

After the war, 1880 census records listed his occupation as “oysterman” so it’s likely he started his hotel sometime after 1880. That said, it was certainly up and running in the summer of 1895 when a June 15th “Long Islander” story announced:

John A. Franklin, a hotel keeper, had wells driven 54 and 156 feet deep. He conducts a part of the water into his cellar for refrigeration purposes.

Another story, this one in the October 25, 1895 edition of the “Long Islander” made it clear that his submerged beer kegs shared the space with a large number of speckled trout.

John A. Franklin of Oyster Bay, has a tank in his cellar in which he cools his beer kegs. In the tank are about 100 speckled trout. It is said the largest weighs over six pounds.

The May 1902 Sanborn Map located what I suspect was Franklin’s hotel “D” and Saloon “Sal” near the Oyster Bay waterfront at the corner of Bay Street and what would later become Bayles Place.

As far as I can tell, Franklin continued to serve as proprietor of the hotel and saloon until his death in 1907. At this point, William Fox, who census records suggest had married Franklin’s daughter Mary Anna in 1898, assumed the proprietorship. As early as 1908 Fox was listed as the hotel’s liquor tax certificate holder in the New York State Department of Excise Directory.

By that time, the February 1909 Sanborn Map officially referenced the saloon as the Trout Pond Cafe. The map also indicated that a mineral water works under the management of a man named Geo. Caspari had been established adjacent to the cafe.

This close-up view of the hotel, cafe and mineral water works suggests they all shared a common driveway and backyard.

Sometime in the early teens Fox also became proprietor of the bottling business which, by 1915 was labeled as the Oyster Bay Bottling Works on the Sanborn Map.

Fox’s business card reflecting the change appeared as part of a June 17, 1916 feature on Oyster Bay published in the “Brooklyn Daily Times.”

Fox continued to be listed as the hotel’s liquor tax certificate holder up through the start of prohibition and a May 2, 1920 story in the “Brooklyn Daily Times” suggests he wasn’t adverse to selling liquor even after the 18th Amendment was enacted.

William J. Fox, a saloon owner, and Stanley Kessler, a bartender, of Oyster Bay, were charged with violation of the prohibition law and held by Commissioner McGoldrick for examination. Fox’s bail was fixed at $1,000 and Kessler’s at $500.

How long Fox remained proprietor of the Trout Pond Hotel is not clear. According to 1930 census records he was still living on Bay Street in Oyster Bay but at that point listed his occupation as none. This March 1, 1926 item published in the “Brooklyn Eagle” suggests he may have given up proprietorship of the business by that time.

The caption below the photo reads:

Mr. and Mrs. William J. Fox of Oyster Bay, stopping for a brief rest beside the great pyramid at Cairo, Egypt. The couple are enjoying a tour of the world on the Canadian Pacific S. S. Empress of Scotland.

In 1940, still living on Bay Street he was working on account as a barkeeper (just staying busy?)

The “Brooklyn Eagle” reported that Fox passed away in May, 1940, leaving his entire estate to his wife Mary. The story appeared that year in their June 29th edition.

William J Fox owner of the Trout Pond Inn at Oyster Bay for many years, who died in that village May 24, left an estate of more that $11,000, according to his will dated Nov. 19, 1925 and filed here for probate yesterday with Surrogate Leon D. Howell. The entire estate was left to the widow, Mary Anna Fox. She is the executrix.

This undated photograph appeared in a feature on Oyster Bay found in the October 13, 1994 edition of a newspaper called the “Glen Cove Record Pilot.” As far as I can tell right to left are the hotel, cafe, driveway and former bottling works.

Today’s view, courtesy of Google Maps, is not all that different.

The bottle I found is a 7-ounce tooled crown. It likely dates to around the time when Fox became proprietor of the mineral water works, sometime in the early teens.

On a final note, this story appeared in the January 13, 1919 edition of the “Evening World.” While it exaggerates the age of the Trout Pond Hotel it’s certainly not the only exaggeration the story contains. That said, it’s certainly worth a read!

Out at Oyster Bay, set among a cluster of antique dwellings on the sands of the beach itself, is one of the oldest inns on Long Island. It is also one of the most remarkable.

Over the door swings a sign which tells the close observer that the place is the Trout Pond Inn. The sign starts to tell you when the inn was established, but it gets no further than “18” – the century is distinguishable but the year has long faded into a weather beaten blurr.

William Fox, the present proprietor has been there for more than 30 years and his predecessor was there longer than that.

If you happen to be the kind of a person he likes he’ll tell you who put the trout pond in the Trout Pond Inn..

Bill consented to show the writer the trout pond, although he said he didn’t like to at that particular time, because there had been an accident a few days ago from which the fish had not yet recovered. However he led the way to a dark cavern underneath the bar, where the sound of running water could be heard.

Suddenly Bill flashed on a string of electric lights and revealed a concrete lined, circular cave, at the bottom of which was a glistening pool of clear sparkling artesian well water.

Submerged in the pool were several beer and ale kegs attached to the spigots on the bar by long metal tubes.

Around the kegs cavorted a dozen huge trout. The smallest Bill said, weighed considerably more than six pounds and several tipped the scales at better than eight. “Tipping the scales”is one of Bill’s standard jokes.

Just then Bill dropped down among the group and brought up a glass of water that was clear as crystal. As he held it up against one of the electric light bulbs the water shone like liquid diamonds.

“See them trout?” he added. “Well there ain’t one that has been in that pool for less than ten years. Now, there’s Jesse, for instance. She’s hidin’ behind the beer barrel ’cause she’s sort of shy with strangers.”

“Jessie ain’t as spry as once she was,” declared Bill. “She is close onto eleven years old now, and I guess she’ll be passin’ out soon. Her father, a trout called Old Bill, whose remains are stuffed and hanging up behind the bar, lived in this pool for twelve years and three months. At that age he died a natural death. This part of Oyster Bay went into mourning when old Bill died. He was the most gentle souled, affectionate trout I ever see. He’d come when I called him and eat out of my hand.”

“All the fish you see here are Old Bill’s children. When Old Bill died he was twenty-five inches long and weighed just a trifle over nine pounds, which is some proportions for a trout.”

“Now you see them small kegs under the water, right next to the ale kegs? Well, they got sherry in ’em.

You wouldn’t believe it, but when I opened up here the other morning I heard a great splashing down in this pool and I hustled right down to see what the matter was. The trout were racing around, chasing each other in all directions and making general fools of themselves.

One of them was lying on the surface upside down and I thought at first he was dead. I couldn’t understand what had happened until I noticed a queer odor of sherry in the pool. Then I noticed that one of the sherry casks had sprung a leak and I knew in a minute that all those fish were plum intoxicated.

The one lying on the surface was sleeping his jag off. The rest were simply having a wild cabaret. I let a lot of fresh well water into the pool and after a while they began to sober up. Most of ’em had had headaches for a long while after.

Germania Brewing Co., Philadelphia

The Germania Brewing Company was one of many interests of John F Betz who, according to an 1896 publication called “America’s Most Successful Men of Affairs,” was said to be the richest brewer in America at the time.

In Philadelphia, around the turn of the century he was serving as chairman and largest stockholder of John F. Betz & Son, a $2,000,000 brewery that manufactured over 300,000 barrels of beer a year. That said, it was his interest in another Philadelphia brewery, the Germania Brewery, that serves as the subject of this post.

The story begins, not with Betz, but with German born Phillip J. Lauber who, arrived in Philadelphia in 1849. A restauranteur, according to his April 10, 1887 “Philadelphia Times” obituary:

In 1852 he went to Fifth Street, above Chestnut, where he started a restaurant in a small way, and for twenty-five years his place continued to grow and got to be the most popular restaurant downtown.

Lauber’s Fifth Street restaurant was still listed in the Philadelphia directories as late as the mid-1880’s, and by 1876 he had also opened a restaurant on the grounds of Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition. Quite substantial, it was listed and described in the Centennial’s “Official Catalog” under the heading “Special Buildings.”

In 1881 Lauder entered the brewing business when he established a brewery on Broad Street in Philadelphia. At around the time the brewery opened it was described like this in an April 29, 1881 story published in the “Philadelphia Inquirer.”

LAUBER’S LABOR

Completion of the Large Brewery for Producing Bohemian Beer

Mr. Phil. J. Lauber’s new brewery, on Broad Street above Columbia Avenue, is one of the most complete establishments of the kind in the country. Every portion of the structure, down to the minutest detail, has been arranged for the purpose of brewing what is known as Bohemian beer. It is very light in color, and produced exclusively from the finest imported Bohemian hops and from malt prepared on the premises by native Bohemians. The buildings are set back seventy feet from the street, and are of the old German style of architecture, the design of H. J. Schwarzmann, the well known architect…

A spacious two-story building, of seventy-five feet front on Broad Street, by forty feet deep, has been erected in front of the brewery, and will be fitted up by Mr. Lauber as a restaurant.

Right from the start the brewery, first listed in Philadelphia’s 1882 directory, was putting a financial burden on Lauber’s entire operation. Lauber himself explained some of the issues he was facing in this September 27, 1882 item published in the “Philadelphia North American” and reprinted in the “Harrisburg Telegraph.”

There were rumors current yesterday afternoon that Phillip J. Lauber, the pioneer manufacturer of Bohemian beer in this country, and proprietor of numerous restaurants in different sections of this city, has failed for an amount that was estimated all the way from $60,000 to $1,000,000. After considerable searching a representative of the “North American” found Mr. Lauder last evening, and from him received a statement of his affairs. “You know,” said Mr. Lauber, “that some time ago I began the construction of a brewery on North Broad Street for the manufacture of a perfectly pure beer, something that the masses could drink without fear of being poisoned. The plant of the brewery cost me far more than I anticipated; in fact when I had received the bills I found the amount I had expected to spend nearly doubled. Business this year has not been up to my expectations, and several notes which I had out, for comparatively small sums, however, went to protest yesterday… The trouble is but temporary, and I shall pay dollar for dollar. I may ask an extension, but that is all. No man will lose a cent that I owe him. The North Broad Street property is not by any means all that I own, and every note or other outstanding obligation will be met in full. The business at the different branches will continue as usual; and all I ask is time. My property is amply sufficient for all claims and everything will be settled in full.”

Despite Lauber’s optimism, the brewery ultimately failed, resulting in the failure of his restaurant business as well. The public auction of the brewery property was summarized in the September 24, 1884 edition of the Allentown (Pa) “Morning Call.”

The effects of Lauber’s Brewery, restaurant and garden, at Broad Street and Columbia Avenue, Philadelphia, were offered at public sale, but as the bidding did not exceed $96,500 the property was withdrawn. Several hundred barrels of beer were disposed of at prices ranging from eight cents to $1.50 per barrel. One lot of ten barrels was sacrificed at ten cents.

A year and a half later an item in the February 17,1886 edition of the “Philadelphia Inquirer” announced the brewery property had been acquired by Betz and a man named Emil Schoenberg.

The Lauber Brewery, Broad Street above Columbia Avenue has been purchased by John F. Betz & Son and Emil Schoenberg.

Less than four months later the June 1st edition of the “German & American Brewers Journal” announced that construction of a new brewery on the site was underway.

Messrs Betz & Schoenberg in Philadelphia began last month the erection of their new brewery. It will be on the site of the former Lauber Brewery on Broad Street, above Columbia Avenue. The buildings will cost $125,000. Otto C. Wolf is the architect.

Later that year the brewery business was incorporated under the Germania Brewing Company name, with the incorporation notice appearing in the December 9, 1886 edition of the “Harrisburg Daily Independent.”

At the start, Emil Schoenberg was named president with John F. Betz, treasurer of the newly formed corporation. Soon after management of the corporation would change when Schoenberg, accused of fleecing Betz and other businessmen out of large sums of money, fled Philadelphia and headed west. The back story was summarized years later in the September 23, 1890 edition of the “Philadelphia Times.” Written at the time of Schoenberg’s death the summary read in part:

Schoenberg’s real character was only partially known to those who had favored him with their confidence at the time when he decamped from the city for the far West…

Schoenberg made the acquaintance of John F. Betz and others soon after he came to the city in 1881. He so ingratiated himself into their confidences as to win both their esteem and friendship. He was supposed to be wealthy, for he spent money lavishly. By his captivating manner he soon became closely related in a business way with Mr. Betz.

In fact, he was looked on as the brewer’s right-hand man in acquiring possession of the property on North Broad Street on which the plant of the Germania Brewing Company was built. He was soon after made president of the company by becoming a holder of its stock in the amount of $125,000…

In the summer of 1887 the startling announcement was made that Schoenberg had absconded, leaving an indebtedness of $300,000. To balance this indebtedness the only assets that could be found were his handsome residence and $125,000 of Germania Brewing Company stock, a portion of which was collateral placed with Mr. Betz, who subsequently made a deed of trust for the benefit of his creditors. At the time Schoenberg was supposed to be worth at least half a million, and his sudden flight was the sensation of the day.

When the Germania Brewing Company was started Schoenberg took $125,000 worth of the stock, and borrowed money from several banks in this city, giving as security a variety of paper which was then thought to be perfectly good. It was afterwards charged that some of the signatures upon some of the paper were placed there by others than the rightly persons. Soon after Schoenberg left the city an investigation showed that other interested parties claimed that he had used their names without their consent.

After Schoenberg’s departure, an August 9, 1887 story in the “Philadelphia Inquirer” announced that Edwin F. Poulterer had been elected as the new president of the Germania Brewing Company.

Around the same time this was all unfolding, a June 10, 1887 “Philadelphia Times” story announced that construction of the brewery was nearing completion. The story suggests that not much, if any, of Lauber’s original brewery was retained.

Among the most prominent structures…is that of the Germania Brewing Company, Broad and Columbia Avenue now nearing completion. The main building is 70×150 and five stories high. The walls and ceilings are laid with glazed brick, interspersed with terra cotta and copper on the outside walls. Light and ventilation are secured by an immense dome of glass and copper. In front on Broad Street a handsome office is being arranged, and at Carlisle Street and Montgomery Avenue a large building, 34 x 146-1/2, five stories high, is about finished.. This will be used as a bottling house and stable. Roadhouse & Atkinson are the contractors

The “immense dome of glass and copper” referenced in the above story is clearly visible in this early 1900’s photograph of the brewery. The photo was included in a book featuring architect Otto C. Wolf’s work, compiled and arranged by G.M.S. Armstrong and found on the the National Brewing Museum’s website.

One week later a reception described in the June 19, 1887 edition of the “Philadelphia Times” suggests the brewery was close to opening.

VISITING A BREWERY

The Proprietors of the Germania Brewing Company Entertain Friends.

The Germania Brewing Company entertained a large number of friends at their elegant new brewery, Broad Street, near Columbia Avenue, yesterday afternoon. After an elaborate lunch about one hundred guests proceeded to investigate the establishment and learn how beer is made. Everything that science has invented has been utilized by the firm and money has been a secondary consideration in fitting out the establishment. All the details were shown, also the large copper vat capable of producing 325 barrels twice a day.

One of the most interesting features of the afternoon was the visit to the fermenting room where twenty large vats, holding 350 barrels each, were in a room twenty degrees below zero, the sudden transition from extreme heat to extreme cold being very enjoyable. After a thorough sampling of the products the guests were shown over the whole establishment, from the large and elegant theatre to the stable full of fine Norman horses.

Initially, the brewery produced two types of beer, a Munich (dark) and a Vienna (light) both of which began appearing in “Philadelphia Times” advertisements in August and September of 1887.

Around the same time another advertisement for their beers was published in the Official Program of the “Centennial Celebration of the Framing of the Constitution of the United States,” held in Philadelphia on September 15th through the 17th of 1887.

The ad included this sales pitch for their bottling department.

The Bottling Company at the brewery are making a specialty of serving the family trade with their export beer in corked bottles, which they guarantee to keep a year. The beer is absolutely free from any deleterious compounds; it has not been aged by artificial means, and is brewed from the very best malt and imported hops, thus enabling them to offer the public a pure, healthful and strengthening beverage for table use. A trial will convince you of its superiority.

By the early 1890’s, according to a story in the June 6, 1892 edition of the “Philadelphia Times,” the brewery was turning out “over 40,000 barrels a year, principally for bottling.”

The company continued to operate under the Germania Brewing Company’s corporate charter until 1893. At this point, with John F. Betz now serving as president, and his son, John F. Betz, Jr., serving as treasurer they requested the corporate charter be dissolved.

The story read:

A petition has been filed in Common Pleas Court by the Germania Brewing Company asking that the charter of the corporation be vacated and dissolved. The petition is signed by John F. Betz, the president, and attested by John F. Betz, Jr., the treasurer of the company, and sets out that at a meeting of the stockholders it was unanimously agreed that the company apply to the court for a decree of dissolution.

In conclusion it is stated that the court may make the decree without prejudice to any one, that notice of the petition has been duly advertised and that the company has paid all the taxes due by it to the city and Commonwealth….

The decree dissolving the charter was made later that month at which time the entire operation passed into the hands of John F. Betz who both owned and operated it for the next eight years. Then in 1901, while maintaining ownership of the brewery, Betz filed an application to transfer his operating license to the Henry Hess Brewing Company. The story appeared in the March 28, 1901 edition of the “Philadelphia Times.”

Brewer Betz Wants a Transfer

John F.Betz, doing business as the Germania Brewing Company, yesterday filed an application in the Quarter Sessions Court asking for a transfer of his license at No. 1716 North Broad Street to the Henry Hess Brewing Company, E.R. Watson, treasurer. Mr. Betz desires to retire from the business.

The Henry Hess Brewing Company had been organized a month earlier for the purpose of operating the brewery, its incorporation notice appearing in the February 7, 1901 edition of the “York (Pa) Daily.”

The official transfer of the business was reported in the April 20, 1901 edition of the “American Brewers Review.”

John F Betz’s ownership of the brewery continued until 1907 when, according to a December 14th story published in West Chester Pennsylvania’s “Daily Local News,” he gifted it to his grandson, John F. Betz, 3d.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT VALUED AT $300,000

John F. Betz Gives Germania Brewery to His Grandson, John F. Betz, 3d

Probably the top-record Christmas present in Philadelphia is that made yesterday by John F. Betz to his grandson, John F. Betz 3d, to whom he turned over a completely equipped brewery, valued at $300,000 or more. The gift is in the form of the Germania Brewery, the consideration of the transfer being “$1, and natural love and affection.” The beer making establishment is located on the west side of Broad Street, just south of the Grand Opera House, another property owned by John F. Betz… It is now occupied by the Henry Hess Brewing Company.

The Henry Hess Brewing Company continued to operate the brewery for the rest of the decade and was still listed at the brewery’s North Broad Street address in Philadelphia’s 1911 directory.

Around this time the Hess company apparently moved to 844 N. Orianna Street where it was listed in the 1912 directory. The following year, the Henry Hess Brewing Company was still listed on N. Orianna Street when they changed their name to the Premier Brewing Company. The name change is reflected in the 1913 Philadelphia directory.

On January 18, 1914, two years after the Hess Brewing Company left, it was announced that John F. Betz, 3d had sold the North Broad Street property closing out its 30 plus year history as a brewery. The announcement appeared in the January 18, 1914 edition of the “Philadelphia Inquirer.”

John F. Betz, 3d, has sold to Harry A. Mankin, representing G. Stevenson, the old Germania Brewery, at 1716-1720 North Broad Street, for $200,000, all of which is retained on a purchase money mortgage. The assessed valuation is $130,000. The site will be improved by the erection of a nine-story reinforced concrete apartment house with stores on the first floor. The new structure will cost $300,000. The plant occupies a lot with a frontage of 85 feet by 190 feet, the rear part of it continuing northward in a narrow strip that fronts on Montgomery Avenue.

The brewery was erected about thirty years ago by the late Phillip J. Lauber. Subsequently it was purchased by John F. Betz, who, a year prior to his death gave it as a Christmas present to his grandson John F. Betz, 3d. Later and until two two years ago the plant was occupied by the Henry Hess Brewing Company

The champagne style bottle I found, was blown in a mold with a tooled blob finish. Its embossing incudes the Germania Brewing Company name that was established in 1886 when the business incorporated. Although the corporation was dissolved in 1893, the brewery was still using the Germania Brewing Company name on their license as late as 1901 when it was transferred to the Hess Brewing Company. This likely dates the bottle sometime between 1887 when the brewery opened under that name and 1901.

Sterling Bottling Works, D. C. Petty, Greenport N.Y.

The Sterling Bottling Works operated in Greenport Long Island from 1897 up through 1920. During this time the company exhibited two different spellings of the word Sterling on their embossed bottles. Some like the subject bottle spelled it “Sterling” while others, like the one pictured below spelled it “Stirling.”

Recognizing that both versions were embossed on bottles of similar age, type and design it appears that both were generally accepted at the time.

The company’s initial proprietor was a man named David C. Petty who was born in Good Ground (Hampton Bays) Long Island in the mid-1850’s. The son of a bayman, according to census records, Petty was still living in Good Ground (Hampton Bays) with the occupation “fisherman.” in 1880. Not long after he would find himself in Greenport, Long Island where he managed several different business enterprises up until his death in 1914. This likeness of him accompanied his December 22, 1914 obituary found in the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle.”

Another obituary, this one in a local newspaper called the “Suffolk Weekly Times,” described Petty like this:

The deceased was a familiar figure in the business life of this village. He was a large man, with a heart of the same size. He was a cheerful giver and during the long winter months made many firesides happy with the necessities of life.

As far as I can tell, Petty’s presence in Greenport got its start when he acquired the Greenport grocery business of Clark H. Raynor. A story in the May 4, 1878 edition of the “Suffolk Weekly Times” announced that Raynor had started his business at around that time.

Mr. Clark H. Raynor opened his new store on Front St., near First, on May 1st, with an extensive assortment of Fancy Groceries. In connection with the grocery business, he will keep an Ice Cream Saloon and lunch room in the rooms adjoining the store.

Five years later an October 6, 1883 item published in the “Suffolk Weekly Times” reported that Petty had purchased the Raynor business and the following Spring another “Suffolk Weekly Times” item, this one in their April 26, 1884 edition, announced that he was opening for business at that time.

David C. Petty having purchased of Mrs. C. H. Raynor the Bakery, Ice Cream Saloon and Restaurant, No. 30 Front St., Greenport, will take possession on May 1st, and will open it to the public with a new stock of Confectionery, Fruit, Cigars, etc. Fresh Bread, Pies, Cakes, etc., every day. Ice Cream, in its season, by the plate, quart or gallon.

A Sanborn Insurance map, dated December, 1890, located what is almost certainly the saloon, bakery and restaurant on the northwest corner of Front and First Streets.

In 1887 a series of D. C. Petty advertisements published in the “Long Island Traveler” made it clear that by then Petty had added “Mineral Waters of All Kinds” to his menu. At this point, whether he was simply selling them or manufacturing and bottling them as well is not clear.

By the mid-1890’s Petty, apparently no longer involved in the Front Street operation, took over the Greenport mineral water business of John Lellmann. The announcement appeared in the April 16, 1897 edition of the “Long Island Traveler.”

The Greenport Bottling Works which for years was carried on by John Lellman is now being put in order and will be run by D. C. Petty

More on Lellmann and his bottling works prior Petty’s involvement can be found in another post on this site. John Lellmann.

An 1897 Sanborn map located Lellmann’s mineral water busines at the south end of the block bounded by Main, Centre, First and South Streets (lower right-hand quadrant).

This close-up shows it was set back from Main Street with access to the street via an alley.

As early as 1898 New York State’s Factory Inspection Report was referring to Petty’s mineral water business as the Sterling Bottling Works. That year, the company employed 4 male employees all working a 60 hour week.

Around the same time it was announced that the Brooklyn brewer, William Ulmer, who apparently owned much if not all of that block, was planning to build an ice plant there. The January 19, 1899 edition of the “Brooklyn Times Union” made the announcement.

AN ARTIFICIAL ICE PLANT

Greenport – It has now been positively decided that an artificial ice plant will be constructed at this village by William Ulmer. It is to be erected in the rear of Mr. Ulmer’s property situated on Main Street and known as the Greenport Bottling Works. The buildings on this piece of property have been torn down to make room for the new plant. Bids have been asked for and work will commence as soon as the contract is awarded.

The ice plant, with Petty serving as manager, opened in the Spring of 1900, with the initial advertisement appearing in the June 30, 1900 edition of the “Suffolk Daily Times.”

A 1902 Sanborn map located the ice plant directly adjacent to Petty’s bottling works.

By then Petty was also managing the “Ye Tavern,” which was likely located within the same block. It could possibly be the saloon shown on the above map that fronts on Main Street and is located adjacent to the alley access to the bottling works.

So as the dust settled, with Ulmer’s ice plant, the mineral water bottling operation and tavern all under Petty’s management its not much of a stretch to conclude that at some point he began bottling Ulmer’s product. This had likely occurred by 1909 when that year’s Sanborn map, shown below, now included a building labeled “Beer Storage” in the bottling works/ice house footprint.

This conclusion is further supported by this photo of a D. C. Petty delivery wagon that both advertised and apparently delivered Ulmer’s Cabinet Beer. The photo is part of the Hartley Collection of the Southhold Historical Society.

Petty continued to manage all three businesses until he passed away in December 1914 after which they were acquired by John J. Burns. The ownership change was reported in the March 27, 1915 edition of the “Suffolk Weekly Times.”

John J. Burns has bought the entire business interests of the late David C. Petty in “Ye Tavern,” the Hygeia Ice Works and the Hygeia Bottling Works and has taken possession of the big business. Mr. Burns has a force of men at work this week making important changes and improvements including better accommodations in the horse stables, new machinery in the bottling works and enlargement of the office with an outside entrance. Mr. Burns’ friends wish him every success in the enterprise.

The 1917 Sanborn map confirmed the ownership change, listing the bottling works under the Burns name.

Burns ran the operation for several years before ultimately putting the ice plant and bottling works up for sale in December, 1918. This item announcing the sale appeared in the December 20th edition of the “Suffolk Weekly Times.”

John J. Burns has decided to dispose of the Hygeia Ice Works and the Stirling Bottling Works and offers the business for sale. It is one of the substantial business properties of the place and should meet with a ready buyer.

The following January classified advertisements began appearing in the “Suffolk Weekly Times.”

It took took a year or so but the ice plant and bottling works were ultimately sold to F. E. Barth, another long time Greenport businessman and bottler. The announcement appeared in the April 23, 1920 edition of the “Suffolk Weekly Times.”

F. E. Barth has purchased the Hygeia Ice Plant, which hereafter will be known as the Greenport Ice Co. Many modern improvements are being made in the plant and patrons will be given the best ice service ever had in Greenport. The mineral water department is also being enlarged and many improvements made that will meet any demand in this branch of the business. The plant will be under the management of Frank L. Barth.

Operating as the Mineral Water Department of the Greenport Ice Company they continued to manufacture and bottle mineral water for a time as evidenced by this bottle that was recently offered for sale on the Internet. Its embossed:

GREEENPORT HYGEIA ICE CO.

DISTILLED WATER USED

409 MAIN ST.

GREENPOINT L.I.

Its not clear when exactly the company ceased the manufacture of mineral water however, as late as the 1950’s, the company was still in the beverage business serving as a local distributor for both Hamms and Schmidt’s Beer. This Hamm’s Beer ad appeared in the May 4, 1950 edition of “The (Riverhead) County Review.”

The subject bottle is a Hutchinson-style bottle that includes D. C. Petty’s name in its embossing. This dates it between 1897 and 1914 when Petty was associated with the business.

India Wharf Brewing Co., Brooklyn, N.Y.

The India Wharf Brewing Company operated a brewery complex along the Brooklyn, New York waterfront for almost 30 years, from 1889 until approximately 1918, manufacturing both lager beer and ales. This 1914 newspaper advertisement touting their India Pale Ale appeared in several January and February editions of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle.”

The August 20, 1889 edition of “The Brooklyn Citizen” announced the incorporation of the business under the headline, BEER FOR BROOKLYN.”

The India Wharf Brewing Company of Brooklyn, which was incorporated yesterday at Albany with a capital of $1,000,000 is entirely a new interest in the brewing trade of the city. The company is composed of capitalists, or their representatives, mainly residents of this city (Brooklyn) and New York. The following are trustees of the new company:

Uriah Hermann, Louis B. Schramm, Alfred F. Britton, W.H. Thatchener, Wm. M. Wilcox, Thomas H. Bennis, Michael Dillon.

The new company, it is said, has secured the option on the Atlantic Sugar Refinery on Hamilton Avenue, near India Wharf, hence the name. It is intended to refit this large establishment, so as to provide for the manufacture of all kinds of malt liquors….

The story went on to say that the driving force behind the syndicate was a man named Juan Ceballos

Mr. J. M. Ceballos, of the firm of J. M. Ceballos & Co. of No. 80 Wall Street, New York, has, been one of the principal movers in the new enterprise.

It was the Ceballos connection that not only served as a catalyst for the brewery’s formation, but for its location on the Brooklyn waterfront as well. The October 12, 1906 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” tells the story.

Juan M. Ceballos is well known in South Brooklyn because of his connection with the India Wharf Brewery, which he established several years ago. The concern is intimately connected with the troubles in Cuba. Some forty-years ago a Señor Aldama, a Cuban sugar planter of great wealth, purchased nearly all the long block on Hamilton Avenue fronting the Atlantic Basin, between Conover Street and the ferry… On this he had erected the big structure now known as the India Wharf Brewery. Aldama fitted this out for a sugar refinery. The most elaborate machinery then known to sugar refiners was installed, but no fire was ever lit in the refinery. War broke out in Cuba and Señor Aldama, an ardent patriot, sided with the Cubans. When Spain finally crushed the insurrection Aldama was a ruined man and his great estate was confiscated. It is said that he spent $16,000,000 in the struggle. This ended the sugar refining project; the copper pans, machinery and appliances that cost a vast sum were sold as junk. J.M. Ceballos’ father held a heavy mortgage on the property; he finally foreclosed it and so the property passed into his hands.

For years it was a veritable white elephant of the costliest kind. Part of the India Wharf was used to manufacture sugar from molasses by outside parties, but this was abandoned. The whole place was then practically idle with the exception of two saloons, the middle pier house and another on the corner of Conover Street… Much of the Hamilton Avenue side consisted of vacant lots. Figuring out what could be done with the costly property the present Mr. Ceballos thought of the brewery, and formed the India Wharf Brewing Company. His original idea was to manufacture a beer that would replace ale in Cuba and South America… The brewery proved an immense success from the commencement, even though it failed to replace ale in the tropics.

According to a September 25 1890 “Brooklyn Times Union” story the brewery began actual operations sometime in late June, 1890, and by the end of the year they were selling their product in both kegs and bottles as evidenced by their bottling notice that began appearing in several Brooklyn newspapers beginning in late December.

A feature published in the June 15, 1895 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” provided this late 19th century snapshot of the business.

The plant takes up in all two city blocks with offices at 60 Hamilton Avenue. It was formerly the site of a sugar factory. Here is manufactured a pale and a dark lager, also at present an East India, a stock ale and a porter, sold in New York State, New England and New Jersey, there being many valuable customers in New York City and Brooklyn.

This turn of the century depiction of the brewery appeared in an 1899 advertisement that was recently offered for sale on e-bay.

The 1895 “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” feature went on to say that the company’s sales had almost doubled during their first four years in business.

The sales were 67,000 barrels in 1890 and for the fiscal year ending July 1, 1894, we are informed 127,000 barrels. These sales are phenomenal, and the company has passed competitors, one by one, until it is now third in sales in Brooklyn.

By 1906 that number had grown to as high as 175,000 barrels.

Up to this point the brewmaster was Leonhard Michel who had spent 20 years as chief brewer with the Yuengling brewery prior to joining India Wharf as both an investor and brewmaster. He remained in that capacity until 1906 when he and Ceballos apparently had a falling out and Michel went on to start his own brewery. The move made headlines in the February 26, 1906 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle.”

John Michel, Leonhard’s son, was interviewed for the story.

When asked about the rumored rupture in the India Wharf Brewing Company he said it was quite true.

“My father sold his interests to the company,” he said, “and is now starting to build a brewery…

“What was the trouble in the India Wharf Brewing Company that made him leave?”

‘Well he didn’t like some things connected with the business, so he sold out his interests to the company…”

“Does J.M. Ceballos retain his interest in the concern?”

“He does. He turned over the real estate to the company and the latter now owns the property…

Michel’s new brewery opened in the Spring of 1907 with the announcement appearing in the March 17th edition of “The Brooklyn Citizen.”

Both the India Wharf and Michel breweries continued on quite successfully up until the eve of Prohibition with the 1914 version of the India Wharf Brewery pictured in this India Pale Ale advertisement found in the January 25, 1914 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle.”

It was also in 1914 that the India Wharf Brewery added an ice plant to their operation. The announcement appeared in the January 14, 1907 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle.”

TO ERECT ICE PLANT

India Wharf Brewery to Manufacture Artificial Ice

The India Wharf Brewing Company is about to start the erection of an ice plant on property adjacent to the main building of the brewery, which will have a capacity of 300 tons a day with additional storage facilities. The new undertaking of the company was fully approved by the stockholders of the company at a meeting which was held yesterday at the office of the company. It is expected that this new addition will be ready for the summer ice trade and the contracts for the construction of the building call for the building being ready by May 15.

The plant is situated in an excellent manufacturing vicinity and has all of the conveniences that are necessary for the carrying on of their business. They have an excellent water frontage as well as an abundance of freight railroad facilities…

As far as I can tell by 1918 the rationing of fuel as a result of World War I, not to mention looming prohibition, was taking its toll on the brewing industry. In response, according to a September 8, 1918 “Brooklyn Times Union” story,

…several brewers have combined and reduced the cost of operation by closing one or several plants.

From other sources it was learned that the Ulmer and Schaefer breweries, Fallert’s and Huber’s, Stevenson’s and the Loewers, the India Wharf and the Lion brewery, respectively, have been combined.

Another “Brooklyn Daily Eagle story” this one published on June 6, 1920, confirmed that it was the India Wharf Brewery that closed as a result of it’s combination with the Lion.

The India Wharf Brewing Company’s drinks have been manufactured for some time in the Lion Brewery in Manhattan, and unless the Lion people decide to abandon the business the India Wharf brewers are going to make near-beer brewing a permanent business

The India Wharf Brewing Company remained viable through much of the Prohibition era, scheduling stockholder meetings in the years 1920 up through 1929, however, in 1928 the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” announced that their capital stock that had once been as high as $1,000,000 had been reduced to $127,100.

Sporadic newspaper items during this time suggest they were operating in both the cold storage/ice and warehousing industries. While committing to near-beer production back in 1920, how much, if any, they actually produced during Prohibition is not clear.

In 1933, with Prohibition soon to end, a June 22nd “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” story announced that a company called the 60 Hamilton Avenue Corporation was apparently planning to reopen the brewery.

Conover Street Brewery to Cost $500,000

Shampan & Shampan, architects, are preparing plans and supervising the construction and equipment of the India Wharf Brewery, located at the northwest corner of Hamilton Ave. and Conover St. for the 60 Hamilton Avenue Corporation, Emanuel Jackson, president, to cost $500,000.

Later that year, on December 18th, the “Brooklyn Times Union” announced that the brewery had been granted a brewery license by the State of New York. That being said, as far as I can tell, financially overextended, it never reopened. A story in the March 28, 1934 edition of the Brooklyn “Times Union” serves as the final chapter in the India Wharf brewery’s history.

Although its beer has been smooth for more than half a century, the repeal of prohibition finds the going rather rough for the India Wharf Brewery, Inc., 60 Hamilton Ave.

An involuntary petition of bankruptcy was filed today on behalf of creditors whose claims against the brewery total $1,700. The order was signed by Federal Judge Campbell.

Silberman & Steinfeld, attorneys of 16 Court St., representing the brewery, said that close to $250,000 had been invested in the plant since repeal; that the additional amount, approximately $60,000 representing the outlay for Federal and State stamps and taxes, had brought about the present situation.

A receiver will be appointed, it is expected, to conserve the assets, which include many vats and barrels of beer for the benefit of the creditors.

The “Bankruptcy Notice” appeared in the April 20, 1934 edition of “The Brooklyn Citizen.”

Subsequently a judgement of foreclosure and sale was entered into on October 27, 1934.

The subject bottle, champagne style with a mug base, was blown in a mold with a blob finish. The embossed lettering, “Indian Wharf Brewing Company” is all in script and does not match any of the three round or elliptical patterns mentioned in their 1890 bottling notice. suggesting it was not one of their earliest bottles.

J. H. Grieme, Stapleton, S. I., Weiss Bier.

John H. Grieme, according to 1880 U. S. census records, was born in 1846 in Hanover, Germany. He apparently arrived in the United States sometime in the early 1870’s, where he spent much, if not all of that decade in Chicago, Illinois working in the saloon business.

As early as 1873 he was listed with the Chicago address of 585 State Street and the occupation “bartender.” The following year he apparently partnered with Adolph Kahl and acquired an ownership stake in the saloon at that address. That year, the firm of “Grieme & Kahl” was listed there with the occupation “saloon.” The partnership was apparently short-lived and between 1875 and 1878 Grieme was listed individually as the saloon owner there.

What became of the State Street saloon is unclear but by 1880 Grieme had moved to New York City where census records indicated he was a “saloon keeper,” living on Manhattan’s lower east side. In 1885-1886, the NYC directory located what was likely his saloon at 522 East 5th Street. Later, in the late 1880’s, still working in Manhattan he moved further north to 184 East 109th Street.

At some point, likely sometime around 1890, he relocated to Stapleton, Staten Island where the October 15, 1893 edition of a monthly publication called the “American Elevator and Grain Trade”announced that he had just erected a new brewery.

That year, the 1893-1894 Richmond County (Staten Island) directory listed Grieme as a “beer bottler,” with an address of 11 Targee Street in Stapleton.

Active throughout the rest of the 1890’s, Richmond County’s 1899 Trow Business Directory included him as the only brewer of Weiss Beer in Staten Island.

At the same time, the general directory listed his occupation as mineral “waters.”

Based on this and other sporadic directory listings it appears that Grieme’s residence, brewery and beer/mineral water bottling operations were all located between 7 and 11 Targee Street, near its “T” intersection with Van Duzer Street in Stapleton.

Right around 1900 John Grieme passed away and the business passed into the hands of his wife, Rebecca. The ownership transfer was documented on a list under the heading “Brewing Firm Changes,” published in the August 20, 1900 edition of the “American Brewers Review.”

That year, census records listed Rebecca’s three sons, Fred, William and John, all with the occupation of “bottlers,” and over the next three years both the weiss beer and mineral water business continued to be listed in Richmond County’s Trow Business Directory under the John H. Grieme name.

Then sometime n 1903 Rebecca sold the brewery to the partnership of Bahr & Krassman. who were included in a listing of “New Breweries” in the August 20, 1903 edition of the “American Brewers Review.”

Bahr & Krasman continued both the weiss beer and mineral water arms of the business as evidenced by a story that appeared in the “Richmond County Advance” on February 11, 1905.

On Monday morning last the wagon and business of Bahr and Krasman, dealers in Weiss Beer and Mineral Waters, were brought to a standstill by the slipping and falling of the horses on the ice opposite Van Clief’s planing mill, West Brighton. The horses were both lamed. They were with much difficulty gotten upon their feet and they hobbled away under the care of the driver. Other horses took their place about two hours later, and the liquids were delivered to the thirsty customers awaiting them.

Short-lived, Bahr & Krasman was only in business until 1908 when the October edition of the “Western Brewer,” included their brewery on a list under the heading “Breweries Closed.”.

Subsequently I can’t find any mention of their mineral water business either.

The bottle I found was blown in a mold with a blob finish. It’s embossed: “J.H. Grieme, Stapleton, S. I.” on one side and “Weiss Beer” on the other side. It certainly dates to the period between 1893 and 1902 when the brewery bottled weiss beer under the Grieme name.

Bottles embossed with the “Bahr & Krasman” name also occasionally appear for sale on the internet.

Hans Iversen, Cold Spring Station, L.I.

Hans Iversen, according to 1910 census records, was born in Norway in 1878. By the early 1900’s he was living on the north shore of Long Island in Suffolk County, New York where up through the mid-teens he wore several different hats including hotel proprietor, saloon keeper, beer bottler and mineral water manufacturer in and around Huntington.

His Long Island story began in 1902 when he took over the hotel business of a man named George Doty whose story can be found in his May 9, 1902 obituary published in a local newspaper called the “Long Islander.”

Mr. Doty was born in New York. Soon after this his father Richard Doty removed to Manetto Hill, Plainview. George learned the carriage painting business and after working at it for several years he went to the city and filled the position of conductor on the horse cars. About eighteen years ago he removed to Centreport and took charge of the Fabian Hostelry , which under his management became a popular summer resort for city people.

Located just east of Huntington in Centreport, it was sometimes referred to as the Centreport Hotel and other times as the Fabian Hotel. This description of the hotel’s 1889 seasonal opening appeared in the July 13th edition of the “Long-Islander.”

The season here was formally opened on the evening of last Saturday by a grand ball at the Fabian Hostelry, over whose inspiring wines presides the genial George Doty. In regard to the number of those present, the gorgeousness of dress, and the sweetness of the music, the affair of last week has never been equalled in this district. Stage after stage, carriage after carriage drew up before the house and discharged the precious freight of lovely women in grand attire and gentlemen in full dress.

Another “Long- Islander” story, this one written on May 2, 1902, just days before Doty passed away, described Iversen’s appearance on the scene.

John Wolfert has bought the Centreport hotel formerly owned by George Doty and has leased to Hans Iversen, who will conduct a hotel and beer bottling and mineral water manufacturing establishment on the premises. Mr. Wolfert has sold out his bottling business to him and will go out of the business himself.

At the time of the sale, Wolfert’s bottling operation, described in a December 12, 1896 “Long Islander” story as “a large beer bottling business” was located just west of Huntington, in Cold Spring (later renamed Cold Spring Harbor to differentiate it from another town called Cold Spring in upstate New York). While the story states that Iverson intended to conduct the bottling business on the hotel premises in Centreport, the presence of “Cold Spring Station” embossed on the subject bottle suggests that he may have kept the bottling operation at Wolfert’s Cold Spring location for at least a while. That being said, not long afterwards he apparently did move the operation to Centreport, as evidenced by a “Hans Iversen” bottle that’s embossed with the Centreport location. The bottle was found in “A Historical Guide to Long Island Soda, Beer & Mineral Water Bottles & Bottling Companies, 1840 – 1870,” By George Fisher.

Iversen’s Centreport Hotel was included in a 1904 publication called simply “Long Island” under the heading “North Shore Resorts.” That year Iversen was charging $8.00 for a weekly stay (2nd line down).

On February 18, 1905, the “Brooklyn Daily Times” reported that Wolfert sold the hotel property to a man named Archie Hall.

Archie Hall, proprietor of the Lakeside Inn, has purchased the Centreport hotel property owned by Mrs. John Wolfert, and now leased by Hans Iverson. Mr. Hall proposes building a new hotel with modern improvements on the opposite side of the road from the present hotel.

The sale of the hotel property apparently triggered a move by Iversen because soon after he was serving as the proprietor of a saloon on Huntington’s Main Street owned by a man named Bernard Friedman. Not long after Iversen’s arrival, a January 5, 1906 “Long-Islander” story, announced that Friedman was putting the property up for sale.

The sale of the late Bernard Friedman property on Main Street, now occupied by Hans Iverson, at the Suffolk hotel tomorrow morning at 11 0’clock, promises to produce some lively bidding, as it is understood that several out-of-town people have their eye on this particular piece of real estate, and the purchaser will probably have to pay well for his bargain…

Later, the May 5, 1906 edition of the “Long-Islander” announced the new owner of the property was Welz & Zerwick, a large Brooklyn, New York brewery.

Welz & Zerwick, the Brooklyn brewers, who recently bought the Friedman property used by Hans Iversen as a saloon, are having extensive improvements made in the place. The lower floor has been gutted and new beams, flooring, sidewalls, ceiling, fixtures, etc., will be put in making a different appearing place. Contractor A. L. Jacobson has the work in hand, and Herman Miller is doing the masonry.

The above story described a saloon but as far as I can tell the property also included a hotel as well. This was certainly the case by 1908 when Iversen’s liquor tax certificate indicated his business as “HOTEL”

Whether Iversen continued his bottling operation after the move to Huntington is unclear, though I’ve yet to come across a “Hans Iversen bottle that includes “Huntington” within its embossing.

By 1910 Iverson’s hotel had been found in violation of the county’s liquor laws on more than one occasion. One such instance was reported in the January 14, 1910 edition of the “Suffolk County News.”

There was considerable surprise on Monday when it became known that Sherriff Platt had been to Huntington and placed Hans Iversen, of Iversen’s Hotel, in Main St., and Frances J. Colgan of the Northside Hotel at Fairground, under bonds, they having been indicted by the last Grand Jury for illegally trafficking in liquors, presumably selling on Sunday. Iversen was one of those indicted a year ago.

Undaunted, sometime in 1910 Iverson hired on as the proprietor of a second Huntington hotel, this one located at the east end of town. The announcement appeared in the April 1, 1910 edition of the “Long-Islander.”

The frame work of Mrs. Alonzo Brown’s new hotel on Lower New York Avenue has been raised. Upon Mrs. Brown leaving the East End Place it will be taken by Hans Iversen, who will run it in connection with his Main Street business.

Iversen’s wife, Christiana, was listed as the liquor tax certificate holder for both locations in 1912 (Y.E. Sept 30, 1911).

Sometime in late 1912 it appears that Iversen decided to unload both businesses. On January 7, 1913 the “Suffolk County Review” announced that he had sold the Main Street business.

Hans Iversen has sold his hotel business in Huntington to Jacob Gulde of Manhattan

Gulde was still listed as the location’s liquor tax certificate holder as late as 1918 (Y.E. Sept. 30, 1917).

Iversen apparently sold the “East End” business to William Allinger (or Alleger) sometime in late 1912, however, according to court proceedings published in the February 7, 1913 edition of the “Long-Islander,” he later bought it back.

William Allinger had purchased the hotel business of Hans Iversen at the East End, and after running it for a while had sold the same back to Mr. Iversen.

The reasoning for this quick reversal can be surmised from a story that appeared in the December 23, 1912 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Times.”

Huntington’s historic east end was the scene of a lively fracas on Saturday evening. William Alleger recently purchased the good will of the hotel there from Hans Iversen. On Saturday evening Alleger objected to acts of Harry Jarvis, and blows were struck. A hurried message brought Officer Wenzel. He arrested Jarvis and locked him up. Dr. Hendrickson took a dozen stitches in Alleger’s head, and Mr. Iversen took the license of the place, which was in his name….

Iversen’s wife was still listed as the liquor tax certificate holder in 1914 (Y.E, Sept 30, 1913) but not in 1917 (Y.E. Sept 30, 1916) In fact, I don’t see the location listed in the tax records at all that year. What became of the business and , for that matter, the Iversen’s after 1913 is unclear.

The bottle I found is a champagne style beer that was blown in a mold and exhibits a tooled blob finish. In addition to Iversen’s name and the Cold Spring Station address, the bottle also features a monogram of an anchor and chain. It certainly dates no earlier than 1902 when Iverson acquired John Wolfert’s Cold Spring bottling business.

On a final note: In addition to running his various businesses, Iversen was also active in the area’s harness racing scene, owning and racing several horses. A September 11, 1908 “Long-Islander” story told of one race involving a horse named “Black Bean.”

The match race for $100 a side between Hans Iveresn’s “Black Bean” and Frank Kennedy’s “Black Hal” on the Morris Busch track at Woodbury yesterday afternoon resulted in a victory for Iversen’s entry. It was the best two in three. Hal took the first heat and the black mare the next two and race, the fastest time being 2:17 1/2. Nelson Varney drove the Iversen mare and Mr. Kennedy his own horse. Black Hal had raced five hard heats at Islip Monday, and the race Thursday was too soon after the other effort for him to make a good showing.

David Stevenson Brewing Co., 40th St. & 10th Ave., New York

David Stevenson established a brewery on Manhattan’s west side and served as its proprietor for over 30 years until he passed away in 1884. After his death the brewery continued to operate until National Prohibition likely forced its closure in 1920.

Born about 1807 in Ireland, David Stevenson first appeared in United States census records in 1850. Those records indicate that his then four year old son, also named David, was born in New York, so its safe to say that David, Sr. had arrived in the United States by the mid-1840’s and possibly earlier.

His business was first mentioned in the 1850/1851 New York City directory where he’s listed as a “brewer,” located on the corner of Tenth Avenue and West 39th Street. According to a publication called “One Hundred Years of Brewing,” published in 1903, that first year he turned out about 1,200 barrels of ale. Not just a brewer, in the early 1850’s Stevenson also included distiller and rectifier among his early occupations, all of which were conducted at his Tenth Avenue location.

In 1854, the August 23, 1854 edition of the “New York Tribune” announced that those Tenth Avenue facilities were impacted by a major fire.

About a quarter before 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon a fire broke out in the range of frame buildings corner of Tenth Ave. and Thirty-ninth St., occupied by David Stevenson, as a Malt-House, Brewery and Rectifying establishment. The flames spread with astonishing rapidity, and notwithstanding the exertions of the firemen of the District, who were early on the ground, the distillery portion of the establishment was burned to the ground. A portion of the frame shed extending along the avenue to Fortieth St. was also destroyed. The upper part of the building corner of Thirty-ninth St. was occupied as a dwelling by Mr. Stevenson. The greater portion of his household goods were destroyed.

Another story, this one in the “New York Times,” provided some additional details.

The fire originated from the iron coal furnace being hot and thereby causing the woodwork of the basement to catch fire. The flames spread with astonishing rapidity, and before ten minutes had elapsed the entire premises were enveloped in flames, and all efforts of the Firemen to save the property were of no avail. The buildings extended down Thirty-ninth Street some 250 feet, and about 150 feet on Tenth Avenue, and were all filled with heavy stock of distilled liquors, pure spirits and other materials of a combustible nature…

The brewery survived the fire but there’s no mention of “liquors” in any of Stevenson’s subsequent directory listings, suggesting the fire put an end to his distilling/rectifying operations. This assumption is further supported by his advertisement found in the “Commercial Register” of the 1861/62 directory that simply mentions ale and porter.

In the mid-1870’s the New York City directories began associating David Stevenson Jr. with the business suggesting that around this time Stevenson’s son began playing a significant role in the management of the brewery. He ultimately assumed ownership when his father passed away in 1884. Unfortunately, in October, 1892 Stevenson, Jr. also passed away at which time James McClenahan, the Stevenson estate’s trustee, took control. He operated the business until December 28, 1893 when he transferred it to a newly formed corporation called “The David Stevenson Brewing Company.”

James McClenahan went on to serve as the corporation’s first president.

I suspect that it was sometime in the 1890’s when the brewery began producing lager beer in addition to their ales and porters. (The company was not listed as a lager beer brewer in the 1890 business directory but was in 1897) The addition of lager had certainly occurred by 1896 as evidenced by their advertisement that year in “The World Almanac and Encyclopedia.”

Another 1896 advertisement, this one found in the New York Protective Association’s Labor Day Program, makes it clear that by then the company was also bottling their product, having established a bottling department on Tenth Avenue and 40th Street (the location embossed on the subject bottle).

By the turn of the century, the brewery complex encompassed a total of 27 New York City lots, employed 110 full-time workers (based on both 1898 and 1901 New York State Factory Inspection Reports.) and was producing 140,000 barrels annually (100 Years of Brewing). Based on the images found on their turn of the century calendars it’s also apparent that the wood frame buildings of the 1850’s had all been replaced with brick and mortar.

McClenahan continued to serve as president of the company throughout the first decade of the twentieth century, but not without controversy.

In 1905 Stevenson Jr.’s son, (Stevenson Sr.’s grandson) also named David, brought suit against McClenahan for what he called systematic fraud demanding that as trustee of the Stevenson estate , he sell back to the estate the brewery property which he had transferred to the Daniel Stevenson Brewing Company in 1893. The facts behind his demand were summarized in an April 17, 1906 story in the “New York Tribune.”

It was shown yesterday to Justice Blanchard after the death of Mr. Stevenson’s father, in 1892, the business of the brewery was carried on by McClenahan for two years at an annual profit of $200,000, for the benefit of the estate. Then, as trustee of the estate, McClenahan transferred the brewery property to the corporation he had formed, the corporation giving a mortgage of $1,500,000 in payment.

Mr. Beard, of Mr. Stevenson’s counsel, said there was presented in the transfer of the property a systematic fraud by which McClenahan meant to obtain full possession of the property for nothing. Without investing or risking a dollar, Mr. Beard said, McClenahan had transferred the brewery which earned $200,000 a year to a corporation which he controlled absolutely, giving to the estate a mortgage on which the estate received only $75,000 a year. McClenahan, it was declared, was thus able to make the estate pay him $125,000 a year, and the money had been used since the mortgage had been given to reduce the mortgage to $1,000,000. At the present time, therefore, the estate was receiving only $50,000 a year from the brewery, while McClenahan was receiving $150,000 a year, and in a few years he would pay off the mortgage and own the brewery if the courts did not compel him to relinquish his hold and give back the property to the estate.

Surprisingly, a year later, the April 11, 1908 edition of the “New York Tribune” announced that the parties had reached an amicable ending, with McClenahan continuing to serve as president and two Stevenson’s, David and Malcom, elected 1st and 2nd vice-presidents, respectively.

McClenahan continued to be listed as president up through 1912 but by 1915, was apparently no longer associated with the company and David Stevenson was listed as president. Four years later in 1919 David passed away at the age of 45.

The David Stevenson Brewing Company continued to be listed at the brewery’s address of 521 10th Avenue, with Malcom Stevenson now named president, as late as 1925. That being said there’s no evidence that I can find that indicates any attempt to brew near beer. A review of 1920’s newspaper items suggests the company remained active simply managing/selling their real estate holdings that included a large number of former saloon properties.

Also listed at that address beginning in 1920 was the Stevenson Refrigerating Company, with Malcom Stevenson also named as president. So I suspect that the brewery itself transitioned into the cold storage business at the same time they were selling off their saloon properties. The Stevenson Refrigerating Company was still listed at that location in 1933 after which I lose track

Today, there’s no sign of the former brewery complex, as its former footprint now accommodates a portion of the ramp system connecting the Port Authority Bus Terminal with the Lincoln Tunnel.

The bottle I found is a champagne style beer. It’s blown in a mold with a blob finish and exhibits the “David Stevenson Brewing Company” name. Recognizing that the business incorporated under that name in late December, 1893 the bottle certainly dates no earlier than 1894.