The following is the composite of a
biography published in 1903, his 1935 obituary, private work done by a Hemrich descendant,
and independent research.
Alvin M. Hemrich was born in the town of Alma, Buffalo county, Wisconsin, on the 14th of February, 1870, a son of
John [see bio.] and Catherine (Koeppel) Hemrich, both of whom were born in Germany. The father was for many years
engaged in the brewing business at Alma, Wisconsin, and he was seventy-three years old when he died
in 1896.
Alvin passed his boyhood days in Wisconsin and secured his early educational discipline in the public schools.
By the age of sixteen he had joined his brother William in the management of the business founded by his father in Alma.
When he turned eighteen he traveled to the town of Durand, WI, to work in the
brewery of Philip Lorenz.
On the 8th of May, 1890,
Mr. Hemrich was married to Wilhelmina "Minnie" Rutschow, who was born in
Germany, and
the daughter of Charles and Wilhelmina (Benecke) Rutschow, both of whom were born in Prussia.
His first son,
Elmer, was born in Sept. 1890 (see
Elmer's
biography).
According to the Brewers Journal, in Jan. of 1891 he bought out Lorenz. However,
he apparently disposed of his interests within the year in order to join the
rest of the family in Seattle.
After his arrival in Washington Mr. Hemrich proceeded to Victoria, British Columbia, where for two years he held the
position of manager of the Victoria Brewing & Ice Company (his older brother Andrew
had holdings in this company). The brewery later became the Phoenix
Brewing Co. It was here
in Sept. 1892 that his 2nd son, Andrew, was born.
He then returned to Seattle and for a year was foreman for the
Albert Braun Brewing Association
which had just become part
of the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company. When this plant was closed out, and he then took a similar position with the
Company's Bay View plant. He continued for four years, being finally compelled to resign by reason of failing
health, and he then passed some time in travel, principally in California.
After recuperating his energies Mr. Hemrich returned to Seattle in 1897 and purchased the plant and business of the
North Pacific Brewery (also known as the old
Slorah brewery), between Republican and Mercer
streets. The firm was operated as the Alvin Hemrich Brewing Co. After six months
Alvin
entered into business with his brother Louis, and with Julius Damus, in the organization of the
Hemrich Brothers Brewing Company.
Alvin was president and manager of the company from the time of its organization, and the success of the
enterprise was large measure due to his able and well directed efforts. As
a principal investor, he held the position of president of the Claussen
Brewing Company of Seattle.
He also made judicious investments in local real estate and owned a beautiful residence, which he erected in 1898.
It was located at 503 Melrose Avenue N., and was one of the most attractive homes in
turn-of-the-century Seattle.
In November, 1901, Mr. Hemrich purchased the Grays Harbor Brewing Company,
which was under construction in Aberdeen. He then organized the
Aberdeen Brewing Company, which was incorporated with
a capital stock of sixty thousand dollars, and he began the operation of the
plant shortly afterward. In May of 1905 Alvin and Minnie's 3rd son, Walter was
born. Their eldest son, Elmer, after finishing his schooling in Seattle, joined
his family in Aberdeen and two years later, in 1911, assumed the position of plant
manager.
On January 1st, 1916, statewide Prohibition
stopped the production of all alcoholic beverages - four years before national
Prohibition. Most breweries were forced to close, but his Aberdeen Brewery
stayed open by increasing its production of soda waters which they had been
producing since 1907. The Aberdeen plant had also installed
an ice plant, and with it consolidated the two other ice plants of the city, so
that they now supply all the ice for Aberdeen and Grays Harbor.
Both his Aberdeen brewery and Seattle's Hemrich Bros. brewery were also
producing a non-alcoholic "near-beer."
In February of 1915 he had established the Surf Packing Co., an Aberdeen cannery
equipped for
canning razor-backed clams. Then in 1919 the family expanded their razor-clam packing business when Elmer
built a second cannery at Snug Harbor, on the east side of the Alaska's Cook
Inlet. This
cannery, in addition to packing clams also prepared salmon, was lost
by the Hemrich family during the panic of 1922.
Undeterred by these reverses Alvin cast about for a new operating site and in
1923 decided to build a new cannery at Kukak Bay in Southwest Alaska. This
became one of the most successful fish preserving establishments in the North.
Like many other organizations of its type, the Surf Canneries, Inc. enjoyed
notable success from the time of its founding until the beginning of the great
economic depression of 1929.
When national
Prohibition took effect in 1920, Alvin sold Aberdeen's ice & cold storage
business and concentrated on the soda works and near-beer production
at both of his breweries. The Aberdeen Brewery named their product Golden Age, the same as their once popular brand of beer,
and the Seattle brewery was producing a sparkling drink called Applestaff, and a near-beer called Lifestaff.
In spite of their best efforts, the Hemrich Bros. plant was sold in 1923, and
the following year the Aberdeen plant met the same fate.
But Alvin was to return to his true calling in 1929 with the
establishment of Hemrich's Inc. in the family's old Bay View Brewery in Seattle. His son Elmer,
leased the Alaska cannery to another packing company, and concentrated on
helping his father reopen the old
plant in order to again brew near-beer.
Anticipating the demise
of Prohibition, Alvin first remodeled a building next to the Bay View Brewery, and
then built an additional facility farther south on Marginal Way (Plants #1 and #2
respectively). Upon Repeal, in 1933, he commenced operation of the Hemrich
Brewing Company (Plant #1) and the Western Brewing Co. (Plant #2). However, in
May of the following year he dissolved Hemrich's Inc., selling Plant #2 (including
the rights to the Hemrich name), and enhanced Plant #1 in the establishment of
the Apex Brewing Company.
The end of Prohibition
found two of Alvin's sons immersed in the brewing business. Elmer seized the
opportunity to purchase and remodel the old
Columbia Brewery in Tacoma, and for
two years served as president of the
Columbia Breweries, Inc.
Alvin's youngest, Walter, having recently completed training
at the Chicago Brewer's Institute, assumed the position of superintendent of
the new Apex Brewery. Unfortunately, in early February of 1935, Alvin slipped on
icy pavement at his Melrose Ave. home and broke his ankle. On 25 February Alvin
M. Hemrich died at Swedish Hospital from a blood clot due to complications
caused by the ankle injury. He had celebrated his 65th birthday just eleven days
earlier.
This image first appeared in a monthly magazine and was
later included in "Men Behind the Seattle Spirit - The Argus Cartoons",
published 15 July 1906 by H. A. Chadwick, editor Argus Monthly.
