Belleville, Illinois' Brewery History.

Belleville has been known for many industries: stove factories, mills, brick making, carriage manufacturing, coal mining, and breweries. Belleville has had a long history of brewing beer. With the large number of German immigrants who settled in the Belleville area came their cultural tradition of brewing.

Western Brewery (Later Stag Beer Brewery) East D Street and North 12th street, Belleville, Illinois.

In 1832 Jacob Fleischbein founded the first beer brewery in Illinois. It was built near Belleville's town square. In 1837 Abram Anderson started the second brewery in Belleville. It stood a block south of the present town square on West Washington Street. By 1860 Belleville had seven breweries not including the Fleischbein Brewery, which had closed by 1860. The other breweries were Simon Eimer's Washington Brewery on South Street between Harrison and Lincoln streets, Fidel Stoelzle's on the corner of Main and North Third streets, the Herberer Brothers City Park Brewery on the northeast corner of North Second and West A streets, John Klug's Illinois Brewery on the opposite corner of North Second and West A, Priester and Villinger's Southern, in the fourth block of South Charles Street, and Phillip Neu and Peter Gintz's Brewery in West Belleville.

During the 1880s Simon Eimer's Washington Brewery was the largest brewery in Belleville and reputed to be the largest west of the Allegheny Mountains. It had an output of eight thousand barrels annually. Some of the beer was shipped as far away as New Orleans. The brewery was constructed between 1846 and 1847. It occupied a half block and had beer cellars two stories deep. Beer cellars were used to keep beer cold, as refrigeration was not yet available.

Fidel Stoelzle built his brewery in 1853. He had to pump water from a spring two blocks away with a twelve-horse-power engine. In those days it was necessary that breweries be built close to a fresh water supply. By the 1880s, his company produced about fifteen thousand barrels annually. He employed twelve men at the height of production.

In 1851, when the Neu and Gintz Brewery began operating, it only produced about two thousand barrels for sale in Belleville and East St. Louis. In 1873 the brewery was purchased by an incorporated company, the stock of which was owned by four men: John Kloess, William Branderburger, Adam Gintz, and Valentine Steg. After several building additions, the brewery was producing about twenty thousand barrels a year. The beer was distributed throughout southern Illinois. Later known as Western Brewery, it passed through several different owners until 1912 when Henry Louis Griesedieck bought it. Griesedieck was a member of a famous brewery family. He began brewing beer from an old German recipe that he later called Stag Beer. Production grew to eighty thousand barrels annually, but in 1919 Prohibition halted the brewing of Stag.

Western Brewery (Later Stag Beer Brewery) East D Street and North 12th street, Belleville, Illinois.

Neuhoff and Bressler built their brewery near Richland Creek on the outskirts of Belleville. At great expense they built a dam on the creek, and they based their claim for the beer's superior quality on the creek's water. They also established a bottling factory on Main Street. Bressler eventually sold his shares, and the ownership of the brewery passed through many hands until Bernhard Hartmann became sole owner in 1882. He changed the brewery's name to Star Brewery to avoid confusion with previous names. It became the Star Brewery because the symbol on the label was a star. At the time, the brewery produced about twenty-five-thousand barrels of beer and shipped it throughout St. Clair County, southern Illinois, St. Louis, and other points.

Those early breweries were very important to Belleville and the surrounding region. Not only did they employ a substantial number of workers, but so did glass and bottling factories located in the town. The local farmers sold their barley, malt, and hops to the breweries. The money earned by these brewers and farmers went back into the community and helped other local businesses.

It was not long after the arrival of the German immigrants that they began to establish beer gardens. Beer gardens were important gathering spots. Simon Eimer built Eimer's Hill, a park, next to his brewery. Dances were held there every Sunday evening. Klug's brewery had a summer garden that was used for dances and a theater. The Herberer Brothers Brewery had its beer cellars beneath a large apple orchard. The orchard was used for a park and picnics. The Star Brewery was set in a wooded dell next to a beautiful lake where families gathered on weekends to listen to the German band, play games, and drink Star Beer at their picnics.

Those breweries, especially Star and the Griesedieck Western, were important because of their relationships with the town. The officers and members of the boards of directors of the breweries were in a good position to maintain close contact with their fellow citizens, to take part in social and civic life, to keep an eye on unfavorable conditions, and to see that law enforcement was effectively administered. Those men and women often held important positions in the community to fulfill those needs. The breweries were large enough to influence power and control but small enough to work with the public.

The brewery business throughout the United States came to an end with Prohibition. Men were laid off, and farmers lost money. Eventually, Prohibition was repealed during the Great Depression. Once more farmers could sell their crops for a profit. Bringing breweries back into business helped reduce the stress of the Depression. Jobs were created, and the need for farm crops increased. After the repeal, two Belleville breweries reopened.

In 1935 H. W. Hartmann, son of Bernhard Hartmann, reopened the Star Brewery, creating one hundred jobs and bringing thousands of dollars back into the economy of Belleville. The need for crops helped the farmers of the Belleville area.

Early in 1933 the Griesedieck Western Brewery once again produced and sold beer. That first year the company brewed nearly seventy-three thousand barrels, and that number increased annually, especially after 1948. It was in that year that the St. Louis plant facilities opened, increasing both production and sales. By 1954 it was the thirteenth largest brewery in the United States. Employees at the Belleville plant demonstrated their loyalty in a series of events originating in 1954 called "Brag about Belleville and Stag."

Unfortunately, in the late 1950s the Star-Peerless Brewery closed. Just a few years later, the Griesedieck Western Brewery transferred ownership to the Carling Brewing Company of Cleveland, Ohio, which had bought the Stag Brewery for $10 million. Carling Brewery owned several plants across the country and produced a number of different brands of beer. Stag Beer continued to be produced in Belleville. The St. Louis plant was changed to produce other Carling labels for sale in the area.

In 1979 G. Heileman Brewery of Wisconsin bought Carling Company making Heileman Brewery the fourth largest brewery in America.

Eight years later, the Australian brewing giant Bond Corporation Holdings Ltd. merged with Heileman to become the fourth largest brewery in the world.

The Stag Brewery in Belleville operated under the Bond/Heilman ownership until August 1988 when it was closed down. It was decided that the Belleville plant could not compete. To remain open, the brewery's facilities needed to be modernized with a sewage pre-treatment plant that would cost $2.9 million. Because the company did not believe it could build the sewage treatment plant at that cost, it closed the plant. Two hundred thirty people were put out of work. At the time of its closing the Stag Brewery was the last beer brewery in Illinois. The next year the United States Environmental Protection Agency sued Heilman for polluting Belleville's sewage system for the previous nine years.

The closing of the Stag Brewery sadly ended a 130-year tradition of breweries in Belleville. During their existence, several breweries had helped both Belleville and the surrounding region to grow economically, and they provided a social gathering place, especially for the early German immigrants.

By Lucy Wilson
Edited by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The History of the Main Chicago Public Library.

The first library in Chicago dates back to 1834, when the Chicago Lyceum maintained a circulating library of 300 volumes for its members. The Lyceum's popularity faded in 1841.

The Chicago Lyceum, a debating society, met at this "Saloon Building," which stood on the southeast corner of Clark and Lake Streets. NOTE: The word "saloon" at that time did not imply so much a tavern as a spacious meeting hall; it derived from the French word "salon." It offered the largest hall west of Buffalo, NY, for concerts, debates, dramatic performances, political ceremonies and private club offices. Chicago received its city charter under its roof in 1837 and served as city hall and Municipal Court until 1842.

Some of the Chicago Lyceum members formed a new cultural center, the "Young Men's Association and Library," created as a place for leisure and amusement away from the vices of gambling halls and saloons. The Association had a public reading room with a collection of 30,000 books, all of which were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

In the aftermath of the Fire, Londoner A.H. Burgess, with the aid of Thomas Hughes, drew up what would be called the "English Book Donation," which proposed that England should provide a free library to the burnt-out city.

After circulating requests for donations throughout English society, the project donated 8,000 books. Their donors autographed many volumes, including Queen Victoria, Benjamin Disraeli, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Charles Darwin, John Stuart Mill, John Ruskin, and Matthew Arnold.

With these books as the collection base, Chicago's leaders established the Chicago Public Library in April 1872.

The book room in the Old Water Tank, the "Original Library," on the site that is now the Rookery Building at LaSalle and Adams Streets, Chicago. (1873)

The Library Board arranged for the collection to be housed in an old water tank. For many years, the library occupied various temporary spaces while Board members looked for a permanent site. By 1874, the collection was available for circulation without charge to all Chicagoans, and two years later, it had 120,000 volumes! By 1891, Chicago boasted the most extensive library system in the country. William Frederick Poole, the city's distinguished librarian and a nationally recognized scholar, is credited for much of the library's success in that era.

Burgess wrote on December 7, 1871, in the London Daily News, "I propose that England should present a Free Library to Chicago, to remain there as a mark of sympathy now, and a keepsake and token of true brotherly kindness forever..."

In Chicago, town leaders petitioned Mayor Joseph Medill to hold a meeting and establish the library. The meeting led to the Illinois Library Act of 1872, which allowed Illinois cities to establish tax-supported libraries. In April 1872, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance establishing the Chicago Public Library. 

In the rebuilding section of the city, on January 1, 1873, the Chicago Central Library, as it was initially named, officially opened its doors in an abandoned iron water tank (fireproof) at LaSalle and Adams Streets. The collection included 3,157 volumes. The water tank was 58 feet in diameter, 21 feet high and with a 30-foot foundation. A two-story building was soon built around it to hold city offices, and a third-floor reading room was created for the library.

Controversy and legal squabbles troubled the efforts to build a permanent home for the Chicago Public Library. The search became a high priority in the 1890s when the library's priorities shifted from service to enlightenment.

Dearborn Park, the future site of the Chicago Central Library, looking north from Washington Street. (circa 1890)

Looking southeast towards Michigan Avenue from Randolph Street, Chicago. (circa 1890)

Construction of the Chicago Central Library. (circa 1895)

This corresponded with Chicago's more significant cultural renaissance, which included the creation of the Newberry and Crerar research libraries. The three libraries agreed to divide the areas of study among them — the humanities to the Newberry Library, the sciences to the Crerar library, and popular collections to the public library.

Frederick Hild, Chief Librarian at the time, campaigned to move the library from its quarters in City Hall to Dearborn Park, a lot fronting Michigan Avenue.

On Monday, October 11, 1897, the Chicago Central Library opened its doors on Michigan Avenue between Washington and Randolph streets. The building, on the grounds of Dearborn Park (named for the Fort Dearborn Military Reservation that formally encompassed the area), cost about $2 million (about $58,500,000 today). 

The original Central Library was built on the Dearborn Park site between Washington and Randolph streets on Michigan Avenue. Circa 1898.

The building was designed by A.H. Coolidge, who won a building design competition, an associate of the firm Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge of Chicago. It took 25 draftsmen a year to complete the 1,200 blueprint drawings. They designed the building to be practically incombustible because of the lessons of the 1871 Great Chicago Fire.

The Chicago Central Library building served two purposes as the first permanent home for the Library (the building's south/Washington Street side) and the headquarters for the Grand Army of the Republic, the Civil War Union Army veterans' organization (the building's north/Randolph Street side).

By the mid-1920s, the library began to outgrow its space. As early as the 1930s, inadequate library space became a public discussion topic. Between the 1930s and 1970s, the scope of the library's offerings continued to expand; it was clearly overcrowded.

Even as early as the 1920s, the Chicago Public Library had already established itself as a landmark in the hearts of Chicagoans.

A 1967 architectural survey conducted by Chicago architects Holabird and Root confirmed that although the building was still structurally sound, the mechanical, electrical and communication systems were obsolete. Some changes were necessary.

A design competition for the renovation of the Chicago Public Library was held in 1970. Two architectural firms from Madison, Wisconsin, shared the prize for the winning design, estimating that the project would cost a prohibitive $28 million. Soon the library became the center of a spirited public debate. City officials were challenged to provide Chicagoans with a cost-effective, updated public library, and some suggested demolishing the building. Preservationists wanted to save it for its magnificent beauty and as a monument to the past.

Approximately half of the library's books and periodicals had been moved to another location by 1974. Consequently, the library's collection was then housed in two facilities. That same year, Holabird and Root were selected as the architects for a much-needed building renovation. The architects viewed the structure as a historical treasure, and their sensitive design kept the exterior and most of its decorative features intact and unchanged. The renovation began in 1974 and was completed in 1977 when the Chicago Public Library building was renamed the Chicago Cultural Center.

The center of this building, now known as Preston Bradley Hall (Preston Bradley was on the Chicago Public Library Board for over 25 years), contains a dome and hanging lamps designed by the Tiffany Glass Company of New York. The Washington Street entrance, grand staircase and dome area have inscriptions of 16th-century printers' marks, authors' names and quotations that praise learning and literature in mosaics of colored stone, mother of pearl and favrile glass. The Chicago Public Library is home to the world's largest Tiffany stained glass dome.

The Preston Bradley Hall

In 1947, the Chicago Public Library took over the entire building.

Then in 1991, the Chicago Public Library vacated the building when it opened its new State Street location named the Harold Washington Library Center, after the first African–American to be elected as mayor of Chicago. Washington served from 1983 until he died in office in 1987. In 1991, the new Harold Washington Library Center was dedicated. 

The Harold Lee Washington Library, 400 South State Street, Chicago, Illinois.

The same year the original library building was rededicated as the Chicago Cultural Center and became the nation's first free municipal cultural center.

The Chicago Cultural Center is listed as a Chicago Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.

Compiled and Edited by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs; Chicago Public Library;  Newberry Library