| E. Bleemel Brewery
1837 - 1848
Mathias Mogger Brewery
1848 - 1868
Kaufmann & Mayer
1868 - 1869
Anton Mayer
1869 - 1889
Terre Haute Brewing Company
1889 - 1918
1934 - 1959
(photo courtesy
Bruce Mobley)
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Chauncey Warren and Demas
Deming, Sr. started the Terre Haute Brewing Company in 1837 at 8th and
Poplar Street. Later this site was used by Earnest Bleemel's brewery
until Matthias Mogger bought the business in 1848.
A. Kaufmann and Anton Mayer bought it in
1868 upon Mogger's death and it became Kaufmann & Mayer. Mayer bought
out the Kaufmann family's share in 1869 when he died. At that time the
brewery was producing 2,500 bbls monthly.
Anton Mayer was an immigrant from
Wurtemberg, Germany and was employed in a brewery there before he
moved the the U.S. at age 16. He worked for 8 years as a brewer in
Cincinnati, becoming a brewmaster. He was also Matthias Mogger's
brother-in-law.
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"One of the leading German citizens and successful business men of
Terre Haute is Anton Mayer, the pioneer brewer of the city, who
has been closely identified with the business interests of this
county for over forty years. Mr. Mayer is a native of Germany,
having been born on January 12, 1842, in Wurtemberg, and is the
son of Bartholomew Mayer. Mr. Mayer was reared on his father's
farm in the fatherland, and received his education in the common
schools of his native land. While in Germany he worked for a
period of eighteen months in the brewery, and the knowledge thus
gained formed the foundation for his great success in that line in
this country. He came to the United States in 1858, when but
little more than a mere boy, leaving home and parents behind. He
came direct to Terre Haute but remained in this city but a short
time, going to Cincinnati, Ohio, where for a period of over eight
years he was employed in a brewery, three years of which he was
foreman of the establishment. While at work in Cincinnati he was a
close observer of the way the brewery business was managed, and
became thoroughly familiar with all the details of the same. He
was of an economical disposition and his wages soon accumulated
sufficiently for him to determine to venture into the business on
his own account. When the time came for him to put his plans into
force his mind traveled back to Terre Haute, and so, in 1868, he
returned to this city and formed a partnership with Andrew Kaufman
and together they purchased the brewery plant of his
brother-in-law, Mathias Mogger, and engaged in the manufacture of
beer. Mr. Kaufman died about eleven months after it was
established, Mr. Mayer becoming the sole owner.
When the brewery
was first opened for business it was on a small scale, with a
yearly capacity of two thousand five hundred barrels. During his
ownership the plant was improved and enlarged until the capacity,
in 1889, was raised to twenty-five thousand barrels a year. In
that year Mr. Mayer sold that business, which is now the Terre
Haute Brewing Company, and retired from active business. He owns
considerable valuable improved city and farm property, the
management of which takes all of the time he is now willing to
devote to business. So successful has been the business career of
Mr. Mayer that he is accounted one of the wealthy men of Terre
Haute, as well as one of the city's leading and influential
citizens." - Greater Terre Haute and Vigo County Charles
Cochran Oakey, 1908 |
Mayer sold his company in 1889 to
Crawford Fairbanks (of the Indiana Distilling Co. - see bottom of this
page), John H. Beggs, and Deming. It was then merged into the Terre
Haute Brewing Company. At this time it occupied 2 blocks at 9th and
Poplar and produced 30,000bbl annually.
By the turn of the century, THBC was
the 7th largest brewery in the US. Stables were a block away with 50
Clydesdales and Belgians delivering beer to the immediate area. They had
expanded to 901-935 Poplar St. by 1910.
Not all was rosy in a city awash in
beer. In the early part of the century Terre Haute was called the "Paris
of Indiana" or more often "Sin City" due to the wide-open nature of the
mayors' corruption. Sporting houses, and saloons without closing hours
were the most obvious public aspect of the local political machine being
funded by brewery money. Mayor Bidaman was impeached in 1906 and Mayor
Roberts convicted of election fraud in 1915, serving time.
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"THE CALL IS CHAMPAGNE VELVET
This is evidenced
by Government records, which, like figures, do not lie, it is
evidenced by the imperative necessity of enlarging materially what
is already the largest brewery in Indiana. This steady increase in
the consumption of Champagne Velvet is due to the appreciation of
the public that it is the best bottled beer that has ever been
placed on the market, it is a popular tribute to the superiority
of Champagne Velvet over all other beers. Champagne Velvet is the
beer for your home. One bottle will satisfy you of this. Terre
Haute Brewing Co. Terre Haute, Ind" - Ad in the Coshocton, Ohio,
Daily Age, June 21, 1907 |
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"The Terre Haute Brewing Company has adopted a "layoff" system by
which all employees may get a share of the work. The decreased
output, owing to the increasing "dry" territory, has diminished
the amount of work to be done. It is said one of the glass
factories which makes beer bottles exclusively and in which
Crawford Fairbanks, of the Terre Haute Brewing Company, is the
largest stockholder as well as the largest customer, will close
for the summer season a month earlier than usual. The Glass Bottle
Blowers' union has been caring for a number of unemployed men for
some time, as the greater part of the product of the glass
factories in Terre Haute is beer bottles." - Fort Wayne
Journal-Gazette, Mar 17, 1909
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Previous to Prohibition, THBC was not a
member of the Indiana State Brewers' Association and did not join any
lobbying efforts to stave off dry counties in Indiana. The ISBA claimed
THBC was "owned by distillers" and "a detriment to brewers".
In 1910, Crawford Fairbanks sold some
of his interest in the brewery and instituted a financial reorganization
with Thomas Beggs buying a big portion of the stock.
Crawford Fairbanks joined Tom Taggert
and W.W. McDeal, president of the Monon Railroad, in the formation of
the French Lick Springs Hotel Company.
Closed at the onset of prohibition. New
president, Oscar Baur, reorganized THBC in 1934. Baur was a former Terre
Hautean who returned to the city in 1933 with his brother, Jacob,
specifically to re-start the brewery. It reopened on March 17, 1934.
A local ad man, William Polje, started
the motto "The Beer with the Million Dollar Flavor" and for publicity
the brewery insured the formula's secret for one million dollars.
By 1935 distribution of Champagne
Velvet had expanded to 19 states and was eventually sold in all 48.
Production peaked at 202,000 bbls.
The Atlantic Brewing Company bought the
assets in 1958 and operated it for one year under the name Terre Haute
Brewing Corp.
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"Greatest flavor advantage in brewing history!
From first pour
to last, there's more liveliness, sparkle and vitality in every
drop of CV. Live flavor that gives you a keener, brighter, more
satisfying taste. That's because CHAMPAGNE VELVET is especially
brewed to stay lively longer. That's why light, lively CV tastes
much better! Plus all this, CHAMPAGNE VELVET, the Beer with the
Million Dollar Flavor, is as calorie free as beer can be." - Ad in
Holland (Michigan) Evening Sentinel, May 5, 1954 |
The Champagne Velvet brand name
appeared in 1904. Other brands included 76 Ale, America's Pride,
Blackhawk, Radium, and, starting in 1957, Red Top, 20 Grand, and
Barbarossa.
They seem to have acquired Red Top, 20
Grand, and Barbarossa names from the Red Top Brewery of Cincinnati,
Ohio.
The CV trademark ended up with G
Heilman (brewed in Evansville's Sterling Brewery), then Stroh, Schlitz,
and Pabst. They ceased production of CV in the late 1960s. The name was
bought back in 2000 at the new Terre Haute Brewery (below).
There are a lot of pictures of the
Terre Haute Brewing Company at the
Indiana Historical
Society Digital Image Collections.
Stylized picture from a postcard.
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Located on the bluff
between Water and S. First Streets on a site previously occupied by the
home of the Link family. This residence had been changed to a boarding
house that rented rooms to "organ grinders, rag pencil peddlers,
itinerant musicians and miscellaneous street hawkers".
Brewpub. Founded by Mike and Teri Rowe and Gary
and Diane Richards in the same building as the old Terre Haute Brewing
Company.
