Valentin Blatz (October 1, 1826 – May 26, 1894) was a German-American brewer and banker.Historic Beer Birthday: Valentin Blatz
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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 ...

.
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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

References

* * * {{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

Biography

Gallery

See also

References