It's International Beer Day! 🍺 Fort Wayne has a long history of brewery's, dating back to 1862! Did you know the history of the Centlivre Brewing Co.? Now you do!
Former location of Centlivre Brewery on Spy Run north of East State Boulevard in Street View photo from Google map
In 1862, the French Brewery began operations along the St. Joseph River under the ownership of C.L. Centlivre. See their advertisement in the 1883 Fort Wayne City Directory. In 1961, Centlivre became employee owned and renamed Old Crown Brewery. It closed in 1970 and due to vandalism damage was demolished in 1989. Centlivre's home and carriage house still stand across the street. The statue that stood above the plant can be seen at Don Hall's Gas House on Superior Street. From September 22, 2015 discussion by Daniel Baker on Facebook.
Charles Lewis Centlivre founded the French Brewery on Spy Run Avenue between the St. Joe River and the Wabash & Erie Feeder Canal in 1862. Through the years, the company would have several name changes: C. L. Centlivre Brewing Co. 1893-1918; during Prohibition, Centlivre Ice & Storage Co. 1918 – 1933; Centlivre Brewing Corp 1933 – 1961; and finally, Old Crown Brewing Co. 1961 through the company being dissolved in 1973.
Along with his sons Louis A. and Charles F.; his daughter Amelia’s husband John Reuss; and Brewmaster Peter Nussbaum Charles Centlivre built a thriving business that also included a street car line from downtown to the brewery and his beer gardens, Centlivre Park, which was located along Spy Run Creek, the current site of the Centlivre Apartments. At the park, families could gather for picnics, musical performances and sporting events as well as naturally drink a little beer. The park would later serve as the city’s circus grounds for many years, as well as the site of a horse riding academy. His street-car line not only allowed revelers from the city to make the trip north of town down Spy Run Avenue, but also gave steady dependable transportation of the finished beer to the Nickel Plate Railroad station (for which “Little Nick” was made) and the dozens of saloons downtown. Through the years Centlivre made a variety of beers, including during prohibition a near-beer called “That’s It.” Other of the Centlivre/Old Crown brands included: Nickel Plate Special, Old Reliable, Old Crown Ale, Old Crown Bock, Muenchener, Bohemia, Centlivre Tonic, Alps Brau and others.
This image reflects the 1889 rebuilt brewery after a fire in July of that year had leveled much of the original. In 1890, the employees commissioned a nine foot tall statue of C. L. Centlivre which was placed atop the main building. C. L. died four years later at age 67. Don Hall would later purchase the statue, which now stands above the Hall’s Old Gas House restaurant with C.L. pointed wistfully down Spy Run towards his former business and home. The large cast metal C. L. Centlivre lettering that was on the main building is now mounted on the bar wall at Hall’s Triangle Park.
Old Crown (Centlivre) Brewing Co. closed on December 1, 1973 along with the last use of the company’s terms “Lazy-Aged” and “Smoother-ized”. Some of the buildings were quickly removed, with the last of them being razed in 1989. Remnants of the once renowned company include the brick Queen Anne style home of brewmaster Peter Nussbaum, designed by John Riedel at the corner of Spy Run and Nussbaum Avenues, and the frame Queen Anne home of C. L. Centlivre designed by Wing & Mahurin at 2417 Spy Run which faces North Side High School across the river. (Image courtesy Jan Sanner Collection)
Thanks go to Craig Leonard for architectural information. Randy Harter is a Fort Wayne historian, author and the tour guide for Fort Wayne Food Tours.
1976 photo posted from North Side High School captioned: The window at the end of the 320 corridor provides a panorama of the Old Crown Brewery, which recently closed after a history that began during the cCivil War.
C. L. Centlivre Brewing Co. (Old Crown Brewery). Keep in mind this was an architectural drawing of the building more as the owners would like to have seen it then actual reality. The main building is easily three times longer in this drawing than it really was. However, the other buildings look about as they did in the mid-60's. You'll note the water on the left, which might be confusing, but it's a polished up version of the old feeder canal that really did run right behind the old brewery, then cut across Spy Run and out Spy Run Extended and through Johnny Appleseed Park on its way 7-8 miles (from Main Street where it joined the main canal) to just above a dam on the St. Joe River just south of the old Robinson amusement park (which closed in 1919). This park is where the back part of North Pointe Woods addition on North Clinton is today. There used to be a little bridge across the canal just past the brewery so that you could continue on up Spy Run to today's North Clinton. This postcard was published between 1907 - 1914, but the feeder canal would have had little water in it as it had not been in use since the turn of the century +-. I would assume they were trying to reflect a late 1800's stylized advertising rendition. If you look at the top middle of the main building you can just barely make out old C. L. standing in the center.
Centlivre Brewery....one more time. Here's an interesting view of the brewery properties from a 1919 Sanborn Insurance map. As you can see, the St. Joe River is at the bottom, and to the right would be North, Top would be West. The quality isn't very good as was taken w/my cell phone a couple years ago, but if you can make out the address 2417 on Spy Run, that is the Centlivre home that is still standing today...that's the second yellow building to the right of Edna Street. The red building behind it is the Carriage House that also still stands. To the left of Edna Street a 1/2 block would be State Street, which is out of the view. At the top or West End of Edna, the swath of ground that is blank going from the left to the right at an angle behind all the buildings is where the Feeder Canal ran. The large buildings at lower right hugging the St. Joe River are the main brewery buildings. This photo was taken of one of the actual Sanborn books which are huge (3' x 2 '?) and heavy and not easy to get the library to let you see. However, the painstakingly done Sanborn Maps are also on microfilm at the library and show every building standing in Fort Wayne in 1919.
June 16, 1907 The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, Indiana)
For "Throwback Thursday" we share this article written for the PEOPLE SOUTHWEST through The Journal-Gazette by Tracy Warner on February 11, 1988. Tracy later became Journal-Gazette writer and Editorial Editor, and now works for Indiana and Michigan Power (AEP). We shared pictures before on the McCulloch House on Superior Street, when Tom and Kris Bireley had restored it and we surveyed for them. This article is on the flip side, and mentions one of our long-time clients Bud Hall. It also talks about the City Light property before it became Science Central. BTW....Hofer and Davis, Inc. provided the survey when Science Central took over!
The post shows an image of the PEOPLE SOUTHWEST a The Journal Gazette newspaper article by Tracy Warner on February 11, 1988 discussing six old buildings he wrote about four years earlier in 1983, four were vital to Fort Wayne heritage, that were wasting away. Two were still empty in 1988. They were the McCulloch House, the Centlivre Brewery site still standing in 1988 but later demolished, The Edsall House, the Baker Street Train Depot, the Hanna School built in 1905, closed in 1977, city bought in 1979, sold in 1984, bought again in 1986 then demolished in 1987 saving only the arched doorways, a gable, the cornerstone and balustrade; and City Light now Science Central. At the end he mentioned car phones a new technology in 1988!
After 45 years of being out of commercial production, Alps Brau beer will once again be returning to Hoosier bars & package stores. Originally created by the Centlivre/Old Crown Brewing Company of Ft. Wayne in 1957 to celebrate that brewery’s 95th anniversary, the beer was a staple in the Midwest for over 20 years. Like many other regional beers and breweries of the time, competition from large national brewers proved too much for the brewery and the brand.
In 2021, Lawrence, IN entrepreneurs Brad & Sheila Klopfenstein acquired the Alps Brau trademark and went on a quest to bring the brand back after more than 40 years of hibernation. That quest led them to meet with over two dozen breweries from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania. After an exhaustive search, the couple formed Alps Brau Brewing LLC and entered into an agreement with 2Toms Brewing Company.
We have developed an amazing beer based on research of historical beer of the era and will produce, market, and distribute Alps Brau throughout Indiana.
The Charles F. and Mollie Centlivre House at 2417 Spy Run Ave. and its brick carriage house will become a local historic district, meaning they cannot be altered externally or torn down without the city’s permission. Built in the late 1800s, the Queen Anne-style house was designed by the firm of Wing & Mahurin, which also produced Old City Hall, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and other prominent structures and is considered historically and architecturally ldquo;significant” by local preservation group ARCH. Their brewery was across the street in the 1860s. The carriage house held their sleigh in back and a long gray building used to hold their beer trucks. Copied from KEVIN LEININGER: Historic status for Centlivre house would help preserve Fort Wayne’s rich brewing tradition by Kevin Leininger published December 11, 2018 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
March 26, 2021 post by 312 Event Center & Bridal Suite on Facebook. A comment pointed out this business in response to a photo of the eleven bay garage originally for stoarge of the brewery beer delivery trucks in an October 12, 2023 post on Facebook.
From their website History page: Now in May of 2021, 3/12 has renovated this beautiful house into a bridal suite and soon an event center. Plenty of space for your whole bridal party to prepare for the wedding right here. Enjoy downtown and everything this property has to offer in historic Fort Wayne.
A December 26, 2016 post by Northeastern Indiana Racing Museum on Facebook stated: Fort Wayne, Indiana is famous for many race tracks and one that goes way back is the: Centlivre Park Speedway - Fort Wayne / (aka: Centlivre Speedway) 1/2 mile dirt oval (9/28/1907) (1909) (7/23/1911) (9/14/1911), (9/19/1914 - 7/18/1926) (6/03/1928 - 7/08/1928), Ray Harroun won the race on 9/14/1911 / may have been a mile at one time horse track owned by the C.L. Centlivre Brewing Company Pappy Hough started his racing career here in 1919 Was located where the Centlivre Apartments are or were. Don Lieberum Says " Ray Harroun did a demonstration run at the old one mile driving park on that day. Rain made braking the record impossible, so they stopped mid-run to change a tire for the crowd. The Centlivres owned race horses and trained them on their narrow half mile track. They were willing to rent out the Park for many types of events and even more willing to sell beer there." Also the dates the track was open I have from a different source are: 9/19/1914-10/17/1915, 9/9/1917-7/20/1918, 9/6/1920-7/18/1926, 6/3/1928-7/8/1928.
Recognize this place? It is the Centlivre Service Station, circa 1928, that sat on the southeast corner of East State Boulevard and Pleasant Avenue (just east of North Side High School). The main building is still there, occupied by Deluxe Glass. At one time, this was also the local warehouse for 7-Up bottling in Indianapolis.
