Johann Gottlieb Friedrich "Frederick" Pabst (March 28, 1836 – January 1, 1904) was a

German-American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

ship's captain and brewer and the namesake of the

Pabst Brewing Company The Pabst Brewing Company () is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It outsources the brewing of over two dozen brands of beer and ma ...

. Pabst was born in

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

and emigrated to the United States with his parents when he was 12. He became a ship's captain and married Maria Best, daughter of a small brewery owner, Jacob Best. After a shipping accident, Pabst bought into his father-in-law's brewery company, learned the business, increased output, and helped the brewery to go public, after which he became president of the company in 1873. The company's name was later changed to the Pabst Brewing Company. Pabst also developed a popular resort north of Milwaukee, built a 14-story Pabst Building in downtown Milwaukee, helped organize the Wisconsin National Bank, and built Milwaukee's Pabst Theater.

Biography

Early life

Pabst was born on March 28, 1836, in the village of Nikolausrieth, in the

Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony (), also known as Prussian Saxony (), was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg. It was formed by the merger of various territories ceded ...

, in the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. Friedrich was the second child of Gottlieb Pabst, a local farmer, and his wife, Johanna Friederike. In 1848, he emigrated with his parents to the United States, settling first in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, and then

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. The following year, his mother died in a cholera epidemic.Eastberg, p. 3. In Chicago, Frederick and his father had to eke out a living; for a while they worked as waiters and busboys. Frederick soon gave this up, however – because he had enjoyed his voyage to America, he decided to become a cabin boy on a

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

steamer. By the time he was 21, Pabst had earned his pilot's license, and was captain of one of these vessels. In this capacity, he met Phillip Best, the owner of a small but prosperous brewery founded by his father, Jacob Best, in 1844 in Milwaukee. Pabst married Best's daughter, Maria, on March 25, 1862. For the next year and a half, Pabst continued to ply the waters of Lake Michigan as a ship's captain, until an accident in December 1863 led to a change in career. While trying to bring his craft into Milwaukee harbor, Pabst's ship ran aground. A short while later, Pabst purchased half of Best's brewing company.

Brewing

In 1864, when Pabst was taken into partnership in his father-in-law's

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 b ...

, he began to study the details of the business. After obtaining a thorough mastery of the art of brewing, Pabst turned his attention to extending the market for the

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

, and before long, had raised the output of the Best brewery to 100,000 barrels a year. The brewery was eventually converted into a public company and its capital repeatedly increased to cope with the continually increasing trade. He became president of the corporation in 1873. Later, the brewing company's name was changed to the

. In 1889, Pabst spent $30,000 to take advantage of prime shoreline along

Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin Whitefish Bay is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 14,954 at the 2020 census. A suburb north of Milwaukee along the shore of Lake Michigan, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. History In th ...

's unique location, just north of the city of Milwaukee, by developing a popular lakeshore resort, which he called the Pabst Whitefish Bay Resort. As many as 10,000 visitors came to the resort on a summer day by horse and buggy, railroad, trolley, or excursion steamer, to enjoy the scenic view, to ride the

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondola ...

, attend daily concerts (double concerts on Sunday), rent row boats, watch outdoor movies, drink Pabst's beer, and dine on fine fare, including five types of whitefish netted daily in the adjoining bay. The resort's popularity faded in 1914 at the start of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the park was closed. In 1915, the land was subdivided into residential lots. The brewing company's renowned "

Blue Ribbon Blue ribbons are typically a symbol of high quality. The association comes from The Blue Riband, a prize awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by passenger liners and, prior to that from Order of the Holy Spirit#Cordon Bleu, Cord ...

" label was introduced in the 1890s. The beer never actually won a blue ribbon. During some festivals (e.g., World's Fair in Chicago), Pabst placed a blue ribbon around his Best beer (named after founder Phillip Best), so it would stand out among the others. People would start identifying the beer as the Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Instead of correcting the public, Pabst just wisely renamed it. He trademarked the Blue Ribbon in 1900. Pabst built a 14-story Pabst Building in downtown Milwaukee and also helped organize the Wisconsin National Bank, in 1893. Pabst purchased the old Nunnemacher Grand Opera House, located opposite the

Milwaukee City Hall The Milwaukee City Hall is a skyscraper and town hall located in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was finished in 1895, and was Milwaukee's tallest building until completion of the U.S. Bank Center (Milwaukee), First Wisconsin ...

, in 1890, and turned it into the ''Das Neue Deutsche Stadt-Theater'' (The New German City Theater), but it was destroyed in a fire. Pabst ordered it rebuilt at once and the newly named Pabst Theater opened in 1895. It still is in use today. The Pabst Mansion along Wisconsin Avenue is a well-known Milwaukee tourist attraction and was the Pabst family home from 1892 to 1908.

Personal life

Pabst was married in 1862 and had 10 children. Five survived to adulthood: Elizabeth (von Ernst, 1865-1891), Gustave (1866–1943), Marie (Goodrich, 1868–1947), Frederick, Jr. (1869–1958), and Emma (Nunnemacher, 1871–1943). The Pabsts also adopted Elizabeth's daughter, Elsbeth, after Elizabeth died unexpectedly in 1891. He had two stock farms, one in Wauwatosa and one in Calhoun for raising

Percheron The Percheron is a horse breed, breed of draft horse that originated in the Huisne river valley in western France, part of the former Perche province, from which the breed takes its name. Usually gray (horse), gray or black (horse), black in col ...

horses. The original stock had been imported by him from France. Pabst was affiliated with Aurora Masonic Lodge No. 30. Pabst is buried at

Forest Home Cemetery Forest Home Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery and arboretum located in the Lincoln Village, City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Lincoln Village neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is the final resting place of many of the city's famed bee ...

in Milwaukee.

References

Sources

* *

External links

Pabst MansionPabst Theater
* ttp://www.wisconsinhistory.org/topics/pabst/ Frederick Pabst at the Wisconsin Historical Society {{DEFAULTSORT:Pabst, Frederick 1836 births 1904 deaths Prussian emigrants to the United States Papst, Frederick Businesspeople from Milwaukee American brewers People from the Province of Saxony 19th-century American businesspeople Burials at Forest Home Cemetery