AUGUSTA BREWING COMPANY

1888
Augusta, Georgia

How it began.how it ended

by John Douglas Herman Sr., Great-Grandson of Edward W. Herman
(Oct. 1, 2015)
{This historical documentary supersedes others I wrote in that new
research of the Pank and Herman relationship in Louisville Ky gave
rise to the original initiative to build the brewery.}

The War Ends: 1865 Herman and Pank, Maltsters of

Louisville, Ky. and Chicago, Ill.

The beginnings of Augusta Brewing Company of 1888

(Augusta, Ga.) trace its roots to two friends and business
partners, John Henry Pank Jr. (b.1853) and Edward William
Herman (b. 1840). Panks parents came to America from
Hanover, Germany and settled in Louisvlle, Ky. when he
was an infant. Herman had served The Union in The War
Between the States and mustered out in Louisville in the
year 1865 at age 25.
In fact many troops mustered out in Louisville in 1865
and that gave rise to Schad & Yaeger Brewery which
flourished at that time. This brewery created a great
demand for main ingredients in beer making malt, barley,
and hops.
Earlier in 1861, John Englen was the first maltster of
Louisville, Ky. and by 1865 his malting company John
Engeln & Co. was at full capacity and at that time Herman
became identified with the company. In 1869 Herman was
admitted to partnership.
The E.W. Herman & Co. came into existence when
John Englen retired in 1874 and took over the malting
business. The E.W. Herman Company evolved into The
Kentucky Malting Company when in 1876 Herman
consolidated his company with the Stein & Doern Malt
House of Louisville. John Panks father was manager of the
S&D house. In 1873, Pank Srs son John had also joined
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the S&D house and soon became its manager. Edward

Herman was President of Kentucky Malting Company.
Edward married Mary Louise Bindewald of the highly
respected Bindewald family of Louisville.
About the year of 1873, 20 year old John Pank Jr.
married Ophelia Doern, the daughter of Kentucky
Colonel Philip Doern who was a very wealthy capitalist in
Louisville. Years earlier Doern had also emigrated from
Germany.
Thus Edward Herman and John Pank became
combined forces and became business partners. It is valid
conjecture that the Doern as well as the Pank wealth was
used to expand the Kentucky Malting Co. that began with
a capacity of one hundred and fifty thousand bushels of
malt, then constructed a new building with a new capacity
of half a million bushels.
After The War Thirsty Veterans
Breweries as well as distilleries sprung up all over
Kentucky greatly increasing demand for rye, corn malt, as
well as barley malt. All items were added to Kentucky
Malting Companys product line.
John Panks father Ky. Col J. Henry Pank Sr. was a
politically strong player on the governors staff of Luke P.
Blackburn who was governor from 1879 to 1883. Pank Sr.
continued in the malt business and in 1884 went to
Chicago and purchased the Northwestern Malting
Companys works from C.W. Boynton while still
maintaining his position of secretary and treasurer of
Kentucky Malting Company at Louisville.
In the late 1800s, a new malt company organized,
composed largely of the many brewers of Louisville under
the name Kentucky Malt and Grain Company. Herman and
Pank obviously had sold their malt venture to the
conglomerate and moved on to The Augusta Brewing Co.
and Pank & Co. Maltster in Chicago.
Maltsers to Brewers:
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It was a natural thing that business partners Edward

Herman and John Pank would seek the opportunity to
become involved in the rapidly expanding brewing
business in the new South. Kentucky being already
saturated with breweries the two sought other sites and
settled on Augusta, Georgia.
In the mid-1880s Edward Herman had visited Augusta
and affable Mayor Patrick Walsh welcomed him with open
arms. There was a persistent rumor of prohibition coming
to Georgia so Herman met with Georgia Governor John
Gordon who assured Herman that prohibition would never
come to Georgia.
Relying on that assurance, Herman and Pank decided
to proceed with constructing a brewery in Augusta Ga.
and it opened in 1888.

Both Herman and Pank were at that time still heavily

involved in the malting operations in both Louisville and
Chicago and neither were able to move to Augusta to
operate the brewery. The two decided to hire 36 year old
August J. Schweers (b. 1852) who was a shoe salesman for
Manus Shoe Company of Cincinnati. A.J. Schweers had
married E.W. Hermans sister-in-law Petronella Bindewald.
Schweers moved to Augusta and ran the start-up brewing
operation as its first president. The articles of
incorporation of Augusta Brewing Company were signed in
Oct. 1888 (Richmond County Book 1888 folio 11) and
petitioners listed are John Pank; Edward Herman; and
August Schweers. It was capitalized at $50,000 issuing
500 shares at $100 per share. Again Pank was from a
wealthy family and had married into the Doern wealth so
he was obviously the financial strength behind the venture
while Herman with greater business experience was the
main driver of the enterprise.
Presidents of Augusta Brewing Co. 1888:
1. August J. Schweers

{term 1888-1894}

(Reported in Augusta Chronicle he died 1894 of nervous

prostration. It was reported that the brewery was already
3

struggling financially under his leadership and that stress

no doubt contributed to his demise. His stock in the
company was left to his wife Petronella Bindewald whose
brother Florian Bindewald came to Augusta to work at the
brewery and was appointed corporate secretary. Florian
drowned at Augustas Murray Hill Lake in 1897 shortly
after coming to Augusta.)
2. Edward W. Herman
{term 1894-1898}
(Upon AJ Schweers death he moved to Augusta to operate
the brewery.)
3. J. Bernard (Ben) Schweers
1901}

{term 1898-

(Ben Schweers was AJs brother and had married Edward

Hermans daughter Rosa Cecelia who died shortly after
the marriage. Herman needed to return to Louisville to
settle matters with his malting company and brought in
his son-in-law Ben to operate the brewery. Hermans son
William Andrew Herman Sr also joined the brewery at this
time. After the death of his first wife, Ben married Mary
OConnor and left the brewery to operate OConnor &
Schweers Paint Company. While at the paint company,
Ben continued to be involved in the brewerys subsidiary
Dixie Carbonating Co that attempted to market nonalcohol beverages. Brewery leaders also created a
subsidiary within the brewery, Augusta Ice & Beverage
Company, to market non-alcohol products. Edward
Herman returned again to Augusta to operate the brewery
and brought his brother in law Andrew Bindewald in as
corporate secretary.
4. Edward W. Herman

{term 1901-1908}

(Herman departed again for Louisville and appointed

his son William A. Herman to the presidency and his son
Joseph Leo Herman to be secretary. August Schweers son
Ambrose came to Augusta to be treasurer. E. Herman had
managed to acquire additional funding that was used to fit
the plant with non-alcohol producing machinery. This
funding gave it a temporary new life.)
5. William A. Herman Sr

{term 1908-1912}
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Prohibition in fact came to Georgia in 1908 but was

only moderately enforced in the early days so the brewery
continued to operate with some success until 1916 when
the state of Georgia began stronger enforcement. A 1912
article in The Augusta Chronicle spoke of Edward Herman as still being the
guiding spirit at age 72 and there was indeed some company resurgence
with monies being invested in the facility for improvements most probably to
add non-alcohol product producing equipment.
Also in 1916 the state of Georgia forced the brewery to change its name
and the leaders selected its internal subsidiary name Augusta Ice & Beverage
Company. The term Brewery was taboo! Members of the Herman family
and Ambrose Schweers continued to be involved in various segments of the
struggling enterprise until the year 1921 when the company finally declared
bankruptcy and those involved scattered to various independent jobs and
ventures. Edwards son W.A. Herman, Sr. opened a home beer-making
supply business and grocery store on Broad Street in Augusta. In addition he
acquired bottled Belle of Georgia beer through his company named Beverage
Distributors, Inc.
Amazingly Edward Herman lived to the age of 89. It is interesting that
both August Schweers and Florian Bindewald each had died at the early age
of 42 years.
DEMISE: Ultimately the weight of US Government prohibition, not
mismanagement on anyones watch, caused the demise of the
brewery and its subsidiaries. Because of prohibition, the once great Augusta
Brewing Company was relegated to history.
Source:
Brewing
Source:
Source:
Source:
Source:

One Hundred Years of Brewing A Complete History of Progress Made in

(HS Rich 1903)
History of Chicago vol. 3 p. 576 by Alfred Theodore Andreas
The Augusta Chronicle archives
Augusta On Glass (by Bill Baab 2007)
100 Years of Brewing (Arno Press 1974)