With Schlitz’ passing, recalling the Uihlein who made it famous 

The branding that made Schlitz famous. … 

With the sad news that Schlitz beer will no longer be produced after a 177-year-run, many Chicagoans are scrambling for their last call before the “Beer that Made Milwaukee Famous” disappears. 

What most folks don’t know is that Schlitz’s popularity is thanks in large part to Edward G. Uihlein, who is buried in Forest Home Cemetery. Two of the innovations we can thank Edward for were using brown glass for bottling (to keep the beer from being “light struck” and turning “skunky”) and the establishment of branded bars, or “tied houses.” Tied houses were bars or taverns owned by a brewing company where only that brand of beer was sold. It is an old idea going all the way back to the 18^th century in England.  

Here in Chicago, there are many remaining buildings that once housed tied houses. They are easy to spot because of their unique architecture, meant to give the establishments a classy, respectable look. There are characteristic elements like detailed masonry, elegant arches, intricate woodwork, copper elements, turrets, and stained glass windows with logos.  Schlitz-tied bars quite often had the belted globe logo carved in stone embedded in the building’s façade. Perhaps the best known of these remaining tied houses is Shubas on Southport in Chicago.  

It was Uihlein’s uncle who started brewing beer in Milwaukee and built a company that ended up becoming the Joseph Schlitz Brewery. Edward came to the U.S. in 1864, first working in manufacturing, but eventually became employed by his uncle in 1872 after the Chicago Fire, when Schlitz beer was sent to Chicago to help quench the thirst of the city’s denizens.  

The Uihlein family was close-knit, (Edward and his brother Charles married sisters.) In 1875, when their uncle Joseph died in a shipwreck, Edward and three of his brothers inherited the company, turning it into the largest U.S. brewery by 1902. Edward was vice president and responsible for building 57 Schlitz tied houses in Chicago from 1897 to 1905. These establishments were often located in industrial areas, built on corner lots, usually in the Queen Anne style of architecture. 

Beer ran (or rather flowed) in the family. In 1895, one of Edward’s niece’s married into the Pabst family. (The Pabst Company would later purchase Schlitz in 1999.) In 1913 and 1914, two of Edward’s daughters married into the Seipp family, of the Conrad Seipp Brewing Company. 

Besides being a successful brewer, Edward was passionately interested in plants. He worked on city parks as a member of the West Chicago Park Commission (before there was a Chicago Park District.) He also traveled the world bringing back exotic plants and flowers. He provided most of the foliage for the 1933 Columbian Exposition and was president of the Chicago Horticultural Society before it was the Chicago Botanic Garden. He was known for starting popular orchid exhibits. He was also a philanthropist and active at the Chicago Historical Society and various German American organizations. 

His life was not without controversy. In 1908, Edward and the company were sued for $10,000 by a wife who said that she had been deprived of the support of her husband because he “frequently became intoxicated in saloons operated by the defendants.”  

The family lived in the part of Wicker Park known as “Beer Baron’s Row.” In 1913, when Edward’s wife of 37 years was ill and at the end of her life, he wanted to cover the street with “tan bark” to reduce any disturbing noises from reaching his wife. Neighbors instead agreed to block all street traffic passing the residence on South Ewing Place. The couple had six children, five of whom lived to adulthood. 

News of Edward’s death made front page news in 1921. He was referred to as one of the “Milwaukee brewer quintet.” (A fifth brother also worked at the brewery but wasn’t in management.) It was said that his estate was worth $100,000,000. If you can get your hands on one, raise a glass of Schlitz to Edward and the end of an era.