Thursday, December 6, 2012

1913 Brewing in Allegheny County


The following companies were brewing within Allegheny County at the beginning of the 20th century. The Industrial Directory of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Volume 1 lists businesses in the state for 1913 and the first book was published in 1914. The branch breweries were all indendant breweries when they were merged with trust companies.

This is not an in-depth look at the brewing history of Allegheny County at the time but rather a snap-shot of what we had before national prohibition practically wiped out an entire trade. For more on the brewing in Pittsburgh see my main site: Pittsburgh Brewers.

Anchor Brewing Co
Brackenridge

Independent Brewing Company
First National Bank Bldg., 23rd Floor, Pittsburgh
(Page having this listing was damaged)
The company had the following branch breweries in 1913:
American, Millvale (Allegheny County)
Anderton, Beaver Falls (Beaver County)
Butler, Negley Ave, Butler (Butler County)
Charleroi, 1st Street, Charleroi (Washington County)
Chartiers Valley, James & Chestnut, Carnegie (Allegheny County)
Duquesne, 22nd & Mary, Pittsburgh (Allegheny County)
First National, Thomas St, McKees Rocks
Globe, West St, Monongahela, (Washington County)
Hill Top, Southern Ave, Mt. Oliver (Allegheny County)
Homestead, 6th & West, Homestead (Allegheny County)
Loyalhanna, Jefferson & Harding, Latrobe, (Westmoreland County)
Lutz, Spring Garden Ave., Pittsburgh (Allegheny County)
Monessen, Monongahela Ave, Monessen, (Westmoreland County
New Kensington, 2nd & Lith St, New Kensington, (Westmoreland County)

Liberty Brewing Co.
Pittsburgh

Old Economy Brewing Co.
Fair Oaks

Pittsburgh Brewing Co.
1619 Oliver Bldg. Pittsburgh
No individual streets were given for the breweries.
The company had the following branch breweries in 1913:
Baeurlein (Allegheny County) $
Connellsville (Fayette County)
Eberhardt & Ober (Allegheny County) $
Iron City (Allegheny County) $
Jeanette (Westmoreland County)
Keystone (Allegheny County) $
Latrobe (Westmorland County)
McKessport (Allegheny County)
Mt. Pleasant (Westmoreland County)
Phoenix (Allegheny County) $
Straub (Allegheny County) $
Uniontown (Fayette County)
Wainwright (Allegheny County) $
Winter (Allegheny County) $

I found an ad for Pittsburgh Brewing in a 1907 American Federation of Labor booklet that listed only 8 of their breweries. The ad recommended these breweries as they were a union shop and the products sold were beer, ale and porter.
The 8 breweries are identified with the $ symbol. It is interesting to note that of the 9 breweries in Allegheny County, all but one of them were on the list.

Statistics
In 1913 there were 5 brewing companies in Allegheny County.
Three breweries were independent companies.
There were 2 brewing combine companies.
In Allegheny County alone there were 19 brewing facilities.

Independent Brewing had 14 branch breweries in the following counties.
Allegheny County, 7
Beaver County, 1
Butler County, 1
Washington County, 2
Westmoreland County, 3

Pittsburgh Brewing had 14 branch breweries in the following counties.
Allegheny County, 9
Fayette County, 2
Westmoreland County, 3Pittsburgh Brewers