The Old Brewhouse Foundation
The Old Brewhouse is the most well-loved and appreciated architectural landmark in the City of Tumwater, Washington.
Every day, as thousands of people drive on the interstate freeway through Tumwater, they might catch a glimpse of the tall red brick tower with a green copper roof. Visitors to Tumwater Historical Park below the freeway gaze across the river wondering or dreaming about what it might be like to live, work, or roam around in the magnificent old buildings. Though crumbling brick walls, broken windows, and moss-stained facades attest to decades of neglect, the Olympia Brewing Company's 1906 brewhouse remains a regional icon with national significance.
Its legacy represents not only our community pride of the Olympia Brewing Company, but our awareness of the brewery's crucial role in the history of our community. The Schmidt family-owned business was the region's largest manufacturing industry and a model for outstanding employment practices, generosity, community pride, and civic involvement. Generations of family members worked at the brewery, first in the 1906 brick brewhouse and, after Prohibition, in the modern 1934 brewery. According to former brewery employees, the atmosphere at the brewery was so supportive that they loved going to work.
Employees and their families attended brewery-sponsored picnics and dinners, competed on bowling and golf teams, and received annual holiday baskets provided by the brewery owners. The Old Brewhouse continues to be our best reminder that something of great historic value to our community survived our city's worst disaster. More destructive than occasional earthquakes, the construction of the Interstate 5 freeway in the mid-1950s not only cut the city in two, but it removed the entire downtown corridor. When the freeway dust settled, the pioneer town along the Deschutes River was gone.
The City of Tumwater identified the Old Brewhouse complex as the most significant remaining historic feature of the area. The City created a riverside park with a spectacular view of the Old Brewhouse and a historic district. In 1978, the Tumwater Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places with the Old Brewhouse as its most important structure. When the modern brewery was forced to close in 2003, ending a 107-year brewing history in Tumwater, the Old Brewhouse became the symbol for our community's search for identity and a city center. The lovely architectural features of the Old Brewhouse inspired the design of the new Tumwater City Hall, a new city library, a new fire station, and many privately owned buildings. In spite of its inspiring qualities and recent new ownership, the Old Brewhouse remains a vulnerable community treasure that desperately needs our dedicated commitment for its preservation to ensure future public use and enjoyment.
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