Spieth and Krug Brewery Building

Introduction

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Also known as Maxey Block, the Spieth and Krug Brewery building has been a landmark on Main Street since its construction in 1883. It is named after its builders Jacob Spieg and Charles Krug, who immigrated to America from Germany in the mid-1850s. They met in Bozeman around 1867 and decided to establish the brewery—the town's first. The building, which replaced the original wood-frame brewery, is an excellent example of Italianate architecture, featuring arched windows, semi-circular doors, a cast-iron railing on the second floor, and an ornate metal cornice (the decorative part along the top of edge of a wall). In 1895, the another German immigrant, Julius Lehrkind, bought the brewery and moved it to the north part of the city and renamed it Bozeman Brewery (that site is now the Bozeman Brewery Historic District and a separate Clio entry). Today, the building is home to retail businesses. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

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Built in 1883, the Spieg and Krug Brewery was Bozeman's first brewery.

Backstory and Context

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Jacob Spieg born in 1833 and immigrated to the United States in 1854. He farmed in the midwest before heading west in search of gold, first to Colorado and then to Montana. Charles Krug was born in 1840 and arrived in America in 1856. He also farmed for a while, in Missouri, until he went west to mine for gold in 1864. Three years later, he arrived in Bozeman, where he met Spieg. In 1892, after both men died, the brewery was sold to new owners—Henry Hellinger and Louis Hanson—who later sold it to Julius Lehrkind in 1895.

The Maxey name comes from Daniel Maxy, who owned mines near Bozeman and, it appears, the former brewery building. He remodeled it and hosted social gatherings on the second floor. Over the next several decades up to now, various businesses have occupied the first floor. In 1956, the Bozeman Trades Union and Labor Council renovated the second floor and met there for a few years. Later, a restaurant occupied the second floor around the 1980s.

Sources

DeHaas, John N. "Spieth and Krug Brewery Building." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. April 19, 1984. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/edea0efa-ef37-4fa1-8475-e69e062aa000.

The Montana National Register Sign Program. "Spieth & Krug Brewery (Maxey Block)." Montana Historical Society. Accessed July 6, 2020. http://digitalvault.mhs.mt.gov/items/show/21087.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spieth_%26_Krug_Brewery_-_Bozeman.jpg

Additional Information

National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Spieg and Krug Brewery