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
BornMay 15, 1831
Mainz, Hesse-Darmstadt (now Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany)
DiedMay 7, 1875 (aged 43)
at sea, near Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, England
Resting placeForest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
OccupationBusinessman
Known forJoseph Schlitz Brewing Company
SpouseAnna Maria Krug (m. 1858)

Biography

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

In 1856, he assumed management of the Krug Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[lower-alpha 1] In 1858, when he married George August Krug's widow, Anna Maria Krug,[1] he changed the name of the company to the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. He became more successful after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. 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.

Schlitz was a Freemason and was affiliated with Aurora Lodge No. 30.[2]

Schlitz perished with 334 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 (42 km) west of Cornwall, England. He was returning via New York City and Hamburg, visiting Germany. Aged 43, his body was never recovered. A cenotaph at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee honors him.

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

See also

Notes
  1. Not to be confused with the later Krug Brewery that was located in Omaha, Nebraska.

References
  1. "Legal Notices". The Daily Milwaukee News. October 4, 1868. p. 7. Retrieved May 28, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
  2. Grand Lodge of Wisconsin (1875). Proceedings of the Most Worshipful Grandlodge at its 31st Grand Annual Communication. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA: Burdick & Armitage Printers.

Further reading
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