Marietta Brewery Company

The Marietta Brewery, initially known as the Union Brewery, was built at the Second Street location in 1866 by Christian Held. The Union Brewery plant changed hands many times between 1866 and 1868, when William Feller and Company grabbed the opportunity to purchase the brewery. They then renamed it the Marietta Brewery Company. This brewery has brought many visitors to the town of Marietta because of the large mural near the back of the business. The mural is a painting of fifteen men, which include owners and employees of the original brewery.

Many German immigrants came to Marietta, Ohio in the early and mid-1800s, bringing their brewing traditions with them. During that time, three or four breweries were established in town. Three immigrants, William Feller, August V. Kuehn, and Jacob Epple, bought the Union Brewing Company in 1868.  The three men operated the Marietta Brewing Company, as they called it, for more than twenty years, until 1904. They offered home delivery of six bottles of beer in town for fifty cents.

Descendants of owners Jacob Epple and August V. Kuehn include their great-grandchildren Jann Kuehn Adams, Charles Barnes, and William Marshall. Charlotte Kuehn is the only member of the Kuehn family who still bears the last name. Her grandfather, August Kuehn, was the president of the company. Kuehn died in 1913 and was succeeded as company president by Epple. Epple ran the company until it closed in 1924 due to the onset of Prohibition in 1919. 

The Marietta Brewery continued as a soft drink bottling plant through the end of Prohibition in the early 1930s. It was demolished in the 1940s, and a service station stood at the Second Street location until it was torn down. Some remains of the original brewery can still be seen in the basement of the first settlement building where a stone-arched former brewery storage facility has been turned into a physical therapy room. The alley that runs behind the medical facility, off St. Clair Street between Front and Second Streets, continues to bear the name "Brewery Lane."

Over the years, the Marietta Brewery has been through many owners. In October of 2009, the owner, Kevin Laughery, almost lost the liquor license for the popular brewery. Then, he chose to sell it to Dave Broughton, who bought it at a local auction. Only a few months later, Tony and Dana Styer bought the brewery. They continue to run the flourishing business today.

Shawver, Sam. "Marietta Business of the past still remembered." Marietta Times(Marietta).

Kaup, Glenn. "Immigrants Brought Brewing Skills to Marietta." The News Staff(Marietta).

"Brewery." The Marietta Times, January 31, 2014, A1-1B.

Shawver, Sam. "New brewery owners." Marietta Times(Marietta), November 02, 2010.

Home. Marietta Brewing Company Pub. Accessed July 11, 2018. http://mbcpub.com/. Photo source.