Whiskey Men Who Became Midwest Millionaires

Foreword:  During the 18th Century, more than a few distillers, whiskey rectifiers and wholesale dealers found that the profits made in making and selling liquor could be used profitably in other productive enterprises.  By canny investing some became “captains of industry” and exceedingly wealthy.  The Midwest, experiencing boom times after the Civil War, presented a particularly favorable economic climate.  Presented here briefly are three stories involving whiskey men in Illinois and Indiana.  

The Herget Brothers, John and George, enhanced the economy of Pekin, Illinois, through their enterprise and investments encompassing a variety of enterprises.  At the center of their local business conglomerate was making and selling whiskey.   A 1910 history of Illinois described the Hergets this way:   “The members of the family stand high in the social circles of the city, and are universally respected for worth and nobility of character.” 

The Hergets immigrated to the United States from Germany as young men, eventually settling in Pekin.  Shown here, John on left, about 1860 they opened a grocery store that specialized in liquor.  

Seeing whiskey as good investment, in the fall of 1888 the brothers built the Star Distillery in Pekin and two years later opened a second facility they called Crescent Distillery. Later selling both, with the proceeds they then erected the Globe Distillery, at the time the largest whiskey-making plant in Pekin, having the capacity to mashing 5,000 bushels of grain daily.

During the late 1890s the brothers shut down their grocery and liquor enterprises actively to pursue other business interests.  John was involved with the Pekin Steam Cooperage Company, Pekin Gas and Electric Light Company., Turner-Hudnut Grain firm, Globe Cattle Company, Farmer’s National Bank, a beet sugar factory, and was a large landowner in Tazewell County.  George was a major investor in the founding of the Illinois Sugar Refining Company; the Globe Cattle Company, and the Pekin Stave and Barrel Manufacturing Company, of which he was president. In 1905, with sons Henry and William, he founded the Herget & Sons Bank, shown right.  Whiskey had fueled their business success.

Born into an immigrant Scottish family, brothers Thomas, James and John Gaff found opportunity in America’s midsection to create a commercial empire of extraordinary size and breadth. The Gaff saga began in 1811 when parents James and Margaret Wilson Gaff pulled up stakes in Edinburgh, Scotland and immigrated to the United States with their three-year-old son, Thomas.  The family settled first in New Jersey where son James was born in 1817 and John in 1820. Far from wealthy, the brothers from early on honed their skills in the mercantile trade.

After an initial move to Pennsylvania where the Gaffs ran a profitable general store and distilling operation, they were enticed to move to Aurora, a small town in along the Ohio River in southeastern Indiana, by an offer of free land and tax incentives.  With James Gaff, shown here, in the lead, upon arrival the Gaffs almost immediately built a distillery near town on the banks of Hogan’s Creek, a waterway that emptied into the Ohio River.  This distillery eventually produced rye, bourbon, and a scotch-type whiskey that the brothers dubbed “Thistle Dew.” The brothers called their facility  “T. and J. W. Gaff & Co.”  By 1850 it had become one of the largest distilleries in the United States.  An illustration of the complex in the 1800s shows its growth and proximity to the Ohio River.

The success of their whiskey-making spurred the brothers to build a brewery in Aurora, stretching for 300 feet along Market Street, an enterprise they called the Crescent Brewing Company.  With their access to the Ohio River multiplying products, it was almost natural that the Gaffs would gravitate to shipping.  They built and owned a fleet of steamboats,  

Founded on revenues from distilling  and brewing,  Gaff Brother investments came to encompass the Fleischmann Yeast Company,  Indiana grain and hog farms, a Louisiana plantation, a silver mine in Nevada, turnpike construction, railroad financing, banking, and a factory that reputedly produced the world’s first ready-made breakfast cereal.  An 1880 history of Indiana's eminent and self-made men captured Thomas Gaff's wide range of interests, both business and philanthropic, noting:  “His executive ability is remarkable. No transaction within the range of his complicated affairs escapes his observation.   

Crawford Fairbanks, shown here as a young man, has been characterized as a poor boy with limited education who studied by candle light.  A Union soldier during the Civil War, Fairbanks returned to Terre Haute, Indiana to start a grain business that soon transitioned to distilling.  After a number of false starts, explosions and fires in his facilities in 1884 he turned to John H. Beggs, a distillery executive from Peoria, for help. Together they organized the Terre Haute Distilling Co., that ultimately would be accounted the world’s largest of the time.  In time Fairbanks became immensely wealthy,  owning the Terre Haute Brewing Company, a strawboard factory, Terre Haute’s principal newspaper, and paper mills in Massachusetts, Chicago and New York.  

Additionally, Fairbanks liked owning hotels, buying the Terre Haute House, shown above;  the Denison Hotel in Indianapolis; and co-owning the French Lick Springs Hotel, a resort popular for its warm springs and reputed healing waters. He also was principal investor in Indiana Sonora Copper & Mining Co., and president of the Terre Haute Water Works and Terre Haute Street Railway Co.  At the time of his death Crawford also was the principal owner of the Standard Wheel Co. and president and major stockholder of Wabash Realty & Loan Co., that held title to most of his real estate, including several farms where he raised race horses.   

May 1924 obituaries of Crawford Fairbanks ran in newspapers throughout Indiana and beyond.  One state journal hailed him as “Indiana’s greatest financial genius.”  Another newspaper declared him “Indiana’s Richest Man.”  What too frequently was ignored was the original driving source of Fairbanks' wealth and enterprises — making and selling whiskey.  

Note:  Longer profiles of each of these men may be found posted on this blog.  Herget Brothers:  June 5, 2018;  Gaff Brothers, July 8, 2018;  and Crawford Fairbanks, June 13, 2018.  There also is a vignette on J. C. Beggs and his family, Oct. 17, 2017.

How the Hergets Shaped Pekin, Illinois

                                   

The Hergets, two immigrant brothers from Germany and their sons, enhanced the economy of Pekin through their enterprise and investments encompassing eight decades.  At the center of their local business empire was making and selling whiskey.  Nonetheless, a 1910 history of Illinois described the Hergets this way:   “The members of the family stand high in the social circles of the city, and are universally respected for worth and nobility of character.” 

The Herget brothers, John and George, hailed from Hergershausen, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, the sons of Philip and Margaret (Reuling) Herget.  Their mother died while both boys were very young. Their father married again and had five more children. A former soldier, Philip was a wagon-maker who taught both sons the trade. 

John, born in 1830, was the first to immigrate to the United States, arriving in 1849 and finding his way to Gettysburg where he was engaged by a local wagon-maker.  His brother, George, born in 1933, followed three years later sailing from Le Harve, France.  He joined John in Gettysburg and was employed in the same wagon factory.

After a year George in 1853 decided to move west, traveling via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.  He fetched up in Pekin, Tazewell County, Illinois, where he took a job with a local retail grocer.  Shown above, Pekin was a city with a large German population where George would have felt comfortable.  John lagged behind.  He had fallen in love with Ernestine Schreck, who had been born in Saxony near Saxe-Weimar.  After they wed in Gettysburg, John with his new bride joined George in Pekin.  John and Ernestine would go on to have eight children, five girls and three boys.  George Herget was married in Pekin in 1861 to Caroline Goehner, a native of Pekin and the daughter of George Goehner, characterized as an old settler and prominent farmer of Tazewell County.  This couple would have four children, two sons and two daughters.  

About 1860 (dates differ) the brothers opened their own grocery business on Court Street, called J. & G. Herget.  From the outset an emphasis was on liquor sales. Meeting with rapid success, by 1870 the brothers erected a store twice the size of their original quarters.  It was located diagonally northwest from their first site and provided ample space for their wholesale grocery and liquor business.  The profits allowed the brothers — shown here, John is left — to branch out into other enterprises.

Key among those investments were distilleries.  In the fall of 1888 the Hergets built the Star Distillery in Pekin and two years later opened a second they called the Crescent Distillery.  In 1892 the family sold its interest in both plants to Samuel Woolner, one of the founders of the Illinois-based “Whiskey Trust.”  With the proceeds they erected the Globe Distillery, at the time the largest distilling facility in Pekin, having a capacity of mashing 5,000 bushels of grain daily.

By this time the Herget brothers had been joined by their sons in their enterprises.  George’s son, Henry, born in 1833, had been educated in both private and public schools in Pekin before being sent for secondary education at Elmhurst, Illinois.  Upon his return Henry, shown right, worked in the Herget brothers grocery, rising to manager.  In 1890 he was entrusted with supervising the erection of the Crescent Distilling Company and became its president.

John’s son, Carl, while following a slightly different career path, also was employed to further the family liquor interests.  Born in 1865, he was educated in local schools and subsequently entered the employ of J & G Herget.  After continuing there for some years, Carl, shown left, was dispatched to Mexico to look after his father’s extensive mining interests. Upon his return to Pekin he worked for the Star Distillery until it was sold and then supervised the construction of the Globe Distillery.  He managed that facility even after its 1898 sale to the Standard Distilling and Distributing Company. 

Having shut down their grocery and liquor business about 1891, the Herget brothers were free to pursue their many other business interests.  John was involved with the Pekin Steam Cooperage Company, Pekin Gas and Electric Light Company., Turner-Hudnut Grain firm, Globe Cattle Company, Farmer’s National Bank, the beet sugar factory, and was a large landowner in Tazewell County.  George was a major investor in the founding of the Illinois Sugar Refining Company; the Globe Cattle Company, and the Pekin Stave and Barrel Manufacturing Company, of which he was president. In 1905, with sons Henry and William, he founded the Herget & Sons Bank, shown right.

Additionally, the Herget brothers were active in Pekin’s community life.  John, a Republican, at various times was a city alderman, county supervisor, and mayor of Pekin in 1874 and 1875.  George served as alderman, supervisor, and a member of the Pekin Board of Education. He was elected the first president of the Pekin Park District.  He also assisted the city’s efforts to open a public library by contributing the land for the building.  Both men were among the founders of St. Paul’s Evangelical Church, shown here, and accounted generous contributors to its work.

Said to be “a man of stalwart physique” with excellent habits and good health, John Herget reputedly was struck down in September 1899 by malaria, a disease that was believed to have caused paralysis, causing his death at the age of 69.  In obituary it was said of this Herget:  “His life furnished an example to be emulated by all who wish to attain ideals of honest and manly citizenship.”  George lived another 15 years, dying at 80 in 1914.  “…His position in the financial world has been reached only by the exercise of sound business principles and unswerving integrity,” said one account.  John and George both are buried in Pekin’s Lakeside Cemetery, their gravestones shown here.

As the fathers moved off-stage, the Herget sons ably filled their roles in Pekin.  Henry became the president of Pekin Gas and Electric and secretary and general manager of Pekin Stave.  He also was vice president of the Doud Stock Car Company, an enterprise operating 2,000 train cars for hauling livestock. He also had interests in beet sugar, a paper mill, two wagon companies, a leather product manufacturer, a race track, a daily newspaper, and large timber holdings.  Stricken with a stroke at 77, he died in 1943.  Of him an obituary said:  “Henry G. Herget was the builder of modern industrial Pekin.  Many believe that if he had not lived, Pekin would be a town of less 10,000 today, instead of the thriving, industrial city of 20,000.”

Henry’s first cousin, Carl, was equally involved in Pekin’s industrial life.  While continuing to manage the Globe Distillery even after its sale, he also was director of many of the enterprises fostered by his father and uncle as well as of the American Brewing Company, a Pekin brewery founded in 1900. He also was a large landowner in Tazewell County.

This Herget is best remembered in Pekin for his mansion built in 1912 at 420 Washington Street.  Now on the Register of Historic Places, the house, shown here, was designed in the Classical Revival style and occupies the land of entire city block.  Carl Herget died in 1946 at age 80 and is buried with other family members in Lakeside Cemetery.

The importance of the Herget family to Pekin can hardly be overestimated during the period of eighty years when they were actively involved with the city’s economy and growth.  Although little spoken of at the time, it is important to remember that profits from distilling and liquor sales fueled the growth of their Illinois business empire.