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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. M. 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