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History of the Centennial Brewery
(1876 - 1918)
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The Centennial Brewery was established by Leopold
F. Schmidt and Raymon Saile in June of 1876. (See
Schmidt biography).
Schmidt had formed a partnership with Daniel Gamer in
the operation of a saloon, and in 1877 Gamer bought into the brewery and Saile
bought into the saloon. The resulting three way partnership was called Schmidt,
Gamer & Company. Saile seems to then have assumed the role of silent partner, and
on the 1880 census he gave his occupation as a miner. |
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The brewing firm of Leopold Schmidt & Daniel Gamer had branch houses
[saloons] at
Glendale and Anaconda, and an agent at Dillion. They also have an interest in
the beer-bottling department of Adolph Speckart & Co., of Butte City.
Schmidt & Gamer's Centennial Brewery late 1870s
The original wooden brewery had a
capacity of only 500 barrels per
annum. They later, erected a
three-story malt house with a capacity of 20,000 bushels, and a steam brewhouse, which
increased the capacity to 6,000 barrels per annum. At the time this was the most complete and best appointed mill in the Northwest.
On 2 July 1880 the
Butte Daily Miner reported modern improvements made to the brewery that has
doubled capacity. The Beer now sells for $3/dz.
[including bottles].
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Centennial Brewery in early
1880s |
By 1890 Henry Mueller had become a principal in the company, as
can be seen from their advertisement (below right). In 1896 Leopold Schmidt
sold his interest in the brewery and moved to Thurston County in Washington
State where he had purchased property for a new brewery. This brewery was to
become the
Olympia Brewing Company, and would soon be
followed by the construction and acquisition of four additional breweries on the
West Coast. |
