Fort Wayne, Indiana, once a major beer producing city for the midwest, now shows little of its brewing past. That past covered nearly 150 years when the fortunes of the brewing industry were closely linked to the city's economic health and social life. The city would later be the battleground between hometown brewers and national corporations in a struggle that would have no winners.
The City's Early Brewers
History documents a brewery as early as 1853 operated by Carl Phenning on the east side of the city. On Phenning's death, it passed to George Meier who ran the business until 1860. Six years later, the little brewery was rented to George Haring. Haring purchased the property two years later and he was ready to expand. He built cellars on the west side of Main Street and, by 1874, his brewery moved into a new large brick building. Production was 2,500 barrels a year. The distinction of being the city's first brewery wouldn't last long.
About 1855, Herman A. Nierman built what was known as the Stone Brewery on the southwest corner of Water and Harrison Streets. When the founder died, the brewery passed to Nierman's brother, Martin. Business must have been good. Early records show the brewery used about 30,000 bushels of barley and 20,000 pounds of hops in an average year.
F. J. Beck built a brewery in 1856 on the south bank of a feeder canal. He sold the brewery to Certia and Rankert in 1869. These partners made many improvements to the brewery, and, according to American Breweries II, they were succeeded by Lutz & Company who operated the brewery from about 1877 to 1880. American Breweries II mentions this brewery as one of four that entered business in Fort Wayne in 1874.
The brewing industry was not exempt from the industrial revolution that gained new momentum after the Civil War. In a scenario that would be repeated after World War II, old brewing methods would be made obsolete by advances in equipment, refrigeration and packaging. The small brewer would be replaced by a generation of giants.
The first brewing giant
Charles L. Centlivre was born in the French province of Alsace in 1827. He learned his father's trade as a cooper and emigrated to New Orleans in 1847. A cooper built and repaired kegs and casks. A cholera epidemic later that year forced his return to France where he packed up his father and two brothers and returned to America. They settled in Louisville, Ohio, working as coopers and later moved to McGregor, Iowa, where they built a small, primitive brewery.
In 1862, Charles moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, opening a small brewery on the west bank of the St. Joseph River about 1G miles northeast of the court house. The first wood-framed building was built on a strip of land between the river and the canal feeder. A 20 feet difference in water levels between the two made it an ideal site for brewing with a constant flow of water. The French Brewery, as it was known, produced only 500 barrels in its first year. A malting house was added in 1868 and a bottling plant was completed in 1876. Peter Nusbaum of Chicago was the brewmaster from 1870 to 1910.
The perfection of artificial refrigeration convinced Centlivre in 1868 that his old plant was too small and should be replaced. A new modern brick brewery was built, and, by 1887, output had reached 20,000 barrels a year. The business was operating at capacity when a fire on July 16, 1889, destroyed the brewery and the nearby bottling plant and boat house.
Centlivre immediately started to rebuild on a larger scale. His new brewery was as up to date as technology allowed, and a new 50-ton refrigerating machine was added in 1901. The brewery complex included a massive brew house and eight smaller structures surrounding an outdoor park.
Centlivre wanted townspeople to visit his brewery and enjoy the trees and flowers in his park. To get them to there, he spent considerable money improving local streets and invested $9,000 in his own street car line. The C.L. Centlivre Street Railway Company extended from downtown at the corner of Calhoun and Superior to the brewery complex and park grounds. The park enjoyed the same popularity as the beers produced by the brewery.
Fifty-three circus shows pitched their tents in the park from the late 1890s to 1930 and both Ringling Brothers and Cole Brothers circuses performed at the brewery park up to 1954. Weekend visitors could enjoy a ride up the St. Joseph River on the brewery-owned boat, Amelia, or sit under the large oak and maple trees listening to band concerts while enjoying Centlivre Special or Pale Ale. The family also maintained a stable of fine show horses, and a large oval track was built along Forest Park Boulevard to exercise the stock.
While Charles Centlivre managed the city's largest and most popular brewery, his son, Louis, headed the L. A. Centlivre Manufacturing Company who were makers of "fine, quality gas engines," on the corner of Superior and Spy Run Streets, about a mile from the brewery. Charles was also secretary of the city's light and power company, and an owner of the Monday Morning Times, a newspaper supporting the cause of free silver.
The brewery's street car company was sold to the Fort Wayne Electric Railway Company in 1894. In the same year, the family donated money to erect a monument dedicated to military veterans. The monument stands today in Lawton Park. The beer business was good and the family fortunes were climbing. In 1909, they built the Hotel Centlivre across from the city's train depot. The hotel was in a blue collar neighborhood noted for rabble rousing and frequent police calls. The hotel became a frequent stopping point for commuters to Chicago.
In 1910, Louis Centlivre was elected to the county council. His father never saw him finish his term. Charles passed away in 1911. Brewery employees expressed their loss by commissioning a posthumous statue of the founder, foot resting on a keg of beer, to be placed on top of the brewery. Today, the statue of Centlivre is atop Hall's Gas House Restaurant in downtown Fort Wayne.
The brewery survived a fire in 1899. A flooded St. Joseph's River threatened the boilers in 1913 when production was at 75,000 barrels a year. The next disaster would be Prohibition which ended the golden era of brewing in 1918. The brewery became the Centlivre Ice and Cold Production Storage Company. Its near beer, That's It, met moderate success and was discontinued two years later. Centlivre became a full-time ice company.
On April 7, 1933, headlines in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette announced, "Legalized Beer Made Its Debut at 12:01 this morning". The brewery was back in business with the brands that had made it famous: Centlivre Special, Centlivre Extra Pale, Muencher, Special Export, Nickel Plate Special, and Centlivre Tonic. A brother-in-law, John B. Reuss, was added to the family management team and the brewery was hailed as one of the city's most progressive and energetic family-owned businesses. By 1934, capacity had reached 130,000 barrels per year. Herman Centlivre, grandson of the founder, converted the brewery park and circus grounds into the Centlivre Apartment Community in the early 1940s. This complex still exists today.
Optimism was high at the brewery after World War II. A major $1.5 million expansion was underway in 1950 and, by 1958, production had reached 250,000 barrels a year. Centlivre employed 100 workers with an annual payroll of $250,000. The brewery celebrated its 95th anniversary that year with a limited edition beer, Alps Brau, as a tribute to the founder's homeland.
The decade of the 1960s was one of major changes in the beer business and the beginning of the end for many local and regional breweries. In 1961, John Reuss, then company President, negotiated a merger of Centlivre with a conglomerate known as Chris-Craft Corporation. At this point, the brewery was renamed Old Crown Brewing Corporation and employees were offered ownership in the company. No one - from the President to the janitor - was allowed to own more than 12 percent of the company's stock. While this gave the brewery the distinction of being one of the first employee-owned breweries in the nation, it also made the company tremendously under capitalized in a highly competitive market. This would have serious consequences on a limited advertising budget.
The brewery used local sports figures and ABC sportscaster, Chris Schenkel, to promote a mascot named "Crownie" and a new slogan for Old Crown Beer, "Lazy Aged". It wasn't enough to battle the national giants or the well-financed competition on the east side of town. Marjorie Aubrey, who started as a secretary, became General Manager and one of the country's first women brewery executives. Her pleas to buy local and support hometown business didn't alter the bottom line. The last "Lazy Aged" can of Old Crown was brewed on December 1, 1973, and the old Centlivre Brewery became history.
The area around the brewery had shifted from commercial to residential property over the years. Karl Jensen, owner of a cabinet company, purchased the brewery buildings in 1974 with the idea of creating a $32.8 million complex of restaurants, shops and professional offices. His plans were destroyed by vandalism that turned the historic site into the city's eyesore.
A late flicker of hope came in 1980 when plans were announced to create a 28-unit condominium called "The Brewie" at the site. This plan didn't materialize so, in 1989, the remaining buildings were demolished. Only the Centlivre residence and horse stables were saved.
Fort Wayne's other beer baron
Beer had made the Centlivre family community stalwarts from the turn of the century to Prohibition, but they were not alone. The city's largest brewer, and one whose beers enjoyed a wider reputation outside the state, was Herman Berghoff. He and a younger brother, Henry, were headed west in 1870 to make their fortune, when their train stopped at Fort Wayne and young Herman got off to buy a pretzel. Someone offered him a job, so he quickly boarded the train, grabbed his brother and their suitcase and accepted the job.
Berghoff had acquired a strong work ethic from his family in Dortmunder, Prussia, and he put it to use supporting his brother and saving money to bring a two other brothers to America. In a few years, Hubert joined them, and four months later Gustav arrived. By 1882, the Berghoff brothers owned the East End Bottling Works. In 1887, they raised $100,000 to start construction of a brewery on Grant Avenue. The building was almost complete when it was destroyed by a fire on August 22, 1887.
Undaunted, the Berghoff brothers started to rebuild on a more extensive scale. Newspapers reported that Herman was in his office writing telegrams seeking financial help from suppliers while the fire raged overhead. Another $140,000 was spent to rebuild and, when it was all done, a large Star of David was installed above the main entrance to the brewhouse. This may appear to be a strange symbol for German Catholics to use, but it could relate to King David who is purported to be the first recorded brewer.
The first year's output of the new Herman Berghoff Brewing Company was only 12,000 barrels of lager beer. This quickly rose to 90,000 barrels by 1890. Artificial refrigeration and bottling had been installed the previous year. The brewery filtered water taken from a well 200 feet below the engine room. Berghoff Beer was introduced at the Chicago's World Fair in 1892. To coincide with that event, Herman went to Chicago to officiate at the opening of the Berghoff Restaurant at State and Adams Streets in the heart of Chicago's loop. The restaurant operates today under the same name.
The brewery added a new 75-ton ice machine in 1901 and a bottling house the following year. Brewmaster, Bernard A. Poelhuis, increased production to 100,000 barrels of Dortmunder by the turn of the century. Along with the regular Berghoff brands, a new Extra Pale and International Club Ale were added. The Berghoff family was successful and they were dedicated to the community that made it possible. Henry Berghoff was appointed Deputy Sheriff in 1894. Two years later he was named City Controller and, in 1902, was elected Mayor. He didn't seek re-election and devoted his time to founding the German-American National Bank. Henry was head cashier and Gustav was Vice President of their east side bank on Maumee Avenue. Brother Herman served as City Treasurer in 1889. Gustav had earlier purchased the Summit City Soap Works and renamed it the Rub-No-More Soap Company. It produced powered soap, glycerin, and stearic acid. That business was across the railroad tracks one block northeast of the brewery.
Public sentiment became increasingly anti-alcohol and anti-German on the eve of World War I. While the Berghoffs were proud of their German ancestry, they also loved the country that had given them success. When America entered the war against their homeland, Henry made a tearful announcement to his workers. He expressed loyalty to his adopted country and pledged his support in the war against Germany. He ordered that the American flag be flown above the plant and the company slogan be changed from "A Real German Brew" to "A Real Honest Brew".
With the onset of Prohibition, the industrious family remained positive about the future. The brewery became the Berghoff Products Company during the dry years and promoted "Bergo", a soft drink, and Berghoff Malt Tonic. Company advertising hailed their malt tonic as "recommended by the medical professional for nursing mothers, convalescents, the undernourished, tired, and rundown." It was also said to aid digestion and be healthful for young and old alike.
In 1925, Gustav sold his soap company to Procter and Gamble, but the Berghoff family continued to own the building. It would come in handy after Repeal.
When the Volstead Act was repealed in 1933, the Berghoff Brewery was ready. It was the first Indiana brewer to produce legal 3.2 beer. At the same time, Herman Berghoff lifted a mug at his Berghoff Restaurant in Chicago and declared, "ladies will not be seated at the bar. We can't handle them when they drink strong liquor".
A new generation of Berghoff sons had come of age during the dry years. They wanted to follow in the footsteps of their fathers. Gustavís sons opened the Hoff-Brau Brewing Company in the empty Rub-No-More Soap building in 1934. Hoff-Brau was noted for its unique advertising and quality beers: Hoff Brau Bock, Golden Ale, Gold Star, and Dry Pilsner. Their ads were heavy on sports, nostalgia, and even promoted safe driving. Hoff Brau was described as "the beer without a headache", and a 1934 booklet advised parents that "Growing children need a small glass with every meal".
By 1950, sales at both Berghoff-owned breweries were flat and both plants were in need of modernization. Updating equipment and competing in the new mass market arena with national brands wasn't financially possible for family-owned businesses. The Hoff-Brau Brewing Company closed its doors in 1951. A block away, the Berghoffs were negotiating a sale to the larger Falstaff Brewing Corporation of St. Louis. The deal was made and a new Falstaff Brewing Company of Fort Wayne, Indiana, was incorporated on April 12, 1954. Falstaff retained the experienced work force at their new brewery, but brought Frank King from St. Louis to be the brewmaster.
Enter the national brewers
The Berghoff Brewery at Fort Wayne was important to Falstaff for many reasons. Its location was central to Falstaff's expansion plans into the midwest. The first shipment of Falstaff brewed in Fort Wayne left the brewery on June 1, 1954, destined for the Great Lakes region of Northern Indiana, Western Ohio, and Southern Michigan. Through the 1950s and 60s, the brewery was expanded to produce one million barrels per year. By the mid-1960s, Falstaff was strong enough to make an offer to buy the Miller Brewing Company. The sale was called off due to anti-trust concerns.
Employment at the Fort Wayne brewery reached 400 during the decade of Falstaff's tenure and profits were high. Falstaff exercised its purchase clause in the agreement with Berghoff and officially gained title to the brewery property. The brewery was contributing over $11 million in local, state, and federal taxes. It spent over $9 million a year with Indiana suppliers and the company payroll added $4 million to the local economy. By this time, the Fort Wayne plant was the flagship of Falstaff's seven breweries producing more beer than Falstaff's breweries at St. Louis, Cranston, Rhode Island, New Orleans, Galveston, Texas, and San Francisco.
The old Berghoff plant had been updated with a new canning line, new can fillers, rail and truck loading facilities, and forty huge steel tanks with storage capacity in excess of 50,000 barrels or 17 million 12-ounce cans or bottles. But the expansion was too late. The industry was changing and so were the tastes of American beer drinkers. The trend was toward lighter and less filling beers.
Falstaff unveiled Falstaff Lite and faced an immediate lawsuit by Miller who was producing its own "Lite" beer. Falstaff had to debut a new Falstaff Light at a time when competition had never been more intense. The end was predictable when Paul Kalmanovitz, head of S&P Corporation and its General Brewing Company, offered to buy an interest in Falstaff for $10 million in 1975. The offer was accepted.
Falstaff appointed itself the "Bi-centennial Beer of the Year" in 1976 and introduced a series of commemorative cans. The cans appealed to collectors, but beer drinkers were being swayed by television commercials from Budweiser, Pabst and Miller. The bi-centennial year ended at Fort Wayne with the plant at 60 percent of capacity. Office and administrative staff had been almost eliminated, and sales had dropped from 119 million barrels in 1976 to 101 million a year later; a decrease of 18 million barrels in just one year.
Kalmanovitz was an astute businessman who negotiated tax breaks to increase profits. Tax officials tied plant growth to tax breaks, and Indiana offered a tax cut on the first 100,000 barrels of beer produced and sold in the State. To increase output at the Fort Wayne plant, Kalmanovitz shifted 90 percent of the production of his St. Louis brewery to Fort Wayne. He closed the former Griesedieck Brothers Brewery at St. Louis in 1977.
When rumors circulated in 1981 that the Fort Wayne brewery would meet the same fate, Kalmanovitz ran a full page add in the newspaper declaring his commitment to Fort Wayne. He added 150 more jobs to the brewery and in March, moved all of the production of the Omaha plant (the former Fred Krug Brewery) to Fort Wayne. This move was seen as a slap at the Nebraska Attorney General's office after a dispute over the sale of private label beers. The decline of the Nebraska brewery was underway; it would close in 1987.
Closure rumors heightened in Fort Wayne after industry analysts reported in 1982 that Falstaff's real estate holdings were five times more valuable than their struggling beer business. That year also brought the Fort Wayne plant to full capacity producing multiple brands owned by General Brewing, many contract and generic beers, and novelty beers from World's Fair to MASH 4077th.
While the Fort Wayne brewery was busy producing over 1.2 million barrels a year, Falstaff's overall revenues had plunged 60 percent from 1975 to 1985, and shipments were down 72 percent in ten years. The crowning blow was the selection of Budweiser as the official beer of the local Three Rivers Festival. Production fell at the aging Fort Wayne plant and the company was bracing itself for a union battle over wages and working conditions.
Using the need to make repairs to the brewery as an excuse, Falstaff shifted most of the production to its Pearl Brewery in San Antonio, Texas. The union cried foul. Lutz Issleib, head of Pearl, testified later that the shift of production was intended to threaten layoffs and gain union concessions. City officials stepped in and offered economic aid, but it was declined.
The move of production from Fort Wayne also brought a lawsuit by Best Brands of New York who claimed Falstaff increased its price by $2 a case to cover higher shipping costs from Texas. Best Brands was Falstaff's largest customer in 1984. The suit asking $52 million was significant, since it required Falstaff to deposit that amount in cash with the court. That money would have to come from other S&P owned breweries (Pearl, General at Vancouver, Washington, and Pabst), since Falstaff's earnings in Fort Wayne were only $4 million a year after paying taxes on sales that had declined to 55 million barrels a year. Kalmanovitz, the reclusive California millionaire, passed away in 1987 and a trust was established to manage his holdings. Falstaff accepted a $27.6 million bid from the majority stockholders of S&P for the rest of its company. Production was returned to Fort Wayne and increased to nearly 1 million cases a year when S&P announced its closure on January 7, 1990. Thirty-four salaried and 168 hourly employees were sent home and the brewery sat idle. Falstaff kept a regional sales staff in Fort Wayne. That office was closed last fall.
S&P did receive an offer from Labatt's of Canada to produce its beers in Fort Wayne, but the offer was rejected. Instead, 95 percent of the brewery equipment was shipped to China for a new Pabst Brewery in the People's Republic. In the fall of 1992, the wrecking ball reduced a century of brewing history to rubble. Two warehouses used for storage are all that remain at the brewery site. A block away the home of the Hoff-Brau Brewery is now the Wayne Home Equipment Company.
Brewing in Fort Wayne, Indiana, mirrors the cycle of prosperity, power, and eventual demise of America's hometown and regional breweries. In later years, it was one battle of many that would alter the way Americans buy, drink, sell, and brew their beer. A whole lot of history and good beers have been lost in the process.
Tim Tassler, ABA #3710, relied on old periodicals and newspapers, and help from Fort Wayne historian, Bob Parker, to research this story. Tim collects Fort Wayne breweriana and is also happy to hear from fellow members interested in his hometown breweries