Oakbrook Brewing Company - Reading, PA
Posted by: 
Janila
N 40° 19.006 W 075° 56.100
18T E 420558 N 4463334
Despite a neighborhood organization's appeal which went the whole way to the state Supreme Court, a brew pub was opened in the former Oakbrook Fire Station in the Millmont neighborhood in Reading, PA.
Waymark Code: WM104KN
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 02/25/2019
Views: 2
The Oakbrook Fire Station, a member of the Reading City Fire Department, closed its doors in 2010. At that time, the plan was to tear down the fire station and turn it into a parking lot. But then, Kyle Neuheimer saw the empty building and immediately knew that he wanted to make this the home for his dream of building a brewpub. He fell in love with the building for both its historical importance and its interesting architecture.
The neighbors next door, the Oakbrook Neighborhood Association, had other ideas and filed a lawsuit against Neuheimer which went all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Two years after the beginning of the suit, the Supreme Court ruled in Neuheimer's favor and the next portion of his dream began as he remodeled the old fire station into a comfortable and welcoming spot to stop and sample his beers. After restoration to make the building look like it did in the 1930s and keeping the firehouse theme, Neuheimer opened the doors to his Oakbrook Brewing Company in September 2015. (
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A little background about the fire department can be found at (
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"Built in 1905, the Oakbrook Fire Company station was not originally part of the city of Reading. Members of the village of Oakbrook built the volunteer fire station for their community. Locals donated everything from bricks to the horses that drew the horse drawn fire engine,
The first two horses used at the fire company were Joe and Dan. Neuheimer plans to name two beers in their honor.
The city consolidated the Liberty and Oakbrook stations in 2010 into a single facility at 101 Lancaster Avenue. The building was structurally in good shape, and the volunteer firefighters wanted the building to be part of the community again. In fact, many former volunteer firefighters still live in the neighborhood.
Seeing the possibilities, Neuheimer purchased the building"
The Oakbrook Brewing Company, in addition to serving its own craft beers, also serves food and places a lot of emphasis on vegan meals. Visit the pub from Tuesday thru Friday from 3-11, Saturday from 12-11 and Sunday from 12-9.