State Of Ohio - Bottled Beverage - 1934

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Minster Brewery
The future Wooden Shoe Brewing Company was founded in 1869 by Franz Lange. Lange's brewery did well brewing a lighter beer than other local breweries. In 1883 the brewery was purchased by the Steineman brothers. They were owners in 1888 when a fire leveled the existing brewery building. It was rebuilt and sold again in 1890, this time to a group of owners including Peter Mittler, Matt Goeke, A.W. Gerwals, Ben Frierott, and Frank Herkenhoff. The new owners modernized the brewery, totally renovating the plant in 1895.

In 1903 one of the owners died and the surviving proprietors decided to form a new firm named the Star Brewery. Within a few years they were producing about 15,000 barrels a year, making them a respectably-sized small local brewery. In 1913 they began producing Wooden Shoe Beer, playing on the local Pennsylvania Dutch connection. In 1919, however, Ohio went dry and the Star Brewing Company had to find a new way to stay in business.

Like many other brewers they produced near beer, soda, and a non-alcoholic "malt tonic." They also sold ice and changed their name to the Star Beverage Company. Also like many other breweries they got in trouble at least once with the federal government for selling beer with alcohol still in it.

Post-Prohibition
In 1933 they jumped at the chance to reenter the beer business when Prohibition ended. They built a new brew house and stock house and reintroduced Wooden Shoe Beer. They were making about 600 barrels a day and selling Wooden Shoe in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, New York and even Missouri. Their main market, however, was still their home state, Ohio. In 1940 Star Beverage Company became the Wooden Shoe Brewing Company. They continued producing beer during World War II, but like every other brewer in the country they had to restrict their distribution area to reduce fuel wastage.

After the war it was clear that the larger, more aggressive national and regional brewers would be eating into the market share remaining for the small brewers like Wooden Shoe. In 1946 the brewery was sold to a Chicago businessman. The old management stayed on, but the new owners were far more aggressive in marketing. They dramatically increased the advertising budget and even sponsored a local minor league baseball team, the Dayton Indians in Dayton Ohio. In 1949 Wooden Shoe sponsored the Indians games on Dayton television on WLWD, a brand new TV station (it became WDTN in 1976).

The new owners increased capacity as well, raising it to 150,000 barrels a year by 1950. Unfortunately they also seemed to try to save expenses by cutting back on quality ingredients as the beer quality began to suffer. Several new managers came and went between 1950 and 1953. The owners tried to find a buyer but no other breweries were interested. The brewery entered receivership in 1954 and was closed in 1954. Sold at auction, the new owner was a junk metal dealer that stripped the brewery of its equipment to sell for scrap. The old building was used as a warehouse and was torn down in 1990.