Area was home to a many successful beer breweries
The New Philadelphia Brewing Company was one of Ohio’s most successful breweries from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century.
The New Philadelphia Brewing Company was one of Ohio’s most successful breweries from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. According to an extensive history written by Dr. Robert A. Musson in his book, “Beer Brewing in the Buckeye State, Volume 1,” the New Philadelphia Brewing Company was a model of local, regional and national success and impacted the health and wealth of other Tuscarawas Valley businesses.
It was Michael Berger, a German immigrant, who started what eventually became the New Philadelphia Brewing Company in 1864 along the southern bank of the Ohio Erie Canal, where U.S. 250 runs today.
This part of today’s New Philadelphia was known by several names including Blake’s Mills, Blakesfield, Blackfield and Lockport, the latter in reference to the Ohio Erie Canal and nearby Lock 13.
Local residents referred to Berger’s brewery as the South Side Brewery, and the presence of several artesian wells made the location highly desirable as a clean, drinkable water source for beer production.
When Berger died in 1871, the Berger Brewery was sold at auction. However, it was the purchase of the brewery by Michael Seibold and Aldolph Hafenbrak, both also German immigrants from Wurtemberg and Ludwigsburg, Germany, respectively, that moved it forward as a profitable brewery.
They rebuilt and enlarged the Berger Brewery and expanded beer sales into New Philadelphia and along the Ohio Erie Canal. They paid homage to their newfound fortune by renaming the company The New Philadelphia Brewing Company.
Seibold would become a community leader and entrepreneurial businessman at this time, starting local businesses, serving on local company boards and investing in national projects.
Seibold was the president of the Peoples Bank & Savings Company, the Valley Transit Light & Power Company, one of the founders of the Tuscarawas County Telephone Company and was a director of the Tuscarawas Valley Finance Company. He also was on the New Philadelphia School board and was a New Philadelphia city councilman.
Seibold also had interests throughout the U.S. including a rubber plantation in Mexico, a mining company in Montana, and was the president of The Great Republic Gold and Copper Company in Arizona.
In 1905, in order to address rising competition in the marketplace both locally and nationally, the New Philadelphia Brewing Company joined in partnership with the Schuster Brewing Company in Massillon, the Canton Brewing Company, the Stark Brewing Company of Canton and the Christian Bernhardt Brewery Company of Canal Dover.
The new company was known as the Stark-Tuscarawas Breweries Company. Initial capitalization was $3 million, and the company paid $180,000 for the New Philadelphia plant. The agreement allowed the co-op to operate until 1927.
After Prohibition, the New Philadelphia Brewing Company survived after the Stark-Tuscarawas Products Company dissolved. All of the others in the co-op went out of business.
They continued to produce Tuscora Near Beer and other soft drinks under the name Seibold Products Company.
When Jack H. Harris, a Cleveland businessman who also owned an interest in Cleveland’s Forest City Brewery, purchased the Seibold Company in 1933, Harris and partner Carl F. Lang renamed the company New Philadelphia Brewing Inc.
It was during this time the company had its greatest success, producing nearly 75,000 units per day at its peak after World War II. New Philadelphia Brewing’s new brew was the Old Lockport Lager Beer.
It was joined by other lines including Scotch Highland Ale, Old Bohemia Lager and Pilsner, “World’s Best” Beer, Royal Canadian Style Beer, Schoenbrunn Pale and Muenchner Style Beers, Red Label Beer, Old German or O.G. Beer, John Bull Beer, Olde Vat Beer, Black Jack Lager, W-C Beer, Cafe Society Beer, and Lord Derby Beer and Ale.
The Schoenbrunn brand paid homage to its local Moravian history and the artesian wells nearby, as Schoenbrunn means beautiful spring.
In the late 1940s, Max Swartz of Columbus and his partner Albert Lange purchased The New Philadelphia Brewing Inc. that had begun to struggle as an independent brewer. An attempt to bottle beer shampoo where the alcohol and carbonation were removed was tried. A 7-ounce bottle sold for 89 cents and was initially popular but turned out to be a passing fad. After 85 years in operation, The New Philadelphia Brewing Company closed its doors for good on Nov. 11, 1949.
Former employees made a brief attempt to purchase the building and machinery in 1950 but were unsuccessful. The New Philadelphia Brewing Company building sat vacant until 1963 when it was razed. Again, one can drive by the plant today by using the on-ramp to U.S. 250 West.
There is a renaissance in the development of small specialty breweries in the area including Hoodletown Brewing in Dover, the 5 Barrel Bullet Brewing Company in New Philadelphia and the Lockport Brewery Company in Bolivar. Nearby, the Wooly Pig Farm Brewery in Fresno, Millersburg Brewing in Millersburg and the JAFB Wooster Brewery in Wooster also are seeing success.