Today is the birthday of John Roehm (January 5, 1849-June 9, 1907). He was born in Bavaria, Germany, but moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1888 and bought the brewery of Anton Stroebele (founded in 1870), renaming it the John Roehm Brewery, but also traded under the Consumers Brewing Co., at least until 1909. After Roehm’s death in 1907, his brewery appears to be sold to Henry Hess and went through several name (and probably ownership) changes until lastly it was known as the Otto Erlanger Brewing Co. from 1837 to 1951, when it closed for good. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find out much info about Roehm or the brewery, not even a photo of him.
This is Roehm’s obituary from the Brewers Journal:
In November, 1889, A.C. Wagner (brewery architect of Philadelphia) was reported as the architect for extensive improvements to Roehm’s brewery, including a new brew house and ice machine house (The Western Brewer XIV, 11 (November 1889): 2463). Then in April 1891, the same architect was lauded in a report on John Roehm’s new brewery, complete with a full-page exterior perspective litho (“Brewing in Philadelphia,” The Western Brewer XVI, 4 (April 1891): 862 (ills.)-863).