St. Louis was not always known for its beer. When German immigrant Adolphus Busch came to St. Louis in 1857, few local brews were being transported beyond the city limits. But when Busch became part owner of his father-in-law Eberhard Anheuser’s failing brewery in 1861, he quickly turned it into the largest brewery in the world.
Since it was highly perishable, beer could not travel far without cold storage. Eager to tap new markets, the savvy Busch developed a system of pasteurization that allowed him to ship his beer in bottles rather than wooden barrels. For longer trips, he packed railway cars with ice and constructed ice houses at strategic sites along the rails. Busch was also one of the first large-scale beer manufacturers with marketable brand-name bottles, corks, and labels. Anheuser-Busch’s profits skyrocketed after Busch developed a lighter-style lager more suited to American tastes, named after the town of its origins: Budweis, Czechoslovakia. The new lager, introduced in 1876, became the company’s flagship brew. Americans consumed it by the ton.
Busch was also a much-beloved philanthropist, giving money to many charities and several universities. Thousands of St. Louisans turned out for his funeral in 1913 to celebrate the man who had given so much to their city.