The Pabst Mansion
In the Midwest region, cities have dots of past prosperity all around them. In downtown Milwaukee, there stands the old Pabst Mansion that was owned by the leader of Pabst Brewery. The reason I think this building in particular is important is because it’s a part of our history, not just here but also in the whole Midwest region itself, and I think it’s important to know about how it’s created. Beer has been around for a long time and I think that it’s interesting to know where these companies got their start and how they made themselves known. Beer is a huge staple when it comes to drinking or hanging out with people, it seems to be a common drink that people tend to gravitate towards when they want to relax. Milwaukee is centered around beer, with the baseball team being called the Brewers and with there being a very heavy German and Irish community, there are tons of bars located downtown. With that in mind, I wanted to know more about the story behind the mansion and how the Pabst Brewing Company got its start.
Captain Frederick Pabst, along with his wife Maria, built the mansion in 1890. It stayed in the family until 1908 where it became the archbishop’s residence and the center of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee for over 67 years. Since Milwaukee also has a very big Catholic community, it’s interesting to think that the mansion stood and represented other qualities that make up the city besides beer. Sebastian Messmer, the archbishop who purchased the mansion, made the house his own. He converted the conservatory adjoined to the house into a chapel of the Virgin Mary. He also touched up the kitchen and bathrooms but left the rest of the house in its original condition. The archbishop had four successors, known as the Archbishop Cousins, that were meant to take over the house. Since they didn’t like the massive size of the mansion, they put up for sale. In 1975, the mansion was sold and after a three-year crusade to prevent it from being torn down, it became the house museum it is today.
When first setting eyes on the mansion itself it’s hard not to be taken back with how beautiful and huge it is, with four stories that each contain at least two fireplaces minus the attic and is 20,000 sq. ft. in area. The outside has a grand staircase at the front door, to the left is an archway above the side door and to the left is a smaller building, a conservatory, that is used now as a gift shop. The left and right side of the house jut out a bit more than the center and every window has a cover hanging down the front. The inside is even more beautiful and grandiose, with oil paintings and elaborate designs on everything from the light fixtures, to even the walls themselves. The staircases are long and curved, the one from the first floor to the second being the widest, make you feel like a king or queen when walking up and down them. There’s even hidden staircases on the far right on each floor for the servants to use to navigate each level of the house. Each floor is huge, including the attic, with three rooms on the second and third floor and each room has their own bathroom, with the exception of two rooms that have a conjoined one. Everything in the mansion is either refurbished, if it was falling apart, or it’s the exact same condition from when the Pabst family owned it. The grandeur of the mansion is reflected in the brewing company and how big it eventually got. The size of the house is like how big the company itself got.
The brewery itself started as Best and Company Brewery and was owned Jacob Best Sr. in 1842 with his four sons. When the father retired in 1853, son Phillip became the new proprietor and his eldest daughter Maria married Frederick Pabst in 1862. The company was then renamed the Phillip Best Brewing Company. Pabst purchased a half interest into the brewing company in 1864 and became the vice president. He shared the other half with Emil Schandein, who was the husband of Maria’s younger sister Lisette, the two working together helped make the brewing company stand out from the others. They became the first brewing company to hold public tours, becoming more involved with consumers. In 1888, Schandein died and later on March 12, 1889 the company was officially named the Pabst Brewing Company. Pabst proceeded to become the leader of the world’s largest brewing company.
He was really good at making voice heard in the nationwide campaigns he made to get people to buy his beer. In newspapers ads, particularly one from June 5, 1892, they compared the number of barrels of beer made to Anheuser-Busch beer. The difference was 188,212 barrels, with Pabst making 790,290 and Anheuser-Busch making 603,078. The ad also stated them being local, to Milwaukee, but also still being a huge brewing company nationwide. Also bringing people in by stating that they are the only brewing company that bottles the beer right out of the cask, going through a special piping system to get into the storage cellars. The company was gaining so much popularity that competitors were fudging numbers, and got caught doing so, just because they couldn’t keep up. They also merged with another Milwaukee-based brewery in a shared concubine He was able to enhance his image nationwide and began building small Pabst taverns all across the country to help make his product more “available” to everyone. He really tried to market the beer as something that everyone should want to buy in a way that makes you believe that it’s what you want. He was trying to build up the company and make it a household name where everyone knows and drinks Pabst beer. The mansion, being as big as it is, can serve as a mirror to that because of the size and grandness of it, showing that to be able to have built a house like that he had to get big and be well known.
The Pabst mansion serves as a reflection to a lot of things in the Milwaukee community. It not only represents the massive beer influence but also that of the Catholic influence as well. The double representation makes it more meaningful Even though there aren’t as big a focus on Catholicism in Winona, I have seen some churches here and there, as well as a few bars. These are things that are all around us but the reason why those places and buildings are there go unknown. Pabst was able to build a brewing empire that became a nationwide phenomenon and built a house that reflected it too. He’s made a big name for himself and even though it shows in the product sales, the way he got there goes unnoticed. In the Midwest beer is a huge thing, something that everyone of age can enjoy and while most don’t think much about it there is a story behind every sip and every barrel that’s made. There’s someone behind it who’s working hard to get people to want their product and when someone is able to make it big, it motivates others to want to make it as well. Given how many different types, different ages of them and all the different barrels someone had to put themselves out there before others followed.
