Schorr Brewing Co.

Schorr Brewing Co.. 117 North Main. The first brewery established in Waterloo, the Koechel brewery, was built at this location in 1847 by john and Elizabeth Koechel., It is believed to have been a wooden structure which was replaced by a brick building in 1852. John Koechel ran the brewery until brewery in the mid 1870’s until john Michael Schorr and henry Wilmesmeier purchased the property in 1881 for $8,000.00., J. Michael Schorr learned brewing skills in Germany from his family, which had a long line of skilled brew masters dating back to 1532. Schorr immigrated to the United States in 171 and moved to St. Louis. After purchasing the Koechel brewery, the original building was torn down and a three-story brick building was built in its place, with three fermenting cellars underground., The new brewery, which became known as the Michael Schorr Brewing Company, encompassed 117-123 North Main Street and expanded west to what is now Church Street. At 117 North Main was the Schorr residence and is the building standing today. The house consisted of two parlors on the south end of the building and a kitchen and a dining room on the north side. The center door on Main Street was original to the Schorr home, the brewery complex included brewery offices, a brick courtyard, buildings for brewing and bottling, a steam power plant, horse stables, a wagon shed, coal storage and a large vegetable garden., When Michael rebuilt the brewery, he also constructed Schorr Lake (located at present day “Lakeview Park”) as a source of water and ice for the brewery and he added a large icehouse, lined with cork for insulation. As the lake was over a mile away, Michael installed a private system to pump water to his brewery and as a result, the Schorr’s were the first in Monroe County to have indoor plumbing and electricity. The coal supply was provided by a set of railroad tracks laid out through the center of the complex., During Prohibition (1920-1933) the brewery attempted to continue by making a legal product called “near beer.” This was unsuccessful and operation were halted. Years later, in preparation for the Repeal of Prohibition, the brewery renovated and geared up to again produce beer. However, the brewery could not recuperate profits. Thus, portions of the property of the west side were sold, but the house, office and buildings on Main Street stayed under Schorr family ownership., It is believed that the first use of the Schorr home space as a tavern was circa early 1940’s when J. Oscar Schorr, son of J. Michael, lived upstairs and operated a tavern downstairs, followed by Carl Bode Jr. who was a great-grandchild of J. Michael. Stories say Kenny and Bill Bode swam in the flooded 3rd cellar of the basement during their childhood.Researched by Gibault Students Logan Kesler, Max Mechler, Riley Menard and Adam Zeveski