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Beer and Cheese Cellars
of Early Days Uncovered
Sewer Work
Revives Stories of Old Passages
Watertown Daily Times, 01 24 1948
Few autoists,
stepping on the gas as they chug up the West Cady Street hill west of North
Church Street, know that under them are several old tunnels and caverns which
once were used to lager beer and age cheese.
And few pedestrians who walk up that hill also are aware of it. But it’s true.
While many of the older residents
of the city have been aware of the past of the existence of such caverns and
subterranean passages, most of them have either forgotten about it or have
dismissed it as something that is of no interest to anyone. Younger residents have heard stories of these
cellars but have never known definitely whether or not they actually
existed. But they do exist.
216 N Church (Church and Cady)
Their existence was again brought
to light here the other day when workers for the Watertown Plumbing Co. had
occasion to do some sewer work in the vicinity and had to climb down into one
of the old passages. One entrance that
remains today is at the corner of West Cady and North Church streets, near the
residence of Mrs. L. H. Kusel. The plumbers got into it by means of a
passage way that leads from an opening that is covered with a manhole. In one of the passages they found the remains
of an old wooden “track” which was used to carry the cheeses and barrels of
beer that were once stored in the long, dark cellars, the cheeses to age
properly and the beer to lager to a rich, brown brew.
At one time there was an entrance
into the tunnels from the Kusel basement, but this,
members of the family state, has been blocked off and is closed, although a
short passage remains, but it contains nothing and indicates little of the size
and construction of the old tunnels.
Years ago, during the early days
of brewing beer in Watertown, beer was always lagered
underground in large tunnels. Many of
these were quite elaborate in construction, being bricked out and giving the
impression of deep cavernous cellars.
Some of the tunnels had trap door entrances and at least one or two
utilized a rope controlled elevator in which the beer was lowered and
raised. Wooden rails, on which carts
could be pushed and guided were constructed along some of the passages. At least one of the tunnels still contains a
table and chairs.
According to George Sheppard,
city street commissioner, one of the men here who is familiar with some of the
old tunnels, the passageways are about 16 to 18 feet below street level. Just how many there are or were at one time
is not definitely known, because there have been so many conflicting stories
circulated here in years past regarding them and all of them are now shut and
are no longer used. But the West Cady
street hill area seems to have been at one time a favorite spot for the
construction of the underground depositors.
Fuermann Brewery and Memorial Park Tunnels
More people here are familiar
with the old beer cellars that are located under
Memorial Park, which was once the site of the
Fuermann brewery.
After the brewery was destroyed and remained only a ruin and an eyesore
the old cellars came into partial view and boys playing on the lot used them
for hideouts. When the city acquired the
property and the development of the park began one of the first tasks was to
fill in the old passages. A part of the
park area caused trouble for years. A
lot of old refuse, tin cans, etc. had been used to fill in a portion of the place
and over the years a section of it began to cave in. This caused a great deal of trouble for city
and park board officials and the great memorial arch, which originally stood at the southwest
entrance of the park, had to be repaired and replaced, as the settling ground
caused it to crack and break. After
repairs had been made several times and a portion of the original arch had been
removed entirely the entire structure was torn down and rebuilt at the southeast
entrance of the park where it now stands.
That section of the park had never been used for cellars and
consequently provided a better location for such a heavy structure as the arch.
Watertown had numerous breweries
over the years, some of them long forgotten and without any present day records
to keep alive their existence at one time in this community.
Fuermann’s Empire brewery seems to have
been the first of any consequence here.
It was established in 1848 and it grew and expended until in its heyday
it turned out 11,000 barrels of beer a year.
Some of this went to clients as far away as Chicago. The capital investment of the brewery was
$100,000.
Bursinger Brewery
In 1852 Joseph Bursinger
established what was known as the City Brewery and an old record here of
the establishment says “it was started with a capital of $2,000 and three
employees until its success compelled an increase of both.” This later became a major brewery here. It later was capitalized at $80,000. Its beer, an old document here states, “is
said to be made of pure malt and hops and no drugs of any kind. Shipments are made throughout
Wisconsin”.
Hartig Brewery
Later there were other breweries
here, the best known of which became the Hartig Company brewery which was the last to
survive. It was the outgrowth of what
had earlier been the Hartig and Mantz
brewery. The Hartig
brewery survived even the days of prohibition when it made near beer and
installed a department for making ice cream and even root beer. Both these added products enjoyed a wide
popularity for years. After prohibition,
the brewery again turned out beer, but as a beer producer, after it changed
hands, it began to lag and finally was closed and is no longer in operation. It
should be pointed out that the Hartig family is no
longer associated with the Hartig Co. and was not
associated with it during its last years of operation.
Ducasse Brewery
The first beer brewed for
Watertown’s beer drinkers, however, was made even prior to the first brewery
here. An early day history of Watertown
says:
“The manufacture of beer is one
of the principal industries in Watertown.
Besides supplying a large local custom, the demand for Watertown brands
of this beverage is such as to make its manufacture as profitable as it is
extensive. C. W. Ducasse
brewed the first beer for the thirsty citizens of Watertown in a crude and
diminutive establishment located about four miles north of the village. He made weekly trips to Watertown, with a few
kegs in a cart drawn by a yoke of oxen.
It is said the fluid was so dark you couldn’t see a frog in it. It is not disputed, however, that a great
many persons were very fond of looking for one, well aware they never would
find it.”
_________________________________________________________
A video
recording made of the tunnels just before they were sealed is available in DVD
format through the Watertown Historical Society. It is of very poor quality but is the only
known video documentation available to those having an interest.
_________________________________________________________
A Visit to
the Tunnels
Watertown Daily Times, 04 27 1991 and 05 11 1991
Almost anyone who has lived in Watertown
for a few years has heard stories about the old tunnels in the central part of
the city.
The tunnels were part of
Watertown's early brewing industry and a fascinating topic of discussion for
anyone who has heard about them.
Most of the tunnels were located
near the old Hartig Brewery on the present site of
Tom's United Foods and the Fuennann Brewery which was
located on the present site of the Watertown Municipal Building.
There have even been rumors that
some of those tunnels traveled west under the Rock River and up to homes on
Water Street and other areas west of the river.
The old
Hartig home is located at the northwest comer of
Cady and Water streets and that gave some validity to the theory that the tunnels
traveled under the Rock River. That way the brewery owners could travel from
their home to the brewery without ever having to brave the cold winter weather.
There are a good number of people
who say that the underground tunnels did exist, but we have been unable to find
any reason to believe that to be true. We have found no documentation, and
judging from the depth of the Rock River along Cady Street and the hill as Cady
travels to the west, it seems improbable to us.
However, we would welcome any
documentation from a reader that at one time the tunnels went under the Rock
River.
For sure, in years past, there
were quite a few tunnels coming from the two brewers and also on some land west
of the Rock River.
Today, we know of only one set of
tunnels still intact, and that's the one we'll talk about a bit in this column.
The old Kusel
home on the southwest comer of Cady and Church streets has the only tunnels
that we can confirm.
Several weeks ago we made our
first visit to those tunnels in over two decades and it was an interesting
experience to say the least.
We were with several city
officials and a couple of history buffs who were there to help with some
opinions on their history. Getting his first peak at the tunnels was Doug Behling, owner of the house.
We spent quite a bit of time
trying to analyze the purpose of the tunnels, when they were built, method of
construction, etc.
Access to the tunnels is gained from
a locked manhole cover at the comer of Church and Cady streets. The tunnel then
travels along the Cady Street right-of-way west about 180 feet.
The entrance area is about 10
feet wide. It appears there may at one
time have been some type of staircase to get to the floor of the tunnel, but at
this time, entrance is gained by a rope ladder from the surface at the manhole
to the floor of the tunnels.
This area narrows down to a width
of seven feet for the next 55 feet. At that point, there is an archway and
beyond the arch the width of the tunnel is about 10 1/2 feet. Up to this point,
the top of the rounded ceiling is about seven and a half feet high and after
the arch, the height is about 10 1/2 feet. As we traveled west, the brick floor
was flat, but the roadway above ground was going uphill.
The tunnel continues for a total
distance of 181 feet from the beginning at Church and Cady streets. There is a
side tunnel about 140 feet from the east entrance. That side tunnel is a large
one as well. It's about seven and one-half feet wide and about 10 feet high as
well.
At the south end of this tunnel
is a vent which is about 22 feet below the surface of the grass. This tunnel
travels in a north-south direction and is located between the garage and the old
Kusel home.
This side tunnel has a large pile
of ashes in it - almost half blocking it. We're not sure how the ashes could
have gotten there, but we guess it's possible some type of stove was located at
the south end of the tunnel where the air vent is and over the years the ashes
were just piled up.
Or, it could have been the home
owner who decided the tunnels no longer had a use and decided to dump ashes
from the furnace at this location.
We have been told originally
entrance to the tunnels was possible from the Kusel
home. We have not been in the basement of the home, but we didn't see any
telltale signs of a bricked up entrance to the home from the tunnel side.
However, it could have been blocked up with great care so as to make it look
original.
We have talked with several
people who had entered the tunnels years ago from the Kusel
home, so there must have been an entrance.
Along the ceiling of the tunnel
there are about six ceiling vents, all but one of which have long been covered.
Today there is grass, sidewalk or road above the tunnels with the exception of
the one vent at the south end of the side tunnel.
There is also a bricked shut
doorway at the very western edge of the tunnel which would indicate a second
side tunnel to the south was either constructed and then closed or at least
contemplated at one time.
The floors, walls and rounded
ceilings of the tunnels are all brick with the exception of the western edge
which is a vertical wall, of dirt.
On the floor of the tunnel is an
old wooden track which was used to transport items from one end of the tunnel
to another. We assume a small wagon traveled along the track.
Tunnel is probably an incorrect
word to describe these brick structures. Probably a likely word would, be a
cellar. They were constructed by removing the dirt from ground level down about
20-25 feet, bricking up the walls and then constructing forms over which the
arches were built. After the mortar had set the trenches were backfilled and,
presto, a tunnel was made!
____________________________________________
THE TUNNEL
STORY CONTINUES
Much of this column in recent
weeks has been focused on the tunnels on Cady Street. And today, we'll continue
with a bit more.
Bill Jannke
III, one of Watertown's history buffs, wrote us a note with some new
information and some of his thoughts on them as well. We'll share some of that
here.
Bill says he has heard reports
that some tunnels were located on or in the Cady Street area closer to the
river than the documented one.
Maybe one of our readers in that
area could offer some information. It's possible one or more homes in that area
have blocked up entrances to tunnels in their basements. That would be a tip
that tunnels did or still do exist in that area.
Bill also answered the question
of who actually constructed the tunnels at Cady and Church streets. He said the
answer was in one of C. Hugo Jacobi's columns which were originally published
in the Watertown Weltburger
in 1923. Those early reminiscences of Watertown were written in German and
published that year. A year later they were translated into English and were
published in this paper.
____________________________________________
Watertown Daily Times, 08 26 1998
This was kind of a sad week for those of us in the
community who are local history buffs.
The old tunnels on Church and Cady streets have been filled with a
concoction of cement, slurry and potash in an effort to prevent them from
caving in and causing injuries and/or major property damage and the potential
of lawsuits. It was inevitable that this
would be the ultimate end to the tunnels.
They couldn't go on forever, especially given the facts there is no use
for them today, access is extremely difficult and maintenance would be a
nightmare. So, with the rebuilding of
Cady Street from Church to Montgomery Street this summer, it seemed appropriate
that they be forever sealed at this time.
From the original German, Jannke said the rough translation would be "In 1858
Joseph Bursinger built an extra
large aging cellar in the hill where Louis Kusel
lives today. Many hundreds of barrels of beer were placed in these cellars to
lager or age."
We have the original abstract for
the Kusel property and it does show Bursinger purchased the house on Sept. 2, 1859 from one
John Finn. Then on Nov. 25, 1859 the deed notes that Bursinger
was given the authority to build the tunnels.
Here's basically what that
agreement said. Bursinger will be allowed to build
the east-west cellar as a passage to and from his other cellar (the north-south
section). So apparently the first section constructed was the north-south and
the east-west section came later.
Other requirements were that Bursinger had to construct a "flate"
entrance door on the east end of the sidewalk, that the tunnel must be built in
a "good and substantial manner" and in such a manner that sidewalk
could later be constructed according to grade and that the entrance be at grade
level.
Bursinger was also authorized to construct
three windpipes equal distance apart to provide the cellar with fresh air and
was required to be sure no water ran through the tunnels.
Bursinger was also bound to pay $500 in case
there was a failure. Well, it's 133 years later and the tunnels are still
intact. The construction must have been of high quality.
The abstract makes for
interesting reading. The first entry is
when the United States of America sold the land to James Rogan on Jan. 29,
1839, for a buck and a quarter an acre. Such a deal that was.
Bill, writing about Bursinger's tunnels, said, "It had always been my
thought that Bursinger was the builder because once
he bought out my great-great-grandfather Jacob Hoeffner's
brewery in 1854 he set about improving the plant and implementing large-scale
brewing techniques. The building of lagering cellars
would have been a natural step."
Bill also said he has been told
that at one time there were tunnels at the comer of East Water Street and
Oconomowoc Avenue. He said that is possible because the Joseph Hussa Brewery stood at that location from 1851 to 1871.
Maybe one of our readers would have some information on that possibility.
Cross Reference:
1962
01 14 Watertown is one of the cities
in southeastern Wisconsin which already have been examined by a representative
from the Civil Defense organization as possible fallout shelters in case of
nuclear attack. The survey is continuing. A representative of Civil Defense told the Times he was here to make a check and
asked for information regarding the old underground passages on the city’s west
side — in the North Church and West Cady Street district. He also made inquiries regarding the old underground brewery cellars in
the Memorial Park area [former Fuermann Brewery] which were used many years ago in the
lagering of beer.
He was told, however, that those cellars had been filled in when the
park was developed but he said he would seek a check on them, if possible.
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin