× Expand Compton and Dry's Pictorial St. Louis, Library of Congress George Schneider's brewery in Benton Park and the sinkholes nearby

When we left George Schneider last week, he’d just declared bankruptcy.

As the Lemps would do in the 1860s, Schneider had decided to move his brewing operations above a cave system in his Schneider’s Cave Subdivision in the northeast quadrant of Block 53, just south of what is now Benton Park and nowhere near the current location of Anheuser-Busch. We know exactly what the building materials used in the construction of the brewery were because Schneider was unable to pay the contractor, Francis Saler, and was promptly sued on July 3, 1852 for $1191.29, causing a mechanic’s lien to be placed on the property.

In the mechanic’s lien, Saler lists the number of bricks, feet of lumber and boxes of nails he utilized in the construction of Schneider’s new brewery. The stone for the 26 x 46-foot brewery was quarried on site, probably from the sinkhole visible nearby in Compton and Dry (see above). Tantalizingly, the mechanic’s lien describes the brewery as being six stories tall, but the photograph and Compton and Dry’s 1876 Pictorial St. Louis show a three-story building, meaning that its cellars mentioned in the lien must have gone down three stories underground. The resident mentioned above said the cellars connected to caverns that split off in several different directions. On top of the lien on the new brewery in the Schneider Cave Addition, Saler then filed a mechanic’s lien against Schneider for $4267.06½ on July 31, 1852 for a three-story, 22 x 75-foot brick house with cut stone foundation built in City Block 82, at Third and Elm, which was on the property of the Washington Hall and Garden.

Schneider attempted to emerge from his unpaid debt to Saler and others by entering into a deed of trust with the contractor and 22 individuals and businesses. It’s probably safe to say they represented a substantial roadblock to Schneider’s fiscal solvency. In an attempt to save his business, Schneider put up as collateral his property at Third and Elm, and the vast majority of Block 53 that remained unsold (including his newly-built brewery). If he did not repay his creditors, the properties would be put up for sale at the north door of the courthouse, and the proceeds of the sale distributed proportionally. Tallying up Schneider’s outstanding debts when the documents were filed on October 14, 1852, he was facing a total debt of $28,358.55.

× 1 of 2 Expand DeWard survey map × 2 of 2 Expand A detail of the Schultse map; courtesy of the Missouri History Museum Washington Brewery in Benton Park Prev Next

Perhaps Schneider thought it best to operate only his original Washington Brewery downtown, meanwhile earning rental income from the other site. There is no evidence that he renewed the contract with Lungstras in 1854, though. What is evident is that he continued to have financial trouble. On January 10, 1854, The Missouri Daily Republican published a list of St. Louisans delinquent on their taxes, and Schneider appeared owing $73.88 for his brewery on Third and Elm. A contract filed between Schneider and a Charles Blattan on October 4, 1854, arranged the sale of all furnishings of the Washington hall plus the 40 hogshead barrels in the cave, helping Schneider settle his debt to Saler. Of course, this hardly left Schneider on strong financial footing, as he was losing the very items (chairs, tables, beer glasses, etc.) his beer garden needed to generate revenue.

The indignity of not even being able to brew beer in the downtown Washington Brewery came soon after the emptying of the adjacent hall and beer garden. A debt had been festering since February 1852, and it came to a head in September 1854 when Charles W. Henneberg forced the hand of the Sheriff Turner Maddox of St. Louis County, demanding that he seize the brewing equipment to repay a debt of $356.98. These “fixtures” fetched $852 on the courthouse steps, thanks to Blattan, who made another appearance and offered the highest bid.

× Expand Daguerrotype by Thomas Easterly after a painting by W.J. Brickey; courtesy of the Missouri History Museum Recorder's Court

But there had been a little bit of good news in George Schneider’s life by then, and I suspect that he was sacrificing his brewing interests in order to hold onto what he correctly believed were his valuable real estate holdings in Block 53. On October 5, 1854, he officially acquired clear title to the lots he still owned, and the deed of trust was canceled.

In 1855 and 1856, Schneider seems to have stayed out of trouble, at least from a legal perspective; he has only one mention in a newspaper, and that was in 1856 for a successful application for a liquor license or “dram shop.” No mechanic’s liens, lawsuits, or defaults were recorded during these years. In 1857, however, the trail picks up again, first with a city directory listing George Schneider as a brewer on the “east side 7th. between Lynch and Lancaster [now Dorcas].” This would later become the Excelsior Brewery. I suspect Schneider became a “freelance” brewer when he was no longer able to own his own brewery. A contract between Schneider and Dr. Adam Hammer, a documented owner of the Bavarian Brewery (more about him next week) bolsters my theory. It also offers a possible explanation for the erroneous belief that Schneider founded the precursor to Anheuser-Busch.

Next week: the man who did found the Bavarian Brewery