2012
business
HALL Of FAME Volume 4
Eau claire area chamber of commerce
june 14, 2012
John Carroll likely never envisioned that his milk run, which raised extra money during the Depression, would lead to a 45-year career in the dairy industry. See page 6.
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Market and Johnson A quiet leader with an eighth-grade education, Juel Market grew a small construction company into an industry giant. See page 18.
What began as Mel Cohen’s temporary job with National Pressure Cooker Co. in 1944, turned into a career that spanned more than 57 years and built the Presto product line we see today. See page 10.
Photo courtesy of Chippewa Valley Museum
National Presto Industries, Inc.
Known as the King of Horseradish, Ellis Huntsinger started Huntsinger Farms as a Huntsinger Farms Depression-era farmer. Silver Springs Today, the company is Foods the world’s largest producer of horseradish. See page 14.
Ellis Huntsinger
Johannes Walter Photo courtesy of John Smallshaw
Marigold Foods
Juel Market
Photo courtesy of Dan Market
John Carroll
Melvin S. Cohen
Photo courtesy of Chippewa Valley Museum
Photo courtesy of Pat Lokken
2012 BUSINESS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES ANNOUNCED
Walter’s Brewery Johannes Walter was the founder and brewmaster for Eau Claire’s iconic Walter’s Beer. See page 20.
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Congratulations to the 2012 inductees into the Business Hall of Fame! This year the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce recognizes the fourth class of leaders and legends. We are honored and humbled to recognize those whose work stands out as a testament to their business, industry and community. They have made extraordinary contributions to our area and have demonstrated business excellence, courageous thinking and entrepreneurial leadership. Through the years they have earned the respect of both the business and public community and many have benefited from their efforts. It is all too easy to get wrapped up in the issues of the moment, so it is important to look back and recognize and appreciate these leaders and their success. By recognizing and celebrating their successes, we motivate and inspire our current leaders. It helps us remember and appreciate the hard work and effort that led to their success. Seeing where we have come from helps provide inspiration to future leaders to dream of an even better future through hard work and determination. Congratulations to this year’s inductees and their families, and we look forward to hearing the inductees' stories. Respectfully,
Bill Hilgedick, Edward Jones Chamber Board Chair
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we couldn't do it without you! Thank you to Peoples Bank of Wisconsin for sponsoring the Chamber's Business Hall of Fame event.
We also express our sincere appreciation to the many individuals and businesses for their assistance in putting this publication together. A special thank you to the following: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Jerry Bechard, Northwoods Brew Pub ChippePedia.org Maryjo Cohen, National Presto Industries Lori DeMotts, Market & Johnson Pam Erickson, Northwoods Brew Pub Leader-Telegram Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal Pat Lokken, Tru-Lock & Security Dan Market, Market & Johnson Susan McLeod, Chippewa Valley Museum Shannon Odland, Silver Spring Foods Eric Rygg, Silver Spring Foods John Smallshaw, Falstaff Brewing Co. Frank Smoot, Chippewa Valley Museum Eldbjorg Tobin, Chippewa Valley Museum Karl Walters
Previous Business Hall of Fame Inductees • • • • • • • • •
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Owen Ayres, 2009 C. David Bugher, 2011 William Carson, 2009 William Cigan, 2010 David Donnellan, 2009 Bryan J. Farmer, 2010 Raymond Gillette, 2011 Walter Gold, 2010 Hobbs Family, 2010
• • • • • • • • •
Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, 2010 Richard Larson, 2011 Frank McDonough, 2009 John Menard, Jr., 2009 Dr. Hans Christian Midelfart, 2010 L.E. Phillips, 2009 Daniel Shaw, 2009 Arthur, Chester and Kenneth Wagner, 2011 Herman White, 2011
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Table of Contents John Carroll, From Milkman to VP.............................................................................6 Melvin S. Cohen, Industry Captain.............................................................................10 Ellis Huntsinger, The Horseradish King.................................................................... 14 Juel Market, A Quality Builder...................................................................................18 Johannes Walter, Brewmaster.................................................................................... 20
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2012 Business Hall of Fame Congratulations to all recipients!
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1910-2007
John Carroll From MilkMan to VP
John Carroll was raised to work hard, cherish family and do what he could to promote Eau Claire. And that’s just what he did for 97 years. Born in the town of Maxwell in Buffalo County to Thomas and Emma Carroll, John was the oldest son of 10 children. In 1920, when John was 10 years old, his parents purchased a 160acre hog and dairy farm near Eau Claire’s west side. He attended Prairie View Country School, a one-room school house, and later attended Eau Claire High School. John graduated from high school in 1928 with the intention of attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study agriculture. However, his dream was shattered when his father suddenly became ill from blood poisoning due to an injury he sustained on the farm while cleaning out the silos. At the time, penicillin was not yet available for prevention of infection, and Thomas passed away within three short days. Instead of attending college, John was forced to remain at home, work the farm and help raise his younger siblings. In the years that followed, the fate of the family worsened as hog and milk prices dropped with the Great Depression. Then in the spring of 1929, a fire destroyed all the buildings on the farm except the house. And just when construction of a new barn was almost finished, a tornado touched down and destroyed it. Finally, a new barn was completed in the fall. The family’s luck began to turn around the following year when they started a bottled milk route in Eau Claire in an attempt to make a little extra money to expand the farm. John tirelessly solicited all of the homes and small grocery stores for their business. Because of John’s entrepreneurial
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spirit and impressive sale skills, the business flourished and soon John began to lure customers away from larger dairies. His efforts attracted the attention of A.E. Rost¸ manager of Tri-State Dairy, who purchased the family’s milk route and offered John a job. John became a route manager by day and worked on the family farm in his free time. By 1942, he was promoted to sales manager of Dolly Madison Dairy, which had become Tri-State Dairy’s new corporate name. With John’s lead, Dolly Madison expanded its routes and soon began purchasing smaller dairies and setting up distributorships. “If there was work to be done or a project to be started, dad was the guy you wanted on your team,” explained Pat Lokken, one of Carroll’s daughters.
John Carroll began working on his family’s hog and dairy farm at the age of 10. Since then, things have changed considerably in the dairy industry – including prices. Here’s a comparison of what commodities sold for back then and now.
He and his wife, Helen, had seven children. In 1956, John was promoted to assistant manager of the Eau Claire operations and when Rost retired a decade later, John was promoted to general manager. Dolly Madison merged with Marigold Dairies and dominated the milk and ice cream business in western Wisconsin and parts of Iowa and Minnesota. John was eventually elected vice president
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of Marigold Foods and served as a member of its Board of Directors until he retired in 1976 after 45 years in the dairy business. When he began his career, Dolly Madison produced less than a million dollars a year in sales. By 1976 when he retired, it was producing over $30 million in total annual sales. “He continually strove during his business career to uphold ethical standards and was a prime example of the perfect role model to his business associates, his friends and his family,” Lokken indicated. “He always put others before himself and those who really knew him best said that John was the salt of the earth and an ambassador of good will.” Over the years, he served on the Board of Directors for the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce, serving as president in 1964 and later as an Ambassador. He served on the Chamber’s original Agri-Business Committee and was a strong supporter of the Chamber’s annual Dairy Breakfast for Farmers, which has now changed into Breakfast in the Valley. John also was secretary of the Wisconsin Dairy Product Association in Madison, served on the Board of Directors for London Square Bank for 20 years and was a member of the Board of Directors for the Chippewa Valley Museum for 10 years. He was involved in various community organizations throughout the years including the Elk’s Club, Moose Lodge and Knights of Columbus. John was a charter member of St. James Catholic Church in Eau Claire.
John is most remembered for his unceasing devotion to family, his Catholic faith and ideals and strong work ethic each of which helped in making him such a dearly loved and admired individual, Lokken noted. “My dad was one in a million,” she said.
Photos: Upper Left: A mini version of this Dolly Madison Dairy truck was used for free kids' rides during grocery openings and other promotional events. Upper Right: John, devoted family man, and his wife, Helen, had seven children. Lower right: While John drove the milk route for Tri-State Dairy, his wife Helen was a waitress at the Savoy Cafe. All photos courtesy of Pat Lokken.
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Congratulations to the Class of 2012 on your induction into the Eau Claire Chamber Business Hall of Fame!
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Congratulations to the Market Family On Juel Market’s induction into the Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce 2012 Business Hall of Fame for his contributions to Market & Johnson and the community.
Eau Claire at your fingertips! Wondering what to do in Eau Claire? The Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce is excited to offer a free Mobile App. With it, you can: • Search and register for community events • Find where to eat, have fun and shop • Stay up to date on community news • View and redeem special discounts • Find members in the Chamber’s directory
Bookmark our free mobile app! Visit www.eauclairechamber.org
CONGRATULATIONS To the family of John William Carroll on his induction into the Eau Claire Chamber Business Hall of Fame! Your friends at Kemps Dairy Products
www.kemps.com
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1918-2008
melvin s. cohen Industry Captain When Melvin S. Cohen joined National Pressure Cooker Co. in 1944, he never imagined the short-term break in his legal profession would turn into a passionate career that lasted over 57 years.
A Minneapolis native, Mel graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School and then worked for the Office of Price Administration and the Civil Aeronautics Board in Washington, D.C. before joining National Pressure Cooker as manager of its Service Department. The position was supposed to be only temporary. In an interview with the Leader-Telegram in 1999, Cohen reminisced about joining the organization stating that he thought it would be a good experience to gain industry knowledge. “My long-term intention was to return to Minneapolis and practice law,” Cohen had said. But, he excelled at the job. Mel worked closely with L.E. Phillips, owner of the company, and quickly rose through the ranks. Throughout the years, Mel held various positions including export sales manager, resident legal counsel, treasurer, vice president of administration and executive vice president before eventually being named president in 1960 after Phillips was named chairman of the board. Cohen also served on the Board of Directors.
The company, which began in 1905 as Northwestern Steel and Iron Works, specialized in industrial-size pressure canners. In 1925, the company changed its focus to household appliances and with it came a new name – National Pressure Cooker Co. The first saucepan-style pressure cooker hit the market in 1939 with the name “Presto.” The company eventually changed its name again to National Presto Industries. Mel not only fell in love with the company but with Phillips’ daughter, Eileen, as well. They married, and the pair had two daughters together, Maryjo and Amy. During Mel’s tenure, the company ventured into other iconic products, such as the Pizzaz® oven, the Salad Shooter®, PrestoBurger®, Fry Baby®, Hot Dogger® and The PopCornNow®, one of the first hot air popcorn poppers. Presto also manufactures ammunition for the U.S. Army and absorbent products (adult underwear and briefs.) Presto was admitted to the New York Stock Exchange in 1969, the only publicly traded company headquartered in Eau Claire. Mel was a master strategist with an extraordinary legal mind and an incredible vocabulary. “My father loved the law and his analytical skills were superb. His ability, in my opinion, to craft solutions was unmatched,” Maryjo said. Mel faced several obstacles throughout his career, including surviving a hostile takeover attempt in 1969 and a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission
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claiming Presto was an unregistered investment firm. With his leadership, Presto weathered the storms. His dedication not only made the company successful, but the Eau Claire community benefited as well from the Phillips and Cohen families’ incredible generosity. He contributed millions of dollars to the community, primarily through the Presto Foundation, the Melvin S. Cohen Foundation and the L.E. Phillips Family Foundation, which Cohen administered to honor his late father-in-law, who was an inaugural member of the Eau Claire Chamber of Commerce’s Business Hall of Fame. “My desire was that this community never forget (Phillips), that his name continue to be meaningful as long as possible,” Mel explained to the Leader-Telegram in 2005. “The only way I could conceive of that being done … would be by naming public buildings after him.” In Eau Claire, the public library, senior center, a drug treatment center and the science hall at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire all bear Phillips’ name. Cohen also established the Presto Foundation Scholarship, which has distributed more than $6.6 million dollars in scholarships to children of Presto employees. Combined, the foundations have contributed more than $80 million to community organizations. Although officially retired from the company, his career extended well beyond 2000 as he remained chairman through 2001 and thereafter became a consultant. He continued to write annual reports through the 2004 report, which was filed in March 2005. His daughter, Maryjo, currently serves as Presto chairwoman and president. She largely credits her father for the company’s continuity, which has provided
the livelihood for thousands of families in the community over the years. “There were many instances in which but for his strategies, the company would have ceased to exist or would have been changed dramatically – among them were the crippling labor actions in the mid-50s, the National Union takeover attempt, the competition from the Orient and the government’s Renegotiation and SEC actions,” Maryjo said. An avid golfer and student of the game, Mel was known to play until the snow fell. My dad was happy to play with anyone – young or old. He had a keen eye and was a wonderful teacher, Maryjo said. “If you played golf in this community, you probably had played with him,” she said. In 2008, Mel, at the age of 90, lost an 11-year battle with melanoma, but his legacy lives on.
National Presto Industries moved into the household appliance market, creating such popular products as the FryDaddy® (left) and the SaladShooter® (above). Photo contributed by National Presto Industries. Upper: National Presto Industries, located at 3925 North Hastings Way is the only publicly held company headquartered in Eau Claire.
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Congratulations
Honorees
When was the last time you heard chickens in a hen house? When was the last time you walked inside a wigwam? When was the last time you heard the Rhythm Playboys? Or an Amish hymn? When was the last time you turned a stoplight green?
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Having proudly served the Eau Claire business community for over 80 years, Wipfli LLP congratulates all of the Eau Claire Chamber honorees for their outstanding contributions to the community.
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Congratulations to the
Class of 2012 Business Hall of Fame Inductees
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1889-1970
Ellis huntsinger The horseradish king A mix of determination, hard work and a stroke of creative genius helped catapult Ellis Huntsinger to the top of his profession in which he was affectionately known as the Horseradish King. After losing his job as a salesman during the Great Depression, Ellis returned to his native Eau Claire with his wife and family in 1929. They moved into an old family farm, and Ellis planned to plant some vegetables to feed his family during the hard times. “I remembered that when I was a kid my family always had a hard time wintering themselves,” Ellis said in article for The Farm Quarterly in 1957. “There was no income in winter and by spring all the money was gone and my father had to borrow from the bank to get a crop started. A crop that would bring in some money during the winter would be a great thing for us. I thought of horseradish.” Ellis planted a half acre of horseradish. He used an abandoned chicken house, bought a hand grinder, bottles and labels and went into business. “I tried to sell through the groceries, but they wanted only a half-dozen bottles or so because the stuff wouldn’t keep long. I finally hired some boys to peddle the bottles from door to door. A five ounce bottle sold for 15 cents and I gave the boys 5 cents. This worked out pretty well and that’s the way I sold horseradish until we got into the business on a national scale,” Ellis explained to the publication. In the early 1930s, Ellis purchased property on Highway 37. The business was able to expand its operation, and with the help of new farming operations, the company grew. The heat in horseradish comes from highly volatile oil, which if exposed to air or stored improperly loses its pungency rapidly after grinding. Adding vinegar and refrigeration helps preserve the strength a little, but it wasn’t enough to allow the product to be shipped to any
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great distance. That was until Ellis stumbled onto a gamechanging recipe in 1941. While eating at his breakfast table, Ellis dumped a spoonful of cream for his morning coffee into a jar of horseradish.
The company is currently owned by Ellis’ granddaughter, Nancy Bartusch, and her two sons. Nancy describes her grandfather as being a very easy going person who was also kind and generous.
“It had a much more pleasant taste than the straight stuff,” he had explained, “and the mixture was whiter and smoother.”
“He was passionate about his work with the local Boy Scout Council and donated time and funds to put in roads and build the dining hall at Camp Phillips near Haugen, WI,” Nancy recalled.
Ellis placed the jar of horseradish on the shelf and forgot about it for several weeks. “When I got it out,” he recalled to The Farm Quarterly, “the creamed horseradish was just as strong as when I had put it in; the pure stuff was flat and tasteless. I knew I had hit the jackpot.” The discovery stretched the shelf-life of the horseradish from days to months. In 1949, Ellis incorporated the business as Huntsinger Farms, Inc. and its trade name was Silver Spring Gardens, which was named after a nearby spring. Ellis’ son, Eugene, and his son-in-law, Ed Bartusch, also helped run the company. Today, Silver Spring horseradish is the number one retail brand in the United States and is distributed to Japan, Europe and Australia. It is the largest grower and distributor of horseradish roots in the world.
Top 10 Ways to Use Horseradish ten1. Serve with steaks, prime rib, pot roast, pork derloin or roast beef g with 2. Make your own specialty sauce by mixin sour cream, mayonnaise, mustard or ketchup 3. Mix into a Bloody Mary 4. Serve with oysters
5. Mix into mashed potatoes chops 6. Add to applesauce and serve with pork 7. Mix into deviled eggs 8. Add to salad dressings for extra zip other white 9. Mix with cranberry sauce for turkey and meats
Today, Huntsinger Farms, Inc. continues to grow horseradish as well as soybeans, corn, snap beans and forage crops on more than 9,000 acres of Wisconsin and Minnesota farmland. Huntsinger Farms also is the parent company for Silver Spring Foods, Kelchner’s Horseradish Products, Atlantic Brand, Bookbinder’s Foods, ThorShackel Horseradish and North Star Enterprises, Inc. In addition to producing horseradish, the company also makes a variety of mustards and sauces. Silver Spring currently has 134 employees and the farm, while at full capacity, employs 80 people, which includes seasonal help. What started out as a simple plan to feed his family turned into an international horseradish empire fit for a king.
Left: Ellis Huntsinger inspects a crop of horseradish roots, which must be processed and refrigerated within an hour or two after they are dug and trimmed. Above: Already known for his products, Ellis was featured in a Milwaukee Sentinel article in 1944. Silver Springs Foods routinely wins awards for its line of mustards as well. All photos contributed by the Chippewa Valley Museum.
10. Mix into hummus and serve with pita chips
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RCU Congratulates all Hall of Fame Inductees
Your business vision and leadership has contributed to a strong and vibrant Eau Claire – a community RCU has been proud to serve and call home since 1964.
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ns Juel o ti a l tu C ongra
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1919-1993
Juel Market a quality builder Juel Market is the kind of man who believed in leading by example. He worked hard, treated his employees and customers fairly but didn’t relish the limelight.
“He was a quiet leader,” Dan Market described his father. “He didn’t like conflict, and he would do whatever he could do to avoid it. If there was something wrong with someone’s building, he would do whatever he could to fix it. If an employee was unhappy, he would do whatever he could quietly to make them happy.”
Growing up in the Rock Falls area, Juel left school after the eighth grade and worked a variety of jobs during the Depression-era to help his family. After World War II, Juel met Milt Johnson and they got their start in the construction business working for Sneen and Market. Later, Juel and Milt built homes for Walker Brothers until in 1948 the pair started their own home construction business calling it Market & Johnson. Initially, they used Juel’s basement as an office and his garage to store equipment. They built their first homes primarily in the Putnam Heights area in Eau Claire. Juel would start each day at 6 a.m., working for a few hours at home before heading off to a job, and he’d put in couple of hours each night after he came home, his wife Peg Market recalled when interviewed about the company’s history a few years before her death. “Every penny he made went back into the business, and he never took any time off during the first seven years,” Peg said. In addition to building a project, Juel drafted plans, estimated projects and bid the work. “Those were truly trying times, but he loved every minute of it,” Peg said. By the mid 1950s, Market & Johnson transitioned into commercial construction after the encouragement of Owen Ayres, founder of Ayres Associates, an architectural and engineering firm headquartered in Eau Claire. Its first commercial project was Altoona Public School followed by Hillcrest Golf & Country Club, Plymouth Congregational Church and a number of area schools. Schneider Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire was the company’s first project that had a budget totaling
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more than $1 million. The building opened in 1967. One of the projects Juel was most proud of was Trinity Lutheran Church, where he was a founding member, Dan said. Eventually, Market & Johnson opened an office at 1901 Brackett Ave. The firm later moved to 200 Esmond Road and then to 2350 Galloway St., the company’s home since 1971. Johnson sold his portion of the business to Juel in 1966 and moved with his family to Montana. Johnson later returned to Eau Claire and formed Johnson Construction. Even though Johnson left the company more than 45 years ago, his name has remained part of the general contracting company. Juel and Peg Market had five children, Marv, Ron, Judy, Howie and Dan. Throughout the years, all four sons worked at Market & Johnson at one time or another time. Marv joined Market & Johnson full time in 1965 as an apprentice carpenter after graduating from UW-Eau Claire. Howie and Dan joined in 1968 and 1970 respectfully after graduating high school, and Ron joined in 1969 after serving in the Air Force. All four sons started their construction careers working in the field. Juel believed in having them start at the bottom and work their way up. He provided similar opportunities for all his employees. “If anyone is working at Market & Johnson, there is nothing stopping them,” said Dan, who has continued his father’s philosophy. “My dad never put any barriers on any employee.” Juel retired in 1980 after three of his four sons – Marv, Howie and Dan – bought him out. His son Ron had left the business in 1978 opting to farm full time instead. A decade later, Marv and Dan bought out Howie. With Marv’s retirement in 1999, Dan was the sole owner of Market and Johnson, which continued to operate as a family business until 2000 when Dan offered shares in the company to employees Steve Breitenfeldt, Don Carlson, Gary Carlson and Ron Dulitz. Later, other employees bought into the firm as well.
Thanks in large part to Juel’s work ethic and reputation, the company he co-founded more than 60 years ago has flourished into an industry giant. The firm has experienced a steady rate of growth throughout the years initially having annual sales of about $200,000. By 1990, sales grew to $19 million, and today Market & Johnson is western Wisconsin’s largest contractor with revenue exceeding $110 million. The company that started with only Juel and Milt, now averages about 225 employees. “What made us grow is the tremendous reputation of the quality of what we build,” Dan said. And that all started with his dad. Above: Seen here with three employees, Juel Market (far right) felt most comfortable with his field crew. Below: UWEC's Schneider Hall was the first Market & Johnson project over $1 million. Left: The Market family poses in their home built especially for them by Juel. Photos contributed by Dan Market.
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1853- 1932
johannes walter Brewmaster
This edited version of an article that appears on ChippePedia.org is reprinted with permission from the Chippewa Valley Museum.
Eau Claire made, and drank, Walter’s Beer for nearly 100 years, from 1893 to 1990. But the Walter’s story starts even earlier. In 1874, the Walter brothers — Johannes (John), George, Martin and Christian — immigrated from Germany to Wisconsin. George ended up in Appleton, Martin and Christian in Menasha, and John in Spencer. (Martin later moved to Pueblo, Colorado, where he opened up another storied Walter’s brewery.) John’s Spencer brewery burned in 1889, and he decided to move to Eau Claire, where he bought the Dells Brewery in the “Northside Flats,” at the corner of Hobart and Elm Streets. In 1893, Walter was one of six brewers in the city. Other Eau Claire brewers included Joseph Leinenkugel, Fred Miller, Ed Ruhe, Pabst and the Michel family, which would later take over the Eagle Brewery from the Eau Claire Leinenkugels. John Walters’ operation benefited from technological
improvements that swept the industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of those changes — pasteurization in the 1870s, the crown-cap bottle in the 1890s, mass-bottling in brown glass (slowing the lightdegradation of beer) starting in the 1910s, and tiling floors for sanitation, which the Eau Claire Walter’s plant pioneered in 1913 — still make beer better today. Just before Prohibition put the whole country on the wagon in 1919, Walter’s had increased its production to 50,000 barrels a year (from 5,000 in the 1890s) and had outlasted all of its Eau Claire competitors. During Prohibition, Walter’s tried “near beer” and “wort” (beer before fermentation) for its “nutritional value.” But the ban took its toll and the brewery briefly closed from 1931 to 1933. John Walter died in 1932, and he never got to see his company reborn. But reborn it was. John’s nephews opened the doors at the end of Prohibition, and ran it the next 34 years. But during those years, changes in the larger American landscape shook the beer industry to its core. Better roads brought better distribution for the big companies, Miller and Anheuser-Busch. By 1950, Miller distributed in 48 states. In 1960, Budweiser became the first brand to sell 10 million barrels. By comparison, the Eau Claire Walter’s plant shipped
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100,000 barrels in 1970, making Walter’s sales one percent of Bud’s. National advertising media favored the big boys. World War II gave millions of American men the same experiences — and tastes. Big companies expanded their product lines (called “horizontal marketing”) and crowded smaller-batch brews off store shelves. In 1890, perhaps as many as 150 Wisconsin communities had breweries, and many of those communities had more than one. In 1980, 90 years later, just six Wisconsin communities had breweries, including Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls. Not only that, the smaller breweries saw their production fall. Walter’s production slipped back to 50,000 barrels in 1981 — its 1919 level and half the beer it shipped a decade earlier. One by one, the plants started by the Walter brothers had closed. Menasha in 1956, Appleton in 1974, and Pueblo, Colo., in 1975. In 1984, the Eau Claire plant produced only 12,000 barrels. The next year, a Chicago entrepreneur, Michael Healy, bought the business, renamed it Hibernia, and injected $300,000. He retained Walter family members in key positions. Brewery workers went back to 40-hour weeks. Healy built a beer garden, Walter Park, on the site of what had been, a century ago, a “beer park” and dance
hall. But his new beers - award-winners - were perhaps ahead of the wave. Such “craft beers” would have to wait for the microbrewery movement, still just forming on the west coast in the 1980s. His brews also were swimming against a different wave: Americans turned to lighter beers, Hibernia introduced rich and creamy ones. Healy’s venture lasted only five years. A couple of business partners from Ohio, Edward Miller and Cynthia Ancil, tried briefly to bring the Walter’s name itself back in the early 1990s, re-opening the beer garden and contracting the actual brewing to Huber Brewing in Monroe. The Eau Claire plant was unusable: it took a front-end loader just to remove the bird droppings from the ground floor. All the buildings but the bottlery have been razed. The cards were against this rebirth, however: the beer wasn’t local anymore, and many old-timers hadn’t had a “real” Walter’s Beer in a decade. They had grieved, and finally moved on. Still, a good beer is hard to kill. In 2009, the Eau Clairebased microbrewery Northwoods Brewpub brought a version of Walter’s back as a craft beer.
Walter’s Beer is Back For over a decade, the Chippewa Valley has been deprived of Walters Beer. But thanks to Jerry Bechard, owner of Northwoods Brew Pub in Eau Claire, a version of the iconic craft beer is back.
About ChippePedia.org ChippePedia is the Chippewa Valley Museum’s free online encyclopedia (that anyone can help edit) about the Chippewa Valley. You too can share stories about your business. You also can find information and history about the people, events and places that shape the Chippewa Valley. Find out more on how you add your own story or research other stories at ChippePedia.org.
“We love bringing back an original locally-produced Eau Claire product back into the area and all of the great history surrounding the product,” Bechard said. “I think that every community that manages to keep its identity with its history has much more depth and is able to attract future business that see value in the loyalty that the residences place in its past and present products that it supports and produces. It shows how important it is to produce and buy locally.” Walters and Walters Light are always on tap at Northwoods Brew Pub. The product also is available in cans and bottles and is distributed throughout the state of Wisconsin.
Left: The Walters family owned several breweries in Wisconsin. Above: An early photo of Walter's Brewery in Eau Claire. Photos contributed by John Smallshaw, falstaffbrewing.com.com and Northwoods Brew Pub.
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The Beer That Is Beer… It’s Back!!!
Brewed in Eau Claire, Wisconsin 3560 Oakwood Mall Drive
www.northwoodsbrewpub.com
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Thank you for putting Eau Claire on the map Congratulations Business Hall of Fame Inductees. With more than 40 attorneys and over 90 years of experience serving business owners and individuals, Ruder Ware is a reliable single source of valuable legal expertise that helps business owners, managers, and individuals maximize and protect their corporate and personal financial assets.
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Partnering for the community
At U.S. Bank, our success is directly related to the success and vitality of the communities we serve. And we believe strong communities help make a strong economy. That’s why we feel it’s important to partner with organizations to provide corporate leadership on issues of community importance. Because no company gains the same strength alone as it can with the help of others.
U.S. Bank, along with its employees and retirees, once again join in offering heartfelt congratulations to this year's deserving inductees into the Business Hall of Fame. U.S. Bank 131 S. Barstow Street Eau Claire, WI 54701 715-839-6318
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