(There are more photos with the Falstaff Malt Plant in the background in NS/PRR's Colehour Yard and Junction.)
Michael Mora posted three photos with the comment:
Vintage 1962 and 1965 aerial photos of Falstaff Plant 11 (Malting Plant) on East Side of Chicago, 103d & Indianapolis Blvd. Great views of surrounding area. From University of Missouri St Louis Digital Library, St Louis Mercantile Library special collection. https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/.../object/umsl%3A201201. High resolution links belowTight aerial shot towards lakefront, 1962 (mislabeled as New York City plant), https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/.../object/umsl%3A201202Aerial shot towards East Side, 1965, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/.../object/umsl%3A201204Aerial shot towards lakefront and Calumet Park, 1965, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/.../object/umsl%3A201203Bonus: 1945 blueprint survey of former Albert Schwill & Co. malting plant at same site https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/.../object/umsl%3A201206
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It is no surprise that brewing beer has been a big business for over a century. In this copy of a c1926 photo, I added a red rectangle around Falstaff's malting plant. "Prior to Falstaff ownership, it was actually two different companies, Albert Schwill and Columbia Malting." [Bob Lalich comment on a posting]
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| Carole Brozovich posted plus paint |
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| Percy Sloan 1930 Aerial, cropped, via Newberry |
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| Carole Brozovich commented on her posting [I discovered this is from csu.edu, Photo 62.] |
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| wrhistoricalsociety, this webpage has an extensive history of this plant "The beer can silos were part of Falstaff’s Plant #11. The plant was, and still is, often referred to as something it was not. It was not a brewery. It was a malting plant that started out on that site by Albert Schwill & Co. in 1894. It was only much later acquired by the Falstaff Brewing Corporation." |
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| wrhistoricalsociety The original malting plant. "By 1960 Falstaff Brewing was the third largest brewer in America, behind only Anheuser-Busch and Schlitz. It was in 1961 that Falstaff purchased our local Albert Schwill malting facilities....Falstaff’s abandoned Plant #11 and its beer can silos were eventually demolished. The job was completed in April of 1997, when the silos and the main barley processing building were dropped by explosives and disappeared into history." |
The plant has been torn down. That explains this isolated property between tracks.
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| 1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP |
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| Wayne Koch posted PC ex-NYC EMDs on the PRR at Colehour South Chicago ILL 3-1970 Jim Burd. Dennis DeBruler I've never seen a photo that included the whole Falstaff facility before. Bob Lalich The Falstaff plant was formerly two separate companies; Albert Schwill & Co and Columbia Malting Co. |
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| BreweryMaltHouses, 1933 (search for "Schwill" for commentary and more photos) Falstaff bought the plant in 1961, it was closed by the late 1970s, and torn down in the late 1990s. |
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| 3D Satellite This Falstaff plant also solves a puzzle I have had ever since I spotted these silos along the Pennsy tracks just east of the big lift bridges across the Calumet River on satellite images. When I rode the Pennsy from Fort Wayne to Chicago when I was in college, I remember seeing a big Falstaff sign on a grain elevator on the right (North) side just before I got to the bridges. But the silos that still stand are on the left side of an inbound train. Now I understand that I was seeing this plant that has been torn down rather than the silos that are still standing. It is good to learn that my memory was correct. The Falstaff sign was just a little further east of the bridges. I've since learned that the still standing silos were part of the Norris Grain Elevator. |
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John DeWit Woodlock II commented on his posting Part of Falstaff is in the background. |
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| John DeWit Woodlock II commented on his posting Looking "eastbound" down the PRR. Note the remaining portion of the Falstaff complex on the left. |
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| Kim Tonry commented on a post I took this shot of them on November 16, 1985 back when I worked for the Daily Calumet. Kim Tonry Torn down 1996-97. https://www.nwitimes.com/.../article_a75cffa6-fd02-52b4... Benito Herrera They did the right thing by tearing down these silos and this is why: https://www.chicagotribune.com/.../ct-xpm-1990-09-14... "The brewery has remained vacant since the 1970s." Susan Johnson-Deneen Benito Herrera I think about all the dangerous places I “investigated” as a kid. We used to build underground forts and spend hours in them underground. They were secret and if they had caved in, it would have been terrible for our parents. We would’ve been hard to find. |
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| Marty Gatton shared Falstaff Beer malting plant, pre-demolition. SE Chicago. |
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| Karen Brozynski posted The photo taken by C. Stricker that I posted the bottom only last week. [A photo of the State Line Generating Station, the malting plant, and Colehour Yard.] Marty Gatton shared Aerial shot of Colehour yard and surrounding area as seen at Southeast Chicago Historical Society... Unknown photographers or year Dwain Jerantowski I worked Conrail N S, had to say overtime when they imploded the silos in case debris landed on the tracks. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Marty's share Karen states the photographer is C. Stricker. There is no Skyway, so it was taken before 1958. In fact, the white label on the photo indicates circa 1940. |
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| George M Stupar posted November 1976, An Amtrak French Turboliner is seen on the Chicago Line near the IN / Ill border. Dennis DeBruler: Not only is the Turboliner history, but so is the Falstaff Malt Plant. |
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| Rod Sellers posted Where am I? |
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| Rod commented on his post Answer: Photo from Albert Schwill Malthouse later Falstaff Malthouse (as of 1961) view toward Indianapolis Avenue Most noticeable landmark is St. Francis De Sales (dedicated 1912) near center of photograph. Bethlehem Lutheran Church (which burned down in 1918) at 103rd and Avenue H is partially visible at extreme left. Attached photo gives clear view of Bethlehem Lutheran Church 1917. William Shapotkin posted We are on Chicago's Southeast side near 103rd St/Indianapolis Blvd (street to left of tracks). At right is the PRR's Pittsburgh Ft Wayne & Chicago Mainline. Veering off to left is the PRR's South Chicago & Southern line (now abandoned north of approx 130th St) over which such trains as the SOUTH WIND used to enter Chicago off the PRR's "Panhandle" at Bernice Jct. The junction here was known as "Colehour." View looks S/W in 1929. From the facebook page "Chicagoland Before We Were Born." |
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| Cropped from a photo of Roby Racetrack posted by Rod Sellers. [There were three racetracks in Northwest Indiana because of a law that a place could gamble only 10 days of the month.] |
idaillinois aerial view It took me a while to identify that the tracks in the foreground are NS/NYC because the caption says the view is Northwest. The view is basically West. If anything, it is south of west. I also didn't recognize the name because I think of this as the Falstaff malting plant. I keep forgetting the Albert Schwill and Columbia names. The green rectangle is the malt plant, yellow is the Keystone elevator and blue is Wisconsin Steel.
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| 1953 Calumet Lake Quadrangle at 1:24,000 |
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| Carole Brozvich posted STORIES BEHIND THE GIANT FALSTAFF BEER CANS Countless people, especially children in their parents’ cars on their way to Chicago, watched for the huge beer cans and the Chicago Skyway, signs they were getting close to their destination. [With a 1904 expansion, Albert Schwill & Co.'s plant became the largest malting plant in the world.] "By 1960 Falstaff Brewing was the third largest brewer in America, behind only Anheuser-Busch and Schlitz. It was in 1961 that Falstaff purchased our local Albert Schwill malting facilities." [The plant was demolished in 1997.] |
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| Pete DePaoli posted Southside Falstaff Brewery I used to "explore" this place when I was a kid in 70s-80s. |
Neil A Spector shared four photos posted by Al Swiatek with the comment: "Schwill Malt Co. 10200 South Indianapolis Blvd, Chicago. Later sold to the Falstaff Co."
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| Rod Sellers posted Answer to Feb 23 "Where are we?" The first thing to clarify is that there was never a brewery between 103 and 106th along Indianapolis Boulevard. The various companies involved were all malt houses not breweries. . However the locations, dates of operation and other details are confusing. National Malting, Albert Schwill, Columbia Malting and Falstaff were in that area at various times. Any help in clarifying this mess is appreciated. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Rod's post Both facilities were owned by Albert Schwill according to this photo from The caption on this photo indicates that National Malting was present in 1915. I deleted the following from my Facebook comment because it didn't agree with the Sanborn map. So I think the headhouse on the right side of your photo belonged to National Malting and we are looking Westish across the NYC tracks. Given the 1933 advertisement in the above linked BreweryMaltHouses, I think that Schwill must have bought National Milling (north facility) and Columbia Malting (south facility) by 1933. And then Falstaff bought Schwill in 1961. National obviously built new facilities after the 1915 fire and they appear in Falstaff photos. The Columbia Malting part got completely rebuilt between the Schwill photo and more contemporary photos. |
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| Michael Mora posted on Rod's post Here's a 1913 Sanborn map showing locations of National Malting (103rd & Indianapolis, 1906-1912, total loss in 1912 fire), Albert Schwill old and new plants (1895-1961, sold to Falstaff), and Columbia Malting (1898-1964, sold to Falstaff). As a kid from South Chicago, my favorite thing about this area was bike racing on the access road to Hammond with a pit stop at Dunkin Donuts. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Micahel's comment These elevators are another reminder that industries changed a lot during the first two decades of the 20th Century. Even the state boundary has moved since 1913. This 1938 aerial shows that the "B" plant of Schwill made it through the depression. And that Schwill expanded southwest across the State Line. Falstaff must have bought another Columbia Malting facility in 1964 because the one in Chicago was gone by 1938. |
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| Michael Mora commented on Dennis' comment So for Columbia Malting I found this November 1961 Trib story about malting workers strike that hit Falstaff and Columbia at their East Side locations. And a few years later US brought antitrust suit against Falstaff for buying a major New England brewer after it bought a buncha other ones elsewhere, as well as Schwill and Columbia of Chicago malting plants in '61 and '64. But this history sure is complicated. There was another one next to Schwill in 1890s that United Breweries conglomerate bought, but it must have either died or been absorbed by Schwill maybe by time of 1913 map. |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Michael's comment OK, my current theory is that just the grain elevator in the red rectangle was part of Schwill and that the rest of the facility to the south was Columbia. Looking at historical aerials, the Schwill facilities remained the same until they were torn down between 1988-98, but the Columbia facilities got rebuilt and/or the artist got lazy. |
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| Riod Sellers commented on his post Thanks for your help with this. Definitely a confusing history. Here is what I think. SECHS has 2 photos of the National Malting Company fire, both of which were dated as c1915, obviously an incorrect date. A Chicago Tribune article on September 4, 1912 details the fire which destroyed the plant. The parent company of National Malting liquidated in September of 1912. Albert Schwill was there from 1895 to 1961 when it was bought by Falstaff. An article (attached) about South Chicago real estate in 1902 which appeared in the Daily Calumet on the occasion of South Chicago’s 125th Anniversary verifies the dates for the startups of Schwill (1895) and Columbia (1898). According to the Daily Calumet Falstaff took over Schwill on June 30, 1961. Columbia Malting was there from 1898 to 1964? Could not find anything about the sale of Columbia to Falstaff but November 1961 Trib article about the strike proves that Columbia was still in business after the June 1961 takeover of Schwill by Falstaff. Falstaff closed the operation in the mid 1980s. A couple of additional items found in my research. Neither Schwill nor Columbia Malting crossed the state line into Indiana as shown by the Sanborn map and a 1945 survey I came across. The road which runs from under the viaduct entering Calumet Park (between Ewing and Avenue J, between the railroad tracks) has been known both as Albert Schwill Company Road and Columbia Malt Drive. A Chicago History Museum guide to Chicago street names states: Columbia Malt Drive, 3960E 10456 to 10548S Street facing the Columbia Malting Company that closed in 1964. Neighborhood folks called it by another name. Does anyone remember? |
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| Rod Sellers posted [The State Line Generating Station is in the foreground.] |
idaillinois photo of the elevator idaillinois 1912 view looking east from this elevator.
Was National Malting Co a predecessor of Albert Schwill? A 1915 idaillinois photo of a fire provides a location of "near 104th and Indianapolis." Another photo of the fire
More photos with Falstaff in the background
In the background of a 1995 Flickr railfan shot (source)
1982 d.w.davidson Flickr of the north side of the facility
Heathen Adams posted the results of a search but with no information as to how to repeat the search.
The little boy who fell in from the roof and was reported as missing since his friend was too scared to say anything caused his demise after decades of being empty.
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