A Jewish immigrant from Germany, likely escaping discriminatory laws, Herman Obernauer found a life of respect and community service as a liquor dealer in America. Four times he was chosen by his fellow Pennsylvania Democrats as a presidential elector. Caricatured in a book of prominent Pittsburgh citizens, this whiskey man was recognized by residents of his adopted city for his frequent invocation: “My word is as good as my bond.”
Herman Obernauer was born in Wurttemberg, Germany, in 1856. He received the usual rigorous German early education before going to work as a traveling salesman in his late teens. He also served some time in the Prussian army. Those experiences may have convinced him that a better future awaited across the Atlantic. In 1880 at the age of 24, Obernauer immigrated to the United States, settling in Pittsburgh.
By 1884 he had saved sufficient money working as a bookkeeper to open a saloon at 395 Fifth Avenue. There Obernauer also sold liquor at retail and soon decided that it was more profitable and less trouble to become a liquor wholesaler. By 1886 he had made the switch. His early address at 349 Fifth Avenue is said to have provided: “All the requisite facilities for conducting business on a large scale….A heavy trade with Pittsburgh, Allegheny and all the surrounding sections of the country is carried on.”
After having established himself in Pittsburgh, Herman found time to be married. His bride was Bertha Dinch, the daughter of Frederick and Martha Dinch of Allegheny City. They would have three children, Olga, Arthur and Harold. Harold would become a prominent local lawyer and head of the Allegheny County Bar Association.
After eight years at his original location the growth of his business required Obernauer to move to 1400 Fifth Street at the corner of Stevenson. The building, shown left in an illustration and below in a photograph was three stories. Its location on a major Pittsburgh intersection allowed Obernauer to paint large bottles of his trademarked liquor on the side. Note too the show windows that allowed passerby to see displays of whiskey bottles stacked four-high.
Among his brands, Obernauer featured “Belle of Pittsburgh Rye,” “Obernauer XXX 1885 Whiskey,” and “H.E. Brown Gin.” He also offered proprietary “Berthana Medicated Wine,” and “Dr. Michael Cox Bitters,” both advertised to have beneficial health effects. Like most liquor wholesalers he provided advertising items to the saloons, hotels and restaurants offering his products. Those giveaways included artistically etched shot glasses and back-of-the-bar bottles. While one glass here claims Obernauer was a “distiller” in reality he was a “rectifier,” someone buying whiskeys from Pennsylvania distilleries and blending them to achieve desired color, smoothness and flavor.
Quoth he: If there’s any snide dealer around,
Right away he had better abscond,
For the man who sells liquor to proof should be bound,
That his word is as good as his bond.
In his prose essay on Obernauer Burgoyne gives attention to the whiskey man’s participation in politics: “He…works zealously for the success of his party, attending all the conventions and consistently using his voice and influence in support of Democratic candidates and principles.” The author does not mention that on four occasions his fellow party members chose Obernauer for the singular honor of being a Presidential elector, twice for winners, Woodrow Wilson (1916) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932), and twice for losers, James J. Cox (1920) and Al Smith (1928).
Not everything, however, was coming up roses for Obernauer. In 1887 Pennsylvania state legislation known as “The Brooks Law,” incited by prohibitionists, made it highly expensive to be in the liquor business. The annual license fee was set at $1,100, nearly $25,000 in today’s dollar. That and an adverse decision from a judge caused Obernauer and other Pittsburgh liquor wholesalers to move 40 miles west to Steubenville, Ohio. From there they could send liquor by rail to Pittsburgh and avoid the fees. In 1889 the state recanted because of the lost revenue. Obernauer and the others moved back to Pittsburgh.
A second law, called the “Wholesale Law of 1891,” allowed public comment on the renewal of liquor licenses. In 1893, a “dry” advocate asked a local court to revoke Obernauer’s license because one of his drivers had been caught selling individual bottles of liquor off his truck. The law allowed wholesalers to sell only in large quantities. Obernauer claimed the driver sold without his permission and that he had fired him. The challenge failed.
Such forms of harassment, however, appeared to alert Obernauer that the tide had turned against the liquor trade and that National Prohibition was a likely outcome. In 1915 at the age of 59 he sold his liquor house. The word “retirement,” however,was not in his lexicon. By that time Obernauer had become a director of Merchant’s Savings and Trust Company, a bank located down the street from his store. That association led him into the real estate business. It would be Herman’s occupation for the rest of his life.
Obernauer also had time to engage in the great American pastime of inventing things. With a friend he patented a “foldable structure that can be advantageously used by campers, tourists and others as stool, table or other support.” Unfortunately I have been unable to locate the patent application with a drawing of this seemingly useful device.
In 1928, Bertha, Obernauer’s wife of many years, died and was buried in Pittsburgh’s West View Cemetery aka Rodef Shalom. A widower, Herman moved to the Arlington Apartments at Central Avenue and Aiken in Pittsburgh, living with his lawyer son, Harold. Obernauer’s later years allowed him to enjoy his three grandchildren and eventually three great grandchildren. At the advanced age of 91 Herman died in February 1947 and was buried next to Bertha. As a final tribute to this immigrant “whiskey man” who contributed so much to his adopted country, another verse from Burgoyne seems appropriate:
The path of fair dealing he never forsakes,
And he needs not a magical wand,
To establish of the statement he makes,
That his word is as good as his bond.
Note: The information and photos in this vignette came from two principal sources: 1. Obernauer Family Papers and Photographs, Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center, and 2.“The Ongoing History of Pittsburgh: The City at Eye-level.” Burgoyne’s book is entitled: “All Sorts of Pittsburgers: Sketched in Prose and Verse,” 1892. Each of these references is available online.
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