Bertha had been the first child born in the town of Highland, though she had spent much of her childhood with her grandparents in Switzerland. 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. 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. To us this was novel, for in that day, beer-drinking had not as yet become common.” Meanwhile beer was on tap at a number of stands and save for my uncle and myself, practically every man drank to his fill. 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. 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. The election was to be held on June 17, 1855, and was in response to a state Supreme Court ruling that a Prohibition law passed by legislators in 1851 was unconstitutional.Ī 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 future of these breweries was soon to be imperiled, however, as around this time Illinois legislators elected to put before voters a prohibition law popularly known as a “Maine-law,” as it was a near duplicate of a law passed by that state. The Jefferson Brewery’s production was of similar quantity, as a mortgage taken out around the time mentions 300 barrels of ale and 100 of beer aging in late winter. It was a modest concern, producing only 400 barrels of beer in 1855. Located on North Mulberry Street, it was to become 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. After the death of his partner in the early 1850’s, Guggenbuehler continued on his own.Ī second brewery was opened in the area in 1854 by local merchant Charles L. Louis, he moved to Highland in the early 1840’s, and with a partner named Fridolin Weber began the Jefferson Brewery, taking the name from the street upon which the plant was located. After working for a time at a brewery in St. However, credit for starting the first local brewery is given by most sources to John Guggenbuehler, a native of Switzerland. A few sources credit John Geisman with manufacturing the first beer in Highland in 1841, apparently on a very small scale. By the early 1840’s, consumer demand called out for a local supply of beer, and more than one brewer answered the call. Saloonkeeper Jacob Durer is said to have obtained his supply from Belleville in the early years of the town. Many of Highland’s early settlers were of German and Swiss origin, ensuring a demand for beer. 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. In the western part of town stands a large brick building. Louis lies the community of Highland, Illinois, presently the home of 8,000people. & THE “FAMOUS SCHOTT CAVES”Ībout 25 miles northeast of St. Written by Kevin Kious and Donald Roussin. Reprinted from the American Breweriana Journal.
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