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This article was originally published in the Grand River Valley Review Vol. VIII, Number. 1

It later appeared in the Fall 1991 edition of NABA's
The Breweriana Collector magazine

All brewery photos & portraits, unless otherwise noted, compliments of Dr. Wilhelm W. Seeger, The Grand Rapids Public Museum, or the Michigan Room of the Grand Rapids Public Library. Dr. Seeger also wishes to thank Gordon Olson, The Grand Rapids City Historian for his help.

The local brewers, however, were not the only ones vying for Grand Rapids customers. In 1887, a Grand Rapids city directory listing for the Toledo Brewing and Malting Company marked the beginning of a phenomenon that would increase significantly over the years: outside competition. Although they did not brew their products in Grand Rapids, growing numbers of out-of-town firms sold their beer in the city through local agents. By the turn of the century, these outside competitors would include not only the Toledo Brewing and Malting Company but also the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company, whose modern descendant is one of today's brewing industry giants; the Muskegon Brewing Company; the Finlay Brewing Company of Toledo, Ohio; and the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, whose local agents were the Grand Rapids Storage and Transfer Company.

Seeking a way to counter the threat of outside competition and needing additional capital for expansion, the individual Grand Rapids brewers, like other industrialists of the time, ultimately came to recognize the advantages of joining forces. In December 1892, six Grand Rapids breweries - the Kusterer Brewing Company, Tusch Brothers, George W. Brandt and Company, Veit and Rathman, Adolph Goetz, and the Frey Brothers - consolidated their individual operations to form the Grand Rapids Brewing Company.

An artist's sketch of the Grand Rapids Brewing Co.

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Revised: December 30, 2006