Henry Weinhard (February 18, 1830 – September 20, 1904) was a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

brewer Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. After immigrating to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1851, he lived in

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Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, and

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

before settling in the Portland area. Weinhard worked for others in the beer business before buying his own

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

and founded

Henry Weinhard's Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve and Blitz-Weinhard were brands of beer first brewed in 1856 in Portland, Oregon. The brewery was owned by the brewer Henry Weinhard of the Weinhard family, who also made a line of soft drinks which survives to th ...

and built its brewery complex in downtown Portland.

Early life

Born in the

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which exist ...

(now part of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

in southwest

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),Scott, Harvey Whitefield
History of Portland, Oregon, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens and Pioneers.
D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, New York, 1890. pp. 637-638. Weinhard was raised in Lindenbronn, and later moved to nearby

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, where he was an apprentice in the brewing trade. In 1851, he immigrated to the United States, landing in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

.Henry Weinhard (1830-1904)
''The Oregon History Project''.

Oregon Historical Society The Oregon Historical Society (OHS) is an organization that encourages and promotes the study and understanding of the history of the Oregon Country, within the broader context of U.S. history. Incorporated in 1898, the Society collects, preser ...

. Retrieved on June 17, 2016. Weinhard moved to

where he worked for a year in the brewing business before moving west to

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. After two years there, he moved southwest to St. Louis,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, where he stayed until 1856. During this time in America, he worked as a brewer for others while preparing his own beer recipes.

Oregon

In 1856, Weinhard moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and settled briefly, in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

next year in March, he relocated to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in the

Washington Territory The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

, where he began working at a brewery owned by John Meunich; and, helped him construct a new brewery. Weinhard worked there for six months, and; then, founded a brewery with George Bottler, across the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

. This partnership did not last long and he sold out to Bottler and returned to working for Meunich. Weinhard bought Meunich's business in 1859 and named it the Vancouver Brewery. In 1862, Weinhard bought the Henry Saxer Brewery in Portland and then partnered with Bottler again to build a new brewery in today's

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

Portland. That year he also moved permanently to Portland; he sold his Vancouver operations in 1864 and bought out Bottler of his share of the business in 1866. Weinhard also bought Portland's oldest brewery, the Liberty Brewery, and continued expansion of the Portland operations, then called the City Brewery. By 1890, the brewery was the largest in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

and had grown from producing 2,000 barrels per year to 40,000 barrels that year.

Later years and family

In 1859, Weinhard married Louisa Wagenblast, and they had five children; only two survived to adulthood. A Mason, he was also a member of several German societies in Portland. This included helping to found the Portland German Aid Society, with other civic activities including providing funds to build a church adjacent to the brewery. Other business interests outside of the brewery included stakes in the

Portland Hotel The Portland Hotel (or Hotel Portland) was a late-19th-century hotel in Portland, Oregon, United States, that once occupied the city block on which Pioneer Courthouse Square now stands. It closed in 1951 after 61 years of operation.Turner, Wallac ...

, the West Side Railway, and the New Grand Central Hotel. In 1887, Weinhard offered to pump free beer into the

Skidmore Fountain The Skidmore Fountain is a historic fountain in Portland, Oregon, United States. The fountain is a contributing property of and the namesake for the Skidmore/Old Town Historic District, which is also a National Historic Landmark. The fountain ...

for its dedication; the city declined the offer due to the fear of rowdy horses.

Death

Weinhard died in Portland at age 74 and was buried in its River View Cemetery. The brewery he built remained in operation for another 95 years, until 1999.

References

External links

Henry Weinhard Biography
at ''The Oregon History Project'' website (Oregon Historical Society)
Business WirePortland Tribune
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinhard, Henry 1830 births 1904 deaths Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon German emigrants to the United States American brewers Burials at River View Cemetery (Portland, Oregon) 19th-century American businesspeople