In 1885 Adolph sold the brewery to two of his employees, Maurice Klinger and Seraphin Beck. They then renamed it the "Capital Brewery" - shown in the photo below. Later, the partners purchased a lot across the street on the northeast corner of Trade and Commercial (268 South Commercial St.) where they constructed a larger brewery that, by 1891, had an annual output of 3,500 barrels. As late as 1899 the new facility produced mainly draught beer, but also had a small bottling plant behind the brewery which could bottle three or four barrels in ten hours. They also had an attached saloon for locals to enjoy the freshest "Salem Beer" at 5¢ a glass.

Seraphin Beck died in early 1900, at which time the partnership of Klinger & Beck was dissolved and the property sold at public auction.  Beck's widow, Margaret retained the property with a $29,000 bid. She operated the "Capital Brewery & Ice Works" (see above) as a sole proprietor until selling out in June of 1902 for the sum of $75,000.
The purchase was made by Leopold F. Schmidt (of the Olympia Brewing Company) through his agent, Stanislaus T. Zynda, of Whatcom, WA. Zynda spent the previous three years as superintendent of Whatcom Brewing & Malting, departing upon that brewery's takeover by Schmidt's Bellingham Bay Brewery in April of '02.

In July of 1902, a new corporation was formed with L. F. Schmidt, president; S. T. Zynder, secretary and manager; and E. Eckerlin, treasurer. Both Frank G. Deckebach, and Kola Neis, were also a major stockholders and would become office holders in the firm. The new company immediately set about to increase the capacity of the plant to 10,000 barrels/year, to double the capacity of the ice plant, and to add a bottling house with a capacity of 150 dozen/day. With the addition of a Southern Pacific rail head and the plant upgrades, Schmidt proceeded to make the old "Capital Brewery & Ice Works" the center piece of his new "Salem Brewery Assn."

Stanislaus Zynda also served as the plant's brewmaster until his departure in 1904. He was succeeded by Charles Scholl. Zynda relocated to Juneau, AK where he became the proprietor of that city's Eagle Brewery, then two years later purchasing the brewery and establishing the Alaska Brewing & Malting Co.
 

To supervise this new branch operation, Schmidt sent one of his most trusted associates, Frank M. Kenney, who had been Olympia's secretary. Kenney became the brewery president, with Frank Deckebach, vice-president. In 1906 the brewery's secretary was William Schuldt, but with the startup of the Acme Brewing Company in 1907, Schuldt was sent to San Francisco to oversee that operation as secretary/manager. Accompanying Schult was a young graduate of the Wahl-Henius Brewing Institute, J.P. Rettenmayer, who had been with the firm for only four months. Kenney and Deckebach continued to manage the plant until state-wide Prohibition closed the brewery in 1915.

Their flagship brand remained "Salem Beer," brewed with locally grown hops. They also made another beer called "Salamander Braü" with a Germanic style label (right). This alludes to the drinking ritual of German university students called "rubbing the salamander." Drinkers of the day would have understood the reference, but here's an explanation from John McGregor:

Leopold's nephew, Paul Louis Schmidt (son of Leopold's younger brother Louis), also became involved in the family business. He earned his Master Brewer's certificate at the Wahl-Henius Brewing Institute of Chicago in 1910. In October of 1913, he went to Salem, and soon assumed duties as brewer and superintendent of the brewery. His assistant brewmaster was Marcel Gehres, who also received his training in 1910 - from the same institute.

While the City of Salem adopted the "local option" and voted to go "Dry" in 1909, the brewery was not required to close. Beer could still be sold outside the City limits. However, in early 1914 further limitations were imposed. The Association then moved to Portland where warehouses were established, but in November of 1914 state-wide Prohibition was approved. The Salem Brewery Ass'n. ceased brewery operations on 31 May 1915, four and a half years before national Prohibition.

When Prohibition was approved in November of 1914, Frank Deckebach and Kola Neis took steps to continue production. They partitioned the ice works and cold storage facilities from the brewery to convert it to a creamery. The new operation was called the "Marion Creamery & Produce Co."
 

Northwest Fruit Products Company
(1915-1920)

Salem Brewery, c.1917

In June of 1915, the Salem Brewery Association incorporated the remainder of the plant as a division of Olympia's "Northwest Fruit Products Company" and that year began marketing a loganberry fruit juice called "Loju." By the end of 1915 it was being distributed as far as California and the Southwest.

However, more problems were to befall the Salem plant. Due to the war in Europe the Food Administration imposed a severe limitation on the use of sugar by less essential food products, which included soft drinks. This limitation failed to ease the sugar shortage, and in the latter part of 1918, a meeting was held by government officials for the purpose of declaring the soft drink industry non-essential and ordering it to be closed. By October of 1920 the company was dissolved.

Deckebach and Neis' "Marion Creamery" continued operating until the entire plant was purchased in 1933. The creamery business was then moved across the street and carried on as before.