The accompanying text (for the engraving) explains how the equipment turns ingredients into beer:

"The cold liquor [water] pump A, raises the water from the river or well B, which, as well as the wort pump M, is driven by a horse with proper machinery, which likewise grinds the malt used in the brew-house.  The grinding house is situated between the pumps, as may be seen by the mill spout P, which conducts the malt from the mill into the mash tun H.  The liquor from the river B, is pumped into the cistern or reservoir, where it is ready at all times during the hurry of brewing; and from the cistern it passes through the large pipe D, into the liquor copper, E, where it may be stopped by a cock at the extremity of the pipe.  The liquor when warmed for mashing is let into the mash-tun, H, by opening the cock, F, in the bottom of the copper, and runs down the trunk Z, which carries into the raising spout, G, in the mash-tun, H, this spout by a notch in the moveable or false bottom of the mash-tun, conducts the liquor between the moveable and real bottoms, which, by ascending, assists the mashing very much. The extract or wort is let go, by turning the cock, K, into the underback, L, and is from thence carried by the horse pump, M, into a level with the wort copper, O, and runs from the pump through the pipe, N, into the wort copper. When cold liquor is required for mashing, as is the case in small beer brewing, it is obtained from the cistern, C, by the pipe, Q, which communicates with it.

Thus these three very laborious parts of the business, viz. pumping the liquor from the river or well; mashing, and pumping up the worts into the copper, may easily be performed by two men; and they are able to mash a very considerable quantity of malt, and attend to the steaming of the casks, liquoring the backs, &c. between the mashes.  When all the worts are in the great copper, O, and are boiled sufficiently, they are run off into the first back, T, by turning the cock, R, from the spout, W, conducting the worts from the drainer, S, which detains the hops.  This back communicates with the two large backs, Y, which are sufficient to contain all the worts, and they may be laid at a greater or less depth, by using one or both these backs, stopping either of the pipes, X, by putting in one of the plugs, U.  The situation of  these two backs is higher than the fermenting tuns, and by pipes the worts are conveyed into them below; and if there is conveniency, the tuns, when cleansing, ought to be high enough to fill the casks in the cellar by means of a leathern pipe.

There you have it, brewing beer on an industrial level doesn't seem that hard now, does it? Well, I will say that after reading that passage, I am now doubly appreciative for the opportunity to enjoy the final product, and will leave it at that. I've visited a few modern-day breweries (Coors and Yuengling), and encourage readers interested in the process to visit some of our local breweries or chat with the many hobbyists we have in our midst as I'm lucky to have a neighbor who calls on me to be a taste-tester from time to time.

​As we learned last week, Frederick, Maryland has served home to local beer brewing operations since the 1700s. Makers in Frederick took advantage of a great water source in Carroll Creek, and the agricultural ingredients needed from the surrounding countryside. Brew House Alley was a name given to a narrow lane that connected West Patrick and West All Saints' streets. It slowly morphed into Brewer's Alley by mid-century. The thoroughfare would eventually be widened for two-way automobile traffic in the 20th century and eventually renamed Court Street.

John G. Lipps
​John George Lipps was born on November 23rd, 1803 in Wurttemberg, Germany. He immigrated to America in the 1830s and reached Frederick by at least 1838, the year he married. Mr. Lipps is said to have begun his brewery around 1840 and was appointed a justice of the peace in 1846.

John G. Lipps opened his brewery on West Patrick Street, utilizing the former operation of George Gelwick. This was next to a popular hotel/saloon called the Black Horse Tavern, run by Jacob Schmidt at one time. Apparently, Lipps' Brewery would be facilitated by the purchase of the Steiner family's property named Long Acre.

John G. Lipps married Catherine Ritchie (who was related to the Ritchie family of Maryland that would produce a future governor, which, in turn, would lead to the naming of a highway). The couple would have seven children.

The Lipps brewery was successful with peak production around 700 barrels. As mentioned earlier, the firm's main competitor was only about 100 yards away down Carroll Creek in the form of a brewery owned by Jacob Markell on the corner of Brewer's Alley and the All Saints' streets . 

We have a rare photograph that includes an image of the Lipps' Brewery in 1868. This was taken by early Frederick photographer Jacob Byerly at the time of the Great Flood of '68. The photo is a view looking westward on West Patrick Street around the area of the famous bend. The brewery, and several homes in this vicinity were heavily damaged by the freshet which caused Carroll Creek to swell far beyond its boundaries.

As we have seen the unique connection between brewery and saloon and tavern, with the latter being the point of chief public connection to the product, Mr. Lipps purchased another tavern called the Globe Hotel. This was located on East Patrick Street and had a unique historic significance to town.

​When he came of age, John G. Lipps' son, John A. C. Lipps (1842-1923) assisted his father in the family business. Brothers George C. Lipps and Ritschy Lipps would follow when they each came of age in the 1870s. Eventually the firm would move away from brewing around 1881 and the death of John George Lipps.

The J. Lipps Sons company now focused their energies on becoming a distributor of other beers from Baltimore and Philadelphia. The brewery property sat unused for years until being sold out of the family in 1904.

​Jacob Markell
Jacob Markell (1786-1867) was a noted Frederick businessman who purchased the brewery and land here on Lot#20 in 1852 from Capt. William Small’s estate. Few details are known about Mr. Markell heading up the brewery operation, as he would have better success with his dry goods mercantile business on West Patrick Street. One day I will tell you about his son Fred and daughter-in-law Catherine Susannah (Thomas) Markell, and their interesting connections to the American Civil War.

Speaking of wars, Jacob Markell was a veteran of the War of 1812, and was regarded as one of Frederick's most-respected citizens. He experienced considerable success in the realm of land investment with his “Markell’s Addition,” platted in 1856, and representing the largest extension of residential development along South Market Street during the 19th century. This came from a two-and-a-half acre farm located across South Market Street from the Frederick Hessian Barracks property destined to become the MD School for the Deaf.

In regard to real estate in the immediate vicinity of Markell's brewery, the extensive leather tannery of Gideon Bantz (1792-1854) stood across the creek to the north. Mr. Bantz's father had built the built a stone warehouse here around 1797, and it would eventually become part of a tanning operation t hat helped produce over 100.000 sides of leather in 1853 with five other firms of the same ilk in town. Gideon Bantz also purchased the old Brother's Tavern on the corner of West Patrick and Brewer's Alley. It would serve home to Mr. Bantz but after his death in 1854 would eventually be used for a place of traveler lodging again.  It would be expanded into a luxury accommodation known now as the Central Hotel. I discovered an advertisement of it being for sale in 1857. In the same edition, I saw another advertisement for an auction of personal estate items being held at the brewery site.

​Jacob Markell was appointed commissioner of the Frederick Female Seminary in 1856. Perhaps this pursuit pulled him away from giving the brewery his undivided attention? He would lease (and later sold) the brewery property for $2,750 to Peter Baer, a German who came to Frederick to hone his craft utilizing the magical waters of Carroll Creek.​

​Peter Baer
Peter Baer was born in Weinheim Germany, on Christmas day 1822 on his family's farm. His parents were  vintners and he graduated from Weinheim City College in 1844. Bear decided to try his fortunes in America.

The young man would eventually settle in Pennsylvania, living with an uncle. He honed his family skills in brewing by working at the Washabaugh Brewery in Chambersburg, PA, learning everything he needed to know to start his own brewery operation. By 1857, Peter Baer partnered with a gentleman named Peter Middlekauf in Hagerstown. He would save up enough money in that first year to purchase the Markell Brewery in Frederick.
​
Recognizing the outdated condition of the plant, Mr. Baer updated his operation with “first class machinery.” He would run his brewery here for the next 15 years and expanded along the way, hiring two full-time employees, building a new beer cellar (1865) and pumping out more than 800 barrels per year. He quickly eclipsed the neighboring Lipps Brewery in production and did this with fewer employees.

The expansion was a great achievement, especially following the hardships of the Civil War on the community. However, the new beer cellar project came with a tragic episode that was recorded by Jacob Engelbrecht in his diary with an entry made October 23rd, 1865. 

"Dreadful accident-This afternoon about 4 o'clock an accident occurred by which two men were killed, viz Theodore Kreh & Sebastian Exner, They with 3 others were digging & walling up a beer-cellar for Mr. Peter Baer (Brewer's Alley). As they were at work it caved in & two were instantly killed & the other three were also injured."

​

​Peter Baer would follow Mr. Markell’s lead and invested in real estate. He would purchase homes and lease them to German immigrants in Frederick. Mr. Baer would eventually turn his full focus toward this endeavor, and give more time to his French wife Salome and their four children. In an 1874 Frederick City Directory, Mr. Baer is listed as a "capitalist." Meanwhile, a German-born Baltimorean named Louis Heise is labeled a brewer, as he had taken over Mr. Baer's establishment on Brewer's Alley through lease agreement.

Well, as you can see, Mr. Heise could not sustain the business, defaulting on his mortgage to Peter Baer. I wonder if this was an effect of the economic recession that occurred in the country at the time, triggered by the Panic of 1873  and lasting until 1878/79. I found Louis Heise back in Baltimore in an 1878 Baltimore City Directory, His occupation, as printed therein, simply read: "Beer."

​​Peter Baer sold the brewery property on Lot #20 to Paul Hauser in 1879 for $6,000. Nine years later in 1888, at the time of his death, Mr. Baer was described as “one of the best known and wealthiest German residents of the city” and worth about $30,000.

Paul Hauser
Paul Hauser came by way of success in Wisconsin, and was arguably the most successful brewer in the history of olde Brewer's Alley of the 18th and 19th centuries. I immediately wanted to learn more about him and a Google search led me to a website entitled Wisconsin Breweries and Brewpubs. Within this site, author Doug Hoverson recounts the history of beer and brewers in an annotated online companion to his printed volume The Drink that Made Wisconsin Famous: Beer and Brewing in the Badger State. Mr. Hoverson includes a page of his research on our transplant Paul Hauser.

​Apparently Hauser was living in a place called Taycheedah as early as 1855, which is east of Fond du Lac on the southern shore of Lake Winnebago and about 60 miles southeast of Green Bay. He, too, was a native of Europe--Switzerland to be exact. Mr. Hauser's wife, Johanna, was Prussian.The couple had their first son, Louis, in Wisconsin around 1856, the same year Mr. Hoverson believes that Hauser came to the Fond du Lac vicinity. He is said to have operated a brewery here from 1858 to the latter part of the 1860s. He eventually took on a business  partner and would also operate a lager beer saloon, having built another brewery that continued operation into the 1870s.

​​The Hauser Brewery would experience a devastating fire in 1872. Financial problems in rebuilding would follow, coupled with the recession of the decade (as was the case of brewer Louis Heise here in Frederick at the same time). Mr. Hauser would be forced to turn the operation over to a former sales agent "as a cover" in an effort to disguise mounting debts. He would sell his brewery the following year in 1878. The Hauser family then moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where Mrs. Hauser would die in 1883, perhaps prompting a change of scenery for her widowed husband.

One way or another, Paul Hauser came to Frederick, Maryland after purchasing Mr. Baer's former brewery on Brewer's Alley. Hauser was able to make a fresh start here and was responsible for substantial expansion of operations.

It wasn't all romance and big bands along Carroll Creek at the Hauser Brewery as the article below attests to feats of strength, or stupidity, sometimes accompany beer drinking.

We've established that Paul Hauser offered variety and his brew could be guaranteed ice cold, as he had the (Ice) house, pond and street to prove it. It appears that he made the decision to sub-let his saloon and beer garden to a new owner. This could have been due to health reasons, and/or a desire to go back north to aid his son in the operation of a successful malt brewing works in St. Paul. As a final touch here in Frederick, it seems that all he needed to compete with leading breweries of the period like Anheuser-Busch (founded 1852 in St. Louis) were those darn Clydesdales, right?

Mr. Hauser came back to Frederick and may have just given up the brewing aspect of his business. He would reconfigure his ice house, next to Hauser's Pond, to include a bottling works. It also appears that he had the semblance of a saloon at this location but I'm not quite sure the chronology of this work. He bought the Black Horse Tavern on West Patrick Street in 1890 and renamed it "The Eagle." At this time, he rented out his "commodious" house on West Patrick Street and soon after took up partial residence in Baltimore. He remarried and had definitive business ties to an enterprise called the Globe Brewery in Charm City.

Hauser continued to maintain dual residences, and frequently traveled to Frederick to visit friends and keep an eye on his holdings  from gleanings I saw with newspaper mentions. Although not thought to be brewed here, he would have a hand in supplying (and bottling) his beer choices here.

An unfortunate event happened to Mr. Hauser in early April, 1898 that would make front page news both here and in Baltimore. This seems to be the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back," putting Paul Hauser out of the beer production game, and Frederick as well.

In the 1900 US census, Paul Hauser is listed as a saloon operator. He would live out his life in Baltimore, dying in 1915. It was certainly a career in beer to drink a toast to.

Christian Eckstein
Christian H. Eckstein was included in  an article I wrote last year, but I'd like to share a portion with you here. He purchased the star of our story, the Lot #20 Brewer's Alley brewery property, at tax sale in 1889. Another native German, Christian was born on October 22nd, 1822 in Dernichein in Hesse-Kassel, Germany. He emigrated to America with his wife and first came to Baltimore, where he worked as a milkman. He came to Frederick in 1854 and began operating taverns here. 

​I learned that he may have started at the noted Dill House that once sat at the corner of West Church and Court Street. I did an earlier story on the origins of this location, now represented by a stellar, macadam parking lot serving the Paul Mitchell Temple and M&T Bank. Eckstein had opened his own bar by 1862, which would take his name. This was located on the northwest corner of North Market and third streets. This location at 301 North Market Street, also doubled as his home residence as far as I could tell.

​301 N Market Street was once the site of Eckstein's Saloon, and is today known as the Up on Market restaurant. It would remain in the family until 1893. Diarist Jacob Engelbrecht notes the following event in his diary on July 14th, 1862:
 
“Lager beer saloon—Mr. Christian Eckstein, who keeps a lager beer saloon at the corner of Market and 3rd Street, was called on by the Provost Marshal & his posse with a wagon, & took 21 kegs of lager beer other article in his line. Government reason, selling liquor to the soldiers. This happened on Saturday evening last 12th instant.”
​
The war came and went, and I’m sure Mr. Eckstein sold plenty more alcohol to the various soldiers of both armies who visited our city along the way. Weeks after the surrender at Appomattox in April, 1865, Christian Eckstein embarked on a sojourn back to his native homeland (Germany) accompanied by a friend and fellow resident named Jacob Schmidt, who kept the Black Horse Tavern mentioned earlier in conjunction with a variety of brewers and located on the famed bend in the second block of West Patrick Street. They left town by train on May 15th and returned on August 30th after a pleasant trip.

In addition to slinging beer, Mr. Eckstein was an avid marksman. Jacob Engelbrecht makes mention  Herr Eckstein again in reference to an interesting purchase of land on Fredericks’ northwest side:

“Deutsche Scheutzen park—This park adjoining our city was sold at public sale on Saturday last March 12, 1870 to Christian Eckstein for fifteen-thousand one hundred dollars ($15,100). It contains 28 and ½ acres of sand and was formerly part of the farm of Mr. Stephen Ramsburg but lately to Doctor William Tyler from whom the “Scheutzen Gesellschaft” purchased it.”
​
For quite sometime, I have had a particular interest in this curious organization of German origin. I first stumbled upon the Deutsche Sheutzen Gesellschaft in the context of local, German Civil War soldier Joseph Groff. His name would be applied to Groff Park which was synonymous with Frederick Scheutzen Park. You know this locale better today as the campus of Hood College, northwest of Frederick’s downtown center. The meeting lodge of this group still survives today as Brodbeck Hall, keeping its German name after all these years.

John Georg Kuhn was born in Munich, Germany on November 25th, 1855. He came to America with great aspirations in 1889. Soon, he would be in Frederick, Maryland and formed what would become known as the Gambrinus Brewery, and this entity had its grand opening in 1891. His first big break came with securing the right to serve his beer at the Great Frederick Fair in 1892.​

It would not take long for Mr. Kuhn to get his first taste of adversity, due to an unfortunate disaster that could have been avoided had someone kept a closer watch over their children. A nearby fire started in ice houses due to kids being careless. I was puzzled just thinking about a house full of ice burning, until I found out that it was often common to pack ice in sawdust. Now there's an accelerant! I would soon learn that this incident was also a threat to my workplace of Mount Olivet as well.

While combing through old newspapers, this article caught my attention in reference to our subject. Hindsight being 20/20, it is too bad Mr. Kuhn did not have this man in his corner as fate would eventually deal a harsh blow, 

Things went nicely for the remainder of 1894, 1895 and into 1896. Unfortunately, John Kuhn would lose it all in a devastating fire in May of that fateful year. ​

John Kuhn would eventually continue to sell alcohol and host bowling up on N. Market Street before moving to Baltimore. Meanwhile,  few attempts by other interested parties to start another brewery in town occurred in 1911 and again in 1914, but each came up short. One group was from Baltimore, and the other from Chicago. The desired location, however, was not at the creek and Brewer's Alley, but rather the abandoned factory of  Calvin Page on the southwest corner of South and Broadway streets.

The brewery ruins on Brewer's Alley stood for some time before several dwellings were constructed in its place. The area now constitutes part of the Carroll Creek Linear Park.​

According to census records of 1910 and 1920, John Kuhn was living in Baltimore and remained employed in brewing. He even got busted for serving alcohol without a license in Baltimore in 1913. John G. Kuhn died in Baltimore on March 10th, 1927. He is buried in Baltimore's Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery located off Belair Road.

As time passed, the names of the many brewers of Frederick have faded from collective memory. How can they help from not being forgotten? We don't have remaining structures from their former workplaces, examples of their beer products, and local memorials to their lives (in the case of Capt. Small, Diehl, Hauser and Kuhn)  in places like Mount Olivet.

The name of Brewer's Alley would disappear as well. The north-south city thoroughfare would take the new name of Court Street. In the early 1920s, the humble alley needed a makeover in both look and moniker because something big was happening in the block to the north. This was the construction of a new luxury hotel, the likes of which had never occurred here before. The Francis Scott Key Hotel opened in January, 1923 and was a definitive "game changer." Business and pleasure travelers would see Frederick as a prime destination. Even the original Frederick Board of Real Estate (destined to become the Frederick County Association of Realtors) was formed in response to this impact on town. One of the organization's first major projects involved lobbying town officials to widen Court Street in an effort to proactively facilitate traffic and travelers coming to the hotel. 

We have alluded to it a few times already, but an equally important structure was also being built at this time on this same thoroughfare that traveled to the immediate east of the FSK Hotel. It was a block away and would be constructed on the old brewery location.

Asbury United Methodist Church is a church rich in history and steeped in significance as one of the oldest African-American churches in Frederick. the congregation's roots date back to 1818 when William Hammond, a free black man, purchased a lot on East All Saints Street for $60. The church, which was known as the “Old Hill Church,” was constructed by a white congregation who permitted free blacks to worship there. In 1864, blacks came into full possession of the church, and by 1870 it was incorporated and renamed Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 1912, pastor Rev. L. J. Valentine convinced the congregation to purchase the old brewery property for the new church when the lot on the corner of Brewer’s Alley and W. All Saints Street became available.  By 1921, the present church structure was completed. In 1939, the church dropped Episcopal from its name and became Asbury Methodist Church. Eventually, the church would officially become known as Asbury United Methodist Church.

The Brewer’s Alley restaurant location at 124 North Market Street began serving customers in July, 1996. Best of all, beer was brewed on the premises. However, there exists a much bigger story of Frederick's past in relation to this very location.  The first residents of Frederick held a lottery to raise money to build a market house on this location in 1765, which was completed in 1769. It would eventually become our first town hall when Frederick was incorporated in 1817. The structure served its dual purpose for over a century. The Market House spanned the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War, including the ransoming of the city by Confederate General Jubal Early.
 
In 1873, the bustling town of Frederick replaced the Market House with the “new” multi-functional offices, and provided space in the rear for the Frederick Farmer’s Market. Later, the rear of the building was replaced by the present parking deck, the first of it’s kind in town.
 
As the seat of city government up through the mid-1980s, the building was witness to Frederick’s political history, and as an opera house and theater it has been witness to much of Frederick’s social and entertainment history. The building has hosted such diverse events as a lecture given by Frederick Douglass, and concerts conducted by John Philip Sousa. Other events of note included a memorial service for slain President William McKinley (1901) and a speech on trade and commerce by President William Taft (1911), the Frederick debut of D.W. Griffith’s film “The Birth of a Nation” (1915) and the Manhattan Opera Company’s production of “Madame Butterfly” (1926).

Thank you to Phil Bowers and those responsible for choosing such a "stout" name for the establishment. Along with brewing their own beer for the past 27 years, we are lucky to have the tradition of beer-making here in Frederick live on as these days we have numerous firms doing so.

******************************************************************************************************************
History Shark Productions presents:
​
Chris Haugh's "Frederick History 101"
Are you interested in Frederick history? Want to learn more from this award-winning author and documentarian?

Check out his latest, in-person, course offering: Chris Haugh's "Frederick History 101," with a 4-part/week course on Tuesday evenings in late August/early September, 2023 (Aug. 22, 29 & Sept 5, 12). These will take place from 6-8:30pm at Mount Olivet Cemetery's Key Chapel. Cost is $79 (includes 4 classes).

In addition to the lecture class above, two unique "Frederick History 101 Walking Tour-Classes" in Mount Olivet Cemetery will be led by Chris in August focusing on interesting local, historical figures of the 1900s. These are available for  different dates ( Aug. 8th and Aug 23rd) Cost $20. 

​For more info and course registration, click the button below! (More courses to come)

So, spirits should be plentiful here at the cemetery, when talking of the supernatural, of course. However, I’d like to use as a theme, spirits of another kind, while paying homage to a few of those buried here who created, or served up, alcohol during Frederick’s “spirited” past! This time around I will focus on beer for this two-part extravaganza.

Some years ago, I had the opportunity to visit the birthplace of one of our Frederick history heroes, whose final resting place is in Mount Olivet. This was none other than Thomas Johnson, Jr. --lawyer, business entrepreneur, member of Continental Congress, military leader during the American Revolution, early U.S. Supreme Court justice, surveyor of Washington, D.C., and Maryland's first-elected governor. Johnson, and his brother James (builder of Springfield Manor near Lewistown) are buried in Area MM, and their colorful lives exemplified "the Spirit of 76!" Both gentlemen, along with another brother, Baker (buried in Area E) are natives of Calvert County. They were born and raised along St. Leonard's Creek, where it flows into the lower Patuxent River. Their ancestral home was called the Brewhouse.

Over the past several years, the craft brewery and distillery industry has proliferated in Frederick, often causing historic buildings to be re-purposed with modern equipment and tasting rooms. Examples include today's McClintock Distilling, Steinhardt Brewing, and Brewer's Alley Restaurant. Let's go back in time, to see who was doing the “brewing,” and where did this activity this occur? We can use the cemetery as a "museum of past beer makers."

​We can return to Frederick’s humble beginnings in the mid-1700s, over 275 years ago. Within a few years of the town’s founding in 1745, three innkeepers were granted licenses to operate ordinaries in Frederick Town. These included Kennedy Farrell, John Cramphlin, and Jacob Beney. At Kennedy Farrell's, one could enjoy a "hot dyet for a gentleman with a pint of small beer" for the price of one shilling, three pence or a "cold dyet" for eight pence. The prices were set by the courts.

​In putting together this story, I looked at a "like town" (to Frederick) that shares many similarities going back to our humble beginnings in the mid-1700s. I've always thought that Lancaster, Pennsylvania (founded in 1729) is a shining example to compare with Frederick. We had early German families, and particularly farmers and skilled craftsman, from Lancaster who re-located to Frederick. Trade and communication between both towns was particularly strong early on. I soon found A History of Brewing in Lancaster County, Legal and Otherwise by Charles O. Lynch and John Ward Willson Loose. The authors mention that malt liquor beverages were noted first on the scene in the Pennsylvania town, with malt kilns making their appearance in 1745, the year of Frederick Town's founding.

Authors  Lynch and Loose also report in their study:

Although breweries existed from the earliest days of Lancaster, any attempt to draw a clear line of demarcation between innkeepers who were brewers in the back rooms, and brewers who had saloons in the front rooms would be impossible. Late in the eighteenth century certain innkeepers emerged as brewing specialists who eventually conducted breweries primarily. Lancaster's early brewers made their murky, unstable, unpredictable beer and ale in a few tubs, barrels and pails situated in the rear of their inns. Brewing was simply another chore in the operation of inns and taverns, and we are led to believe few innkeepers regarded brewing as much more than a troublesome task which ought not require any more of the busy hosts' time than absolutely necessary. After all, there were other beverages available for quenching thirsts, making toasts, and providing an evening of congenial talk.

Brewing had an early presence in Frederick Town, with the Charlton family apparently making beer as early as the mid-1700s. You may recall hearing about an early inn here called Mrs. Charlton’s Tavern. Eleanor (Harrison) Charlton (1723-1793) ran the inn with, and after the death of, her husband Arthur Charlton (1721-1771). Some reports say that the Charlton's son, John Usher Charlton, actually did the brewing, but I failed to find additional proof for this article. Eleanor Charlton was Francis Scott Key's maternal grandmother, and the Charlton family’s tavern was once located at the southwest corner of the town’s Square Corner at Market and Patrick streets—today’s site of Colonial Jewelers.

Another oft mentioned tavern of note in Frederick's "olden days" was that of Henry Brother which was once located on the southwest corner of West Patrick and today's Court Street. Today, this is basically the plaza area in front of the Frederick County Courthouse. An old photograph shows a vintage metal, tourist road sign that once marked the site of the tavern and reads that: "George Washington stopped here Thursday, June 30, 1791 in a building on this site known as Col. Henry Brothers Tavern."

At the time the above photograph was taken in 1937, the old tavern site was host to an Amoco gas station. I am indebted to a website charleybrother.com which provided plenty of background on this family and their former "residence" on the corner of what was destined to become the original Brewer's Alley of Frederick.  It was here across from Brother's Tavern that the funeral procession for George Washington formed on February 22nd, 1800. This was the first observance of the former president's birthday since his death on December 14th, 1799. Thomas Johnson, Jr. would deliver the eulogy for his old friend and compatriot on this day which saw nearly 8,000 residents participate in a procession through the streets of Frederick and culminate with a solemn church service at the Presbyterian Church at the intersection of North Bentz and West Fourth street.

The charleybrother.com website's author, Christine Friesel, included a transcript of a memoir written by Henry Brother's son, Valentine (1793-1820) which had been donated to the Frederick Historical Society in 1971 by a gentleman from Vermont.

The information therein relayed that Col. Henry Brother was born January 11th, 1745 in "the Black Forest area" of Germany and came to America as an indentured redemptioner. I would later learn the exact location to be Herzogtum, Zweibrucken, part of the Rhineland-Palatinate for those Deutch geography fans.

Brother served (for his passage) with Nicholas Boogher (Bucher). Before his servitude had expired, Mr. Boogher died and Henry continued his term under his former master's widow (Eleanor) and her six small children. Interestingly when Henry's indentured servitude was over, he would marry Mrs. Boogher.

Henry Brother would come to be known as a a dry goods store and tavern keeper in his adult life. I'm not sure if these were the inventions of Mr. Boogher, or Mr. Brother, but the tavern establishment was known to travelers as the Sign of the Spread Eagle. An earlier inn was operated on the location here by Michael Jesserong who had purchased the property in 1762 from town founder Daniel Dulany. 

The couple of Henry and Eleanor Brother would have four children of their own, with two dying in infancy. Two sons would grow into adulthood and assisted with the family tavern business. This included Henry, Jr., who would go on to become a hatter in Frederick, and Valentine (b. 1773) destined to take over the tavern upon his father's death. At age 11, Valentine Brother had been put in charge of the tavern accounts, converting these to English from German style, the native language of his parents. He would also accompany his father (also known as Major or Colonel Henry Brothers) on business trips to southwestern Virginia. The establishment would blossom with growing popularity associated with stagecoach travel.

​Alcohol would certainly play a major part in the hospitality trade and it's certainly no secret that Henry Brother's Tavern served alcohol, and specifically beer. But did the family make their own? Perhaps the following article sheds light on the subject because I spy some pivotal ingredients for brewing beer.

​From 1778 to 1787, Henry Brother bought various lots in Frederick town including "a new brick house" on the east side of North Market Street between 3rd and 4th streets. He also owned several lots near the corner of Market and Sixth streets.

​Major Henry Brother died on July 7th, 1791, which is exactly a week after George Washington visited his establishment.  Brother's body was laid to rest, not far from the tavern he operated, in the original German Reformed burying ground behind Trinity Chapel. His body would later be reinterred in the congregation's second burying ground at North Bentz and West Second streets around 1803. This is today's Memorial Park, and his remains are still there as an article from November, 1923 mentions his stone belonging to Henrich Bruder complete with German epitaph being buried in the grave as was the fate  of nearly 300 other stones when the burying ground was condemned at that time.

The table was now set for son Valentine to take over operation of the tavern in 1793 upon his 20th birthday in accordance with his father's last will.  In 1793, however, Valentine opened up a grocery and hardware store on East Church Street, having received the blessing of his mother for not taking over the tavern on West Patrick Street at this time. 
​
Meanwhile, (brother) Henry Brother would marry a young woman named Elizabeth Pringle (later changed to Brengle) this same year. 

In theory, Elizabeth could be considered "the girl next door" because her father, Christian Pringle/Brengle, owned Frederick Town Lot #20 directly behind Brother's Tavern and across the town creek. Christian Brengle (b.1738-?) plays into our drawn-out brewing story because he had bought this important parcel located on the northwest corner of West All Saints' and modern day Court streets from Sebastian Derr (of Dearbought fame) in 1774. Derr had bought Lot #20 and the back half of Lot #29 across the creek (and behind Brothers Tavern) from the above mentioned Michael Jesserong in 1767.

Christian Brengle would manage Brother's Tavern for a while after Henry and Valentine's stepbrother Frederick Boogher in 1796, and a Capt. James Neal in 1797, are recorded as keeping the “Sign of the Spread Eagle.” He began his shift in 1797 on the family's behalf. Henry Brother would "hang up his hat" and take a turn at running the inn at the close of the century. In a few minutes, I will tell you about a move made by Mr. Brengle that likely provided the establishment with freshly brewed beer on his lot behind the tavern and across Carroll Creek.

​Meanwhile, Valentine Brother continued the operation of his grocery and hardware business through the 1790s, but became interested in political life. He served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1795 and 1796 alongside notable citizens buried here in Mount Olivet: George Baer, William Beatty, David Shriver, and Allen Quynn, Jr. He also served in local militia which doubled as a fire department, and became county sheriff.

Valentine Brother would own/operate a tavern on Market Street called the Sign of the Fountain Inn. I can't figure out how he could do all he did because he was commissioned on April 17th, 1799 as a Captain in the 9th Regiment for New York by President John Adams and John W. Henry, the War Secretary at Philadelphia. His military appointment had led him to Bath, New York. He came back to Frederick briefly, at which time the family tavern was being run by Basil Williamson. Valentine Brother was honorably discharged on June 15, 1800, just months after participating in Washington's funeral procession which he, himself helped organize and lead. 

IN 1801, after the birth of his son Henry on George Washington’s birthday (February 22nd), Valentine Brother removed his family and relatives in a caravan to Ontario County, New York and eventually established a farm near Geneva, NY. He represented his county in the New York State Assembly and would die in 1820. He is buried in Old No. 9 Cemetery in Seneca, New York.

​Now that we have espoused plenty of "Brotherly Love," let's talk beer! An account from the website oldbreweries.com says there was a gentleman named Balser (Baltzer) Heck brewing here in Frederick locally from 1760-1790. This was said to have been a higher end, delicacy beer. Dare I say this could have been Frederick’s first “craft beer.” Even Charles Carroll of Carrollton makes mention of dealing with Mr. Heck, who supplemented his business by selling horses.

​Balser Heck bought town lot #20, where Asbury Church is now located (on the northwest corner of West All Saints and Court streets), from Christian Brengle in 1777. Heck’s widow would eventually sell it back to Brengle some eighteen years later in 1795 as his last will and testament had directed her to do. This was Mr. Heck’s business site, likely the first of an interesting line of breweries that would operate on this lot on the southside of Carroll Creek, along what was once a narrow alley connecting W. All Saints Street with West Patrick Street. Court Street is a name that would come much later, because the stretch between All Saints and West Patrick became known as Brewer’s Alley.

Heck had also bought part of lot #38 from the heirs of his father-in-law (John Linganfelter) in 1787. Balser Heck's son, Charles, sold it to John Hoffman in 1804 who sold it to Job Hunt in 1814. This lot is on the south side of the first block of East Patrick (now 16-20 E. Patrick) where JoJo's Restaurant and Tap House is today. Talk about your extremes for the future—one of Heck's former properties is today the site of a church, and the other is popular bar/restaurant.

​Frederick City planner Lisa Mroszcyk Murphy wrote in her Preservation Matters article of 2018 that there was yet another historical account noting two brewers in Frederick in 1797, but she didn’t share their names. I assumed that Christian Brengle kept the brewery operation going after making the purchase from Balser Heck's widow. I soon found an advertisement in an old newspaper in which Mrs. Catharine Kimboll (1745-1831) mentions lots for sale on the northside (of the second block) of West All Saints Street, above "Deal’s Brewery." (As a side note, Catharine (Grosh) Kimboll  was another notable early businesswoman of Frederick Town like Eleanor Charlton. She ran a tavern on West Patrick Street from 1797-1828 that hosted many early statesmen and would eventually become the City Hotel, Frederick's prime lodging spot throughout the century, eventually yielding to the Francis Scott Key Hotel that would be built on its original footprint).

I soon determined the exact identity of this Mr. Deal thanks to land research conducted with my trusted assistant, Marilyn Veek.  We found that Mr. Brengle sold the property in 1795 immediately after gaining possession of it again from Balser Heck's widow. It was transferred to Frederick Diehl of Adams County, Pennsylvania. 

​After painful study of land deeds and census records, we deducted that Frederick Diehl was the financier here, and possibly the brains as well, but not the on-site brewer. It appears that he had set up his son, Abraham Diehl, to oversee the brewing operation here on Carroll Creek in the same location that Balser Heck had previously utilized.  I found Abraham living in Frederick in the 1800 US Census, however I couldn't land any articles or advertisements in local newspapers readily available to me. Perhaps the target audience for his product was the local tavern community, or perhaps his father's base in Pennsylvania?

In late June, 1807, there appeared to be a flurry of activity at the county courthouse in respect to property holdings between father and son. One of the most interesting deeds had listed the equipment utilized for the brewing operation itself including two copper stills and a copper heater. 

Frederick Diehl appears to have come to Frederick to operate the brewery himself at this time. A wool mill also came about across the creek to the north of the brewery here. Regardless, the Diehl's ownership of the brewery would cease in 1809 when the operation was purchased by a Christopher Haller. In Lisa’s Preservation Matters article on early brewers, she included info from the 1810 census noting four breweries in Frederick producing 730 barrels of beer valued at $4,380. One of these likely belonged to a man named George Carl Gelwick (1741-1817), a native of Hanover, PA. Gelwick could earlier be found operating a brewery in Hagerstown in 1798. I have reason to believe that at least two breweries were operating on Carroll Creek in the general vicinity of todays Frederick County Court House.

​​As for Gelwick in Frederick, I found his approximate location to be on West Patrick Street near the bend, with his property backing up to Carroll Creek. His obituary reports that he was a brewer and an innkeeper. I did learn that Gelwick is buried in Hagerstown's Rose Hill Cemetery, but could not find Balser Heck's final remains whereabouts, but I assume they were placed in one of Frederick's original downtown graveyards.

​Now an early Frederick brewer that I know is in Mount Olivet is one Andrew Thomson (c.1771-1822). However, he is buried in an unmarked grave in Mount Olivet's Area NN/Lot 134. He was originally laid to rest in the town’s Presbyterian burying ground, once located on the southwest corner of North Bentz and Dill Avenue where Washington's funeral was commemorated in February of 1800.

​I don't know where Mr. Thomson conducted his "mixology," but I strongly believe that he took over Mr. Gelwick's brewery upon the gentleman's death in 1817. Meanwhile, on lot #20 along Brewer's Alley, Mr. Haller had sold the former brewery of Mssrs. Diehl and Heck to John Baker.

Frederick's tavern scene was on the rise thanks to the National Pike coming through down via Patrick Street. By 1825, Frederick had 19 "public houses," most located on Patrick and Market streets. Other local taverns than the Sign of the Spread Eagle and Fountain Inn that were formerly kept by the Brother family included names such as Sign of the Sorrel Horse, Sign of the Seven Stars, Sign of the Eagle and Review, Washington Inn, Globe Inn, Sign of the Sheaf of Wheat and Plow, Sign of the Ship, Black Horse Tavern and many more.

The demand for this beer would grow locally, but as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad would reach Frederick in 1831, beer could now be transported more efficiently from Baltimore as opposed to long stagecoach rides to "Charm City" taking up to 18 to 24 hours.

​As we have established, during much of the 19th century, the east side of today's North Court Street between Patrick and Church streets boasted saloons and hotel “bars” on each corner. A block south, the west side of South Court Street became formerly known as Brewer's Alley, and was home to a substantial brewery that extended between All Saints Street and the creek. The Diehl's carding factory would be re-purposed by a man named Gideon Bantz who built a mill and leather tanning operation on the north side of the creek.

By chance or design, Brewer’s Alley actually extended beyond West South Street, with this stretch playing home to the town’s eventual ice plant. Later, this particular thoroughfare would take the equally fitting name of Ice Street.

​Regardless, ice would play an important role for the brewer’s and their products. There are no physical signs of the breweries here today, but the name of course is kept alive thanks to Phil Bowers naming his "brew-pub" on North Market Street, Brewer’s Alley. This month (July, 2023), the popular restaurant is celebrating its 26th anniversary. Frederick's tradition of local brewing and saloon style hospitality is on display each and everyday here, and at their Monocacy Brewing location and tasting room located at 1781 North Market Street.

​By the way, the new Brewer’s Alley Restaurant location was once Frederick City Hall, and played home to the legendary City Opera House. The previous building at the Brewer’s Alley restaurant site was known as the Market House and was built in the 1760s and replaced in the 1873 with the current structure.

Captain William Small
Before my recent discovery of the mysterious "Mr. Deal," a gentleman named William Small was another early known brewer to take up operations on Brewer's Alley after buying a number of lots in the year 1830. A shoemaker from the York, PA area,  he was German and his name was originally spelled “Schmahl.”

​At a time when we did not have a fancy and attractive flood control project, properties adjacent the creek had their definite upsides and downsides. Adequate, and convenient, water source for drinking, industry, clothes-washing etc. was great, but the constant threat of flooding and swamp-like conditions in a low-lying floodplain was not ideal and brought several other problems. This early brewery was located on the south side of the creek, where we've established that Asbury United Methodist Church sits today.

Capt. Small gave me the opportunity to "check my work" as Marilyn and I found deed documents that traced back previous owners of the original brewery property on Carroll Creek. Small obtained the brewery from John Kunkel, who bought the operation at a sheriff's sale. The former owner, John Baker seems to have defaulted on his mortgage to Christopher Haller from whom he had bought the brewery in 1814. Haller purchased the location from Frederick Diehl who apparently came back into the operation for a few years when son Abraham sold the property and all brewing utensils to his father in the year 1807.