The Brewery

Like most Wisconsin communities, Mishicot had its brewery, and in addition to being of good size it must have had a good product. At one time, 6,000 barrels a year were sold with some going as far as Milwaukee, the beer capital of Wisconsin, Julius Lindstedt (1836-1890) came to Mishicot in 1847 with his parents and is credited with starting it. However, one reference says it was built in 1864-65 and Lindstedt bought it in 1866 and ran it until he sold it in 1884 to John G. Scheuer (1839-1919).

The Mishicot Brewing Company consisted of the main brewing building, a separate building for a bottling plant, two ice houses and a horse barn which housed several teams of horses which were used to deliver the beer. A number of different brews were produced. Interestingly, the Rockway Bridge was built to get to the brewery as in those early days crossing it was the only way to get to the brewery.

John G. Scheuer increased the capacity of the brewery from about 800 to between four to five thousand barrels. He operated the brewery until 1904 when he sold it to his son, John P. Scheuer; and Andrew Frank, John P.'s brother-in-law. It was then incorporated as Mishicot Brewing Company. They had the brewery remodeled and new cellars, a new boiler room, a new engine room, new bottling rooms, and up-to-date refrigeration were added. Before this, ice from the nearby river was used for refrigeration. Andrew Frank later sold his share to John P.'s son, Irvin P. Scheuer. 

Operations of the brewery continued until Prohibition, in the 1920s, forced it to close. The last entry in the brewing book was September 27, 1928. A pop factory opened in the bottling house when the brewery was shut down. This business was run by another of John P.'s sons, Cyril Scheuer. The pop factory operated until the mid-1930s when the entire business was sold to a Chicago corporation which planned to reopen the brewery. (Imagine the potential for Mishicot had that happened.) Financial problems forced them to abandon this plan, and the corporation was forced into bankruptcy. The former owners had never been paid for the property and the Mishicot Brewing Company had a new owner - the bank. 

Several years later a Mishicot business man, Jesse Lambert, purchased the land from the bank and sold it soon after to the Western Condensing Company. They converted it to a whey plant. This was, according to Francis Vanderlogt, one of the first to work there, in 1942. The whey was picked up from area cheese factories and run through evaporators and processed into different products, including condensed and powered whey and three different grades of sugar. The condensery closed around 1970. In 1974, the plant was sold to Salvage Battery and Lead Company, which is owned by Anton Pietroske. 

Information for this article came from various sources in the Mishicot Historical Museum.

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