Hello again!

This is maybe slightly redundant based on the last post I wrote HOWEVER I’m sharing it here too because I was honored to get asked to write this piece and I think it needs a home here on the blog too.

Several weeks ago, I was approached by the Mineral Point Historical Society to write an article on the Mineral Spring Brewing Company and how the building has been used over time. The Historical Society recently acquired a few Mineral Spring Beer bottles and they added them to their new “Mineral Point Museum Room” at Orchard Lawn. The article was published in their Winter 2021 newsletter. Now that the winter edition is published and distributed, like I said, I wanted it to have a home here too.

And here’s the article in it’s entirety:

When one thinks of Mineral Point, it’s hard not to think about the beautiful blend of its past history and the interesting way that history has blended into present, modern day life. Around every corner is a piece of history seamlessly woven into the sights of today. Although practically every street is rich with history, you’d be hard pressed to argue against the fact that Shake Rag Street, and the rambling historic brewery nestled on its edge is a particularly shining example of history blending into modern day. 

While today’s passerby will see a home, pottery studio, and gallery housed in the old limestone building – that wasn’t always the case. The building was originally built as a brewery. A brewery that brewed their famous beer in Mineral Point for nearly 111 years. 

In the mid 1840s, construction of the building began under the direction of William Terrill. The site was chosen based on location and assets the location had to offer. Limestone was excavated from the hills behind the building site to use for the thick limestone walls. Five thousand square feet of caverns were built into the hillside where the limestone once lived. In addition to a seemingly endless supply of stone used to build the building, another reason the site was chosen was the fresh water spring that consistently meanders through the property. The building was constructed over the spring, creating a constantly accessible source of fresh water for brewing purposes. Construction was completed by 1850 to the grand tune of $4000. 

William Terrill began brewing beer for a short period of time beginning in 1850. A piece in the local paper from February of that year says that the brewery building is for rent and, “We hope the time comes when Mr. Terrill will find it to his advantage to occupy this building for some better purpose.” Terrill was succeeded by Jacob Roggy in 1851.

Brothers Charles and Frederick Gillmann purchased the building and grounds from Roggy in 1854. Jacob Spielmann was admitted as a partner the next year, in 1855. The firm was named, Gillmann Bros. & Co. The brewery was called, Wisconsin Brewery. By 1868 Jacob Spielmann disposed of his interest to the Gillmann brothers and Charles Gillmann became the sole proprietor in 1874. At that time the brewery was producing about 2,500 barrels of beer a year. 

A particularly noteworthy year for both the brewery and Wisconsin weather was 1878. On May 23, 1878 the brewery was struck by what is considered to be one of the most destructive tornadoes in Wisconsin history. The brewery building itself and five surrounding outbuildings were all severely damaged. The roof of the brewery was torn off and shattered in the air, stone walls were knocked down, and two barns were also flattened. The Gillmann’s residence was also completely destroyed and one of Charles Gillmann’s eleven children, his teenage daughter, Alice, was killed that day. 

Alice Gillmann was sitting at the family piano playing, Nearer my God, to thee at the family residence (either on or right next door to the brewery grounds) at the time the tornado struck. She was killed instantly. Some of Alice’s heartbroken classmates wrote a poem for Alice and the grieving Gillmann family after young Alice’s untimely passing. Charles Gillmann’s great great granddaughter, Diane Plennert, still has the poem to this day.

Following the tornado, during the summer and fall that year, the brewery was rebuilt with the most modern equipment available. It became steam powered and more than doubled the previous brewing capacity. The new brewing capacity was now 6,000 barrels per year and, at that time, it was regarded as one of the leading brewing establishments of Iowa County. It employed six workers and distributed beer in Iowa, Lafayette, and Grant Counties. For a short time, especially by the locals, the beer was lovingly called, “Tornado beer”.

According to the 1884 Sanborn insurance map, the brewery had a twelve horsepower engine, a malt house, several outbuildings, but no bottling facilities. In fall of 1897, a German immigrant by the name of Ballo Breutting, purchased the building and grounds. Some changes came with his ownership including a bottling house that was added in the mid 1890s. His ownership, however, was short-lived. On the evening of April 24, 1902, while Breutting was attending entertainment at the local Masonic Lodge, a fire broke out at the brewery.

Much of the building was burned and equipment was melted and warped by the heat and flames of the fire. A large stash of beer remained unharmed in the caverns. Breutting had an estimated $50,000 in the brewery and equipment with only $13,000 of insurance coverage. The damages were too costly and rendered him unable to recover from the damages, thus ending his brewing venture.

In March of 1903, Otto Lieder and his brother-in-law, Frank Unterholzner, purchased the brewery building and grounds. They rebuilt the burned building for $20,000 and upgraded the new brewing capacity to 10,000 barrels a year. The bustling brewery was named Mineral Spring Brewing Company, and the beer, Mineral Spring Beer. Its namesake was the 50 gallon a minute spring that still flows through the lower portion of the building at present day.

Otto Lieder was the brewmaster and Frank Unterholzner ran the 268-acre brewery farm. Unterholzner grew all the crops needed for brewing beer. The barley and hops were grown in the field located across Hoard Street (Hoard Street was later renamed Shake Rag Street in May 1949). There was also an icehouse, draft horses in the barn, and of course the 365 days a year fresh water spring. The brewery was completely self-sustainable and the farm enabled them to continue producing beer during both the First and Second World Wars when there was government mandated rationing. It is said that during these times, larger brewing companies bought beer from Mineral Spring to sell as their own.

The constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages – otherwise known as Prohibition, began in the United States on January 17, 1920. The next year, in 1921, Mineral Spring Brewery formed a corporation. The corporation was headed by Otto Lieder, Frank Unterholzner, Ray Lieder Sr., and Milton Unterholzner. Prohibition lasted 13 years and was ultimately abolished on December 5, 1933. 

The “cone top style” beer can came into fashion in 1935. Between 1940 and 1955 over 70 different breweries in the United States used the cone top style container and Mineral Spring Brewery was one of them.

Otto Lieder passed away in 1949. After his death, Mary Lieder (his widow, also Frank Unterholzner’s sister), took over as president of the company. Ray Lieder was the brewmaster. Mary Lieder famously introduced “Mr Steinie” in the 1940’s when she was president of the company. Ray Lieder Jr. took over the presidency in 1958 and his son Raymond Jr. joined the firm as assistant brewmaster. Milton Unterholzner served as vice president.

By the 1960s, times were rough for little brewing companies and Mineral Spring Brewery was no exception. Bigger breweries were all the rage and smaller brewing operations had lost most of their popularity. Around this time, many small town breweries found themselves closing their doors. Mineral Spring Brewery found themselves backed into a corner, so to speak, and faced with two options. They could reinvest funds back into the brewery or they could stop production and close completely. 

The choice was made. On May 23, 1961 Raymond J. Lieder Jr. announced that the brewery had ceased operations. Mineral Spring Brewery had officially closed its doors to the public. Before the closing, most of the beer was sold off within a 60-mile radius of Mineral Point. Six trucks delivered beer to some surrounding areas including Dubuque, Rockford, Kenosha, Racine, and Madison.

At the time of closing the board of directors consisted of two Lieder daughters, Mrs. Stella Lieder Simpson and Mrs. Cecelia Lieder Leahy along with Dr. Lawerence Unterholzner. The officers were; president, Ray Lieder Jr.; vice president Charles Bolan; treasurer, Charles Esch and secretary, Kenneth Ellery.

It was very hard on Mineral Point to have the brewery close after an impressive 111 year run. In a 1961 newspaper article detailing the closing of the brewery, Ray Lieder Sr. was quoted as remembering delivering beer to Linden, Mifflin, Rewey, Dodgeville, Hollandale, and Blanchardville with a horse drawn wagon. Ray Lieder Sr. started working at the brewery at the ripe old age of nine and retired as the head brewmaster when he was sixty.

In the mid-1960’s, several years after Mineral Spring Brewery closed, Ken Colwell purchased the derelict building and grounds. Colwell, while fixing and working to preserve the building, lived in the malting tower and used the top two floors as a weaving museum and workshop called, The Looms.

Tom and Diana Johnston purchased the brewery building and grounds from Colwell in 1991. Colwell passed away on Friday, June 14, 1991, one week after they closed on the building. Tom and Diana, along with the two children, Parrish and Claire, moved into the building in 1992. Since purchasing the building they’ve continued to work on the building’s preservation and have converted what once was the brewery turned weaving school, into both their home and working pottery studio.

On October 21, 1994 Tom and Diana welcomed the public back into the building as they opened the doors to their new gallery, Brewery Pottery, located in the lower portions of the building. Today, Tom and Diana Johnston, along with their daughter, Claire, still create pottery daily within the walls of the old brewery building, in the same space the beer was brewed for so many years while still an active brewery.

In addition to all the pottery that’s made in house, throughout the years, Brewery Pottery has accumulated the works from over 300+ different artists from both far and wide. Everything from jewelry, wearables, home goods, and two dimensional wall art to sculptural pieces, garden art, toys, and more. These objects, made for the heart and home, come from local and small independent artists in and around the country. Fair trade goods from around the globe are also represented. All can be found within the walls of the old brewery building.

After collecting and displaying Gillmann Beer and Mineral Spring Beer items for years in a small museum space located in the gallery, in the spring of 2019, Brewery Pottery expanded the museum space by adding a few walls of framed photos and a timeline highlighting the robust history of the building and the many lives its lived since 1850. A full timeline and in-depth history of the building is also included on brewerypottery.com. It includes photos, newspaper advertisements, and some fun tidbits and stories not mentioned here.

The Johnston family continues to love and cherish the building and its rich history. They enjoy hearing stories from former employees, relatives of former brewery owners and employees, and talking shop with brewery enthusiasts from around the world. Brewery Pottery is open 10am-5pm daily, April-December. All are welcome in the studio, gallery, and small breweriana museum.