Along a curving trail around Boom Lake, the storied past lies just below the surface.
Or at least it did until recently.
In April, a hardy group of history buffs moved the earth to reveal a bit of Brainerd long lost from sight. Overgrown with trees, grass and shrubs, the former site of the Brainerd Brewing Co. was a historical footnote in Brainerd's life. It once churned out beer made largely with Minnesota malt for the area's parched souls.
The Brainerd Brewing Co. as it was in the 1890s on Boom Lake. The malt came mostly from Minnesota and the beer was consumed locally. The brewery was forced to close in 1914. Remnants of the bricks along with a building slab were revealed in a recent excavation of a small portion of the site.
According to Carl Zapffe's book on the history of Brainerd, the brewery on Boom Lake's east shore started about 1880. It had fits and starts and different owners in its early years. It became the Brainerd Brewing Co. in 1906 and grew to a capacity of 10,000 barrels per year by 1910.
Zapffe reported the brewing of beer ended in Brainerd in 1914 when a 1859 Indian treaty was enforced. A 1917 historic map of the area, now part of the city of Brainerd's Web site, states the brewery was permanently closed by the federal government and a handwritten note on the map lists 1924 as the year the building was torn down.
In April, volunteers worked to reveal the slab of the Brainerd Brewing Co. building just off the walking trail along Boom Lake in Kiwanis Park in Brainerd. They took out about 50 wheelbarrow loads of dirt and found bricks and bottle pieces.
Carl Faust of the Brainerd History Group knew roughly where the brewery used to stand from Zapffe's account. When he was in the area about five years ago a light snowfall visually confirmed the site.
"You saw a line there that Mother Nature doesn't make," Faust said. Last month a group of volunteers offered their time and effort to unearth the site, excavating a small section with hand tools and hauling about 50 wheelbarrows of soil away. A unbroken section of what is believed to be the brew house slab along with bricks, rocks and bottle pieces. Faust has actually glued a few of the bottles back together.
The site is just feet from the paved recreational trail that winds around Boom Lake. Faust believes the smaller bottling house identified in maps is actually buried beneath the trail. The brew house had a much larger footprint than the small area exposed through the volunteer excavation. There are plans for a picnic table and a sign identifying the brewery.
This 1917 map of Brainerd lists the Brainerd Brewing Co. site on Boom Lake. The business was closed by the U.S. government and the handwritten note on the page notes the buildings were torn down in 1924.
Faust said even though the area is small it's worth recovering from past obscurity. It's a way to get people interested in history and preservation, he said.
"It's more than just saving buildings," Faust said. "It's these little sites that make it interesting."
Overgrown and buried, a small portion of the former Brainerd Brewery Co. site along Boom Lake was recently excavated. The site is just feet from the paved walking trail. Plans are to place a picnic table and a sign to identify the former business. Brainerd Dispatch/Renee Richardson » Purchase reprints of this photo.
Faust is a believer in bringing history out of the museums and books and making it even more accessible to people through physical sites they can walk to and see for themselves.
"You get it out of the book and get it out in the field - it really makes a difference," he said. "I think that's the kind of things we have to do to get people thinking of history. What it will lead to I don't know but I think it's fun."
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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