William J. Lemp and How Prohibition Impacted His Business
William J. Lemp: An immigrant from Germany who settled in St. Louis in 1838. Lemp brought the beer brewing skills that he had learned in Germany to St. Louis, and he was inspired to start his brewing business, Lemp Brewery, which would become popular for its lager beer. In 1850, shortly after it began doing business, Lemp Brewery had an annual production of four thousand barrels of beer, worth $24,000. But Lemp’s success didn’t end there. In 1858 his beer won first prize at the St. Louis fair among other awards and honors and by the 1900s, it would become the third-largest brewing company in the nation.
Also part of Lemp’s brewing company was his saloon called, Lemp’s Saloon Here, only Lemp’s beer was sold, and hard liquor was nowhere in sight. This was intentionally decided as a business strategy because it boosted their company’s beer sales as well as kept “drunks” off the premises. Lemp’s Saloon would eventually grow to become the largest tavern in the St. Louis area.
However, even this highly successful brewing company in St. Louis would eventually be significantly impacted by Prohibition.
When he passed away, William J. Lemp passed his company down to his son, William J. Lemp Jr., but this would not be the end of Lemp Brewery. Lemp Jr. continued the business to his father’s standards, and the brewery continued to flourish. However, like most of its competitors, prohibition would be detrimental to their business.
Leading up to World War 1, Americans were beginning to question the effects of alcohol abuse and excessive drinking on human behavior. But, it was the start of World War 1 that finally pushed the United States to pass the 18th constitutional amendment which prohibited the:
“manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors.”
This policy change was not just due to the American fear of drunkness, but also the American fear of Germans and extreme nativists. The majority of beer and wine brewing companies were founded by German immigrants, so prohibition was a direct attack on the German culture. For example, The Anti-Saloon League, fueled the anti-german sentiment when they declared the abolition of “the unAmerican”, “homewrecking, treasonable liquor traffic” as patriotic and necessary. Even more than that, some argued that German brewers and the brewing industry as a whole were intentionally wasting valuable resources, such as grain, coal, and gasoline, in an effort to weaken the United States war effort. This shows that prohibition activists felt that the brewing industry was not only unpatriotic but anti-America.
This anti-German policy required Lemp Brewery to resort to producing alcohol-free malt beverages called Cerva. While Cerva wasn’t a complete dud, its sales couldn’t compare to that of Lemp’s other beer products. Eventually, Lemp Brewery’s plant would abruptly close, and William J. Lemp’s lifetime of work would come to an end.
It’s unfortunate that a company as successful as Lemp Brewery, founded by a man that left his life behind in German to start fresh in St. Louis, was unable to continue to prosper for many more years to come.
Overall, it’s due to prejudice and fear that Lemp Brewery couldn’t be here for Americans to enjoy today. While German beer brewing is beginning to make a return in the United States, St. Louis lost a very valuable and authentic brewing company because of prohibition.
