The John G. Busch Brewery, Washington, Franklin County

John B. Busch founded his brewery south of downtown in 1854, and it continued under the supervision of his sons for many years. Yes, as you might suspect, he was a brother of Adolphus Busch of Anheuser-Busch fame. As was typical, the brewery switched to the manufacture of soft drinks at the dawn of Prohibition.

I suspect the tall building in the middle was a stock house, as was typical at other St. Louis area breweries, and the brew house was to the right, or west.

This building was most likely the stables; I read that people took day excursions out from St. Louis and would drink at the brewery as part of their visit to Washington.

It’s VFW hall now, but this house is almost certainly the residence of the Busch family, who as was the practice at the time, lived near their business.

One Comment Add yours

  1. Yes, that was the family home. But that is the “new” side. To the right, the north face, was the original 1850s front. The nearby creek was used for ice skating. They gathered ice there and from the nearby Missouri River for keeping the beer cold. Adolphus and John had 22 siblings and not the poor lonely waifs that commercials portray.

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