McAvoy Brewing Co., Bemis & Rindge Brewery, 1862-64, Downer, Bemis & Co., 1864-82, Bemis & McAvoy Brewing Co, 1882-87, McAvoy Brewing Co, 1887-1920
Life Span: 1859-1920
Location: 24th Street and South Park
Architect: TBD
Chicago and Its Resources Twenty Years After, 1871-1891, The Chicago Times Company, 1891
THE McAVOY BREWING CO. 24th Street and South Park
This is one of the old established concerns in the city, being started in 1859 as Downer, Bemis & Co., an ale brewery. It was changed to a lager beer brewery in 1865, with new buildings added, which were further added to in 1882. The firm established their business of brewing lager beer in a small three-story brick building near the corner of South Park Avenue and Twenty-third Street, fronting the Lake. This now includes the main entrance of the imposing array of three and five story buildings on the west side of the avenue.
The product finds a market, mainly in Cook County, Ill., but it also extends throughout the state, and through Indiana and Michigan. The officers of the company are Austin J Doyle, President; Adam Ortseifen, Vice President, and H. T. Bellamy, Secretary and Treasurer. Mr. Doyle is a well known figure among Chicago’s business and political characters. He has often held positions of profit and honor, and has long been a controlling spirit in political movements. He first came into prominent public notice as Chief of the Chicago Police, and was afterwards Clerk of the Criminal Court, and then Justice of the Peace. He is a native of Chicago, is about forty-two years of age. and still has a brilliant future before him, if one can judge from his career in the past. He took an active part in the organization of the Chicago Passenger Railway Co., in which he held an important office when it first began business. When it was absorbed into the West Division System, under Mr. Yerkes, Mr. Doyle retired.
On December 17, 1866, a stock company was formed, and since that time the establishment has continued to increase its manufacture from three thousand five hundred barrels of beer annually to over one hundred thousand. A large malt-house was erected adjacent to the original building in 1870-71, and four spacious ice-houses were also built on the western side of the avenue in 1872, 1874, 1875 and 1876. In 1871-72 a large addition was made to the brewery proper, while in 1878 and 1879 two additional ice-houses were erected on the east side of South Park Avenue. The large brick barn was built in 1878, and the office building was put up in 1879. During the building season of 1883, a magnificent brew-house, cne of the most complete in the world, was added to this already immense establishment. The buildings occupied and owned by the company are thirteen in number, ranging from two to six stories in height, and covering an area of nearly two hundred and fifty thousand square feet. The frontage on South Park Avenue is 1,200 feet, the average depth being 200 feet. The establishment is provided with every known modern appliance for manufacturing, not only the very best grades of lager beer, but also malt; indeed, some of the machinery for brewing and mashing is remarkable for its ingenious construction and immense power, requiring the use of a battery of four Babcock and Wilcox boilers of 832 horse-power and a 100 horse-power engine. The company gives employment to over one hundred men, and none but skillful workmen are among the number, the chief brewer, Fritz Hieronimus, having learned his trade in Germany, where he was considered among the most skillful in his line. lie received his practical education at Erankfort-on-the-Main, the best school for brewers in the world. To the south of the brewhouse is the office building, a substantial two-story brick structure. A general air of solidity, elegance and even luxury pervades all the surroundings here. The main office is large and neatly furnished, and Mr. McAvoy’s headquarters are fitted out until they seem to glow with comfort and hospitality. Above are the billiard rooms for the entertainment of visitors and friends. In fact, the general impression given is that business and sociability are happily and judiciously combined.
The product of this brewery has long been famous among the lovers of the amber liquid for its purity It stands second to none.
McAvoy Brewing Co., 23rd & South Park Ave., was the successor of several early Chicago Brewers and Malsters. Previous at this location, were the
- Bemis & Rindge Brewery, 1862-64
Downer, Bemis & Co., 1864-69
Downer & Bemis Brewing Co, 1869-82
Bemis & McAvoy Brewing Co, 1882-87
McAvoy Brewing Co, 1887-1920
John H. McAvoy was president of the last two companies mentioned. In 1889, both the McAvoy Brewery and the Wacker & Birk Brewery were sold to an English Syndicate, the Chicago Breweries Limited. After joining the syndicate both breweries continued using their same business name and same management team, so from the publics view, it was business as usual. In-house bottling was installed by 1893, perhaps earlier. McAvoy’s main product seems to have been their famous McAvoy Malt Morrow and much of their literature mentions only the McAvoy Malt Morrow Department. McAvoy was one of the bigger breweries in Chicago, only four were bigger in 1893 and 1896 directory listings. However the national climate for the beer business began to change as the Prohibition movement began to take hold and soon the business began a downhilll ride. The Brewery closed for good in 1920, coincident with National Prohibition. Of the collectables they left behind Malt Marrow items seem most prevalent.
McAvoy Labels
Bemis & McAvoy Brewing Co
24th Street & South Park
Robinson Fire Maps 1886
Volume 1, Plates 12 & 15