Comments on: Anniversary of The Great Brewery Fire

By: Howard Dewey Wilson

Howard Dewey Wilson — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:58:23 +0000

In response to the Vince Banks blog, I am the great grandson of Jesse Nelson Dewey, i.e. J. N. Dewey. I can give you much information about the fishing business that operated both at Brest, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio. I have reason to suspect that your picture might be of Toledo.

I can say for sure when I see it.

The fish business was never in Monroe proper.

By: Monroe Man Opened First Brewery in Ypsilanti | Michigan Beer Buzz

Monroe Man Opened First Brewery in Ypsilanti | Michigan Beer Buzz — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:36:11 +0000

[...] brewery and moved to Ypsilanti. There he married Sophie Post. While Hermann’s Brewery became Wahl Brewery, Jacob went on to open his brewery named Grob. It was located according to “Brewed in [...]

By: Vince Banks

Vince Banks — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:31:31 +0000

In your digging into the Wahl Brewery, did you come across any information on a wholesale fish business named The J.N. Dewey Co.? It was in operation in the 30’s. I am trying to place it and suspect it was on O’Brien St. but am not sure of that. If you respond to this with your e-mail address, I will forward a picture of the fish building.

Thanks.

Vince Banks

By: Buckeye Beer | Michigan Beer Buzz

Buckeye Beer | Michigan Beer Buzz — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:08:20 +0000

[...] Monroe lost it’s big brewery (Wahl Brewing Co.) to a fire in 1905, Buckeye came into Monroe and set up a office and warehouse and had a successful [...]

By: Kevin Nash

Kevin Nash — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:06:43 +0000

Thank you Brian, I was hoping for a reply like yours. Great information, I couldn’t find the founder John Wahl’s obit and I really needed that to varify some of the information I had. This was my first attempt at archiving and I found a lot of contradictory information. I have an ad for the brewery that says it was started in 1862 but I found another story that puts the start of the brewery in 1857. According to the census there was no John Wahl here in 1860 so I went with the early 1860s. In the 1870 census it said he was born in Bavaria but I do remember something about Canada/Upper New York before he moved to Adrian. I also have that Herman’s Brewery ad from the 1859 Monroe Directory and will have a blog on that later. The 1860 census has Herman Mathis’(Hermann Brewery owner) name as”Mattis Hammond”. That is the kind of thing I kept finding.

Once again thank you. Good luck with the restoring project. If you ever have an historical home tour I would love to know about it.

By: Brian James Egen

Brian James Egen — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:02:44 +0000

I currently own the Wahl family home and am very familiar with the stories. I am restoring the home to the 1860’s era but it will take a while. The ice-house and some of the out buildings were on my property. Any time I dig in my yard, and down by the river, I pull up tons of artifacts, etc. So much so that I don’t even bother with shards of glass, plates, etc. as they are everywhere. By the river you can still see limestone foundations, tons of metal, (iron) re-enforcing rod that can be seen in one of the 1905 photos of the destruction, and much more. Several years ago, the Monroe Archeology Society did a test dig and we found the foundation of the ice house/office and more. Apparently, the majority of the ruins were buried (what was not hauled out or re-used – supposedly the house to the west of mine was built from the bricks of the main brewery building). Cutting the grass is a challenge due to sink holes and pockets of collapse from piles of debris, etc. On December 1st every year, I look out the window that John Wahls’ nephew supposedly did when he noticed flickering orange lights on his ceiling. Keep fire extinguisher on hand just in case. FYI – from what I understand and I believe was in his obit, John Wahl came from Canada/upper state New York and was a mason by trade. Apparently he built St. Michael’s Church and then bought the brewery in 1862 or 63 from Herman Mathis. I have a photo copy of a Monroe directory in 1859 that has “Herman’s Brewery – O’Brien Street – A large stock of lager and beer always on hand” – or something close to that. Additionally, I believe there was a fire in the complex in the 1870’s but it was repaired and the massive brick structure was built.

By: Monroe City Brewery | Michigan Beer Buzz

Monroe City Brewery | Michigan Beer Buzz — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:13:00 +0000

[...] definitive information on that one. One thing that is for sure – that along OBrien Street with Wahl Brewing Co. and Laplaisance’s Roeder Brewery, Front and Wadsworth was another location that had a [...]

By: Albert Dis

Albert Dis — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:05:37 +0000

You can find a reply to your post here Discount Pharmacy

By: jacob

jacob — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:22:42 +0000

Is this where the term fire-brewed originated?

By: stouty1

stouty1 — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:49:05 +0000

Nice and informative, Kevin. Thanks!