Schmidt Brewing Company, 882 7th Street West, Saint Paul, Minnesota

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Schmidt Brewing Company
Address:	882 7th Street W
City/locality- State/province	Saint Paul, Minnesota
County- State/province:	Ramsey County, Minnesota
State/province:	Minnesota
Country:	United States
Historic Function:	Industrial site

Originally the Stahlmann Brewery, this was the Schmidt Brewing Co. until the 1980s when it closed in a leveraged buyout. It reopened in the early 1990s under new ownership as the Minnesota Brewing Company. The brewery struggled to survive and commercial production of ethanol was added under the Gopher State Ethanol subsidiary. In 2000, Minnesota Brewing Company changed its name to MBC Holding Company. Odor and noise related to the conversion of thousands of tons of corn into ethanol was causing a backlash in the community around the St. Paul plant. In 2002 the brewery and ethanol operations were closed, and the Grain Belt recipe and labels were sold to the Schell Brewery in New Ulm.

Contents 1 Site History 2 Memory 3 Badges 4 Photo Gallery 5 Related Links 6 Notes

Site History

Workers were originally organized by the Brewery Workers Union. The predominantly German Brewery Workers were one of two industrial unions in the early AFL. (The United Mine Workers were the other). Proudly socialist, they put the slogan, "Workers of the World Unite" at the top of their union letterhead. Christopher Stahlmann's mansion is on the other side of the street.^[1]

Founded in 1855, this brewery helped make the Bremers one of Minnesota's wealthiest families - and a target for kidnappers. During Prohibition, Schmidt beer was delivered to the underworld's Green Lantern Saloon via tunnel to a brewery employee's house on Erie Street.^[1]

Memory

The 'Schmidt' brewery sign could be seen for a long distance in Saint Paul. It was especially bright and visible from Linwood Park on St. Clair Avenue. The residents missed the sign when Landmark Brewery took over and put up their own name. Unfortunately, the Schmidt sign was destroyed.

Badges

This place is part of the Saint Paul Labor History Tour

This place is part of the John Dillinger Slept Here Tour

Photo Gallery

Related Links

MN Public Radio

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/04/14/schmidt_develop/

Notes

Under an agreement announced recently, the Schmidt Brewery bottling house will be converted into 100 live-work artist spaces. Dominium Development and Acquisition (developers of the Carleton Lofts in Saint Paul) will purchase the bottling house from Jeffery and Craig Cohen, the current owners and master developers of the Schmidt complex. Construction may begin next fall.