Beer Barons of Milwaukee: Joseph Schlitz

Milwaukee’s three founders (Juneau, Kilbourn, and Walker) may have helped turn wild rice fields and marshland into a unified city, but it was the “Big Four” beer barons of the 19th century that secured Brew City a place in America’s heart, mind, and liver. Also check out our articles on Joseph Schlitz’ rivals, Captain Frederick Pabst and Valentin Blatz.

Milwaukee has a strong, defined reputation in the world, for better or for worse. We here at The Squeaky Curd argue that the outsider’s view of MKE is improving (and has been for around 2 decades) thanks to dedicated residents; however, historic marketing would have you believe Brew City’s original rise was due to the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company and “The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous”.

The Brown Bottle restaurant in Schlitz Park. All photos by Joe Powell for The Squeaky Curd unless otherwise noted.

While Joseph Schlitz and his namesake beer (debatably) helped extinguish the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the brewery itself was started by another, largely-forgotten Bavarian immigrant back in 1849. August Krug was a political refugee (a “48er“) who left his homeland for a more democratic New World, landing in Milwaukee and establishing a restaurant and small brewing operation with his wife, Anna Maria, at 4th and Chesnut (now Junueau), smack dab where the new Bucks Arena is being built. While this initial brewery served only the immediate neighborhood and was competing with the likes of the Best Brewery (which became Pabst) and City Brewery (Blatz), by 1855 they were producing 1500 barrels of beer per year.

Joseph Schlitz. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

The growth of Krug’s output coincided with the employment of a talented 20-year-old bookkeeper named Joseph Schlitz in 1850. Schlitz immigrated from Bavaria in 1849 looking for business success based on his apprenticeships in Germany. However, August Krug Brewery’s founder met an untimely end after falling down a hatchway in 1856. The enterprise immediately transferred to his widow, Anna Maria, who convinced young Schlitz to invest into the business. By 1858, Schlitz had taken a page out of Valentin Blatz’ book: he married his deceased employer’s widow and changed the name of the business to the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company.

While Krug’s name may not have lived on in Milwaukee history, his wife’s family name did: with Schlitz’ new ownership, the brewery immediately employed Anna Marie’s nephew August Uihlein as new bookkeeper, with his three brothers soon to follow. With the help of his extended Uihlein family, Schlitz spent two decades growing to a top-three Milwaukee brewery.

Cream City Bricks salvaged from razed the Schlitz brewhouse.

The Great Chicago Fire in 1871 not only burned old buildings; it opened new doors. With the city reeling, most water undrinkable, and many local breweries in ashes, Schlitz supplied the metropolis with fresh beer by the train-load. The Uihleins were helpful in setting up a distribution point in the city, offering a springboard to further nationwide expansion in future decades.

Back in Milwaukee, Schlitz was quietly becoming one of the most influential men of his age. Along with other leading brewers (Blatz, Best & Emil Schandein, and his nephew August), Schlitz helped reestablish the Second Ward Bank, still standing today as the Milwaukee County Historical Society at Pere Marquette Park. (Fun fact #1: the building has multiple huge vaults since no brewer wanted their money physically touching another’s.) (Fun fact #2: I had my wedding reception there.)

Schlitz’ cenotaph features a relief of the ship he went down with.

While Joseph Schlitz’ name lives to this day, he died at the young age of 44, in 1875. While on his first trip back to his homeland, Schlitz’ ship, the S.S. Schiller, sank off of Cornwall, England taking 335 lives. His grave in Milwaukee’s Forest Home Cemetery is in fact a cenotaph, without a body beneath.

The brewing business transferred over to his Uihlein nephews, whose family grew the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company to be the largest brewery in the world by 1902, keeping their uncle’s name attached per his will. Their innovations, including the first brown beer bottle, first 16oz flat-top can, first aluminum beer cans, and first “pop-top” cans, were revolutions now considered ubiquitous in the industry. Schlitz was sold off in 1982 and today is owned by Pabst and brewed by Miller.

The sign from the Schlitz brewhouse now resides in a museum at Potosi Brewing Company.

While Joseph Schlitz was undoubtedly a good businessman and influential Milwaukeean, his title of “Milwaukee Beer Baron” was earned in huge part to his predecessor, August Krug, and the three generations of Uihlein successors. Today we raise a brown bottle of The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous to the whole extended family that made Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company famous.

(PS: shoutout to my grandfather, Dan Scheibe, who worked at the Schlitz brewery for 3+ decades.)