Small town Iowa brewery 1873-85

[hogman]

I live in Rockford, Iowa, a small town of almost 900 people in the northern part of the state. I have known for many years that our town had a brewery at one time. I have found that it was licensed to a Samuel Markee. After the brewery closed the town's school burned and 60 years ago I was told by an elderly lady who had lived her whole life in Rockford that stones from the old brewery were used as part of the foundation for the new school. She would have been a small child when the brewery closed and could give no other information. New homes have been built where the brewery once stood so nothing remains at the site of the brewery. Since I now live in a former Baptist church built in 1880 and whose members probably helped put it out of business I would like to do a home-brew this spring or summer in honor of the 150th anniversary of the brewery's founding.

What I would like to know is what type of beer would probably have been brewed here. My thoughts are same variation of a cream ale or a common. I would like to hear suggestions as to possible ingredients and style to consider. Would they have used a 6-row malt or a 2-row in 1873? Would any corn or wheat have been used, they were both local crops at the time along with oats and possibly barley? Should I assume that it may have had some sour characteristics? Or might something like a Kentucky Common have been brewed. He probably used some type of mixed variety yeast either collected wild but most likely obtained from some other regional brewery (Oldbreweries.com list several). What might be a good yeast to use as well?

Thank you. I will keep this post up to date on what I finally brew.

 

[JohnSand]

Sounds interesting. By that time it could have been lager. If it was operated by a German immigrant, I would guess lager. You might seek out town records or the historical society for more information on the brewer. There may be old bottles around too.

 

[rmchair]

He probably brewed the first hard seltzer but people weren't ready for it yet.

 

[dmbrew48]

Way kool - go for it. Have relation in "Chuck town", "Mrble rock", Rudd, etc., anyway, as the locals say it.
Settlers were Euro origin, so maybe a lager, but lack of real temperature control might say an ale - maybe coordinated hops & sprouts delivery from Euro to get started - will ask questions next time we venture back to the IA area.
Found an interesting read in a "Mother Earth News" publication talking about brewing the in 1800's - we have moved on in time.
At the time, the main US players were Yuengling, Shaefer, & Pabst - so, probably would have been similarities in process and style - guessing here.
Brew on.

 

[brewSJ]

You were asking about ingredients. Wahl and Henius's "American Handy-Book of the Brewing, Malting, and Auxiliary Trades" (1901) has a lot of information on pre-prohibition US brewery practice. That's only 20 years after your brewery was founded, so it should be pretty relevant. The book is old enough to be in the public domain, so you can find scanned copies online.

 

[dmbrew48]

BrewSJ: Good find - did a search - found that title on google play store books - through the first "chapters", it's basic math & tables. This screenshot of malting. A real interesting read! Thx

 

[dmbrew48]

Been reading that Wahl & H.. text book (above) - it's an early version of the Machinery's Handbook ++

 

[NSMikeD]

Sounds interesting. By that time it could have been lager. If it was operated by a German immigrant, I would guess lager. You might seek out town records or the historical society for more information on the brewer. There may be old bottles around too.

While this would have been my first guess Markee can be of English origin, and the fist name of Samuel underscores that origin and would point to an ale.

cool topic and kudos to the OP for the historical inquiry.

 

[maryc27182]

I love looking up this type of thing. I'm brewing at the moment, so I can't spend a ton of time this morning, but I got a quick hit on ~1860s McGregor, Iowa breweries.

Iowa Beer Caves

Seems like these folks were brewing 7-8% lagers, aged in caves.

Alright, back to my mash!

Mary
p.s. I grew up in Iowa.

 

[maryc27182]

Iowa City Beer Caves

Iowa City Breweries part 1

Iowa City Breweries 1880s part 2

The last two articles are good, and have references. I really need to go attend my mash now.

Mary

 

[kevin58]

I did some research in my town of Saginaw, Michigan and found there were five breweries in the late 19th century until prohibition. Three of them still have portions of the buildings that remain and have found other uses. One of them is Saginaw Brewing Company which had the main brewery on Washington Ave. at street level. The ground sloped downward behind the building and at the lower level they had a storage area. What they stored I don't know but that lower level still exists. The whole area is now a park with baseball diamonds and in the winter a sledding hill and ice rink. The old brewery storage building now serves as the concession stand/warming house for skaters and sledders during winter.

 

[maryc27182]

I haven't found much, but the reference that might have vague information (but not likely stuff like recipes) is "The Story of Rockford," Michael Vala, M. F. Vala Publishing, Dubuque, IA, 1970. A description says, "Histories of the churches, businesses, schools and politics of Rockford, Iowa along with biographical sketches and stories of early times in Rockford, Iowa. Pictures, school lists, advertising, lists of prominent citizens, etc."

If you're lucky, there might be an advertisement from the brewery in the book.

I found that RootsWeb lists a volunteer that has a copy of the book. I'll link the page here, rather than putting the volunteer's name and email address in the forum. (Rockford is small, so you might even know this person.)

The Story of Rockford

The little I found from that text came from a geological publication that referenced Vala's book (The Rockford Area: A Historical Perspective, page 13 ) which said a brewery was established in 1864 by Dwight Johnson and Harmon Mitchell, closed in 1880, and burned sometime after that. That publication referenced page 56 of Vala's text (which might prove useful, should you contact that volunteer who owns the book and ask for whatever information it has on the brewery.)

Like I wrote before, I don't know if a historian would list whether it was a lager or an ale brewed there, but it might be worth a shot trying to find that book. Good luck and please keep us updated on what you decide to brew.

 

[MicroMickey]

My sources show about 13 breweries in Rockford, Illinois over the years. Do you have the street name where your target brewery was located?

 

[dmbrew48]

Ah... the OP was Rockford, IOWA

 

[MicroMickey]

Whoops! I'll look again.

 

[MicroMickey]

I did a little more research and found a Samuel Markee who established a brewery in Avoca, Ia. in 1973 which closed in 1885.