Old Joe’s Steam Beer— “It’s pure that’s sure!” Have you ever heard of this beer or this slogan?
Joe Hartman was a 49er who came to California in 1852 from Germany to make his fortune finding gold nuggets. That didn’t work out as only one in five of the gold seekers ever made expenses. So Joe came to San Jose and, in 1853, started the Eagle Brewery in a shack on South Market Street. Joe made steam beer—a brewing process that takes only a month rather than the four months that lager beer requires. Joe had a good delivery system; if a saloon needed a keg of beer, Joe put the keg in his wheelbarrow and delivered it himself. But his personal delivery service didn’t last long as there was tremendous demand for his product and the brewery expanded rapidly.
There was a real need for beer then as cholera was common and people couldn’t trust the water. (One in ten of the covered wagon pioneers died on the trail, cholera claiming most.) The Californios (Spanish settlers) who lived in San Jose had a very poor water system—the water being delivered via open ditches, or acequias, to the pueblo people. The ditches became water supply and sewer all in one, spreading disease to the pobladores who drank from them.
Joe Hartman flourished; his gold was in the golden glow of his beer. He moved to San Carlos and Market Streets and built the Eagle Brewery on the location of today’s St.
Claire Hotel. The malt tower of the Eagle Brewery had six stories, the tallest building in San Jose.
Major competition came in 1869 when a German tavern keeper, Gottfried Frederick Krahenberg, started the Fredericksburg Brewery on the corner of the Alameda and
Cinnabar Street. This brewery prospered and a huge six-story building was added that featured towers and turrets like a Germanic castle. The Fredericksburg Brewery employed mostly immigrants from the large German population then living in San Jose. (Members of this community established a German Catholic Church, Lutheran Church, Methodist Church and a German language newspaper, and owned most of the meat markets and sausage shops.)
In 1873, Philip Doerr—grandfather of Robert Doerr who became Mayor of San Jose in 1956—founded the San Jose Brewery. The Lion Brewery and Krumbs Brewery were also in existence at the time. The big breweries started driving the small ones out of business and there was only a trio of them left by 1890. In 1911, those in business were the large Eagle Brewery, the Fredericksburg Brewery, and the much smaller Garden City Brewing Co. at San Pedro and Bassett Streets, near the Market Street railroad depot. There were also the C.J. Vath Brewery (Rainier Beer) and the Santa Cruz Brewery—both located on a railroad spur on South Fourth Street—but they were actually bottling plants for beer that arrived in barrels on railroad freight cars.
The railroads were extremely important to the brewers. The barley used was grown locally, but the hops, bottles and barrels arrived by rail. Most important of all to the brewing process was a supply of good water, and the Fredericksburg Brewery was lucky to have two fine artesian wells on its property.
A new name appeared in brewery listings in 1915—the Kawaguchi and Ida Brewery. Located at 665 North Fifth Street in the area now known as Japantown, it did not brew beer but sake, catering to the growing Japanese population.
A major fire broke out at the Fredericksburg Brewery in 1902 and the great, six-story turreted tower of the malt house crashed into Cinnabar Street. The brewery was rebuilt by the time of the 1906 earthquake and survived with only minor damage.
In the meantime, a more important movement than an earthquake was taking place elsewhere in the USA. Carrie Nation, a six-foot, 175-pound woman, crusader and leader of the American Temperance movement, was using her hatchet to destroy saloons. By 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution was passed, spelling death for breweries, wineries and distilleries across the U.S. Thus, beginning at 12:01 AM on January 16, 1920, it was illegal to manufacture, produce or sell any beverage with more than 1% alcohol. But this did not eliminate the public’s demand or desire for liquor—it just created a tremendous legal problem.
(This is the first of a two-part article. Part Two will appear next week.)
And then….the Fredricksburg Brewry changed names two times after that and was finally leveled for condominiums and stores.
What’s with the obsession of history and its boring topic? I’m falling asleep.
Leonard,
Thanks for the excellent read and am looking forward to the next installment. Great stuff!
A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named “Governmentium.” Governmentium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.
These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected , because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete, when it would normally take less than a second.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.
This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as “Critical Morass.” When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium – an element which radiates just as much energy as the Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.
“There was a real need for beer then as cholera was common and people couldn’t trust the water.”
Beer as an alternative to unpure water. You learn something new every day.
Thanks Leonard for another informative look at San Jose’s past.
I only knew the brewery at The Alameda and Cinnabar as Falstaff. Attending St. Leo’s a few blocks away it was very common to have the smell of the hops wafting all over that area, including the school yard.
Falstaff provided something else to the community besides beer. It also served as a kid round-up assistant to all the neighborhood moms with it’s 5 o’clock whistle signaling to those of us within earshot that it was time to go inside and get ready for dinner.
This is the first I’ve heard about the trolley barn being out in front of the brewery. Dan, do you know if the old Chuck Wagon/King’s Table building was part of that barn or part of the brewery complex originally, or neither?
Also, back in the 60’s Falstaff used to run radio ads that I suspect provided some of the first widespread electronic media ad exposure for SJ. I remember them as humorous and leading to the final question, “Jose??? SAN Jose????”
Circa 1958: People out in the morning with a group of 1957’s chevy’s going to the beach without the gangs or bums. It’s late May with temp in the 80’s. Alot of beautiful girls are in the 1950’s cars ready to have fun. It’s about 10 am in the morning. What a load of fun you guys missed out on. It turned out to be wonderful. People had alot of fun without any problems we have. Those were the good all old days. In the morning, it was getting all pumped up for a decent day back then. They played volleyball and build sand castle. They made out with each other, boys and girls. There were no snobbery, just love. It ain’t like that anymore. Now try that for pleasant history ancedote.
Fed Up, those were indeed the days. Innocent, naieve, whatever you want to call the mindset back then, life was simpler even though the cold war was in full swing and the threat of a Russian nuke attack was as real as a terrorist threat is today. Some of the best times I had as a child were during the dark days of Capitola after the Santa Cruz yacht harbor was built and took all of Capitola beach’s sand away. Our neighbors had a beach house there and the town was in a total funk, almost desolate. A great place to get into mischief especially at night when it was an absolute ghost town. Quite a different picture over there these days.
Our local radio station KLIV focused on the surfers in its listener base and gave regular reports on traffic from “Cloud 9” up on the summit.
I don’t see how this particular activity has changed much from 1958 to now. The traffic over 17 to the beach is heavier than ever, especially during the warmer months when the kids are out of school. They’re just driving faster cars and flipping them over more than they did back then, and you know those 50’s cars didn’t have near the handling qualities of the ones kids are driving now. Unlike the traffic, the level of personal responsibility among the youth driving over 17 has diminished to where it’s pretty much non-existent. But that’s a whole separate discussion on parenting and example, isn’t it?
While non-history lovers sleep, I will continue to be obsessed with history. Why? Aside from being fascinating, humorous, and informative, a knowledge of history can save your life in combat. History is also good for coughs, colds, sneezes, wheezes, and venereal diseases.
One of my prize possesions is a framed lithograph of the Eagle Brewery I purchased from Leonard a few years back in his small shop of wonders, Memorabilia of San Jose. It depict a horse-drawn wagon holding about 20 huge barrels of beer. Yummy. The scent of sweet beer was said to waft all the way to El Dorado street (Post St. now) and beyond, in the days of true horsepower vehicles.
Tasty stuff, Leonard. In the late ‘30s the short lived St. Claire Brewery operated, at Lincoln/Auzares.
Merc archives has little to offer and the late Clyde Arbuckle, Theron Fox and Connie, of the New Almaden Museum, were basically stumped in finding print information.
Supposidly two different postcards exist but in 24 years of search, have yet to see any.
Hope is you can quench much of this mystery by researching areas I missed. Great post.
I guess #2. above is not a history buff. That’s his business. He doesn’t have to read it.
I find Leonards articles very interesting but then I was born and raised here a long time ago. I am always interested in “how it was”, as well as “how it is now.”
I can remember riding into town from King Road on the electric street car and the big parade which phased it all out. The old electric car barn was on the Alamedo at Cinnebar in front of Weilands (Fredricksburg) Brewery. Franco’s Market was across the street.
Writers such as you Leonard, Eric Carlson, and our deceased treasure Clyde Arbuckle will always have an interested audience.
Thanks for the fun and interesting reading Leonard.