Office and Bottling Works - Red Lodge Brewery/Red Lodge Cannery Historic District - Red Lodge, MT - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

View waymark gallery

Office and Bottling Works - Red Lodge Brewery/Red Lodge Cannery Historic District - Red Lodge, MT

in NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings

Posted by:  T0SHEA

12T E 637822 N 5006217

Built as a bottling plant in the Red Lodge Brewing Company, this building lived the majority of its life as office space for the Red Lodge Canning Company.

This, the second building on the site of the Red Lodge Brewing Company, was initially the brewery's bottling plant and office. Opened in 1912, the brewery closed in 1921, three years after the beginning of prohibition.

In January 1912, the Red Lodge Brewing Company introduced their first beer called "The Rosebud. Purest and Best of All." Their advertisement declared "We Use Only the Best of Everything in the preparation of our product. For example, Red Lodge Water, purest on earth. What can prevent us from making pure Beer?"

Another promotional advertisement claimed that "'Rosebud' bottled beer and the famous keg beer turned out at our modern and up-to-date plant is winning favor everywhere" due to "pure water, the best malt and a thorough brewing process."38 "Montana Bud -Pure and Wholesome" became their most popular brand. The last beer brewed prior to prohibition was "Glacier Beer - It's the Water."
From the NRHP Continuation Sheet

The good times lasted for a few years, then The Volstead Act became law on January 1, 1918, shutting down this and all other breweries in the country. After making "Near Beer" and soft drinks for a time, the brewery was closed permanently in 1921.

On March 11,1926, the Red Lodge Canning Company incorporated, taking over the old Red Lodge Brewing Company and opening a pea cannery. At that time a three-story brick and frame addition was made to the brewery to house new canning equipment. Becoming a major employer in Red Lodge, the cannery operated continuously until 1975. With peas as the main product canned, the cannery also tried other vegetables, such as beans, beets and carrots, but from 1930 on few other vegetables were canned. With a small permanent staff, ranging from six to fourteen, in later years the cannery employed from 200 to 300 persons during canning time. Initially about 50 days in length, in later years the cannery was able to lengthen the canning season to 75 days. Though the cannery remained open for nearly half a century, perhaps it shouldn't have. Witness the following:

"To tell you the truth, it [the cannery] never should have started in the first place. Red Lodge was the world's worst place to have a canning operation." Some of the reasons cited for this claim include "a short growing season, thin soil, high altitude, the long distance from market, and the high freight costs of supplies."55 The company also had financial difficulties early on when Mr. Myers absconded with some of its capital. During the 1930s, the cannery suffered a loss for several years but continued to operate.
From the NRHP Continuation Sheet

Office and Bottling Works

Office and Bottling Works (constructed in 1911,
one contributing building

The Red Lodge Brewery Office and Bottling Works, later the cannery office, is situated directly east of the main brewery building and oriented towards East 2nd Street. The Northern Pacific Railway spur line tracks ran between the brewery and the office, and terminated at the south end of these buildings. Historic photographs reveal the historic appearance and character of this building have been wonderfully preserved.

This one-story masonry building sits on a high concrete foundation and has a full basement. Daylight four-over-four basement windows pierce the foundation walls and correspond with windows on the main floor. The roof has a slight pitch from south to north. Parapets highlighted by corbelling and capped with rowlock brick coping stand above the south and west walls. The east wall has a stepped unadorned parapet.

Pilasters and belt courses on the south and west walls reflect similar patterning as the brewery building. Five pilasters define the south wall with three paired four-over-four double-hung windows centered between the pilasters. A horizontal double belt course extends across the upper portion of the wall, across the pilasters. Both the parapet and pilasters share corbelling.
From the NRHP Registration Form