History of the Olympia Brewing Company (1902-2003)established as
The Capital Brewing Company
(1896-1902)
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Eight weeks
after purchasing the Tumwater property Leopold sent a letter
(at right) to the Whal-Henius Institute alerting them that he had
sent them two demijohns of water for analysis.
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Capital brewing Co. letterhead,
ca.1898
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Brewing commenced at the tiny Tumwater brewery in
July of 1896, and three months later "Olympian Standard" was offered on
draught in the capital city. Their
first bottled beer was Pale Export, which was siphoned from wooden barrels,
and the bottles were then hand labeled and corked. By 1897, a bottling line was installed
that utilized the "new" crown cap sealing technology. This new packaging
coincided with the introduction of a new brand to the company's line-up,
"Excelsior." |
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Olympia Brewing Company
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The Capital Brewing Company became the Olympia Brewing Co. in 1902, and at that time chose the slogan "It's the Water" for their flagship brand "Olympia Beer," in part to explain why the Tumwater lagers were so good. This was, in fact, the issue that prevented production of the "Olympia" brand at any of his other branches. The company kept the Pale Export brand and label, changing only one the word on the banner from "Capital" to "Olympia."
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Leopold Schmidt established the
Olympia Beer Co.
in San Francisco to bottle and distribute his product, both
in SF, but also other areas of California, Nevada, and
Arizona. |
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| Leopold F. Schmidt was a
pioneer of the multiple brewery concept, and with the Tumwater plant well
established, he began construction on the
Bellingham Bay Brewery, in 1901.
He then established the Salem Brewery Association with the acquisition of the Capital Brewery of Salem, Ore., in 1903, and founded the Acme Brewing Company of San Francisco in 1906. And finally, he purchased the Port Townsend Brewing Company of Port Townsend, Wash., in 1909. |
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Leopold Schmidt's business card, ca.1898
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On November 30, 1905, the flag was raised on their new, a six-story tall
brewhouse. This
Italianate structure was made of Chehalis brick, and replaced the original four-story, wood
frame brewhouse. |
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 Magnusson collection |
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Leopold Schmidt died in 1914, just before prohibition forces triumphed in Washington and Oregon. The Olympia brewery group was then lead by Leopold's eldest son Peter. Prohibition came to Washington in Jan. 1916 - four years prior to national prohibition, yet the Schmidt family still had the two Acme plants in San Francisco where they continued to produce beer, but not Olympia Beer. Brewing
basically ceased in Washington in 1915, allowing brewers one year to
deplete
With the advent of National Prohibition in 1920 the Schmidt family undertook many other business ventures, the most significant of which was their hotels. As a normal business practice many brewers had acquired saloons and hotels as exclusive outlets for their product. By the early 20's the Schmidt family controlled a large number of luxury hotels, with a presence in all of the major northwestern cities. So they decided to sell off all their inactive breweries and beverage operations (including the 1906 Tumwater Brewhouse), and concentrate on their Western Hotels chain. This would become the nucleus of the present day Westin Hotels. They also started a bus transport business that would later become part of the Greyhound Bus Lines. |
REPEAL of PROHIBITION
1934 letterhead
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With Repeal of Prohibition in April of 1933, Peter Schmidt had only the Tumwater property and no brewery. He was faced with prospect of reacquiring the Old Brewhouse and undertaking a costly restoration and remodel. He decided instead to build a new, modern plant up on the hill above the original site. See painting below.
With Repeal also came new legislation that forbad brewers from owning
"tied houses" or any business that sold beer. Consequently they had to
divest themselves of the hotels and concentrate on a single brewery in
Tumwater. The plant was completed, and on January 14, 1934 "Olympia Beer"
was back. |
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Olympia Brewery painting
ca.1938
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Sales were strong, and the brand was soon available in all of the western states, and by 1940, Olympia had surpassed its pre-prohibition production. The company stayed solely with draft and bottled beer until 1950. In August of that year they introduced their first canned beer (shown below). The can's graphics remained unchanged until the '60s when the zip-tab was introduced - and can openers became a thing of the past. After WWII the old brewhouse was being used by Western Metal Craft for cabinet manufacturing but were gone in the early '50s and it remained vacant. In 1964 the family repurchased the the old brewhouse and the other buildings on the water, and used them for storage. |
Olympia Brewery ca.1989
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In the '70s the brewery issued a series of
re-prints of earlier lithographs (below). The most
popular were the Capital Brewery, and 1907, 1909 and 1910 girls.
These reproductions were also decoupaged to old wooden slats to
give them a more antique look. The two most popular images
(Capital, and 1909) were also used on beer trays and other items
that were sold in the brewery's gift shop. |
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Today
Brew House
today - K. Williams Collection
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Today, the Old Brewhouse remains Tumwater’s
best known landmark as part of Tumwater’s New Market Historic District, and
is listed on the National and Washington Registers of Historic Places. After
the 2016 donation of the brick tower to the City of Tumwater, tours of the
complex have been restricted in the interest of safety during renovation
stages. The City of Tumwater has made preservation of the historic structure
and revitalization of the brewing district a priority.
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Acknowledgements
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