May 4, 2017

Are you thirsty for history? How about for beer history? This week’s featured photograph depicts the local distributor for the La Crosse, Wisconsin-based John Gund Brewing Company.

John Gund was a German immigrant who began  his brewing career as an apprentice in Germany. He brought his skills with him to the New World, and started his career in the United States working at breweries first in Iowa, then in Wisconsin. After several decades of working in, owning, and selling, breweries, Gund opened his John Gund Brewing Company in 1880. The company was wildly successful for more than thirty years, weathering such ups and downs as  a major La Crosse fire in 1897 and the 1901 death of founder John Gund. In the early 1920s, however, the combination of Prohibition and labor conflicts put the brewery out of business for good.

In 1882, one of Gund’s sons, Henry, founded this distribution center in Minneapolis. Located on Twelfth Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets, this early distribution center is shown here in 1885.

Sources

Historic Beer Birthday: John Gund, Brookston Beer Bulletin

“The Best of Partners, the Best of Rivals: Gottlieb Heileman, John Gund, and the Rise of the La Crosse Brewing Industry.” Immigrant Entrepreneurship.com