THE BEGINNINGS
- Of Bavarian Brewery
THE BEGINNINGS
- Of Bavarian Brewery
ADS - From Newspapers
STATIONERY:
Letterheads, Invoices, Envelopes & Business Cards
Examples of different types of stationery consisting of invoices, letterheads, envelopes and business cards used by Bavarian Brewing Co., are displayed and briefly discussed below. They are general presented chronologically. Of particular interest are the letterheads that were used in each of the decades after the brewery was incorporated in 1890, until Prohibition began in 1919. In particular, the lithographs shown on the invoices and stationery for this period were helpful in establishing the buildings and appearance of the brewery complex at that time. These lithographs were enlarged and used to describe specific buildings in the History section for the Early Riedlin and Later Riedlin Years.
PRE-PROHIBITION STATIONARY (Letterheads, Invoice & Envelope)
C. 1890s. Letterhead used by Bavarian Brewing Co. in the 1890s included the name of the founder and President, William Riedlin, the brewmaster and Vice President, Anton Ruh, and the Secretary and Treasurer, J. H. Kruse.
c. 1900. This letterhead shows a lithograph the Bavarian Brewery as it existed in the beginning of the 20th Century, which expanded considerably from the previous decade.
1907. Shown is an invoice statement with a lithograph of the brewery complex as it existed during the invoice date, and as it also appeared several years earlier. The images on this invoice are very similar to those on the c. 1900 letterhead located above. The invoice is to Engineers Union #18 and involves both a debit and credit, with a stamp showing the invoice was paid.
1910. The lithograph shown on the letterhead and invoice above was also used on Bavarian's envelopes, as shown by the example below. The name of the brewery and its location was added above image on the envelope. This same illustration was also used on postcards, as displayed on Postcards and Posters. However, this lithograph, created around 1900, was actually no longer accurate as indicated by the year on the cancellation stamp. This is because the brewery had replaced the first two buildings shown along the street and added various buildings by 1910, as more accurately shown by the lithograph on the letterhead below.
c. 1912. The Bavarian Brewery continued to expand in the early 1900s, as exhibited by a new lithograph on the letterhead below. The brewery complex below at first may seem similar to the image in the previous letterhead above. But upon a closer view, most of the buildings on the earlier lithograph are situated on the lower right of the newer lithograph, with newer buildings shown to the left and in the back. Another change in the letterhead below is that son of William Riedlin, Sr., William Jr.,(in about 1906) replaced Anton (Tony) Ruh as the Vice President. However, Ruh remained the brewmaster for Bavarian until he passed away in 1917. His son Joseph Ruh succeeded his father as the brewmaster.
1915. Shown is a copy of a letter that was signed by William Riedlin, Sr., on September 18, 1915. It expressed condolences to the relatives of an acquaintance of Riedlin. This image was provided courtesy of Dave Gausepohl.
c. 1918. In this year the production of beer was limited due to restrictions attributed to WWI, but it was also evident that the nation would soon be under Prohibition. In making a transition from a brewery to a beverage company Bavarian Brewing Co. was renamed the Wm. Riedlin Beverage Co. Temporary stationery for this change is depicted below, on the same letterhead that had been used for the brewery. As indicated, J. H. Kruse no longer was the Secretary and Treasurer. Wm. Riedlin, Sr. remained President, but also assumed the title of Treasurer, and Wm. Riedlin, Jr., remained Vice President, while also assuming the title of Secretary.
c. 1919. New letterhead for the Wm. Riedlin Beverage Co. is illustrated below. Note that no officers are shown on the letterhead. With the passing of both Wm. Riedlin, Sr., and Jr., the management of the beverage company was likely in transition. At some point in 1919, it appears that the son-in-laws of Wm. Riedlin Sr., Clarence Cobb and William C. Schott, became officers of this company. Cobb was previously an officer of the Riedlin Realty Co., which continued until approximately 1925 when he was divorced from Wm. Riedlin's daughter, Mayme.
c. 1919. Besides the Bavarian Brewing Co. letterheads displayed above, the Riedlin's also owned and operated the Riedlin Realty Co., Inc. Similar to many brewers, the brewery ownership had a real estate company that owned many saloons to assure the brewery of adequate distributorship of its beverages as well as other ancillary properties. Its possible, for instance, that the Riedlin farm may have been part of the Riedlin Realty Co. This particular envelope held the appraisal of the Wm. Riedllin, Jr. Estate, after he died in March of 1919.
LETTERHEADS & ENVELOPES AFTER PROHIBITION
Immediately after Prohibition and before the brewery reopened in 1934 until the about 1940 the letterhead was very similar to what was used before Prohibition. An important difference was that there were two addresses shown for the brewery shortly before it reopened in 1935; one in an office building in downtown Covington, KY and the other in New York City - but not at the brewery. Evidently, the ownership interest that wanted to operate the brewery had made arrangements Riedlin family owning the brewery property to operate it by 1934, but had an office in New York to help them secure more needed financing. After the brewery went into receivership in late 1937, the new owners of the property, the Schott Brothers, relocated the brewery offices in the brewery, where they remained.
Letters in 1934 and 1940.
The earlier letter below was used several months before the brewery reopened in 1935. It was written by Leslie Deglow, whose relative established the brewery in 1866. Deglow was indicated to be the President of the brewery in a 1932 stock solicitation. (See Corporate Material.) However, sometime before the brewery reopened in 1935, Murray Voorhees, the husband of William's Riedlin granddaughter, became the brewery's President. The other letter below was dated just a couple years after the Schott Brothers acquired the brewery in 1938. The stationary design of both letters is similar to the design that was used around 1912 and before Prohibition. The 1940 letterhead showed the brewery address and was used shortly after the Schott Brothers began operating the brewery, which was different from the addresses used on the letterhead several years earlier.
Envelopes Mid to Late 1940's.
The first envelope below is believed to be used from the early 1940s until the year shown on the envelope; 1947. Bavarian started using the old style lettering when they introduced Bavarian's Old Style Beer in 1946, but it's likely they had a surplus of envelopes and didn't start using newer envelopes with the old style lettering until later in 1947. The envelope below it is considered to be more recent, probably beginning in 1947 or 1948 into the early 1950s.
Letterhead Mid-1950s
The old style Bavarian lettering below was used in the early to mid 1950s, as shown in the examples above and below. The letter below from the Manager of the Bavarian Brewing Co., Ray Hoffmann, indicated an interest to acquire more machinery as part of the modernization and consolidation program the brewery was undertaking. (Please see Turnaround Efforts.) This letter was provided courtesy of Timothy Holian. Beside it is a plain sheet of stationary from the same time period obtained from the Schott family, but with less aging. Please note that in the footer of this stationary indicates that Schott Ale was still one of Bavarian's brands in the mid-1950s.
Letterheads and Envelopes Late 1950s
When Bavarian Brewing Co. redesigned their label and modified the name of their beer in 1957, it also affected their stationary. They no longer used the old style lettering and actually had a couple different newer versions. The one on the left is embossed with a dark gold color print, and may have been for executive use. The stationary on the right has a lighter color gold print, is not embossed with the 3 flags and may have been more commonly used for general correspondence. The aforesaid stationary letterhead and accompanying envelopes are displayed underneath.
Memo Letterheads 1940s and 1950s
Often Bavarian would simply want to have internal communications with their employees or distributors. The stationary that Bavarian used was entitled the Bottle Opener. Shown on the left below was the style used in the late 1940's to the mid 1950's. The one on the right below was redesigned with a color that was similar to the non-embossed stationary displayed above, with a more simple design.
BUSINESS CARDS
c. Early 1900s. Below is the business card of the owner of Bavarian Brewing Co., William Riedlin, as well as some general cards that were used. Both of the general cards were before approximately 1906. After that year Wm. Riedlin Jr. became Vice Pres., (not Anton Ruh) and the German term "Bairsich" (Bavarian) was no longer used. The card of Wm. C. Schott was included because his family's firm J.M. Schott Cooperage apparently did business with Bavarian Brewing Co. before Prohibition, he married Wm. Riedlin's daughter in 1914 and he therefore became part of the Riedlin family at that time.
An interesting aspect with all but one of the cards above before Prohibition is that there is no street address or phone number. Perhaps that was common before Prohibition.
Business Cards After Prohibition. Below is an example of a Bavarian Brewing Co. business card from the Sales Manager of Bavarian, Joe Ponzer, who was with the brewery from the late 1930's for some 25 years. A phone number is included, but there is no street address. Another example is shown with the three flag emblem introduced in 1957. Interestingly, instead of using a new slogan, a more dated saying of "A Man's Beer" that was used in the Early 1950s was used.
