Hammel_Brewery

1848 Jakob Hammel and Eberhard Anheuser emigrated from Bavaria to St. Louis,

Missouri.

1859 William Hammel born in St. Louis

1860 Eberhard establishes the E. Anheuser & Co. brewery, later the Anheuser-Bush Co.

with Jakob employed as a brewer.

1882 Due to health problems, Jakob Hammel ventured west, settling in Socorro, NM.

1882 Jakob and sons Gustav and William, setup a warehouse on Manzanares Street and

bottled imported Anheuser beer under the name Hammel Bros. & Co. Due to

Socorro's mining "boom years" (and numerous saloons) with railroad delivery to

other locales, the beer bottling business was very successful.

1883 William and Gustav Hammel obtained their brewing license and began brewing

their own beer locally, billing themselves as "Manufacturers and Bottlers of Beer

and Ale."

1884 The Hammels purchased property and an adobe building on 6th Street from Pedro

Montoya to have larger facilities for their brewery. This is today's location of the

Hammel Brewery. They planted trees in the rear to build a Bavarian style "beer

garten" for which many of those trees are still there today.

1886 The small adobe building on 6th Street soon proved to be inadequate for keeping up

with the demand. The 3-story stone building was constructed and filled with "two

carloads of machinery" from St. Louis including a boiler, engine, cooling fans, mash

tubs, fermentation tubs and an ammonia-based ice plant for bulk production of ice.

1886 Cold Beer. By end of the year, the Hammels were the only brewery in New

Mexico shipping beer packed in ice and delivered cold – a real novelty in 1886.
1887 Changed name from Hammel Bros. & Co. to Illinois Brewing Co.

1889 William Hammel marries Lulu Rattinger of St. Louis and had a house built in

Socorro for his bride.

1893 Repeal of the Silver Purchase Act; the price of silver plummeted. Mines and

smelters across the country closed, unable to make a profit at the deflated silver

prices. Socorro's mines and smelters also closed with the town's population

dropping from 4,000 to 1,000 by 1895. Socorro's "boom years" were over. The

Illinois Brewery and ice house remained open at reduced production of beer.

1903 Jakob Hammel dies; William becomes president of the brewery, 18 years of age.

1904 Expansion. The machine room on the south side of the brewery was expanded for

a larger boiler and other upgrades to the brewery and ice plant to the appearance

the brewery has today.

1908 Soft Drinks. William Hammel receives a soft drink franchise, along with the

brewery and ice plant kept the enterprise busy. The bottling plant was located in

the building across the street from the brewery on 6th street to the west.

1918 Brewery Ordered Closed. New Mexico passes law to prohibit the manufacture or

sale of alcoholic beverages – basically "Prohibition" one year before the 18th

Constitutional Amendment was ratified. The Hammel Brewery was ordered

closed and the partial disassembly of equipment to prevent further production.

The loss of the brewery was a financial disaster to the family, struggling with only

the ice plant and soft drink bottling operations.

1919Prohibition: The 18th Constitutional Amendment to prohibit the manufacture,

distribution, sale, and consumption of alcoholic beverages ratified by Congress.

All breweries in the U.S. ordered closed and dismantled.

1920 William Hammel dies virtually penniless with the family business in bankruptcy.

Clarence Hammel continued operating the ice plant and expanded the soft drink

bottling franchise, returning the business to a level of profitability following

prohibition.

1925 Hammel now bottling Pepsi-Cola, 7-up, Nesbitt and Grapette.

1933 Prohibition Repealed. Clarence did not reopen the brewery. The equipment had

been partially dismantled and now dilapidated, too costly to replace.

1938 Clarence marries Marcella Branum.

1941 World War II. Business declined due to the war. Electric refrigerators, becoming

common home items since the 1930s, reduced the demand for ice, and soft drinks

now widely available in stores from major bottlers reduced the Hammel bottling

demands. Hammel struggled with his ice and bottling business through the 1950s.

1950 Clarence Hammel began divesting some of his business interests.

1956 Clarence Hammel's wife, Marcella, dies.

1956 Clarence ceases business and retires.

1985 Arrangements made with Spencer Wilson to transfer the brewery to theSocorro

County Historical Society upon Clarence Hammel's death.

1986 Clarence Hammel dies; Hammel Brewery building willed to the Socorro County

Historical Society for a museum. Restoration of the building begins.

2008 Wall collapse, west facing wall. Wall rebuilt 2009. Photos here.