Today is the birthday of Louis Bergdoll Sr. (July 21, 1825-August 18, 1894). He was born in Sinsheim, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He trained there as a brewer, and emigrated to the U.S. when he was 21, in 1846, arriving in New York City. He settled in Philadelphia, and in 1849 founded the Bergdoll & Schema Brewery, with a partner, Peter Schema. That partnership apperas to have lasted two years, and then a new partner, Johann Carl “Charles” Psotta, came on board for the next twenty-five years. After 1876 it appears to be owned by Bergdoll alone, known as the Louis Bergdoll Brewery, and also trading under the name “City Brewery,” and possibly until it was closed by prohibition in 1920.
Louis Bergdoll Sr. was born on July 21, 1825, in Sinsheim near Heidelberg in Baden, Germany, the son of Johann Georg Bergdoll and Catharina Schneider. He learned the brewing trade in his native Germany during a period when Bavarian-style lager beer production was spreading throughout the German states and transforming the brewing industry. Seeking greater opportunity in America, he immigrated to the United States in 1846, arriving at Castle Garden in New York aboard the ship Doris on June 27 of that year before eventually settling in Philadelphia among the city’s rapidly growing German immigrant community.
Only a few years after his arrival, Bergdoll entered the Philadelphia brewing industry. In 1849 he established a brewery at 508 Vine Street in partnership with Peter Schemm under the name Bergdoll & Schemm. The venture proved successful, and after Schemm withdrew from the business, Bergdoll partnered with Charles Psotta, reorganizing the company as Bergdoll & Psotta. During the mid-nineteenth century Philadelphia emerged as one of the leading brewing centers in the United States, largely through the influence of German immigrants who introduced lager beer and German brewing methods to the city. Bergdoll became one of the important figures in that transformation.
In 1856 the firm relocated to a far larger site near Fairmount Park between North 28th and 29th Streets in what later became known as Brewerytown. The new complex became known as the City Park Brewery. The location was chosen for its proximity to excellent water sources and expanding transportation networks, both essential to large-scale lager beer production. Over the following decades the brewery expanded into one of Philadelphia’s major brewing operations, with extensive brew houses, malt houses, storage buildings, stables, and bottling facilities occupying a substantial portion of the neighborhood.
As Philadelphia’s taste increasingly turned toward lager beer during the nineteenth century, the Bergdoll brewery gained a strong regional reputation. The brewery became one of the industrial foundations of Brewerytown, the section of Philadelphia that grew into one of America’s great brewing districts. The success of the enterprise brought Bergdoll considerable wealth and established the Bergdoll family among Philadelphia’s prominent German-American business families.
In 1881 the business incorporated as the Louis Bergdoll Brewing Company, with Bergdoll serving as president while members of his family assumed important positions within the operation. By this period the brewery ranked among the city’s best-known lager beer producers. The Bergdoll name became closely associated with Philadelphia brewing for generations, and the family’s influence continued well into the twentieth century.
Outside the brewing industry, Bergdoll invested heavily in Philadelphia real estate, particularly in the Fairmount section of the city near his brewery operations. He developed numerous residential properties and became a substantial property owner. The prosperity generated through the brewing business allowed the family to construct several notable residences associated with the Bergdoll name, including the impressive Louis Bergdoll House and the later Bergdoll Mansion, both of which survive as important reminders of Philadelphia’s brewing era and German-American industrial wealth.
Bergdoll was also active in charitable and civic causes within Philadelphia’s German-American community. He supported the German Hospital, later known as Lankenau Hospital, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and Salem Reformed German Church. His philanthropy reflected both his prosperity and his continuing ties to the city’s German immigrant institutions.
He married Elizabeth Wolf, and together they raised a family whose descendants remained prominent in Philadelphia society and business circles. Several of his children and extended family members later became involved in the family brewing enterprise and associated business interests.
Louis Bergdoll Sr. died at his home in Philadelphia’s Fairmount section on August 10, 1894, at the age of sixty-nine. He was buried at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Portions of the former City Park Brewery complex still stand in Philadelphia today as enduring reminders of the city’s once vast brewing industry and of the German immigrant entrepreneurs who helped build it.
Here’s an obituary of Bergdoll from the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Today is the birthday of Peter Adolph Schemm (July 20, 1852-June 6, 1909). He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Peter Schemm, who founded the Peter Schemm Brewery. When Peter A. began working at his father’s brewery, it was renamed the Peter Schemm & Son Brewery, or the Peter Schemm & Son Lager Brewery.
Here’s his very short biography from Find-a-Grave:
Was a ‘Gentleman’ and had taken over the brewery of his father- Peter Schemm Brewery in Philadelphia. He was also an extensive collector of paintings and was a lover of books.
The Peter Schemm & Son Brewery located at North 25th Street near Poplar in Philadelphia.
In 1885, Peter A. Schemm, Peter’s only son, joined the business, and the elder Peter gradually relinquished active management. His eyesight was beginning to fail, but even so, he maintained his daily practice of visiting the brewery two or three times every day, stroll up to Massholder’s saloon, a few doors above the brewery and sit with three or four old friends, and every day took his own carriage and driver (rather than using the carriage of his family) to meet with an old friend and stop by the brewery to be sure the beer was not too cold and had been properly drawn. In 1895, the contracting firm of Philip Halbach was engaged to add a large stock house to the Peter Schemm & Son brewery at a cost of $30,000.
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.
Sunday’s ad is for Eagle Bock Beer, which was published on July 19, 1877. This ad was for the Eagle Brewery, formerly known as the Old Rogner Brewery, of Indiana, Pennsylvania, which was originally founded in 1875, but lasted only two years under the ownership of John Rogner. It appears to have continued as the Eagle Brewery by Ignatius Krug, but I couldn’t find any additional information about the brewery. This ad ran in the Indiana Democrat, also of Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Today is Carol Stoudt’s birthday. She and her late husband Ed started the first microbrewery in Pennsylvania, Stoudt’s Brewing, not far from where I grew up. After my grandfather retired, he worked part time there helping out with maintenance. He was married to Ed’s aunt so I’m distantly related to the Stoudts’ by marriage. I grew up going to their restaurant, Stoudt’s Black Angus, but had already moved to California by the time they opened the brewery. But it’s been great seeing them at the various craft beer industry functions from year to year. Plus they make terrific beer and have created an amazing destination in Adamstown. If you haven’t been to Stoudtberg, you should definitely plan a visit. Join me in wishing Carol a very happy birthday.
Me and Carol behind Stoudt’s bar during a Christmastime visit several years ago.
Today is the birthday of Anthony Straub (July 17, 1882-June 13, 1962). He was the son of Peter Straub, who founded the Straub Brewery in St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania in 1872. Anthony took over running the family brewery after his father died in 1913. The brewery is still owned and operated today by the Straub family.
Peter Straub and two of sons, I think Anthony is on the left.
He’s mentioned in the biography from his father’s Wikipedia page:
The Straub family had been brewing a local beer for generations. As expected Peter learned a trade important to the brewing art. He became a Cooper, a craftsman who makes wooden barrels. Peter aspired to be a brewer and at the age of 19 in 1869 immigrated to the United States for a better and more prosperous life. Upon his arrival in the United States he found employment at the Eberhardt and Ober Brewing Company in Pennsylvania. Peter admired his employers’ pledge to forfeit $1,000 if any adulteration was found in their beer, and as he honed his brewing skills to a sharp edge, he adhered faithfully to this promise. Eventually he tired of city life and moved north to Brookville, where he perfected his brewing process while working in the Christ and Algeir Brewery.
Peter later moved to Benzinger (St. Marys), where he met and married Sabina Sorg of Benzinger. The couple settled in Benzinger and had ten children: Francis X., Joseph A., Anthony A., Anna M., Jacob M., Peter M. (who died at two years of age), Peter P., Gerald B., Mary C., and Alphons J.
Peter’s employment in Benzinger was with the Joseph Windfelder Brewery and he worked there until he purchased the Benzinger Spring Brewery (founded by Captain Charles C. Volk in 1855) from his father-in-law, Francis Xavier Sorg. It was then that Straub Beer and the Straub Brewery was born.
The Straub Family in 1904. Anthony is in the second row, on the right.
Early on, Peter introduced his sons to the world of brewing. Straub used wooden kegs for his beer. He always placed a red band around his barrels to ensure that people would know they were drinking his beer and so that he would get them back. As a lasting trademark tribute to Peter, the brewery continues to place a bright red band around each of its barrels. Red has become a trademark color for the brewery.
Following Peter’s death on December 17, 1913, his sons assumed control of the brewery, renaming it the Peter Straub Sons Brewery. During this time, the brewery produced Straub Beer as well as other beer, such as the pilsner-style Straub Fine Beer and Straub Bock Beer. In 1920, the Straub Brothers Brewery purchased one half of the St. Marys Beverage Company, also called the St. Marys Brewery, where St. Marys Beer was produced. During Prohibition, which lasted from January 29, 1920, until December 5, 1933, the brewery produced nonalcoholic near-beer. On July 19, 1940 they purchased the remaining common stock and outstanding bonds of the St. Marys Beverage Company.
The Benzinger Spring Brewery in 1895.
And this account is by Erin L. Gavlock, from 2009, at the Pennsylvania Center for the Book at Penn State:
Straub owned and operated the Benzinger Spring Brewery until he died in 1912 and left the company to his son, Anthony. Anthony Straub changed the name of the brewery to “Peter Straub Sons’ Brewery,” the only alteration he would make to his father’s business. From there, Peter Straub’s beer would become a Pennsylvania legend.
The Bavarian Man, a long-time image of the Straub Brewery that recalls its German roots.
Fast-forward over a hundred years from Straub’s humble beginnings to today and one will find the Straub Brewing pledge remains unchanged. The company still serves only unadulterated beer to its customers, proclaiming to be “The Natural Choice.” “Our all grain beer is brewed from Pennsylvania Mountain Spring water and we don’t add any sugar, salt, or preservatives to our recipes,” brew master Tom Straub told St. Marys’ Daily Press. “You can say our beer is a fresher, healthier choice than many of the selections in the marketplace.” Although time and technology have forced a transformation in brewing techniques and standards, the taste, ingredients, and the location of Straub have remained constant. Still located in St. Marys, the brewery depends upon the same mountain water from the Laurel Run Reservoir to blend with all-natural ingredients of cornflakes (used to produce fermentable sugars), barley and hops. “Our brewing process is virtually unchanged since our great, great, grandfather, Peter Straub, perfected it in 1872,” Straub’s promises. The reason behind sticking to the fresh taste of the original recipe is simple: people like it. Through the century, Straub has grown a dedicated patronage in western Pennsylvania with its traditional flavor. “Our style of brewing has pretty much stayed the same over the years, but what is interesting is that our popularity has grown and the reputation of our hand-crafted beer has increased,” Straub CEO Bill Brock said. “It is nice to know that we are becoming increasingly popular not for something we’ve changed, but rather for something we’ve always done well.”
The choice to protect and maintain the brewing customs has kept Straub a small, family owned brewery. “We’ve always thought small. We’re more about quality than quantity,” Dan Straub, former CEO, told Fredericksburg, Virginia’s Free-Lance Star. Until June 2009, Straub Beer was only distributed in glass bottles throughout Pennsylvania and Ohio. Now Straub is being brewed and distributed in aluminum cans in Rochester, New York at the High Falls Brewery. The recipe and method have not changed in the new setting and are under the careful watch of brew master Tom Straub. Despite the recent company growth, Straub still only produces about 45,000 barrels of beer per year. “We are unique; we are much larger than a micro brewery yet far, far smaller than some of the leading national brands,” said Bill Brock. In the middle ground, the brewery has managed to survive beer tycoons, economic depression, and cultural trends—a tough maneuver for a company exporting from Pennsylvania’s least populated region. “I believe the brewery has survived because of the fact that it is family owned; it is steeped in tradition and we have an absolute passion for making beer and our products,” said Brock. “From my perspective, the company and our traditions are a huge legacy and there is a clear obligation to continue these traditions.” Keeping to the family legacy has allowed Straub to persevere through the years to become the second oldest brewery in Pennsylvania after Yuengling.
Staying small and faithful to the company’s founding principles has enabled Straub to keep traditions that other larger breweries have been forced to abandon. The returnable bottle, an eco-friendly service that allows customers to send glass bottles back to the brewery for recycling, is still offered at Straub. “We stayed with the returnable bottles first of all, and I think this is really important, because we have a really strong customer base and they like the returnables,” Bill Brock said during a 2009 radio broadcast. “Over the years we maintained it while other breweries slowly fazed them out.” For Straub, a successful regional brewery, shipping bottles back to the factory is feasible, where it would create more pollution for national brands to do the same. In the future, Straub hopes to go greener and offer more returnables to customers. “We’d love for it to grow,” Brock said. “We think it is the right thing to do and if we can blend the right thing to do with making our customers happy that’s almost a perfect world.”
The family in the early 1900s. Anthony is the third from the left in the front row.
Another Peter Straub tradition kept to make customers happy is the Eternal Tap, an oasis for Elk County beer drinkers. The Eternal Tap, established long before any of the brewery’s current chief operators were born, is a “thank you” gesture for patrons, daily providing two mugs of complimentary, fresh cold beer to anyone of legal drinking age. “The roots of it go as far back as the brewery itself and I am sure that my great, great, grandfather, his workers and their friends would spend time at the end of the week enjoying a few pints of freshly brewed beer,” Brock said. According to Bloomington, Illinois’ Pantagraph, the Eternal Tap sprang up shortly after Peter Straub received the Benzinger Spring Brewery from his father-in-law as a way to draw beer enthusiasts to the taste of Straub. Since the marketing gimmick started in 1872, the Eternal Tap has not been turned off, giving free beer to customers in good times and bad.
Although Straub has been in operation for more than a century since its founder’s death, if Peter Straub were able to return to his brewery today, he might feel as if he still ran it. The original recipe, the customer appreciation, and the environmental concerns he founded his business upon are still principal brewing laws at Straub today. For the descendants of Peter Straub, keeping the tradition was second nature. “For me, being President/CEO, my job is to be faithful to the traditions and it is really not that difficult,” Brock said. “I have one of the best jobs in the world and I have been given the opportunity to continue an important tradition and legacy.”
Anthony after his first communion in the late 1800s.
Today is the birthday of Richard L. Yuengling, Sr. (July 16, 1915-March 25, 1999). He was the great-grandson of David Yuengling, who founded America’s Oldest Brewery, Yuengling Brewing, which was founded in 1829 (as the Eagle Brewery) in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
Richard L. Yuengling Sr., 83, whose great-grandfather, David G., founded America’s Oldest Brewery in 1829, died Thursday evening at ManorCare Health Services, Pottsville, after an extended illness.
He was the fourth-generation owner of D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc. Brewery.
“He was a great person to work for,” said James P. Buehler, a 27-year employee recently elevated to brewmaster. “It’s a shame. He was a good man,” with a lot of friends, he added.
“On behalf of a mournful city, we extend our condolences to the Yuengling family,” Mayor Terence P. Reiley said.
Dick Sr. and brother F. Dohrman who preceded him in death took over management of the brewery when their father, Frank D., died at age 86.
Carol B. Johnson, whose husband, the Rev. Theodore T., was pastor of Trinity Episcopal Church in Pottsville from 1952 to 1975, has fond memories of Dick Sr., who used to attend church there.
“The Yuenglings were all a part of our life in Pottsville,” she said.
Dick Sr. and his brothers- and sisters-in-law were active and interested church members, she said from their home in a Northumberland retirement community.
He ran a good business, and was very kind and thoughtful to his mother, the late Augusta Roseberry Yuengling, she said. His father was the late Frank D.
Dick Sr. was more reticent than his son and daughter, Patricia H. Yuengling, who lives in LaMesa, Calif., she said.
During Dick Sr.’s tenure, in 1976, the brewery was recognized as “America’s Oldest,” and placed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a state historic site; and in 1979, its 150th anniversary was celebrated.
In 1985, Dick Jr. bought the company from his father.
Dick Sr. was an asset to the city, Reiley said. “Mr. Yuengling clearly kept the strong family tradition going that the brewery currently enjoys.”
That success was built upon Dick Jr.’s predecessors, including his father, Reiley said.
Thinking back to his childhood, Reiley recalled Yuengling as pleasant and accommodating when St. Patrick’s Church set up its parish block party between Fourth and Fifth streets near the brewery.
Buehler said Yuengling was always ready for a party, and the first to tend the Rathskeller bar to share a beer, he said.
Born in Pottsville, July 16, 1915, he was formerly of 1322 Howard Ave., Pottsville.
He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a staff sergeant with 1060th AAF Base Unit.
In addition to F. Dohrman, he was preceded in death by his wife of 56 years, the former Marjorie Hood, in 1997; two other brothers, David G. and Frederick G. Yuengling Sr.; a sister, Augusta Y. Ulmer.
In addition to Dick Jr. and Patricia, surviving are five grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; grandnieces and grandnephews.
Here’s what the Yuengling Wikipedia page has about Richard Sr.:
Richard L. Yuengling Sr. and F. Dohrman Yuengling succeeded Frank Yuengling after their father’s death in 1963.
Yuengling experienced an increase of sales after a renewed interest in history owing to the United States Bicentennial in 1976. Yuengling bought the rights to use the Mount Carbon (Bavarian Premium Beer) name and label when Mount Carbon Brewery went out of business in 1977. Yuengling initially brewed beer at Mount Carbon but eventually abandoned it. The dairy remained in business until 1985.
And this is his yearbook photo and entry from the Hill School from 1935. One curious fact is that some sources give his birth year as 1914 while others say 1915. But even his Find a Grave has photos of two separate gravestones showing differing birth years. One appears to be a military marker.
Today is the birthday of Harry A. Poth (July 11, 1881-November 16, 1931). He was born in Pennsylvania, and attended the William Penn Charter School until 1898, after which he graduated from the Pennsylvania Military Academy in 1902. He then attended the Wallerstein Brewing Institution, becoming a brewer at the Fred A. Poth Brewery, which by 1875 was the largest brewery in the U.S., and which his grandfather, Frederick August Poth founded in 1870. It was incorporated in 1893, when his sons were working with him, including Harry’s father Frederick A. Poth, and it was renamed the F. A. Poth & Sons Brewery. Harry, of course, was one of the “Sons” in the name. His younger brother, Frederick J. Poth, seems to have focused on the management side of the business, while Harry was the brewer. It reopened after prohibition briefly as the Poth Brewing Co. Inc., but closed for good three years later, in 1936.
The Poth brewery, from an illustration done in the early 1890s.
I couldn’t find any photographs of him, which isn’t too surprising given I couldn’t find any of his father and only one of his brother, Frederick J. Poth. Sadly, I could find almost nothing else about him, either.
Today is the birthday of John Gardiner (July 11, 1825-July 5, 1903). Gardiner was born in upstate New York, in Albany, where he learned brewing from his father. He moved to Philadelphia when he was 24, in 1849, and worked for Massey’s Brewery before buying the James Smyth Brewery in 1874, renaming it John Gardiner & Co. Brewery. In 1883, Gardiner renamed it again, this time the Continental Brewing Co., which remained its name until it closed at the start of prohibition in 1920.
He appears to have married an Anna E. Snyder, and not Caroline Schmidt (as I’d earlier believed). According to one commenting relative, it was Gardiner’s son, John Jr., who in 1866, married one of brewery owner Christian Schmidt’s daughters, Caroline, and according to a history of Schmidt’s Brewery, he began working for his father-in-law’s brewery at that time. But it’s unclear if there is any relationship to Gardiner’s purchase of the Continental Brewery. Unfortunately, Find-a-Grave’s listing for both John Gardiner and Anna do not list a son named John Francis Gardiner Jr., but instead a John L. Gardiner Jr., a daughter, Mary, and another son, George.
Here’s how Gardiner and his family are mentioned in the history of Schmidt’s Brewery:
For generations the name of Gardiner had been well known in brewing circles. The family owned the Continental Brewing Co. in Philadelphia. John Gardiner married a daughter of Christian Schmidt. John Gardiner Jr., and Edward A. Gardiner, sons of John Gardiner, joined Schmidt’s to add new luster, in, respectively, sales and finance., to the family management team.
During the entire period of relegalization- including the peak year of 1955- and through to 1958, John Gardiner Jr., a grandson of the founder, was sales and advertising manager for the brewery. Mr. Gardiner, now a vice president, saw sales rise under his management from 106,000 in 1934 to almost 2 million in 1955.
Edward A. Gardiner, his brother, now chairman of the board, was responsible for the financial arrangements which made possible the various expansions of the brewery in the 1930’s, 40’s and early 50’s. It was Mr. Gardiner’s raising of the funds to accommodate the expansion of the company in 1947 and 1948 which kept the brewery abreast of modern changes and in a position to meet the difficult competitive challenge of the postwar years.
Today is the birthday of William Reed, who owns the bar Standard Tap in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as Johnny Brenda’s. I first met William during the first Philly Beer Week several years ago, but got to know him a lot better during a trip I took to Belgium with a group of Philadelphia beer people a few years ago. He first opened Standard Tap in 1999, and it’s set the standard for Philly beer bars ever since. Join me in wishing William a very happy birthday.
William in the back, having our first beer in Brussels a few years ago.
William with Tom Peters.
Sporting a Unicorn.
William, with Scoats and Tom Peters as I shared Belgian frites with everyone in Brussels a few years ago.
Today is the 61st birthday of Mike “Scoats” Scotese, who owned the Grey Lodge Public House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and as far as I know, he’s also still involved in the Hop Angel Brauhaus and Bonk’s Bar. Scoats is an awesome person, and I got to know him better when I took a trip to Belgium with a group of beer people from Philadelphia several years ago. He’s a terrific advocate for better beer, and helped make Philadelphia the great beer town it is today. Join me in wishing Scoats a very happy birthday.
Scoats and me in Philly earlier this year.
Scoats at the Grey Lodge [photo by Danya Henninger for Philly.com].
Scoats at GABF with another of my favorite beer people, Jaime Jurado, then with Abita Brewing.
Tapping the firkin.
That’s Scoats behind Tom Peters as I shared Belgian frites with everyone in Brussels a few years ago.
