Today is the birthday of John Jacob Schlawig (February 27, 1831-October 11, 1919). He was born in Thusis, Graubünden, Switzerland but was a pioneer of Sioux City, Iowa, believed to be its longest resident at the time of his death in 1919. He married Ursula Haag on 20 September 1853, in Thusis, Graubünden, Switzerland and the couple moved to Iowa in 1857, settling in Sioux City. In 1867, he opened a brewery, the John Schlawig Union Brewery, which was only open until 1876. That same year, gold an silver were discovered in the Dakota Territories, and leaving his family in Iowa, became a miner off and on there for a number years. He also took his brewing equipment and established the J.J. Schlawig Brewery (a.k.a. as J.J.S. Brewery) in Deadwood, South Dakota, though it only lasted one year, closing in 1877.
Here’s a biography of Schlawig from The Sioux City Tribune from October 11, 1919:
J. J. Schlawig Dies, Aged 88 Years; Had Lived in Sioux City Since 1857. Pioneer Believed to Hold Record For Longest Residence Here. Taken By Death Before New Home Was Completed. Family Homestead Recently Sold.
John J. Schlawig, who is believed to have lived longer in Sioux City and to have witnessed more of its growth than any other man, died at 9 a.m. today at the home of his daughter, Mrs. C. A. Patch, 2324 Douglas street, from the infirmities of old age. Mr. Schlawig was born in Thusis, Switzerland. There he married Miss Ursula Haag, 67 years ago. His wife died here one month before the celebration of their golden wedding. He is survived by three daughters, one son, two grandsons and one granddaughter. Dr. J. J. Schlawig, a son, died here 17 years ago. The other son is Dr. William M. Schlawig, of Monument, Col., who has been in the city for the last week. The daughters are Miss Anna Schlawig, who has made the home for her father since the death of the mother; Mrs. R. E. Conniff, and Mrs. Patch at whose home he died. John B. and Arthur C. Patch and Miss Anna Marie Conniff are the grandchildren. He came to Sioux City 62 years ago. He was a wagon and carriage maker and manufactured the first wagon and the first carriage ever made in the city. In 1861 Mr. Schlawig enlisted in Company I of the Seventh Iowa cavalry, a civil war unit of which only two or three men survive. He served as bugler of the regiment and as bodyguard of General Sully. He participated in the White Stone battle.
This is from a “History of Woodbury and Plymouth Counties,” published in 1890:
John Jacob Schlawig, Sioux City. In the picturesque city of Thuses, Canton of Graubunden, Switzerland, February 27, 1831, there was born to one of the oldest families in that historic country an only son, the subject of this sketch, John Jacob Schlawig. His ancestry was prominently identified with the political history of Switzerland, and took an active part in the defense of their land against the invasion of other powers; and a grandfather fell in the gallant defense made against the French army in the battle of Richenan. His early education was acquired among his native hills, where he learned to love the freedom of his Fatherland, and despise the serfdom and oppression of neighboring monarchies. At the age of eighteen he removed to Chur, where he learned the trade of a carriage-maker. There he met and wedded, September 20, 1853, Miss Ursula Haag, the daughter of an old citizen of that city. For some years thereafter he followed his trade, but all the while longing for the greater possibilities offered in America to industry and integrity. In 1857 the dream of his youth was realized when he embarked for this country, taking with him his young wife and two children. On reaching America he pushed westward, believing that that region promised better opportunities to willing hearts and ready hands. He first stopped in Dubuque for a few months, then crossed the state overland by team to Sioux City. On this trip the second daughter, a child of two years, sickened and died, which well nigh discouraged him and his young wife, but they journeyed on, reaching Sioux City, then a frontier village, September 19, 1857. He immediately set to work to procure for himself and family a home. He erected a crude shop and worked at his trade, making and repairing wagons, and built the first wagon made in Sioux City. At the outbreak of the Civil war he offered himself as a volunteer in the defense of his adopted country, and served from 1861 to 1864 in the Seventh Iowa cavalry, Company I. He was with Gen. Sully in his famous expedition against the hostile Sioux, and took part in the battle of White Stone Hill and other engagements. At the close of hostilities he received his honorable discharge, and re-engaged in the wagonmaker’s trade in this city.
In 1875 he was one of the pioneers of the Black Hills, S. D., country, where he prospected extensively, and located several silver mines at Galena, which he afterward consolidated into the Washington Gold and Silver Mining company, of which company he is the principal owner and president. He also owns the Sula mine, at Lead City, S. D. His mining property is well located, and among the best and richest mines in that wonderfully productive mineral region. In the summer of 1890 he platted what is known as Sunny Side addition to Lead City, and a large part of which he still owns. His family consists of two sons and three daughters. The oldest son, John J., is a rising young physician, while the younger, William, is now in college, preparing himself for the practice of dentistry. Two daughters, Anna and Marie, are still at home, the other, Christina, is the wife of Dr. R. E. Conniff, of this city. Mr. Schlawig has always had abundant faith in the future of Sioux City, and has seen it grow from a frontier village to a city of nearly 40,000. He, with other old settlers, endured many of the privations of the early history of Sioux City. His industry and abiding faith in the future of the city have been rewarded by material prosperity, and we find him in his old age surrounded by the comforts of life, and with a competence that jjlaces him above want and secures for him that ease that his industry deserves. Mr. Schlawig is still a man in robust health, of a jovial, kindly disposition that makes and keeps friends, and is respected and esteemed by all that know him.
And this account is from Tavern Trove’s page for Schlawig:
John Jacob Schlawig was born in Thusis, Graubünden, Switzerland where he was trained as a wagon maker. In 1855 he emigrated to America with his wife Ursula (née Haag) and their two daughters. They reached their intended destination of Dubuque, Iowa that summer, but after only a few months they relocated to Sioux City.
In 1855 Sioux City was a hamlet situated on the banks of Perry Creek, far from the noise and nuisance of the lawless frontier town of Dubuque. The Schlawigs made Sioux City their home and John opened a wagon shop on Water Street. He participated in the local guard that defended the area from Sioux warriors who considered the land the property of the Sioux.
In 1861 John Jacob answered the patriotic call of his adopted country and enlisted in the Union Army. The U.S. generals sent him not south but west, to continue the battle with the Native Americans. After his service he returned to Sioux City and opened a brewery next to his home on 6th and Nebraska Street.
For a nearly a decade Schlawig was content in his brewery on the creek. He had three daughters and two sons at home. He took on Joseph Rechner as a foreman and they opened up The William Tell Beer Hall. By all accounts business was good.
Then in 1875 Iowa’s ever-changing Temperance laws caused business strife. The city sued Schlawig for breaking liquor and gambling ordinances. Then his former foreman and another employee sued him for back wages. All three verdicts came down against the brewer and like that, the tidy brewing empire Schlawig built was finished. Schlawig mortgaged the brewery property in February and offered it for sale in November.
In 1876 news came from the west that gold and silver was there for the taking in the Dakota Territory. Schlawig decided to check it out. At age 45 Schlawig filed a miners claim on Bear Butte and rushed back to Iowa in order to pack up his brewery equipment and relocate to the town of Deadwood. He arrived in April of 1876, and, while he retained his residence in Sioux City, over the next decade he spent less and less time there, and more time in the boom town nearly 500 miles away.
By July of 1876 Schlawig was mining by day and brewing at night and both enterprises were earning money. But within the year he will have abandoned the brewery in favor of his silver mine. In February of 1877, when he returned to Iowa he talked only of silver. In June of that year the Sioux City Journal reportedthat Schlawig’s brewery in Deadwood was sitting idle.
Up in the hills Schlawig had hit a vein of silver so rich that soon his brewery debts would soon be a small matter. The Washington Lode, as it was called, was one of the most valuable veins of silver in the Black Hills, and Schlawig had claim to a good bit of it. It ended up making him a very wealthy man.
With the help of Schlawig’s money Sioux City prospered and his old house on 6th and Nebraska Street grew old with him. By 1919 it was considered an eyesore in the business district, and also very valuable property. In April of 1919, 88 year old Schlawig was finally persuaded to move out of the home he built in the 1860s. By that October, he was dead.
John Jacob Schlawig died on October 11th 1919 at age 88 years.
And this was published shortly after the brewery opened:
Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.
Friday’s first ad is for Bushkill Bock Beer, which was published on February 27, 1936. This one was for Bushkill Products Co. of Easton, Pennsylvania and was founded in 1848 or 1849 by Xavier Veile. They’re advertising in Florida as “Bushkill Beer and Ale: Fine Old Pennsylvania Brew.” This ad ran in The Miami Herald, of Miami, Florida. It’s essentially a cartoon for their Bock beer, signed by “Tyler.”
Today is the birthday of William Henry Beadleston (February 27, 1840-October 24, 1895). He was born in New York, and according to his very short biography was a “director and trustee in various corporations; in brewing business.” He was president of the Beadleston & Woerz Empire Brewery in New York City. “Under William’s leadership the brewery his father founded grew to be a large player supplying beer to many locations east of the Mississippi.” Known by a few different names before 1877, Beadleston was always one of the names list in the brewery name from it’s founding in 1846 until its final name, Beadleston & Woerz Empire Brewery, which it traded under until 1920, when it closed for good.
Here is his obituary from the New Your Tribune on October 25, 1895.
Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.
Thursday’s second ad is for SB Bock Beer, which was published on February 26, 1952. This one was for Southern Brewing Co., of Tampa, Florida and was founded in 1934 by August Schell. This ad ran in The Tampa Times, also of Tampa, Florida.
Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.
Wednesday’s first ad is for Pearl Bock Beer, which was published on February 25, 1966. This one was for Pearl Brewing Co., of San Antonio, Texas and was founded in 1883. This ad ran in The San Antonio Express News, also of San Antonio, Texas.
Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.
Tuesday’s second ad is for Magnolia Bock Beer, which was published on February 24, 1907. This ad was for the Houston Ice & Brewing Co. of Houston, Texas, which was originally founded in 1893. This ad ran in The Houston Chronicle, also of Houston, Texas.
Today is the birthday of August Meiresonne (February 24, 1842-1913). He was born in Belgium and according to his Dutch Wikipedia page. “Initially, together with his sisters Ida and Pauline, he ran a brewery in Bellem beginning in 1866. In 1871 (in what was then Damstraat and today is now Brouwerijstraat) in Landegem, he took over the existing brewery from the Francies De Paepe and Marie-Thérèse Speeckaert family.”
August Meiresonne called his company De Hoprank and the family brewed beer there until 1918. It was a modern brewery for that time that already worked with electricity. He even supplied electricity to the municipality and the church of Landegem was already equipped with electric lighting for this. The energy came by means of two gas engines and a steam engine.
In October 1918 the brewery and the house were razed to the ground by the Germans. After the First World War, his son Aimé Meiresonne started the new Meiresonne Brewery in Ghent.
August Meiresonne with his family around 1890.
And this is from the Meiresonne Brewery Wikipedia page:
[Meiresonne] started the brewery “De Hoprank” there together with his wife Marie David, with whom he had 10 children. They had a modern business for the time. He became alderman in Landegem and mayor and son Aimé (1888 – 1966) took over the management of the company in 1913 . However, the company was destroyed by the retreating Germans in 1918 , which gave rise to a new start in Ghent. There Aimé Meiresonne took over Brasserij Prosper from Ostend-De Marteleire on the Koepoortkaai.
The brewery in Landegem before 1914.
In 1935 the name “Hoprank” was changed to “Meiresonne,” which in Ghent was irreverently called Meire-zeke. This drink probably couldn’t have been very bad, because until the 1960s there was a thriving company with more than 500 employees; in Ghent one could not miss the name, by the way. Aimé was in charge, Sister Céline was his right-hand man and brother Alfred was the brewmaster.
Brand names: The most famous drink was Celta Pils, alongside Fort Op, Family’s (presumably table beer), Pigall’s Stout, Koekoek, Munich, Export, Stolz, Ganda, Goliath and Pater Fredo’s. In 1964 the brewery was taken over by Brouwerij Artois and like many companies merged into Interbrew and InBev. In 1985 the buildings were demolished and apartment buildings were erected on the site, completely erasing the past.
Today is the birthday of Frederick “Fritz” Gettelman (February 24, 1887-June 23, 1954). He was the son of Adam Gettelman, whose father-in-law, George Schweickhart, founded the Strohn & Reitzenstein Brewery in 1854, though the same year it became known as the Menomonee Brewery. When Schweickhart passed away in 1876, Adam Gettelman became the sole owner and renamed it the A. Gettelman Brewing Co. The Milwaukee brewery managed to remain open during prohibition and began making beer again in 1933. When Adam Gettelman dies in 1925, his other son William briefly led the brewery until 1929, when Fritz took over and continued to run the brewery until he passed away in 1954. It remained open after Fritz, though it struggled, and in 1961 was bought by rival Miller Brewing.
Gettelman survived Prohibition making “near beer” and through several different investments outside of brewing, like the West Side Savings Bank, the development and manufacturing of snow plows, gold-mining in the American southwest, and a sugar beet processing plant in Menomonee Falls. Gettelman returned to brewing in 1933, with Frederick “Fritz” Gettelman as president.
In order to counteract barrel shortages as brewing resumed, Frederick Gettelman personally designed the first practical steel keg in 1933, manufactured by the A.O. Smith Company of Milwaukee. Shortly after, he also consulted with the American and Continental Can Companies on how to apply his design to the development of what became known as the “keg-lined” beer can. In the late 1930s, he developed new glass-lined storage tanks, also manufactured by A.O. Smith, and a more efficient bottle-washing machine.
The company introduced a new eight-ounce beer bottle labeled “Fritzie” in 1946, inspired by heinzelmännchen, the house gnomes of German folklore. By 1952, Fritzie had evolved into a cartoon beer bottle with a rotund face and Tyrolean hat that was famously featured in different humorous scenes painted on the exterior walls of several Milwaukee taverns. Moreover, the company became an important pioneer in television advertising in Milwaukee, sponsoring televised wrestling matches in 1947, and World Series pre-game shows in 1949.
Gettelman Brewing also made major investments in modernizing and expanding their operations in the 1950s. They entered the Chicago, Boston, California, and other regional and national markets as they briefly opened in the wake of industry consolidation. Gettelman released a new, lighter “Milwaukee” brand beer in 1956, and began importing and distributing Tucher beer from Nuremburg, Germany in 1959—the first American brewer to establish such a relationship.
Nevertheless, the company was unable to continue competing with the national giants, and the Gettelman family sold the brewery to the neighboring Miller Brewing Company in 1961. The Gettelman plant and brand continued on with brothers Tom Gettelman and Frederick Gettelman, Jr. as plant managers until Miller formally merged the two operations in 1971.
Elements of the Gettelman brewery remain part of the Miller Brewing Company complex, and its Milwaukee’s Best brand lives on in Miller’s portfolio.
The A. Gettelman Brewing Company first began to show signs of the new post-prohibition prosperity in 1937 with construction of an addition to the old bottle-house. An 80 x 110 foot structure, the building was twice the size of the building it annexed. Cream-colored bricks salvaged from the old Gettelman mansion atop the hill overlooking the brewery went into the construction of its walls and the bottling equipment it housed was modernity itself. In fact, Fritz Gettelman had had a hand in the improvement of the bottle washer installed in the new bottle house. It was he who had dreamed up and perfected the idea of cleaning the bottles with high pressure steam and water. So efficient was the equipment in the ultra modern bottle shop that Gettelman was able to show figures proving that breakage on bottles of all makes and ages ran only .442 percent of total bottles handled.
In addition to the modern machinery on the ground floor the bottle shop boasted a battery of glass-lined storage tanks in the basement, an innovation which Fritz Gettelman had also helped engineer. During development of the revolutionary tanks, he had spent long hours at the A. 0. Smith plant subjecting experimental models to every conceivable torture to prove his idea that molten glass will stick to steel. How he did this in the face of skeptical college “enchineers” — as he called them — is another story, but the success he encountered is borne out by the fact that few progressive breweries today are without the big beer holders with the glazed walls.
All this while the affairs of the brewery had been directed from the office building which lies between State street and the brewery proper. By 1948, however, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the expanding brewery would need corresponding office facilities. It was decided, therefore, that an old malt-house which had, for the last several years, served as a place for miscellaneous storage be made over into an office building. Part of the building had originally been the first Gettelman homestead, antedating even the mansion on the hill. From what had once been its living room emerged the present office reception room whose walls are panelled with the cypress of the old wooden beer storage tanks. From the rest of the building the architect’s skill and a lot of hard work wrought the present Gettelman offices. Fritz Gettelman went along with, and indeed inaugurated, most of the brewery’s advances, but he turned a deaf ear to any suggestion that he move his office to the newly renovated building. Moreover, he insisted that the second story room in which he had been born and from which had come many of his ideas on the humble brown butcher paper be left inviolate — and so it has been, to this day.
Modernization of brewery and office facilities was approved by every one connected with the business, but no one sanctioned them more heartily than the two Gettelman brothers, Fred, Jr., and Tom, sons of the energetic and imaginative Fritz. Actively entering the management affairs of the brewery in 1939 and 1941, respectively, the two younger Gettelmans not only welcomed the changes but were, in large measure, responsible for their execution. Interest of the brothers in increased production and administrative efficiency was not an overnight affair. The lives of both of them had revolved around the brewery almost since they had taken their first steps and they had a working knowledge of every facet of the business long before they emerged from brewers’ school as master brewers.
The brewery in 1954, on its 100th anniversary.
Here’s a fun fact about Fritz:
As Prohibition was beginning to end, the Gettelmen found that there was a wood shortage that would impact the creation of beer barrels. To solve this problem the first steel beer keg was invented by Fritz Gettelman.
And another:
The brewery suffered from the Milwaukee brewery strikes of 1953 and, like other breweries in Milwaukee, lost the trust of some local taverns as they began to buy their beer from other breweries. In the following years, Gettelman had to struggle along with the other smaller Milwaukee breweries for advertisement and sales, as the larger breweries were dominating the market in both areas. In 1961, as Miller was becoming ever more interested in purchasing more breweries, The Gettelman Brewing Company was purchased by Miller.
Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.
Tuesday’s first ad is for E and B Bock Beer, which was published on February 24, 1938. This ad was for the Ekhardt and Becker Brewing Co. of Detroit, Michigan, which was originally founded in 1873 by August Ekhardt and Herman Becker. This ad ran in The Muskegon Chronicle, also of Muskegon, Michigan. A second identical ad ran the same day, but in the Monroe Evening News, from Monroe, Michigan, though I’ve included it below because while it’s slighter lighter it’s also a little clearer.
It’s certainly possible I’m wrong, since it is not definitively signed, but it sure looks like the artist was Theodor Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss. I know he did advertising work for Narragansett Brewing and also Schaefer Brewing, but was unaware of any others until today. If it’s not Seuss, then it’s surely an artist trying to copy his style.
Two years ago I decided to concentrate on Bock ads for awhile. Bock, of course, may have originated in Germany, in the town of Einbeck. Because many 19th century American breweries were founded by German immigrants, they offered a bock at certain times of the year, be it Spring, Easter, Lent, Christmas, or what have you. In a sense they were some of the first seasonal beers. “The style was later adopted in Bavaria by Munich brewers in the 17th century. Due to their Bavarian accent, citizens of Munich pronounced ‘Einbeck’ as ‘ein Bock’ (a billy goat), and thus the beer became known as ‘Bock.’ A goat often appears on bottle labels.” And presumably because they were special releases, many breweries went all out promoting them with beautiful artwork on posters and other advertising. With Spring approaching, there are so many great examples that I’m going to post two a day for a few months.
Monday’s second ad is for Meister Bräu Bock Beer, which was published on February 23, 1940. This ad was for the Peter Hand Brewery Co. of Chicago, Illinois, which was originally founded in 1891. This ad ran in The Chicago Tribune, also of Chicago, Illinois.
