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.

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

           Street and bottled  imported Anheuser beer. Due to Socorro's mining

           "boom years" and railroad delivery, 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. 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 By end of the year, the Hammels were the only brewery in New Mexico

           shipping cold beer packed in ice – 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 prices.  Socorro's mines and smelters closed with the

            town's population dropping from 4,000 to 1,000 by 1895.  The

            Illinois Brewery and ice house remained open at reduced production.

1903 Jakob Hammel dies; William becomes president of the brewery.

1904 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 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 to the west.

1919 Prohibition: Constitutioal Amendment to prohibit the manufacture,

           distribution and consumption of alcoholic beverages.  Like all 

           breweries, the Hammel dismantled their equipment to prevent

           production; the ice plant and soft drink bottler remained in operation.

           The loss of the brewery was a financial disaster to the family.

1920 William Hammel dies virtually penniless.  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 was dismantled and dilapidated, too costly to replace.

1938 Clarence marries Marcella Branum.

  1940s Business declined due to the war, electric refrigerators reduced the

            demand for ice, and soft drinks commonly 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.  Clarence ceases business.

1985 Arrangements made with Spencer Wilson to transfer the brewery

           to the Socorro County Historical Society upon Clarence's death.

1986 Clarence Hammel dies; Hammel Brewery building willed to the

           Socorro County Historical Society for a museum.