After writing some 1,050 posts for this website I have discovered is that it is very often the mid-sized or small cities are the most likely to celebrate their liquor-related enterprises of the past, while large cities often ignore them. As a result we are indebted to the Watertown, Wisconsin, Historical Society for preserving photos of C.A. Feisst & Company, Fine Liquors.
A city of about 23,000 located about half way between Milwaukee and Madison, the capitol, Watertown largely was settled by English Episcopalians, German Catholics and Lutherans, none them with any strictures against the moderate use of alcohol. As a result C.A. Feisst, a youthful immigrant from Switzerland, had a receptive customer base both for wholesale and retail liquor. The company flagship was “Roland Rye.”
Located at 202 N. Third Street in Watertown, Feisst began business early in the 1890s with a partner, Simon Molzhahn, an immigrant from Germany. The company featured both liquor and imported wine lines. The Watertown Historical Society has preserved a photo of the establishment that also likely held a saloon. Shown below, the sidewalk at the site impressively displayed at least 25 barrels of whiskey.
A Society photo of the business interior is equally interesting. It shows additional barrels both stored on the floor of the store and on a rack at the right side of the picture. Those barrels had been tapped, allowing the contents to be decanted into jugs or bottles. Molzhahn, also shown in portrait, is at far left, next to the bookkeeper-cashier’s cage, an office found only in larger whiskey wholesalers. Eventually Molzhahn would withdraw from the partnership, leaving Feisst as sole proprietor.
The liquor house apparently was a success, epitomized by the serving tray shown below. Entitled “The Dice Throwers,” the picture is of four men gambling in a saloon. Each is distinguished by his clothing. From left are a cowboy wearing a ten gallon hat, a gambler with a fancy cravat who has rolled the dice, a Union cavalry veteran still wearing his uniform, and a woodsman sporting a coonskin cap and buckskin jacket. The tray seems to have been specially made for Feisst, bearing a wall sign advertising the company and displaying a bottle of his flagship brand. One commentator has noted: “For a company to produce a piece like this C.A. Feisst Wholesale Liquor Dealer serving tray, they had to have a significant business.”
As shown above, Feisst also commissioned other trays with standard designs. For example, the woman and horse format was widely used by liquor dealers across America. Although I have never seen the flower tray before, my guess is that it too was a standard offering. Those would have been given to saloons, restaurants and hotels carrying Feisst’s whiskey and other products. As shown below, The Watertown dealer also provided wholesale customers with shot glasses advertising “Roland Rye.”
Feisst was not a distiller. Rather he was obtaining his whiskeys from the National Distilling Company, located down the road in Milwaukee. National Distilling had its roots in a distillery launched in 1868 by German immigrant William Bergenthal with his brother August. [See my post on the Bergenthals, September 1, 2014]. Eventually the Bergenthals were implicated in the Whiskey Ring. August took the rap, spent minimal time in a Milwaukee jail, and emerged to co-found National Distilling. Shown here, the building still stands, used for other purposes.
In addition to his liquor business, Feisst was also was involved as a co-owner and navigating officer of a local steam-driven launch that plied the Rock River, a three hundred mile long waterway that flows through Wisconsin and Illinois into the Mississippi River. Accommodating a dozen persons, the boat was twenty-two feet long, powered by an eight horse-power engine and propelled by a steam wheel. Top speed was eight miles an hour. The craft was used to take Watertown residents and tourists on scenic cruises. One observer described the trip as “most delightful and picturesque.”
Feisst also had a family life. Born in 1875 and originally from Madison, Feisst had moved to Watertown about 1890 where he met Verena Hahn, described as “a young lady of accomplishments and possessed of both charm and grace.” She hailed from a wealthy local family. The same newspaper story called Charles “pleasant, active and energetic” and noted that “…During his brief residence among us has become popular in the community.” They married on April 25, 1893, at St. Henri’s Catholic Church. Following a honeymoon to the famed 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the couple returned Watertown to produce six children during the ensuing 14 years, two girls and four boys. Unusual for that era, all six children survived infancy to live long lives. Two sons became Catholic priests.
Feisst’s Company remained in business until the imposition of National Prohibition in 1920 forced its closing. In the interim, Feisst became recognized as a leading Watertown businessman. He helped establish the Wisconsin National Bank and served on its board of directors. After Prohibition was enacted Feisst is recorded in local directories working as a salesman. Although he lived to see the ban on alcohol repealed, he declined to reenter the liquor trade.
After Verena’s death in 1937, and with only one of their children still living inWatertown, Feisst moved to Spokane, Washington, where his two priest sons resided, and moved in with one. He after died in a hospital there two year later at the age of 70 and was buried in Spokane’s Holy Cross Cemetery. Eventually both his sons would join him there.
Note: This post was instigated by seeing the Feisst serving tray of four men, shown above, a unique whiskey artifact. Information came from a number of sources, including a May 2018 internet article by Randy Huetsch and from the Watertown Historical Society photo collection. Unfortunately I have been unable to find a picture of Charles Feisst but am hoping a descendant will see this post and be able to supply one.
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