The Fremont Brewing Co... Maybe?
I've recently begun the massive project of researching Nebraska's former breweries. I came across this dandy of a book, which lists every brewery that existed in the United States up to 1995. I now finally have a comprehensive list of Nebraska's breweries and the names under which they operated. Fremont had brewery as early as 1874 and the Fremont Brewing Co. came to be in 1891.
As one can see from these historic photos, the Fremont Brewing Co. was a massive operation. According to the book 100 Years of Brewing, this brewery produced 30,000 barrels of beer in 1902. A barrel is a measurement of 31 gallons, so nearly a million gallons of beer were produced here on a yearly basis. This is more beer than all the breweries in Nebraska combined presently make.
900 East Factory St. was the address listed for the Fremont Beverage Co. in the 1918 Fremont City Directory. (Note the company's name change from "Brewing" to "Beverage" to reflect the new law of prohibition.)
900 E. Factory is an empty lot, however, this is the building that resides at 700 E. Factory. Obviously, the former brewery was a huge complex... could this building have been a part of it? The place is for sale and I've contacted the realtor, who is in the process of putting me in touch with someone who knows more about the history of the building. Until then, I will anxiously await a response!
This building is also close by. Could it have had a place with the former brewery too?
7 comments:
Very interesting. Kool pictures too!
Columbus renumbered its downtown area in the early 20th Century; maybe Fremont did the same thing. It's possible that the current 900 East Factory is the former 700 East Factory. It's also possible that a 30,000-barrel brewery covered a couple of city blocks.
have fun
RDS
I was curious if you were able to get any further information from the real estate agent/contact around the buildings history or the history of the Fremont Brewing Company?
James Warren
jameswarren182@hotmail.com
This building was purchased by some friends of mine a couple of years ago and has some very cool industrial architectural elements.
@James: The real estate agent never returned my phone calls so unfortunately, I have no further information from that angle.
@Troy: Do you have any additional insight on this building? Was it indeed part of the brewery? If so, maybe we could work something out with your friends... I'd love to photograph the interior!
I have more pics and info on the brewery if interested. Know quite a bit about it and its demise. Can contact me at vhartford@npdodge.com
I was just at an auction in Fremont where a wooden crate from the brewery sold for $60. I also find this old picture of the building:
http://memories.nebraska.gov/cdm/ref/collection/kml/id/84
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