Calumet Branch Minneapolis Brewing Co.

27 Aug 2021, last revised 03 Jul 2023

The Calumet Branch of the Minneapolis Brewing Co. was listed in the Unknown Brewers and Bottlers section of the bottle book, Old Copper Country Bottles. Now it is clear that the Calumet Branch was a local distributor of the Minneapolis Brewing Co.

The brewery in Minneapolis, MN organized in 1890 as a consolidation of the four largest breweries in Minneapolis: John Orth Brewing Co., founded in 1850; Heinrich Brewing Association, founded in 1866; Frederick D. Norenberg Brewery, founded in 1870; and Germainia Brewing Association, founded in 1884 (1,11). Operations were consolidated at the largest of the four, the Orth Plant (11), where a new brewery building was constructed in 1892 (1,2). In 1893, the business was incorporated under the name, "Minneapolis Brewing Co." (1,11). Its annual capacity in 1902 was 500,000 barrels (1). Its trademark was the Golden Grain Belt Beer (1). It survived Prohibition by producing near-beer, malt syrup, and soft drinks; and became one of the largest breweries in the U.S. by 1970 (1). Increased competition, however, lead to its closure in 1976 (1).

In Oct 1899, a representative of the Minneapolis Brewing Co. visited Lake Linden with the intent of establishing a branch office (12). The branch, however, was established in Calumet, with a warehouse near completion by 12 Mar 1900 (13). The warehouse was being erected near the Duluth, South Shore, and Atlantic railroad yards (13). It was expected to have a capacity for handling several carloads of Minneapolis beer (13). The branch was listed in the 1901-02 Houghton County Polk directory (6). The directory specified the location to be at the corner of Hecla & Torch Lake Railroad, west of Osceola Rd (6). The Sep 1900 Sanborn map showed a small building labeled "Beer Depot" at that location.

Sanborn map - Sep 1900

Given the success of the Minneapolis brewery, it must have been appealing to expand distribution to Calumet during Calumet's peak population years. But with only two known bottles from the Calumet Branch and being listed in only one volume of the Polk directory (9,10), its presence in Calumet was evidently short-lived.

There was no shortage of competition during this period. Bosch, Haas, and Scheuermann had branches in Calumet, and the Calumet Brewing Co. just started production in 1900 (13). Other regional breweries also had local branches in Calumet (13).

Breweries from Milwaukee, WI had a strong presence in the Copper Country. Holland's 1887-8 Houghton directory listed a Houghton branch of the Phillip Best Brewing Co. (7). The Sanborn maps of 1893 showed depots for Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Miller in Red Jacket; and Schlitz in Ontonagon. The 1897-8 Polk directory listed a Val Blatz Brewing Co in Hancock (8). Blatz closed its Red Jacket branch in 1897, but maintained its Hancock branch (5). In later years, the 1916-17 Polk directory listed Pabst and Schlitz in Calumet and Blatz in Hancock (3); and the 1917 Sanborn map showed a Duluth Brewing Co. beer depot in Hancock.

It is evident that at least some branches were bottlers, however, it is unlikely that brewing actually occurred locally, since the Sanborn maps labelled them as depots. The Aug 1909 issue of The Western Brewer noted that Blatz completed installing machinery in its new bottling plant in Hancock (4). The 1908 Sanborn map of Red Jacket showed Schultz at a different location with a building labeled, "Bottling Works". The 1897-98 Polk directory listed Pabst Brewing Co. as "brewers and bottlers" with John Knivel as manager (8). We suspect that the Calumet Branch was also a local bottler, given that the bottles have signature embossing for Calumet. Numerous bottles from Blatz, Schlitz, and Pabst have been found locally, but they lack embossing of a local town name. Thus, they cannot be distinguished from the bottles of other branches. The Calumet name on the Minneapolis Brewing Co. bottles is what solidifies them as Copper Country bottles.

References

1. anonymous. 2003. The Minneapolis Brewing Company. www.historyontheweb.org/minnbrew/mplsbrew.html
2. Heller, H. 2016. Smashing the Stills: The Rise and Fall of Beer Brewing in Minneapolis. historyapolis.com/blog/2014/10/08/smashing-stills-rise-fall-beer-brewing-minneapolis/
3. RL Polk & Co. 1916. Polk's Houghton Country Directory 1916-17. R. L. Polk & Co. Detroit, MI.
4. anonymous. Aug 15, 1909. New plants and improvements. The Western Brewer vol. 34 (8)
5. anonymous. (1897, Jan 16). Business Card. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 4.
6. R. L. Polk & Co. 1901. Houghton County Directory 1901-02. R. L. Polk & Co. Detroit, MI.
7. Holland, A. H. 1887. 1887-8 Hand-book and Guide to Houghton, Mich. Mining Journal Book and Job Print, Marquette, MI.
8. R. L. Polk & Co. 1897. Houghton County Directory 1897-98. R. L. Polk & Co. Detroit, MI.
9. R. L. Polk & Co. 1899. Houghton County Directory 1899-1900. R. L. Polk & Co. Detroit, MI.
10. R. L. Polk & Co. 1903. Houghton County Directory 1903-04. R. L. Polk & Co. Detroit, MI.
11. anonymous. 1903. One Hundred Years of Brewing. H. S. Rich & Co., Publishers. Chicago and New York.
12. anonymous. (1899, Oct 14). New brewery agency. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 7.
13. anonymous. (1900, Mar 12). A big beer town. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 8.