Valentin Blatz (October 1, 1826 – May 26, 1894) was a German-American brewer and banker.
[Historic Beer Birthday: Valentin Blatz](_blank)
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Biography
Valentin Blatz was born in Miltenberg, Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, and worked at his father's brewery in his youth. In August 1848, he immigrated to America, and by 1849 had moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
.
Blatz established a brewery next to Johann Braun's City Brewery in 1850 and merged both breweries upon Braun's death in 1852. He also married Braun's widow.
The brewery produced Milwaukee's first individually bottled beer in 1874. It incorporated as the Valentin Blatz Brewing Company in 1889 and by the 1900s was the city's third largest brewer.
He was active in many organizations such as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political and non-sectarian international fraternal order of Odd Fellowship. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Wildey in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Evolving from the Order of Odd ...
. Blatz was a freemason
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
and member of Aurora Lodge No.30 in Milwaukee
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
.
digital document by phoenixmasonry: vol. 1
Blatz died in St. Paul, Minnesota on May 26, 1894, while returning home to Milwaukee from a trip to California. He was survived by a wife, three sons, and two daughters. He is buried in a massive family mausoleum at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee.
Gallery
File:ValBlatzResidence1886.png, Valentin Blatz home (1886 engraving)
File:BlatzBrewery1886.png, Blatz brewery (1886 engraving)
File:Blatztomb.jpg, Mausoleum in Forest Home Cemetery
See also
* Eberhard Anheuser
* Jacob Best
Jacob Best Sr. (1786 – 1861) was a German-American brewer who founded what would later become known as the Pabst Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Life and career
Best was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, where he learned the trade and ran a s ...
* Adolphus Busch
* Adolph Coors
Adolph Herman Joseph Coors Sr. (February 4, 1847 – June 5, 1929) was a German American brewer who founded the Adolph Coors Company in Golden, Colorado, in 1873.
Early years
Adolph Hermann Joseph Kuhrs was born in Barmen in Rhenish Pruss ...
* Gottlieb Heileman
* Frederick Miller
* Frederick Pabst
* Joseph Schlitz
* August Uihlein
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blatz, Valentin
1826 births
1894 deaths
German emigrants to the United States
American drink industry businesspeople
People from the Kingdom of Bavaria
Businesspeople from Milwaukee
American brewers
19th-century American businesspeople