Christian Heurich

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Heurich House, Washington, DC

Christian Heurich (born September 12, 1842 in Haina (southern Thuringia) , † March 7, 1945 in Washington, DC ) was an American brewery owner and philanthropist .

Life

Christian Heurich was born in Haina in 1842 as the youngest of four children of an innkeeper. His parents Casper and Margarete had two daughters and two sons. He lived in Haina for the first twelve years. Two years later he finished school in Römhild . At the age of 14 he became an orphan. He completed an apprenticeship as a brewer and butcher in Themar and then went on a journey of several years. This led him first to Basel before he spent several weeks in Munich. He traveled down the Danube to Vienna where he worked as a brewer for two years before continuing to Graz, Trieste, Venice and Milan. In April 1863 he came back to Römhild to do his military service. However, he was classified as unfit. He then worked as a brewer in Vienna for a few years. However, his biggest dream was to open his own brewery. However, he would never have succeeded in doing this in Vienna and so he accepted the invitation of his eldest sister Elisabeth to come to the USA. This had already left in 1859.

In 1866 he first traveled to Hamburg, from there to travel to London on board the Great Britain . He traveled with Helvetia from Liverpool to New York, where he arrived on June 11th and from there he went to Baltimore to see his sister. He stayed in Baltimore for 18 months, learned English and works as a brewer, before moving first to Chicago and later to a cousin near Topeka . In 1872 he returned to Baltimore to buy a brewery with his old master brewer Paul Ritter. After looking at various breweries, they bought Schnell Brewerey on 20th Street in Washington, DC from Georg Schnell. Only one year later he took over the shares from his partner and founded his own brewery. In the same year he married his first wife - Amelia Schnell, Georg Schnell's widow. He rose to one of the greatest landowners and beer barons of the time in Washington. He started his brewery on 20th Street, Washington DC in 1873, and in 1884 it moved to what is now the Kennedy Center . In 1962 it was demolished as part of the construction of the Kennedy Center. Because he ran the business himself until shortly before his death at the age of 102, he is considered the oldest beer brewer in the world. The so-called “ Heurich House ”, a castle-like villa, built in 1892/94 in the late Victorian style in Washington DC, is what remains of his wealth and work . He had a son and two daughters. His son Christian Heurich Jr. (1901–1979) ran the brewery after his death and, together with his sisters, donated 3,750 square meters of land on the site of the former brewery for the construction of the Kennedy Center.

Heurich mausoleum

Christian Heurich was buried in the "Heurich mausoleum". The 4.6 x 6.7 x 4.9 meter mausoleum was created by sculptor Edmond Romulus Amateis and was originally on a Heurich dairy farm in Prince George's County . Since 1951 it has been in the Washington cemetery "Rock Creek Cemetery".

Volksbad in Römhild, Heurichstrasse

Christian Heurich remained connected to his homeland throughout his life. He founded the public baths and the Steinsburg Museum between the Gleichbergen in Römhild . In Haina he had a kindergarten built and in Römhild he supported the orphanage. Probably in 1891 Heurich was made an honorary citizen of Römhild for a donation after a city fire , where a street is still named after him today.

font

  • From my life, 1842–1934: From Haina in Thuringia to Washington in the United States of America, curriculum vitae and memories, C. Heurich, 1934

literature

  • Columbia Historical Society (Washington, DC): Records - Columbia Historical Society of Washington, Volumes 60-62, page 169, Columbia Historical Society, 1963
  • Washington History: Magazine of the Historical Society of Washington, Vols 3-4, p. 287, The Society, 1991

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ : Walter Muir Whitehill: Independent historical societies: an inquiry into their research and publication functions and their financial future, page 175, The Boston Athenæum, 1962
  2. ^ A b Garett Peck: Capital Beer . A Heady History of Brewing in Washington, DC Ed .: The History Press. 2014, ISBN 978-1-62584-974-8 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  3. ^ Mark Benbow, Marymount University: Christian Heurich (1842–1945). In: Immigrant Entrepreneurship. German Historical Institute, Washington, DC, accessed June 15, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Maureen Joyce: Christian Heurich Dies. July 13, 1979, accessed June 14, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Save Outdoor Sculptures !: Heurich Mausoleum, (sculpture) . In: SOS! . Smithsonian. 1993. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  6. ↑ Anybody can brew beer, but only God can make rust! Biography of Christian Heurich (English)
personal data
SURNAME Heurich, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American brewery owner and philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1842
PLACE OF BIRTH Haina (South Thuringia)
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 1945
Place of death Washington, DC