I went by this location yesterday afternoon to scout it out but the weather was bad so I couldn't fly very long. I will be returning to shoot some video but got a few pics to share. Below is some history about it. Thanks.
German brewmaster Leopold Schmidt chose a site at the foot of the Tumwater Falls on the Deschutes River, for his new brewery. The location offered access to saltwater shipping, electrical power produced by the Falls, and most importantly, artesian springs of pure water that he deemed perfect for brewing beer. He built a four-story wooden brewhouse, and in 1896, began brewing and selling beer. In 1906, Schmidt replaced the original building and constructed the "Old Brewhouse." The six-story structure with elegant arches and a copper roof with Tenino sandstone trim was designed by The Vilter Manufacturing Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and built with red Chehalis brick. Sandstone for the foundation was brought in by wagon from a rock quarry at Tenino. Lumber from the areas of Hewitt and Wards Lake, four miles to the east, was brought to the construction site by six-horse team. Sand and gravel was hauled in by scow from Mud Bay spit and Tykle's Cove.
Once the manufacturing site for Olympia Brewing, brewing operations were halted in 1916 when Prohibition was enacted in Washington State - four years before national Prohibition began. The Old Brewhouse has long been associated with the Olympia Brewery and the Schmidt family, the community's largest private employer for a significant part of the past century.
The importance of the structure was recognized in 1978, when the property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the mid-1990s, the City adopted special zoning and shoreline designation for the Old Brewhouse to encourage its preservation and redevelopment. Over the years, the Old Brewhouse fell into disrepair. In 1995, it was named to the the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation's "Ten Most Endangered Properties List," and in 2003, moved to the Trust's "Endangered Properties List."
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