There was nothing particularly unique about the life of Lewis Bear, shown left. An immigrant from Germany in the mid-19th Century, he settled in the South and served with the Confederacy in the Civil War. He subsequently opened a liquor store in Alabama until prohibitionary laws forced a move to Pensacola, Florida. There he sold a wide range of merchandise, including alcoholic beverages, for the rest of his life. He is notable because the business he founded 144 years ago, The Lewis Bear Company, is still operating in Pensacola with Bear descendants at the helm.
The Bear family’s story began when the parents of Lewis, Moses and Esther Baderman Bar, were married in 1830 in Bavaria, Germany. They began a family in which Lewis in 1831 was the firstborn. Four more children would follow. Although laws prejudicial to them had been eased in the mid-19th Century opportunities for Jews in Bavaria were limited. When Lewis was about twenty, the family, now using the name “Bear” moved to the U.S., settling in Greenville, Butler County, Alabama.
Why Greenville was chosen is unclear. Most Jewish immigrants opted for big cities in the North. Originally named Buttsville, this was a modest-sized town, the center of a cotton farming region. During the 1850s the Mobile and Ohio Railroad constructed lines there, overnight making Greenville a railroad town and a center of commerce between Montgomery and south Alabama. The Bear family may have seen merchantile possibilities.
When the Civil War broke out, Lewis, now 32, joined the 33rd Alabama Infantry, a unit largely formed in 1862 from men in six counties in southeastern Alabama. The state flag flew over the regiment.  |
| Battle of Perryville |
IInitially assigned to the defense of forts in Pensacola Bay, the 33rd soon transferred to the Army of Tennessee where it first met hot combat at the Battle of Perryville in Kentucky. There the regiment took “horrific losses” — 82 precent casualties. That was followed by more losses at the Battle of Franklin where its numbers were reduced by another two-thirds. Nonetheless the 33rd held together until a final campaign in 1865. Lewis Bear apparently escaped being wounded despite the intense fighting.
Bear return from the war to marry a woman named Henrietta Kugelman, also an immigrant from Germany. According to federal census records, Henrietta was fourteen years younger than Lewis, possibly in her late teens when they wed. Despite her age, she proved to be an able helpmate to her husband. On her gravestone Henrietta was described as: “A dutiful daughter, a faithful wife, a loving mother.” A Pensacola newspaper posthumously called her one of the city’s “most prominent and valued citizens.” The couple would have five children, Morris, Sallye, Max Lee, Bertha and Jacob called “Jake.”
In this Reconstruction period Bear was making his way handsomely as a Greenville businessman, operating a liquor store. In his immediate post-war tax return (1866) he had reported a meager net income of $115.00. By 1870 Lewis was listed in the census owning property valued at $21,000 (today equivalent to $483,000) and Henrietta’s assets were $9,000 ($207,000). Their household at the time included two children; Lewis’ brother, sister and niece; Henrietta’s younger sister, and two domestic servants.
Five years later, however, the picture changed utterly as the drum beat for prohibition grew louder and more persistent in Alabama. The sign above shows brewer and distiller buzzards picking over the bones of the same blonde woman on the state flag shown earlier. The caption was unequivocal: “Having fatted on Alabama for 90 years it is now time for a change.” Under the state’s “local option” law Butler County voted to outlaw the making or sale of alcoholic beverages. Left high and definitely “dry,” Bear determined to leave Greenville. Likely remembering Pensacola from his soldiering days, he bundled up his household and the following year moved by train 120 miles south to that still “wet” Florida town on the Gulf of Mexico.
Bear had selected a city on the move. Much of Pensacola’s growth resulted from a boom in Florida’s lumbering industry, as markets for its pine went international. Saw mills expanded and ships from Europe visited the port daily to pick up lumber cargoes. While in port they needed provisions and repairs for the return trip, as well as food for their crews. Those seamen, joined by the mill hands and other workers, were a thirsty lot and saloons abounded in Pensacola.
Understanding the need for a broad-based wholesale house Bear in 1876 founded the merchantile establishment that was destined to become the oldest privately held corporation in Florida. His initial business was selling groceries and ship supplies, expanding to include building materials, animal feed, tobacco, general merchandise — and liquor, a product Lewis knew well. The interior store photo above gives an idea of the variety of goods Bear was selling, including whiskey.
Shown left is an 1882 ad for Lewis Bear & Co. that prominently mentions liquor from the firm’s address on Palafox Street opposite the Public Square. Ten years later, needing more space for its burgeoning sales, Lewis moved his enterprise to a new warehouse and headquarters at the corner of Palafox and Main Streets, shown below. It became known as the “Bear Block.” By this time Lewis had added an important business connection in Anheuser-Busch, franchised as its distributor for Budweiser and other products over a substantial area of Florida. The company has held the franchise for almost 130 years — currently Anheuser-Busch’s oldest continuous distributor.
The new building with its spacious interior opened opportunities for other innovations. In addition to selling alcoholic beverages, Bear appears to have been “rectifying,” that is, blending whiskeys bought by the barrel from distillers in Kentucky and elsewhere. He then would bottle them under proprietary (private) labels for sale. 
His flagship brand appears to have been “Albert Moore Pure Old Rye.” Bear packaged at least some of this brand in attractive ceramic flat-sided jugs that came in both brown and blue. As shown below, he issued a “bar token” featuring a quart bottle representation of Albert Moore Rye. It was worth 25 cents — equivalent today to $5.50 — on a $5 dollar purchase of his private brands. The company also would play express charges on mail orders.
Bear also featured proprietary brands of wine, a line he called “Don Carlos,” likely imported from California. He packaged his wines in glass containers of quart and larger sizes. Shown here is a half-gallon, two-handled glass jug bearing the Don Carlos name. The embossing on the bottle is truly impressive, representing grapes and grape leaves. It would have been significantly more expensive than a plain jug with a paper label. This artifact and his whiskey jugs indicate that the Bavarian immigrant had a definite sense of style.
Meanwhile Bear was staying true to his heritage as one of the 1876 founders of the first Jewish congregation in Florida, Temple Beth El. Most of its members, like Bear, were immigrants from Central Europe, chiefly Germany. A Reformed synagogue, it numbered businessmen and saloonkeeper among its flock. Bear also was known for his willingness to hire new Jewish arrivals in his business. Said one observer: “The company…was responsible for many future successful merchants whose careers began there.”
As they reached maturity, Bear brought his sons, one by one, into the company. The first was Morris Bear, shown right who was his father’s heir apparent. Morris was followed by Max Lee Bear who joined in 1888, only to leave for a period for military service in the Spanish American War. Max later would be elected mayor of Pensacola. The youngest Bear, Jake, would also be part of the picture as the company gradually narrowed its scope to becoming a major beer and beverage distributor in the Panhandle Region of Florida.
As he aged, Lewis Bear, left, increasingly turned business responsibilities over to his sons. His own health faltered and in July, 1895, at the age of 63, he died. Fittingly, he was buried in the cemetery of Temple Beth El, for which he had provided years of support. Lewis was buried next to Henrietta who had preceded him in death two years earlier. Over their joint graves the family erected two identical pillars resembling sturdy tree trunks. Each is inscribed with an appropriate verse.
Morris Bear served as president of the family company from 1901 until his death in 1928. His son, Lewis Bear, then became president. Lewis served until his retirement in 1973 and was followed by a nephew, Robert Kahn. Kahn was president for 15 years until his cousin, Lewis Bear Pollak, was named president in 1988. Pollak served as president for two years and was followed in 1990 by Lewis Bear Jr., who today serves as president of a company with several thousand clients and 225 employees. At 114 years it is the oldest family owned and operated corporation in Florida. The extraordinary legacy of Lewis Bear resides in the company longevity.
Note: The information for this post was gather from a variety of sources, principally the Lewis Bear Company website.
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