Joseph Schlitz

Joseph Schlitz (May 15, 1831 – May 7, 1875) was a German-American entrepreneur who made his fortune in the brewing industry.

Joseph Schlitz
Joseph Schlitz, May 15, 1831–May 7, 1875
BornMay 15, 1831
Mainz, Germany
DiedMay 7, 1875
at sea
Resting placeForest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
OccupationBusinessman
Spouse(s)Anna Maria Krug

Early life

Joseph Schlitz was born on May 15, 1831 in Mainz, Hesse-Darmstadt. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1850.

Career

In 1856 he assumed management of the Krug Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1858 when he married Krug's widow he changed the name of the company to the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. He became more successful after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, when he donated hundreds of barrels of beer in the relief effort. Many of Chicago's breweries that had burned never reopened. Schlitz established a distribution point there and acquired a large part of the Chicago market.

Death

Schlitz perished with 340 others in the wreck of the SS Schiller in thick fog off the Isles of Scilly on May 7, 1875. The islands lie 26 miles west of Cornwall, England. Schlitz was returning via New York and Hamburg, visiting the Germany of his birth. His body was never recovered. There is a cenotaph at Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee.

Personal life

Schlitz was a Freemason and was affiliated with Aurora Lodge No. 30.[1]

Literature

Uwe Spiekermann, "Political Revolution, Emigration, and Establishing a Regional Player in Brewing: August Krug and Joseph Schlitz." In Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present, vol. 2, edited by William J. Hausman and the German Historical Institute. Last modified September 19, 2016. http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=279

  • Cenotaph of Joseph Schlitz in Forest Home Cemetery
  • Memorial on the cenotaph of Joseph Schlitz
  • Cenotaph in Forest Home Cemetery
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See also

References
  1. Grand Lodge of Wisconsin (1875). Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grandlodge at its 31st Grand Annual Communication. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA: Burdick & Armitage Printers.


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