Foreword: On May 10, 1914, this website featured a post that featured “whiskey man” Frederick Renziehausen, who began his career as a junior partner in a Pittsburgh liquor house. Since then the vignette has garnered more than 3,500 “look-ins.” Subsequently I discovered that the senior member of that partnership, Henry Schuetz, also deserves attention. This post is devoted to Henry and revealing “the rest of the story.”
Shown here, Henry Schuetz was born in 1850 in Pittsburgh, the son of Carolina Theobald and Johannes Heinrich Schutz, both immigrants from Germany. His father was a tavern owner while his mother acted as hostess for guests staying at the hostelry. As a result, the boy grew up immersed in the liquor trade while apparently receiving ample education. The 1870 census found him in Pittsburgh at 20 living with his parents and acting as the tavern bookkeeper. His 17-year-old brother, August, was a bartender.
In 1873, at age 23, Henry married Rose Bihlman, of a similar age, the daughter of German immigrants. Some accounts erroneously have them siring eleven children, although more reliable sources suggest five, four daughters and one son. It may have been these growing family responsibilities that caused Henry to strike out on his own. In 1879, he opened a wholesale liquor business at 100-102 Market Street in Pittsburgh. With him as a “junior partner” was Frederick Renziehausen.
From the beginning their liquor enterprise appears to have been successful. After 14 years at the original address the Schuetz, Renziehausen Company in 1905 was able to move into the building shown here. At eight stories, all apparently devoted to the whiskey trade, it was an imposing edifice at 427 Liberty Avenue. There the partners were able to blend several of their proprietary brands including “Crusader Whiskey,” “Drink a Little Sarge,” and “Liberty 427.”
The company’s flagship was “Diamond Monogram Pure Rye,” a brand registered with the U.S. Trademark Office in March 1890. Shown here the stylish label included a red monogram on a green background that claimed that the whiskey was “copper distilled.” The monogram, as shown below magnified on a pint whiskey bottle, entwined Schuetz’s “S” with Renziehausen’s “R,” seemingly symbolizing the close relationship of the partners. The situation, however, was more complicated than the monogram.
Just four years after teaming with Schuetz, Renziehausen purchased an interest in a distillery owned by Henry Large located near West Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, about 18 miles south of Pittsburgh. During the lifetime of the owner, the liquor dealer is said never to have interfered in the making of Large’s whiskey or its merchandising. When Large died in 1895, however, Renziehausen purchased from his estate the farm, distillery, recipe for the whiskey, and the right to use the name “Large.” Now the sole owner, Renziehausen in 1897 set about vigorously to modernize and expand the facilities. He also began a campaign to make his product known wherever rye whiskey was being exhibited, seldom missing an opportunity to show his wares at world expositions in the U.S. and overseas.. Although he had a partner in name, Schuetz now was required to bear the management burden of their liquor house virtually alone.
He seems not to have “missed a beat.” I am particularly impressed with an ad that the Schuetz issued that is both well conceived and humorous. It depicts an elderly gentleman with a twinkle in his eye dressed as an Amish farmer holding a quart bottle of Diamond Monogram Pure Rye — an image that reflects the product’s Pennsylvania origins and age. Similar good taste was on view in trade cards Schuetz issued for Diamond Monogram. The one featuring the rose reads on the reverse: “Good heath is best preserved by the proper and careful use of good Whiskey, and when Diamond Monogram is partaken it helps digestion and drives away dull care.”
The wholesale liquor dealer also featured shot glasses that would have been given to saloons, restaurants and hotels using company products. The majority of those shots advertised Diamond Monogram, a whiskey that under Schuetz's management had become highly popular in Pennsylvania and beyond. From a 1929 court document: “…The firm enjoyed the patronage of the most substantial retailers in the territory in which it did business.”
All this came to a screeching halt with the imposition of National Prohibition in January 1920. Despite Schuetz’ efforts to sell off company stocks before the deadline, considerable liquor was still on hand. The merchandise, according to court documents, included brandies, cordials, gins, wines and other liquors. Although there was a market for “medicinal” whiskey with wholesale and retail druggists who were allowed to sell it under prescription, the druggists could not buy or sell these other classes of drink.
In another effort to dispose of liquor stocks, Schuetz, accompanied by his wife Rose, embarked to Europe as other merchants were doing, Shown here in a passport photo, the couple on August 12, 1922, traveled to Germany, Switzerland, France, England and Belgium. The purpose of the trip was underscored by a letter from the State Department authorizing Schuetz to be listed as a “liquor merchant” on official documents. The trip may not have been as successful as the couple desired. Schuetz returned still holding substantial quantities of alcohol.
In desperation Schuetz obtained a permit from the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to donate stocks to hospitals that had been authorized a specific quota of whiskey. Although he scrambled to make contact with those institutions, the process was laborious and consumed months. When this method of liquidation took too long, impatient Federal authorities decreed in 1925 that the remaining stocks be destroyed. Accordingly, all of the company’s remaining liquor was dumped into the sewers of the Liberty Avenue building under Government supervision. The scene is replicated here in a stock photo.
His liquor gone, Schuetz retired. After Rose died in 1927 he lived with his widowed daughter, Carrie, and her two daughters until his passing in 1930 at age 82. His death certificate cited the cause as blood poisoning, the result of a burst appendix. After a funeral ceremony at his home, Henry was buried in Allegheny Cemetery next to Rose, Section 28, Lot 43. A newspaper obituary called Schuetz simply “a pioneer resident.” It did not mention his alcohol -based lifetime.
Note: This post was fashioned from a wide range of sources. Of particular note were Schuetz’s obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, court documents, and genealogical sites.
No comments:
Post a Comment