About 25 miles northeast of St. Louis lies the community of Highland, Illinois, presently the home of 8,000 people. In the western part of town stands a large brick building. Above a doorway can be seen, faded but legible, the words "Schott Breweries, Inc." Parts of the building are still being used by industry, helping to preserve the remains of a brewery that had served the town for several generations.

The early decades

Many of Highland's early settlers were of German and Swiss origin, ensuring a demand for beer, Saloonkeeper Jacob Durer is said to have obtained his supply from Belleville in the early years of the town. By the early I840s, consumer demand called out for a local supply of beer and more than one brewer answered the call. A few sources credit John Geisman with manufacturing the first beer in Highland in 1841. However, credit for starting the first local brewery is given by most sources to John Guggenbuehler, a native of Switzerland. After working for a time at a brewery in St. Louis, he moved to Highland in the early 1840s and, with a partner named Fridolin Weber, began the Jefferson Brewery. The name was from the street where the plant was located. After the death of his partner in the early I850s, Guggenbuehler continued on his own. The Jefferson Brewery's production was small. A mortgage taken out around the time mentions 300 barrels of ale and 100 of beer aging in late winter. A second brewery was opened in 1854 by local merchant Charles L. Bernays. Located on North Mulberry Street, it became known as the Highland Brewery, and consisted of a two-story brick building with a pair of arched 15' x 45 ' cellars and second floor residential quarters. This modest concern produced only 400 barrels of beer in 1855.

The future of these breweries was soon to be imperiled as Illinois legislators put a Prohibition law before voters popularly called the "Maine-Law, so named for a similar bill passed earlier in Maine. The election, held on June 17, 1855, was in response to a state Supreme Court ruling that a Prohibition law passed by legislators in 1851 was unconstitutional. A visitor to Highland shortly before the election noted that .... in that day Highland was almost as German as Berlin, though in the town and country surrounding was a liberal sprinkling of Swiss and French; in a word, the population was almost wholly foreign, and to say that they were all dead-set against the Maine-Law only expresses the naked truth."

The writer continues,' .... when we got to Highland we found great crowds of people and three or four speakers on as many rostrums what the words were we were left to guess, for everything was spoken in the German language. However, we knew that practically every argument that by hook or crook could be marshaled against the Maine-law and its believed-to-be fanatical advocates, was being driven home with vehement force and energy. Meanwhile beer was on tap at a number of stands and save for my uncle and myself, practically every man drank to his fill. To us this was novel, for in that day, beer drinking had not as yet become common.

Illinois voters defeated the Maine-Law, and it was with this as a backdrop that in 1856 two German immigrants, Gerhart Schott and his son Martin, became partners in Bernays' Highland Brewery. The next year the Schotts bought out their partner. Martin's younger brother, Christian, joined the company, and Martin for a time moved with his new bride, Bertha Eggen, into the upstairs residence. Bertha had been the first child born in Highland, but had spent much of her childhood with her grandparents in Switzerland. The 1860 census of Madison County, Illinois. lists four different Highland households headed by brewers: The Schotts (whose household by now included two-year old Amelia, a teenage housekeeper, and two young Swiss immigrants - assistant brewer Jacob Preuer and driver John Christ); Nicholas Voegele, who had become a partner in the Jefferson Brewery; Daniel Wild, who was intimately involved in early area beer making and the Jefferson Brewery; and lastly, John Geisman, longtime Highland resident, pioneer brewer, and occasional cooper. Jefferson Brewery founder Guggenbuehler had turned to barkeeping as his profession after selling his heavily mortgaged brewery to Voegele and Wild for $4,000 in 1860.

Apparently, sometime after 1841 but before 1845, John Geisman had discontinued his Highland brewing activities, as he does not appear in the 1845 census, but reappears in 1850, recorded as a cooper living outside of town. In any case, Geisman resumed his brewing trade in the decade before the Civil War, when he bought a house in the 700 block of Broadway, to which he added a 20' x 18' stone aging cellar. One source claims Geisman, who had been born in Baden, Germany in 1816, continued making beer at this address until 1877 when "extreme old age forced his retirement." The aging cellar was rediscovered and opened up in the I930s by the Yolk family, which then owned the house. The house was torn down in later years and is now occupied by a modern gas station.

While the 1866 Madison County Gazetteer still lists Geisman, Wild, and the Schotts as Highland brewers, it was the Schott name that became synonymous with local beer making. In January 1866, the Schotts purchased the Jefferson Brewery from Daniel Wild for $7,750, thus consolidating Highland's two breweries. That same year, Gerhard left the business to his two sons, and returned to Germany. Soon Martin and Christian began construction of a new brewery on the south end of Mulberry Street on the grounds of the storage cellars of the Jefferson Brewery. Their original brewery was eventually torn down in the l 930s by the Fentz family heirs.

Martin Schott's Brewery

Martin Schott was born in 1830 and grew up on his fathers farm in the German duchy of Nassau. At age sixteen, he apprenticed to a brewer where, in 1849, he was granted the diploma which would eventually hang in the office of his Highland brewery. Martin worked at a brewery in Bavaria, then left Germany in 1851 for Lyon France, before joining his father in America 1856.

In 1870, with the new brewery completed Martin bought our his brother making him sole proprietor of what would become Highland 's only remaining brewery. Financial ratings issued that year by R. G. Dun and Company, pronounced the Schott's brewery a good investment worth between $10,000 and $25,000. The business continued to grow. By 1880, capacity was up to 6,000 barrels per year annual sales were $45,000, and there were twelve employees. Out of town sales were enhanced by the fact that there was no other brewery on the railroad line between St. Louis and Terre Haute.

In the 1880s, the Schott family moved to new homes built near the brewery. An extensive lagering cellar was built, extending underneath the first three houses on the west side of Mulberry Street. The 300' main tunnel and side tunnels were dugout by hand up to 40' deep. It took five years to complete the cellars and install the wooden aging casks. Three ventilator shafts were installed, and were kept open during the winter, which kept summer temperatures cold enough to lager beer. This system was used until 1909 when modern refrigeration was introduced. Eventually, 100 tanks, each with a 100-barrel capacity, were placed in this tunnel where the beer was aged for several months. Later beer bottle labels would tout these underground passageways as the "famous Schott caves."

Additional small brick side tunnels were also built to connect the lagering cellars to the basements of the three houses sitting above the caves. Martin Schott, and others involved in the business living in these homes, could go to work without ever having to go outdoors!

In 1884, Martin Schott, preparing for his sons Otto, Albert, Eugene, and Martin Jr., taking over the company, incorporated the business as the Highland Brewing Company. Over the next few years, the brewery continued to expand. increasing capacity to 15,000 barrels. Forty percent of sales were in Highland (a rather prodigious consumption for a town of about 3,000), the rest in surrounding towns. By 1893, annual capacity was up to 25,000 barrels. The brewery now had a three-story brewhouse, a five-story malthouse, two-story bottling and refrigeration houses, and an ice plant capable of producing 25-50 tons per day.

In October of l 899, Martin Schott celebrated his 50th anniversary as a master brewer and announced he would retire from daily management of the business. He had become nationally known and respected in the brewing community. The United States Brewers Association awarded him an honorary membership and, in 1900, the same honor was bestowed by the United States Brewmasters Association at their meeting in Buffalo, New York. Martin died in 903, after fifty-seven years in the industry. Forty-five years had been spent in Highland. At Martin's death, his sons assumed control of the brewery. Albert, 32, had gone to Chicago to learn more about the rapidly changing brewing business. He became both company president and brewmaster. Younger brother, Eugene, served as secretary, and Martin, Jr., as treasurer. An older brother, Otto, had been groomed to take over the business, but he died in 1895 after a lengthy illness.

The brewery continued to prosper and, by 1911, when Albert decided to get out of the business, capacity had reached 75,000 barrels a year. The site boasted two large ice plants with combined capacity of 125 tons daily. In addition to the aging vats in the Schott cave, a stock house with a 5,000 barrel capacity had been erected. The bottling plant could fill over 35,000 bottles a day. Plant improvements included cementing the brick walls of the cave and adding electric lights. Highland beer was sold throughout southern Illinois and in other nearby states.

The brewery was Highland's second largest industry behind the Helvetia Milk Condensing Company (later Pet Milk), which canned its product under the Highland label. So great was the need for water by these two concerns that a pipeline had been laid to both of them from a pond north of town. Helvetia was also the name chosen as the brewery's flagship brand, the name deriving from an ancient civilization in western Switzerland, and for which the township was named. In Highland, there was a Helvetia drink for everyone: condensed milk for the kids, beer for mom and dad. To advertise its major brand, the brewery used the slogan, "None quite so good as Helvetia bottle beer." The Edwardsville Intelligencer, an area newspaper, made this statement in 1912 about Helvetia bottled beer: "...the Highland brew is super-excellent, and it is recognized as such throughout the entire country. The business of the brewery covers the state of Illinois and many others adjacent thereto." Other pre-Prohibition brands included Bavarian Lager and Edelweiss, the latter also available in bottles.

Upon Albert's departure, Eugene Schott became company president, Martin Jr., the treasurer, and a brother-in-law, Hans Kalb, who purchased Albert's share of the business, took over as brewmaster and corporate secretary. Hans KaIb had learned brewing in his native Germany and was 18 when in came to the U.S. in 1890. He worked at a brewery in Dayton. Ohio, then, from 1898 to 1911, was brewmaster at the Wainwright Brewing Company in St. Louis. He resigned to join his wife's family brewery in Highland. Hans Kalb had married Katherina Schort in 1900.

Albert Schott moved briefly to Ohio to manage a milk plant that had been started in Marysville by John Wild of the Helvetia Company. In 1915, he returned to Highland to work at the First National Bank. By this time, his brother Eugene had been elected mayor of Highland, a position he held until 1921. Meanwhile, the brewery kept going strong, employing around 70 men at its peak of production, until being devastated by the enactment of Prohibition.

The Dry Years

For many breweries, the Prohibition years were difficult, for others, impossible, as companies scrambled to survive. The Schotts, who had spent over sixty years developing their beer business, now found their product outlawed. They attempted to cope by making a near beer called Helvetia Delicio, but like most such beverages, it was not a business success.

Some nearby breweries continued to bootleg real beer, at least for a time. While there is no direct evidence that the Highland brewery did so, rumors of illegal beer making and whiskey distilling in the brewery during Prohibition are still whispered by long-time city residents. Supposedly, local truck drivers were hired for "day work," a euphemism for spending the day making deliveries of alcoholic beverages. One source alleges that the bootlegging operation based in the brewery was of short duration, and was ended because bribes demanded by local officials made it unprofitable. In any case, if any significant bootlegging activity was done out of the brewery, there is no record that they were ever caught.

The company continued in the ice business, while the bottling plant was turned into a slaughterhouse. Unsuccessful attempts were made at growing mushrooms and also rabbit processing. Helping to keep the former brewery afloat were the sale of numerous pieces of real estate it had acquired over the years. In 1925, it's share of the water piping system from the pond north of town was sold to the city for $50,00. As the brewery equipment sat idle and deteriorated, the company became heavily indebted to a bank in the nearby town of Collinsville.

Things began to look up for the brewery however, as the end of Prohibition grew near. In April 1932, Eugene Schott, together with associates from Collinsville, formed a new company called the Schott Brewing Company. Schott invested $25,000 for a controlling interest of 5,001 shares of stock, while the other investors split the remaining 4,999 shares. Collinsville banker R. Guy Kneedler (1,499 shares) was named corporate president, with Eugene Schott as vice-president, Charles Maurer (1,000 shares) treasurer, and Grace E. Allred (1 share and Guy Kneedler's longtime assistant) secretary. Other investors and corporate directors included George McCormick (1,000 shares), and Richard Kneedler, Jr., (1,499 shares). They were soon joined by James 0. Monroe, outspoken publisher of the Collinsville newspaper and an Illinois State Senator.

Work started that fall to put the brewery hack into shape, with Charles Maurer overseeing much of the construction. A new boiler was installed that was so big a portion of the building had to be removed and a larger building erected in its place. Bottling facilities were enlarged and upgraded and a diesel generator was installed in the engine house to replace the coal-fired steam engine. Frank Santner was hired as brewmaster in a plant with capacity now rated at 100,000 barrels per year. Santner was a veteran brewer after 14 years at the Schoenhofen Brewery in Chicago where he had brewed the well-known Edelweiss Brand.

Beer is Back

Hopes were high for the brewery, but the plant was not quite ready for production when beer became legal on April 7, 1933. Repairs and improveinents had taken longer than expected, and the company had not received its Treasury Department brewing permit. Still, thirty-five men were on duty preparing for the re-opening. Production goals were initially set at 125 harrels per day, to be increased to 400 daily once things were rolling.

Highland residents had to content themselves with beer from St Louis on opening day, most of it Falstaff. Tavern patrons pronounced the new 3.2% beer as good, but perhaps in need of a bit more aging.

On April 21, it was announced that the brewery would double production to 800 barrels a day. Additional equipment was ordered, including fermenting tanks to hold 2,400 barrels. According to Guy Kneedler, the company had ordered 60,000 wooden cases and 10,000 gross of bottles, with 20% to be delivered at once. Hops and malt had arrived and inquiries for sales had been received from as far away as New York, Los Angeles and Georgia. The company's business plan called for more machinery to be purchased as needed. The work force would eventually expand to 150 employees.

To raise additional money to expand production, 20,000 shares of stock were offered. This was a common way for breweries to raise capital, despite the memory of the 1929 stock market crash. A. F. Elliott & Associates of St. Louis handled these stocks, described as "Class D Speculative Securities under Illinois Law," and priced shares at $12.50 each. Brewmasrer Santner and Highland dentist R. E. Baumann must have been persuaded to invest, as they were soon added to the board of directors.

The brewery finally received its permit on May 1 1933, and the next day 200 barrels began fermenting. On May 30, the public got it's first taste of Schott beer. Major brands included Highland, Highland Special, Highland Bohemian, and Schott's Old Lager, and, for a short time once full-strength beer was allowable, a bottled beer called Five Star. Schott also contract brewed the Pine Tree brand, distributed in St. Louis by Independent Beer Distributors Inc.

There were 50 employees when production started, and the company announced plans to double the work force. A new goal of 500 barrels per brewing day was set for July 1.

The brewery sought to expand sales by setting up distributors. In August 1934, a local newspaper ad announced that the Schott Brewing Company had appointed George Darling and Sons, of Granite City, Illinois, as distributors of the famous Highland beer, The ad continued, "Schott's Old Lager and Highland Special Beer is aged in the Schott underground cave. Served in steel barrels made in Granite City."

Eugene Schott, who had been the driving force behind tbe Highland brewery both before and after Prohibition, died just three years after the brewery reopened, at the age of 63, following complications from appendix surgery. Guy Kneedler was left to carry on with a board of directors which had grown to include Edward Jones of the giant Griesedieck Western Brewery in nearby Belleville, as well as Highland postmaster A. H. Winter. Kneedler's son, Richard, Jr., who had abandoned a law career to help manage the brewery, now took an even greater role in the daily operations.

The 1936 Highland phone book lists the general office at 600 13th Street with a phone number of 4B. The president's offce was at 13th and Elm. Of special interest for breweriana Collectors was a short-lived sign department several blocks away at 808 Broadway in a building which still stands.