Breweries

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• This actual keg is in my mom's house in Oskar Bay. At the time that the Bosch plant closed, my parents were running Schmidt's Corner Bar. Somehow this keg ended up in their possession, and we still have it.
1/31/2007 2:20:13 PM by cherylruohonen
• Recently I read from the Email bag from which someone commented on the demise of the great Bosch brewery and the loss of the Gilt Edge premium beer. The statement read like this - the loss had to be in the late 60's or early 70's." First, anyone interested in the history of the Houghton area, such as I am, must read the book, Joseph Bosch and the Bosch Brewery Company by local resident and historian Clarence J. Monette. This book is available through the Houghton County Historical society and local stores.To give a brief history, Joseph Bosch (brewery founder) was 4 years old when he came to America from Germany with his parents in 1854. In 1867, he and his parents resided in Houghton briefly and then moved to Lake Linden where he ultimately began his brewery operations as a young man. He died in Lake Linden in 1937 at age 86 after 63 years in the local brewery business and is buried in the local cemetery in Lake Linden. Existing evidence of his former presence can be seen today in the Michigan House Restaurant (love the wraps) in Calumet when he built this building in 1905 to serve as a bar to sell his beer. The Lindell restaurant in Lake Linden was built by Bosch in 1888 as a warehouse to store his beer.Briefly, the end of the Bosch brewery formerly and officially came to an end on Friday Sept. 28, 1973 where festivities were held at the brewery at the Canal Road location. This was after 99 years of successful beer production. The end came mainly due to cheaper beer and certainly not better tasting beer coming into the area for distribution and sale. The festivities at the brewery began early in the day on Friday and continued well after 6:00 pm that night on Sept.28. After the initial plant festivities and speeches in the afternoon, a number of horses pulling a wagon from the 1800's and hauling a one-half barrel of beer (brewed the old time way) marched 4 miles to Schmidt's Corner bar (the bar still exists today) and more celebration took place and so well deserved. As much as I myself enjoyed beer (thanks to my German background) and love of local history, what a sight this must have been!!Beer was served at 5 cents a glass -"Five cent beers were in style to relate back to the days when a nickel could purchase a good draught of the suds."The attendance at the bar was so busy that people "were almost crawling over one another."Today the UPPCO (Upper Peninsula Power Co.) occupies the property and little evidence of what was once a brewery is sadly gone.Terry Braun -66"
5/1/2012 12:35:12 PM by Anonymous