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The Milwaukee
Brewery was preceded by three other brewing
enterprises at this 23rd & Jefferson location. The
first was established in 1884 by Diedrich Stegmann,
and was one of the first breweries
in Tacoma.
Stegmann ran his brewery
as a sole proprietorship until 1886 when he took on a partner,
Henry Lusthoff. However, by 1888 a new company had been formed
and was doing business as the United States Brewing &
Ice Co., with Diedrich Stegmann, president; S.S. Slaughter,
secretary; and John Frazier, treasurer.
This appears to have been a stock company formed
by George Harrell and Zacharias Zimmerman, to enable them to
enter the Tacoma beer market. Harrell was a wealthy brewer and
owner of the United States Brewing Co. of Portland. This new
company now gave Harrell and Zimmerman their Tacoma branch.
Before the year was out, the acting proprietors
were in place and the Tacoma Bottling Works was added as unit of
the company. The president was still Diedrich Stegmann, but with
Mathies Karasek, now serving as secretary & treasurer.
A mere three years later, interest in the brewery was
purchased by two local liquor dealers, and other investors from
Tacoma's Jewish community, but Diedrich Stegmann still held a
major share in the company.
The Milwaukee Brewery
In May of 1891, Samuel S.
Loeb, and his brother-in-law, Albert Weinberg, purchased
controlling interest in
the United States brewery. Two months later, the July 17th
edition of the Seattle Intelligencer reported that
Andrew
Hemrich, proprietor of the Bay View brewery has
purchased Mr.
Stegmann's shares in the United States Brewery of Tacoma. The
brewery will be remodeled and renamed the Milwaukee Bewery.
Not much has been written of the Milwaukee
brewery. Most of the information has been gleaned from local
newspapers of the day.
The December 8, 1891, Tacoma's
Daily Ledger reported:
"A BUSY BREWERY - Milwaukee Company
Enlarging Its Jefferson Avenue Plant by One-Half.
For a brewery, that of the Milwaukee Brewing company at the
corner of Twenty-third street and Jefferson avenue is a
small one; but so competently is it handled that it is not
only profitable, but it turns out a very large amount of
beer for its size. The plant has been in existence for about
eight years, though the present company has been organized
but six months. The company is as its name implies, a
joint-stock one, and its officers are: S. S. Loeb,
president, and A. T. Weinberg, secretary-treasurer.
The capital stock is $35,000. The plant consists of nine
fine lots on Jefferson avenue running through to E street,
so that enlargement at any time is a possibility as far as
room is concerned. On this are four buildings. The office
25x80 feet and two and one-half stories high, part of which
is used as a residence by the superintendent; an
eighteen-stall stable measuring 30x44 feet and two stories
in height; a store-house, and the brewery proper, which
measures 120x40 feet and is four stories in height. The
boiler and engine are 50-horsepower each, the latter being
one of the Nagle company's of Erie, Penn. The refrigerating
system which runs throughout the brewery, cools fifty
barrels per hour, or has an ice-making capacity of fifty
tons per day. The brew kettle is a 50-barrel one and can be
used twice a day.
In spite of the fact that the plant as given above can turn
out and is now turning out fifty barrels per day, work was
commenced yesterday at enlarging its capacity by adding to
its boilers, storage and producing capacity. The work will
take ninety days, and when it is completed the brewery will
be about doubled in size. The company does all its own
hauling and keeps fifteen horses on the street all time.
As was indicated above, the company is now selling up to the
full capacity of the brewery - fifty barrels per day, and
the change is being made with a view to the extension of its
business. The trade is chiefly local with some trade in the
towns about. The company, like all others on the Sound,
imports its malt from San Francisco, but a contemplated
enlargement is the building of a malt house. The hops come
from Puyallup. About 120 bales of these are carried in stock
continually. The property of the company is held at
$75,000."
Milwaukee stein,
ca.1892
The Tacoma City Directory for 1892 Lists Samuel S. Loeb as
president, and Andrew Hemrich as secratery, so it appears
that Hemrich has retaind an interest in the brewery. Less than two years after establishing the stock company, on 30
April 1893, Leob and partners incorporated the business. The
following day the Daily Ledger reported:
"Samuel S. Loeb and A. Weinberg, as
trustees, filed articles yesterday incorporating the
Milwaukee Brewing Company. The capital stock is $25,000 in
350 shares. The business will be to engage in and conduct
the business of brewing, manufacturing and dealing in beer,
ale, etc."
The
Daily Ledger, on October 7, 1894, described the events of
the German-American day held at the Interstate Fair and
recognized the brewery for it's support. In so doing the Ledger
also recounted its success story:
" - - They have been indefatigable in
their labors for the past three years to place this
institution in the front rank of brewing houses in the west.
And how have they succeeded? From a badly run-down, somewhat
demoralized brewery in 1891, then known as the United States
Brewery, they have now one of the most complete modern
plants in the Pacific northwest.
The greatest care and pains have been exercised in the
brewing and they are using the most approved machinery, and
the brewing is under the exclusive care and personal
attention of Kasper Hoffmeir¹ (sic), a man of
many years experience as one of the most successful of the
famous Bavarian brewers.
Through this manifold effort to reach the cream of
excellence for the beer, the Milwaukee Brewing company may
well feel proud, for they are not only making a beer of a
far better quality than the bulk of the beer shipped from
the east, but they have the satisfaction of knowing that
they can count their friends by the thousands throughout the
Sound country.
This extensive plant has a capacity of 125 barrels per day,
and is even now storing the product from which Bock beer
will be placed on the market in the spring. - - "
On
December 30th of 1894, for their year-end recap of local
industries, the Ledger reported that Milwaukee Brewing
company had increased their annual output to 60,000 barrels, and
that they had 23 employees with a payroll of $2250. The years
output was valued at $200,000. The beer
glass shown here was manufactured by the Maryland Glass
Etching Works of Cumberland, Maryland. The company was
founded by George Truog in 1893. Truog was also the artist
who engraved the plates used in the application of the
design. The glass bears his initials which he cleverly
inserted into the design.
etched glass
ca.1895
The 1896 "year-end look" by the Daily Ledger gave a
glowing account of the Milwaukee
Brewery. The following are excerpts of the lengthy article:
" - - They are producing beer equal to
the best eastern draught and bottled beer, which, up to
three years ago was, to be found on sale at many
representative places. Now the eastern draught is entirely
gone, having been replaced with both the draught and the
celebrated "Bohemian Export" bottled beer of the Milwaukee
Brewing Company.
Special attention is paid to the bottling department,
which is under the supervision of Mr. J. F. Yuncker, a
bottler of fifteen years experience in the east. The
superior quality of "Bohemian Export" beer has
thoroughly established its reputation as the finest
bottled product on the market.
In addition to previous improvements the company is just
now finishing a two-story stock house, which will add
3,000 barrels to its storage capacity, insuring that, in
spite of increasing business, the excellent quality will
be maintained. One of the mainsprings of the company's
success has been its ability to keep every customer
(saloon)
once secured. This results from the uniform fair
dealings which has characterized its business. The
company has always taken pride in promoting the success
of its customers, knowing that their success means the
success of the brewery.
Mr. S. S. Loeb is president of the highly successful
company, and Mr. A. Weinberg, secretary and treasurer.
Ben Moyses²
is general agent. A. L. Bird³ has charge of the
office work, and J. Henry Beckman⁴ is brewer and
general superintendent."
Then in 1897, Loeb agreed to a merger with its
neighboring brewery and formed a new corporation.
On 30 August, 1897, Tacoma's Daily Ledger reported:
"The Milwaukee Brewing Company in Tacoma
gave a warranty deed to the Puget Sound Brewing Company for
its brewery and all property connected therewith for a
consideration named in the deed of $1, and the
Pacific
Brewing & Malting Company filed articles of incorporation,
with a capital stock of $500,000 to carry on the business of
the two breweries. The trustees of the new company are
William Virges of the Bonney Drug Company, treasurer; Anton
Huth, president of the Puget Sound Brewing Company,
president; S.S. Loeb, president of the Milwaukee Brewing
Company, secretary."
map of Tacoma 1890 - click for larger
image
The two breweries were equitably joined, and Loeb took the
position of vice-president and secretary of the new
Pacific Brewing & Malting Company.
The Milwaukee plant remained in operation for two years
- until 1899, when PB&M purchased the local Donau Brewery, and closed the Milwaukee
branch.
Not to waste a good design, the
chromolithographer who designed the "M" & Eagle logo for Leob,
utilized it for The Montana Brewing Co. of Great Falls, after
the Milwaukee Brewery closed. 
FOOTNOTES:
¹Brewmaster, Casper Hofmeier, prior to
working for the Milwaukee Brewery, was a foreman at the
Bay View Brewery in Seattle. In 1895, he and his
step-son Frank Groger, who was also a brewer at the Milwaukee plant, moved to
Ellensburg where they established the St. Louis Brewing Company.
² With the 1897 merger, Benjamin
Moyses left Tacoma and started a new brewing venture in Rossland, B.C. with the
establishment of the Lion Brewery Co., Ltd. By 1902
Moyses had sold his interests and was in Seattle as secretary/treasurer of
Samuel Loeb's new Independent Brewing Company.
³ A. L. Bird accompanied Moyses
to Rossland, B.C. and served as secretary of the new Lion Brewery Company.
⁴ J. Henry Beckman came
to Tacoma from the Albert Braun brewery in 1891. When the Milwaukee plant merged
with PB&M he went with the
Galland-Burke Brewing & Malting Co. in Spokane.
While in Spokane he drew up plans, supervised the erection and installation of
the plant for the new Sunset
Brewery in Wallace, ID, and put the plant in operation. In 1902 he returned to Seattle
to build the plant for Moyses & Loeb's Independent Brewing Co., in his
capacity as
brewer and plant
superintendent.
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