Schmidt Artist Lofts
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The Schmidt Artist Lofts is a historic former brewery for
Schmidt Brewery The Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company is the name of a former brewing company that was located at 882 W. Seventh Street in St. Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1855, the brewery was originally known as the Christopher Stahlmann Cave Brewery. Its name w ...
. It is located in the
West Seventh West Seventh is a neighborhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. This area is colloquially known as the West End, and is not to be confused with the West Side, a different neighborhood. The West End lies at the base of Summit Hill and along ...
neighborhood of
Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...
, United States. The building was vacant for 11 years until a massive community and developer effort resulted in a plan for a revitalization of the brewery's historic building into the creation of the Schmidt Artist Lofts in 2013.


History


19th century

In 1855, Christopher Stahlmann moved to St. Paul, Minnesota and opened the largest brewery in Minnesota originally known as the Cave Brewery. It was named the "Cave Brewery" because Stahlmann created an extensive lagering cave directly below the brewery, known as "Stahlmann's Cellars". The cave is located below street level, and its total length measures , making it the most extensive brewery cave in Minnesota. Christopher Stahlmann died of "inflammation of the bowels" in 1883. The Cave Brewery Christopher had built was left to his sons. However, each one of them perished from tuberculosis. The Cave Brewery went bankrupt in 1897.


20th century

In 1900, Jacob Schmidt, a Bavarian born brewer, purchased Stahlmann's Brewery, to relocate his recently burned down North Star Brewery at
Dayton's Bluff Dayton's Bluff is a neighborhood located on the east side of the Mississippi River in the southeast part of the city of Saint Paul, Minnesota which has a large residential district on the plateau extending backward from its top. The name of the ...
. Schmidt began an expansion project that included forced-air drying and modern mechanical refrigeration that replaced the need for Stahlmann's lagering caves. Schmidt also employed the help of
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
architect, Bernard Barthel, to add the "feudal castle style" to the expanded brewery. Jacob Schmidt died in 1910 and left the brewery to his partners, Otto and Adolf Bremer. The Bremer brothers led the brewery to be one of the leading regional beer producers in the country. With the onset of
Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
in 1919, The
Schmidt Brewery The Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company is the name of a former brewing company that was located at 882 W. Seventh Street in St. Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1855, the brewery was originally known as the Christopher Stahlmann Cave Brewery. Its name w ...
began producing soft drinks and a successful near-beer called Select. Schmidt Beer was also delivered to the underworld's Green Lantern Saloon by secret tunnel to a Schmidt employee's house on Erie Street. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the Schmidt Brewery resumed production of beer, and within 3 years claimed to be the 7th largest brewery in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
, employing 400 workers and brewing over 200 types of beers. According to architectural historian Paul Clifford Larson,
Schmidt Brewery The Jacob Schmidt Brewing Company is the name of a former brewing company that was located at 882 W. Seventh Street in St. Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1855, the brewery was originally known as the Christopher Stahlmann Cave Brewery. Its name w ...
was a key contributor to getting the St. Paul community out of the depression. Larson wrote: The success of the Brewery helped make the Bremers one of the wealthiest families in Minnesota – and targets to kidnappers. In 1934, Adolf's son Edward Bremer was kidnapped by the Barker-Karpis Gang. Edward was released after the payment of a $200,000 ransom (equivalent to $ million in ). Adolf Bremer died in 1939, while Otto carried on as president until his own death in 1951. After their deaths, the brewery began its first of many economically challenging periods. By 1955, the company finally succumbed to its losses and sold the operation to a Pfeiffer Brewing Company from
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. The St. Paul branch of the Pfeiffer Brewing Co. enjoyed nearly two decades of success, employing new marketing and advertising campaigns including the introduction of the scenic can series created by famous Minnesota artist Leslie Kouba. The
G. Heileman Brewing Company The G. Heileman Brewing Company of La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States, was a brewery firm that operated from 1858 to 1996. It was ultimately acquired by Stroh's, and its independent existence ceased. From 1872 until its acquisition, the brewe ...
of
LaCrosse, Wisconsin La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census w ...
bought the brewery in 1972. Under new management, the brewery became the fourth-largest brewery in the United States by 1981. In 1987, however,
Alan Bond Alan Bond (22 April 1938 – 5 June 2015) was an English-born Australian businessman noted for his high-profile and often corrupt business dealings. These included his central role in the WA Inc scandals of the 1980s, and what was at the time ...
, an Australian
corporate raid In business, a corporate raid is the process of buying a large stake in a corporation and then using shareholder voting rights to require the company to undertake novel measures designed to increase the share value, generally in opposition to the ...
er, purchased the brewery. Under Bond's management, the brewery did not have much success and was forced to close in 1990, despite the efforts of St. Paul's city leaders to preserve the business and the hundreds of jobs that were lost.


1991–2002

Barren for more than a year, The Minnesota Brewing Company gained approval to purchase the brewery in 1991. With its new
Landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...
and Pig's Eye Pilsner brands, and an updated
Grain Belt The Corn Belt is a region of the Midwestern United States that, since the 1850s, has dominated corn production in the United States. In the United States, ''corn'' is the common word for maize. More generally, the concept of the Corn Belt conn ...
brand, the company experienced a brief but fruitful period of success. The success did not last for long due to the cost of the renovations, including taking down the old lighted Schmidt sign and replacing it with a Landmark sign. Old inadequate equipment and the competition of major national brands also contributed to their demise The company in management during this time decided to join a growing movement towards producing fuels from grains. They opened the Gopher State Ethanol Company on site of the brewery. The ethanol company fermented corn to alcohol, causing an even more odorous process than brewing beer. Gopher State Ethanol Company triggered many complaints and lawsuits from the surrounding neighborhood due to this odor. With the lawsuits and substantial annual losses, the brewery was forced to close in 2002, ending 147 years of brewing at the historical site.


Present day

On November 12, 2012, a Plymouth-based developer,
Dominium means "dominion; control; ownership". It is used in some phrases and maxims in legal Latin: * Dominium directum – Direct ownership, that is control of the property, but not necessarily with right to its utilization or alienation. For example, ...
, came to an agreement to purchase the historic and iconic brewery. Dominium bought the old Schmidt bottling house, the grain silos, and the brew house – commonly known as "the castle" – as well as eight of the for $6.2 million from
Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...
businessmen Bruce Hendry and Glen D. Nelson. The $123 million development plan included 147 rental units in the brew house and another 100 rental units in the bottle house, with a majority of the units being intended for low-income artist. Dominium also built 13 new three-bedroom townhouses adjacent to the bottle house. The Saint Paul City Council authorized a $69.3 million in conduit bonds for the Schmidt Artist Lofts project. Additionally, Dominium received affordable-housing tax credits and state and federal historical tax credits for the restoration of a historical building. The total amount of tax credits for the received for the project, including the
low-income housing Subsidized housing is government sponsored economic assistance aimed towards alleviating housing costs and expenses for impoverished people with low to moderate incomes. In the United States, subsidized housing is often called "affordable housin ...
, came to aproximently $70 million. The historic preservation of the original Schmidt Brewery was crucial in the renovation process. The brewery has been noted by architectural historians for its crenellated towers and Gothic designs, both of which are still intact today. The Schmidt sign that was originally on the connector to the silos was redone with
LED lights An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps and can be significantly more efficient than m ...
and replaced the Landmark sign during renovations. Some of the brewery's old tanks were incorporated into the new design as lighting fixtures.


References


External links

* {{coord, 44, 55, 43, N, 93, 7, 25, W, display=title American artist groups and collectives Arts centers in Minnesota Buildings and structures in Saint Paul, Minnesota Brewery buildings in the United States