Schlitz Fest
[Schiltz/Schuba's Tavern (1903) Frommann & Jebsen, architects, 3159 N. Southport Avenue, Chicago /Images &
Artwork: designslinger]
Today marks the last day of the 200th anniversary celebration of Oktoberfest in Germany.
Lots of beer will be swilled and spilled as the extended festival comes to a close. Beer also once played a large role in the social, as well as the political life of Germans who emigrated to this country in the 19th century. So much so that when Chicago was a pile of ash as a result of the big fire in 1871 Joseph Schiltz, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin brewer from Mainz, Germany, shipped thousands of barrels of beer to the burned-out city with its huge German expat population and didn't charge drinkers a cent for the pleasure of quenching their scorched throats. The move may have been philanthropic but it also put Schiltz in the hands of thousands of consumers and kick-started the brewer's expansion into markets outside Milwaukee. Schiltz would soon go on to become the world's largest beer producer.
[Schlitz/Winona Gardens (ca. 1904) 5120 N. Broadway, Chicago /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
By the late 1890s Joseph Schlitz was dead and his wife's relatives, the Uihlein brothers,
immigrants from Baden, Germany had control of the company. Beer was really big business in those days and in an effort to corner the market the Schlitz company decided to build a series of taverns across the upper midwest featuring their logo in terra cotta relief on the building facade. If you wanted a Schlitz beer there was no mistaking on where you could find one. Chicago ended up with one of the largest number of these site specific drinking emporiums, and although other brewers followed suit, Schlitz built more of them, often within a few blocks of another.
[Schlitz/Southport Lanes (1900) Kley & Lang, architects, 3225 N. Southport Avenue, Chicago /Images & Artwork:
designslinger]
The campaign was overseen by brother Edward Gustave Uihlein who lived in Chicago's
Wicker Park neighborhood. As E.G. Uihlein, his name is recorded on property transfer after property transfer for corner lots across the city. By investing in the land, constructing the building and providing financing to the tavern leasee, Schlitz sold beer in buildings they owned and leased by people who could serve only Schlitz branded beer. The company eventually owned several million dollars worth of property, whether a Schlitz saloon sat on the lot or not. Eventually beer wars, temperance groups, Prohibition, and federal laws put an end to the monopoly. And although most of them have been torn down or remodeled beyond recognition, a few remain, some in better shape than others, with a banded globe still proudly proclaiming the name of the beer that made Milwaukee famous.
Posted by designslinger at 10/4/2010 1:57 AM 
Categories: Architecture, Graphics, Preservation, History, Decorative Arts
Tags: Kley and Lang Frommann and Jebsen taverns German American community
Categories: Architecture, Graphics, Preservation, History, Decorative Arts
Tags: Kley and Lang Frommann and Jebsen taverns German American community
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