Biography of George Frederick Gund
(1855 -1916)
 

George received his education in the public schools of his native city. At the age of fifteen, he entered the employ of the Batavian Bank, remaining with that institution for six years, or until July 1, 1876. He was then employed by his father in the brewing business, which was incorporated in 1880 as the John Gund Brewing Company. Upon incorporation of this company, he served as secretary and treasurer. This was the largest brewery in Wisconsin, outside of Milwaukee.

George was married to Anna Louise Metzger, on 14 March 1886, and this union produced two children, George, Jr., and Agnes. 

George left LaCrosse for the West Coast with his family in December of 1890. He didn't advertise his purpose, but he had been observing both English and U.S. syndicates buying up breweries, and getting rich through higher returns on investment, and through restructuring these combines. Now he was hoping to do the same.

Upon his arrival in Washington State, George did a newspaper interview for the Seattle Post-Intellegencer, which was published on 30 December. He said that La Crosse was a "rather slow city" so he decided to come here and "what I shall do, I cannot tell." He then went on to discuss the buying of American breweries by English syndicates, suggesting that the practice is on the decline.

Five months later he accomplished phase one of what he had been planning to do. In May of '91, he purchased 50% of the Claussen-Sweeney brewery and bottling works¹ from Hans Claussen. Then three months later, phase two of his plan was revealed.

On 9 August 1891, theSeattle Post-Intellegencer ran this story:

"Seattle is now the headquarters great brewery trust, which includes all the breweries of this city and Tacoma. Within a month the arrangements will have been perfected and the consolidated company will take charge of the business of all the companies.
The consolidation has been brought about by George Gund, formerly of La Crosse, Wis. He began by buying the interest of Hans Claussen in the Claussen-Sweeney brewery, and purchased outright the Wegert brewery in this city. A further step in the direction of consolidation was made yesterday when the Puget Sound Brewing Company, of Tacoma, bought a three-fourths interest in the Donau brewery, of that city, at sheriff's sale. The United States brewery, of Tacoma, was also bought up. All the breweries in the two cities - the Braun, Bay View, Claussen-Sweeney and Wegert, in Seattle, and the Puget Sound, Donau and United States, in Tacoma - have been placed under heavy bonds preparatory to consolidation under the management of one corporation, which will be organized by September.
The new company will be called the United Puget Sound Breweries, and will have a capital stock of $2,000,000. Its main office will be in Seattle, and its president will be either Mr. Gund or Mr. Sweeney. The Braun brewery will be used entirely to supply the export trade, the Bay View will supply malt to all the breweries, and supply beer to Seattle alone, and the Puget Sound brewery will supply the Tacoma local trade. The Claussen-Sweeney brewery, of Seattle, and the Donau brewery, of Tacoma, will be closed, while the other breweries will be operated to their full capacity, and supply the whole trade, both home and export.
On behalf of the consolidation it is claimed that it will bring about economy in management and production, and put an end to ruinous competition. The capacity of the breweries of the Sound exceeds the demand, and none of them have been running to their capacity."

Then two days later this follow-up story appeared:

Mr. George Gund, who was reported to be at the head of a combine of the brewers of Puget Sound, said last night; "The only thing which can give color to the rumor is the fact that Seattle and Tacoma brewers have lately held several conferences to divide the territory and fix prices if possible for outside business. The Tacoma brewers think we ought not to go into Puyallup, and we, on the contrary, want them to keep out of - well say Snohomish. So we have been trying to divide the territory fairly between us.
"The Donau brewery, before it was sold out by the sheriff, was cutting rates very sharply. The management was desperate, and in order to get a little money beer was sold for $5 a barrel, or, for that matter, at any price which would bring in quick returns. This demoralized the business everywhere. So we have been trying to put prices at a point which will give a fair profit.
There is no intention whatever of closing the Claussen-Sweeney brewery. As for the Wegert brewery, which I am said to have bought, I have never even visited it.”

While the proposed combine members failed to come to an aggreement, the revealed plan was obviously a leak, and not a rumor. What was true, was that Gund did not purchase the Wegert brewery², nor attempt to. The newspaper article should have called it Wegert's brewery, or the The North Pacific Brewery.

The proposed combine didn't materialize, but for George, it remained an objective, and a year and a half later he succeeded. On 11 January, 1893, the Bay View brewery joined with the breweries of Albert Braun and Claussen-Sweeney to form a new association - the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company. 

George was the main architect of this merger, but he had an accomplice in Otto Huber, who was head of a group of Eastern investors behind the Albert Braun Brewing Association.

As usually happens with these consolidations, the least viable unit is closed. In this case, the executive board voted to shut down the Albert Braun Brewing Associaton's beer production, while continuing with the ice production. The board also voted to send vice-president, Albert Braun, to San Francisco to oversee SB&M's California business. As a result of his brewery's shuttering, and his posting to SF, Albert  resigned from SB&M, and left Seattle.

In January 1896, George was voted president of SB&M, with his brother-in-law, Alfred F. Metzger, as secretary. Fourteen months later, on 21 March 1897, George resigned his position and sold his shares to Andrew and Louis Hemrich. He then departed for Cleveland, having purchased the Jacob Mall Brewing Company.

He continued operating it as the Jacob Mall brewery for almost three years. Then, in 1900, he incorporated the company and renamed it the Gund Brewing Co. An entrepreneur in the truest sense of the word, he used money generated by the brewery to invest in other ventures, such as mining companies, realty, and banking.

Having started in banking, in La Crosse, it was fitting that he sat on the boards of two banks in Seattle, and was associated with two in Cleveland as well. George F. Gund built himself a financial empire, but unfortunately, he died at the early age of 60, in 1916.

FOOTNOTES:

   ¹ As co-owner of the Claussen-Sweeney bottling works, Gund offered the position of manager to a family friend from La Crosse, John G. Fox.

   ² In January of 1891, Julius Wegert sold his North Pacific Brewery to Lester Turner for $5,000 - the sale was not made public. Turner was with the 1st National Bank of Seattle, acting as agent for John Hemrich. Charles A. Saake was then hired to manage the brewery, which continued operating until late in '96, when John's son, Alvin M. Hemrich, took possession of the plant and business of the North Pacific Brewery.  
  

Article by Gary Flynn

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