Milwaukee's Schlitz Brewery was once the largest brewery in the world. Founded in 1849 by German immigrant August Krug, it produced 150 barrels of beer. When Krug's widow remarried Joseph Schlitz, bookeeper for the brewery, the company changed names and experienced a period of rapid growth. By 1875, the Schlitz Brewery was producing 50,000 barrels per year. The Company was passed o to August Uihlein and run by generations of the Uihlein family into the late 1970's.
In 1982, the Stroh famiy who had been running the brewery for over a decade, announced the closing of the Milwaukee location. Shortly after, The Brewery Works was formed to buy and preserve Schlitz Park as aprt of Milwaukee's rich history.
Since then, The Brewery Works have labored to preserve as many of the original buildings as possible. Over 1 million squre feet of office space has been created in Schlitz Park. The buidlings that make up the Brewhouse have remained empty except for the three years they were home to the original Harley-Davison Museum.
They are now being demolished to make way for over an acre of green space, right in the center of Schlitz Park. Check out the story above to see how The Brewery Works are taking their time to save and rehab the historical buildings and their contents.
More information about the project is found online at schlitzpark.com.
