Conducting research for business histories can be difficult work, especially for local companies that have not existed for nearly a century. Over the decades official company records move or disappear, which can make available public documentation about a company scarce or non-existent. The brief histories of Boulder City Brewery and Sternberg Flour Mills are examples of two significant businesses that operated in into the early twentieth century but have very little documentation, or even buildings remaining. The following company history demonstrates how even with a small collection of sources you can develop a sense of how the company operated in and contributed to the community.

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In 1875 brothers-in-law, Frank Weisenhorn and Charles Voegtle came to Boulder with their sights set on brewing beer. Frank might have been familiar with the area after two years of mining in Colorado (possibly Central City) during the early 1860s. Additionally, he gained at least six years of brewing experience in Montana and Portland, Oregon before finally settling with his family in Boulder. Charles, who married Frank’s sister, moved his family from Quincy, Illinois.

The two Germans saw great potential for a brewery in Boulder and purchased two and a half acres of land from Marinus Smith on the south side of Boulder Creek on October 1, 1875. The property, located at 10th Street between Valley Road (Arapahoe) and Marine Street, was conveniently located near the creek that would provide the brewery with the fresh mountain water to make beer. A few weeks later, the Boulder County News reported Weisenhorn’s and Voegtle’s building plans, stating:

“They are now engaged in erecting a very substantial brewery. There will be expended on the establishment, not less than twenty thousand dollars. The main building is to have a 70-foot front – the basement to be of stone, and the superstructure of brick. On the terrace above, commanding a complete view of the town, the fine residence of the owners is to be built next season.”

Six months later the Boulder City Brewery was fully operational. Though it would take another five months to finish the pipe installations to run water from the creek through the entire building. Marketing their first batches of beer, the owners took kegs to the town newspapers for taste tests. Delighted writers sampled the brew and expressed publicly that they could “speak from actual knowledge when we assert that it is the best ever presented to this market.”

They continued developing their property by retaining more daily brewing functions on sight. Over the next decade the brewery complex expanded to include a 25 by 60 foot malt house, a power house, bottling works, ice house, cooperage, stables for horses and beer wagons, a boarding house for unmarried employees, and a beer garden. Their brewing capacity also grew over time, producing nearly 3,500 barrels of beer in 1882, 8,000 barrels in 1883, and by 1893 they had the facilities to brew up to 10,000 barrels a year.

Boulder City Brewery’s lager and bock beers earned excellent reputations in the region and sales quickly grew. Kegs and barrels were shipped via freighter to the mountain mining towns; the brewery’s horse teams delivered to Boulder’s ten saloons and other plains towns such as Eire, Lafayette, Superior, Louisville, and Marshall; and they even made local house calls, delivering bottles to front porches around town.

As the business expanded so did Boulder City Brewery’s local business contributions. Nearly all of the grain used to make the malt, an average of 12,000 bushels per year, came from local farmers, and after Marinus Smith dug a pond in his grove in 1881, Weisenhorn and Voegtle struck a deal to cut ice from it each winter. 600 tons of ice were cut 1882, increasing to 1000 tons the following year. Used in the huge concrete cellars, ice kept the lager beer cold during the fermentation process and helped with long-term storage. To make ice harvesting more cost-effective Weisenhorn and Voegtle eventually spent $30,000 in the mid 1880s constructing an ice pond and icehouse on site.

The brewery owners also made contributions for the community’s benefit. Townspeople enjoyed the brewery’s public beer gardens where they could relax in an atmosphere surrounded by “shade trees, grape arbors, and trout-filled ponds.” Another popular recreational spot was located at Weisenhorn Lake a few miles east of Boulder near Valmont. Frank Weisenhorn owned the grazing land for his cattle, but he also improved an area along the lake shore. The small dance pavilion and picnic spot that he built became popular for local parties and holiday outings. 

Charles Voegtle retired from the brewing business around 1891, prompting Frank to incorporate the company in August 1891. Weisenhorn ran the company for several more years, but financial problems forced him to sell the brewery to the First National Bank in 1897. Frank and his family moved to Denver where the following year he became one of the brewers at Zang’s Brewery.

Samuel Pell bought the large brewing facility around 1900, changing the name to the Crystal Springs Brewing and Ice Company. Pell ran the business until 1916 when prohibition went into effect in Colorado forcing the brewery to close its doors. Remaining empty for several years, the buildings finally succumbing to a fire in 1921. Nothing of the brewery remains today except for the company house at 952 Arapahoe where the Weisenhorn and Voegtle families lived for several years and many employees boarded.