John Frederick Wiessner

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John Frederick Wiessner (born December 14, 1831 in Uehlfeld , † January 1, 1897 in Baltimore ) was a German brewer and founder of the John F. Wiessner Brewing Company in Baltimore.

biography

John Frederick Wiessner was born as the son of a brewer in Uehlfeld, Bavaria. At the age of 22 he emigrated to the USA and began to work as a master brewer at the George Rost Brewery in Baltimore. Together with his brother-in-law, he forged the plan to open his own brewery. In order to raise capital for the foundation, he traveled back to Bavaria for a year. He returned in 1863 and was able to open the John F. Wiessner Brewing Company at 1700 North Gay Street with a further capital grant from malt dealers Levi and Henry Strauss . A pub and beer garden were attached to the brewery.

From then on, Wiessner lived with his family across from the brewery. In the relatively large family house he also accommodated a number of brewery workers he had recruited from Germany, as was quite common for American breweries at the time. Wiessner's brewery developed successfully on the local market in the coming decades. In 1891 he took his sons John Jr., George F. and Henry F. into the management of the company, which was renamed JF Wiessner & Sons Brewing Company .

Wiessner died in Baltimore in 1897. He is buried in Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore. The annual production volume of the JF Wiessner & Sons Brewing Company had increased from 1,500 barrels in 1863 to 70,000 in 1899 during his tenure as president . The brewery stayed in operation until 1921 before it closed with the beginning of Prohibition . Only after Prohibition was the brewery site used again by the American Malt Company.

The main buildings of the brewery complex were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and completely renovated in 2009. Today it is used as the headquarters of a Baltimore-based non-profit organization.

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personal data
SURNAME Wiessner, John Frederick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German brewer and founder of the John F. Wiessner Brewing Company in Baltimore
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH Uehlfeld
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 1897
Place of death Baltimore