As promised (under duress I might add) here is the view looking south from the Capitol Boulevard overpass in living daylight! A couple of things I thought I would add to give you some sort of perspective. First of all I left the photo large to make it easier to pick things out. If you'll notice the red arrow to the left of the freeway it points to the spot we were standing for last night's photo. Also for those of you that have been so kind as to follow this blog for a while you might recognize the brick building on the far left as the old Olympia Brewery. Anyway, I hope that by shooting this in the daylight it gives you a view of entering the Olympia-Tumwater area going south on Interstate 5. Thank you for riding along, and you may return your seats to the upright position.

In a recent post here, I told you about The Crosby House, a historical house in Tumwater. Located about fifty yards from that house stands The Henderson House Museum. Built in 1905 for German brewmaster William Naumann, and standing right across the river from The Olympia Brewing Company it was considered "state of the art" for it's day. At 2-1/2 stories it had such ammenities as hot & cold running water, steam heat from a coal-fired burner & electric lights in each room. In 1909 the home was purchase by John & Catherine Rohrbeck who stayed in the home more than a decade & raised three children there. John Rohrbeck worked for the brewery for more than 40 years, first as an accountant and later as an officer of the business. When the brewery shut down in 1921 the Rohrbecks sold the house. After the repeal of prohibition in 1933 during the construction of the new brewery, workers rented rooms in the old Victorian house. Jumping forward to 1974 the City of Tumwater decided to purchase the old house. They restored it and developed it into the Henderson House Museum, named after another pioneer.

In 1933 after the repeal of prohibition, Peter Schmidt was ready to go back into the brewing business. There was a problem though. He could re-purchase the brewhouse, but that would cost him a fortune to refurbish it. He still owned the land, so he decided to build a new brewery just up the hill from the original. Another issue he faced was the new legislation that did not allow brewers to own any kind of a business that sold beer. They decided to sell the hotels and concentrate on a single brewery in Tumwater. The plant was completed in 1934 and once again they were brewing Olympia Beer. The company began to enjoy success. In 1965 the Schmidt family purchased the original brewhouse & related buildings. They used them for storage. Jump forward to 2003. The current owner SABMiller closes the operation & sells to a company that intends to bottle the artesian water. That deal never went through, and the bottled water company ended up going bankrupt. Since then there have been law suits, court battles and still no buyer. Until recently you would have seen a large for sale banner in this picture. I believe it in on the other side of the building now. Who knows what the future holds for this building and the others associated with it.

This beautiful old building which sits across from Tumwater Historical Park has quite a history. In the summer of 1895 Leopold Schmidt came to the Pacific Northwest in search of a location to build another brewery. He already owned the largest and most successful brewery in Montana, but wished to be closer to the Pacific coast. The original wooden buildings of the Capital Brewery were constructed in 1896. The Capital Brewing Company became The Olympia Brewing Company in 1902 and branded the slogan "It's the Water", making reference to the pure artesian water that brought them to that location. In 1906 the wooden brewery was replaced with a six story Italianate design building. It was built using local materials. Leopold Schmidt died in 1914, shortly before prohibition came to Washington. His oldest son Peter then took over. During prohibition, brewing companies did what was necessary to stay alive. The Schmidt family continued doing business by producing a near beer called German Brew, another product called Olympia Malt Extract and Olympia Artesian Water. They also produced a product called Appleju. When national prohibition hit in 1920 the Schmidt family invested their money in hotels. Many brewers purchased hotels and/or saloons to have an outlet for their product. In the early 1920's they decided to sell their inactive breweries including this one. They concentrated their efforts on their hotel chain that would eventually become the present day Westin Hotel chain. They also started a bus transport business that became the Greyhound Bus Lines.
The rest of the story tomorrow.........