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2135 COLUMBUS RD.

(ENTRANCE ON FREEMAN AVE.)
CLEVELAND, OH 44113

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HISTORIC CLEVELAND BREWERIES

JULY 2018 EDITION
BY JIM PROHASKA

T he Origins Of Forest City

Brewery
Our establishment is the fourth named Forest City Brewery to exist in
Cleveland over the years. The first two breweries to carry the Forest
City name were both founded before the Civil War and at a time when
the Cleveland brewing scene was growing steadily due to the influx of
immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and Bohemia (Czech Republic).
Irishman Charles Rogers settled in Cleveland in 1839 and opened the
Forest City Brewery at Canal Road and Seneca Street (West 3rd Street).
This would be near where the Hard Rock Café used to be located. Rogers
picked this location due to the accessibility to several mineral springs
(“of utmost purity”) and one of the 4 major ingredients of beer.

Forest City Brewery horse-drawn beer delivery wagon c.1880

For the first 20 years, business was slow but steady for Rogers. By
1858, business had increased enough that the brewery had to expand
and add a new building (40 x 60 feet and 3 stories high) to keep up with
the demand for Forest City’s ale production. By 1871, Charles Rogers
decided to retire and passed management of the brewery to his younger
brother William. William formed a partnership with Robert Beggs and
later with Hazen Hughes (who was the brother of pioneer Cleveland
brewery owner John Hughes). During this period, Forest City reached its
peak production period (roughly 6500 barrels a year) until the brewery
was sold in 1878 and again in 1880.

The sale of Forest City brewery in 1880 was significant in that it was
purchased by Carling & Company of London, Ontario and re-named the
brewery as the London Brewery. Thus, the Carling name was first
established here in Cleveland with its production of ales, stouts and
porters.

The second Forest City Brewery was established around 1850 by

Thomas Newman. His facility was located on Irving Avenue (E. 25th
Street) near Pittsburgh Avenue on Cleveland’s near East Side. Thus, for
a time, there were two breweries in Cleveland with the same name.
Even more interesting was that William Rogers (brother of the above-
mentioned Charles Rogers) became a partner to Newman in the mid-
1860’s. However, William Rogers left Newman after a few years to take
over management for his brother at the west side Forest City Brewery.

Newman retired in 1872 and the business was owned by James

Dangerfield and Daniel Fovargue. Fovargue had apprenticed with
Newman prior to taking over the brewery. By 1875, the increasing
demand for lager beer caused Fovargue (who now was sole owner) to
increase its production over the other beers at his facility approximately
6,000 barrels per year. Even so, with total production of only about
9,000 barrels per year, the brewery failed and closed in 1883.

NEXT TIME: Forest City Brewing

Company #3 – the brewing powerhouse on
Union Avenue.
 HISTORIC CLEVELAND BREWERIES
MAY 2018 EDITION
BY JIM PROHASKA

Vintage Brewery & Brewing

Equipment Ads, C.1907
At the turn of the last century, there we no giant national Breweries.
The likes of Miller and Anheuser Busch were still local entities, along
with thousands of other neighborhood Breweries that existed here in
Cleveland during the early 1900’s. The expansion of the Brewing industry
and the demand for beer not only drove sales of the equipment
necessary for the production of beer, it also demanded innovations
within the industry to increase production and efficiencies while cutting
costs. Some of these innovations are pictured here. These ads were
taken from trade magazines dating from the 1907-09 era. These
magazines catered to the Brewery owners and their master brewers and
discussed the latest techniques in “modern” brewing techniques as well
as allowing manufacturers to tout their latest products.
The Lowe Manufacturing Company seemed to specialize in filtering, cleaning,
sanitization and pasteurization of beer and brewing equipment and associated
brewing supplies. They were a consistent advertiser of their products.
Note that Architect Louis Lehle lists The Gund Brewery (Cleveland) as one of his
clients. Similarly, the Richard Griesser firm lists The Cleveland and Sandusky
Brewing Co. as one of his clients – perhaps one of his firm’s larger customers?
Compare this Brew House layout to today’s Craft Breweries (including our own
Forest City Brewery). Much has changed…..

The bottling of beer became big business for Breweries at the end of the 1800’s.
Innovations in filling and capping the beer allowed for a dramatic increase in bottled
beer production. Home delivery of beer (rather than just to taverns and beer
halls) became an attractive source of additional income for Breweries. One can only
imagine the engineering ingenuity that went into the machine pictured
above.
 HISTORIC CLEVELAND BREWERIES
APRIL 2018 EDITION
BY JIM PROHASKA

Oppmann Brewing Company

The Oppmann Brewery on the corner of Columbus and Willey Streets.

Andrew W. Oppmann –
An Early Beer Baron
Great fortunes were made by some of Cleveland’s early Beer Barons.
Andrew W. Oppmann was one of these greatly successful millionaire
brewers. Oppmann left Bavaria for the United States in 1863 at the age
of 19. He had apprenticed at a number of breweries in Bavaria and
settled for a short time in St. Louis to do the same. Young, restless and
adventurous, he decided to travel the (wild) West, then ended up joining
the Calvary. He ended up in Los Angeles where he became a crew
member of a ship that sailed the Orient. Once back in the States, he
again decided to sail, this time down the West Coast to Panama, where
he walked the 40 miles across the isthmus(!) to the eastern shore to
board another ship heading to New York City. His wanderlust finally
satisfied, he was happy to return to the U.S.

Oppmann wanted to return to his true passion, which was brewing beer.
He traveled to Chicago and took employment with the Mueller Brothers
Brewery there. His hope was for long-term employment. However, the
Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed the Brewery (as well as Andrew’s
possessions) and forced Oppmann to leave the city. He ultimately ended
up in Cleveland, briefly working as brewmaster for Haltnorth’s Brewery
on the west side. The desire to own his own brewery was strong. Thus,
in 1872, he bought the financially strapped Adam Schumann Brewery at
the corner of Columbus and Willey Streets.

Under Oppmann’s control, his Brewery grew from the 18th largest (out
of 26) in 1874 to the 5th largest Brewery in Cleveland ten years later.
He was a progressive business man with a creative mind – holding
several patents on equipment that improved general brewing methods
which ultimately also helped to increase the efficiency of his operation.

Oppmann did not embrace the bottling of his beer. He was an advocate
for draught beer and sold the bulk of his product to various saloons
throughout the city. However, a group of his employees saw a great
opportunity in bottling, so they organized a bottling company to bottle
and distribute Oppmann’s beer. They formed the Anhaeusser Co-
Operative Bottling Company in 1889 and re-branded Oppmann’s beer as
Anhaeusser Malt Tonic. Their trade was aimed primarily at the home
delivery and consumption market. Their facility was located across
Columbus Street from the Oppmann brew house.

The momentum of the brewery’s success was temporarily halted on July

4, 1889. The entire brewery complex was destroyed by fire, evidently
caused by some errant fireworks in the neighborhood. The loss was
estimated to be $30,000 to $35,000 ($780,000 to over $900,000 in
today’s dollars). Oppmann quickly rebuilt, erecting an enormous and
opulent new Brew House (please see photo above).

By 1891, Andrew Oppmann decided to get out of the brewing business

and concentrate on real estate (particularly in the West Boulevard area
of Cleveland). He sold his shares and the brewery was re-named the
Phoenix Brewing Company (as it had risen from the ashes of the fire). In
1897, Phoenix produced 50,000 barrels of beer. this continued success
made it ripe for acquisition by the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing
Company conglomerate which purchased it in 1898. Phoenix was the
2nd largest of the 9 Cleveland & Sandusky group of breweries. By 1908
however, the need to consolidate and streamline the multitude of
Cleveland & Sandusky brewing operations forced the shutdown of the
Phoenix plant – never to reopen.
 Oppmann Brewery workers in 1880. The star on the barrel (known as “brewer’s
stars”) signified purity and quality.

Andrew Oppmann died in 1910 at the age of 66. At his passing, he was
one of the wealthiest real estate owners in Cleveland. The Oppmann
Brewing Company was located one block from our Forest City Brewery
and is currently the site of St. Wendelin Catholic Church. There is no
existing structural evidence left of the Oppmann Brewing Company.
However, members of the Oppmann family visit our Forest City Brewery
on occasion and help give us insight to the past and to this important
saga of Cleveland brewing history.

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