Growing up in the St. Louis area, breweries have always been a part of the city’s identity, even if I didn’t fully understand their history at first. You see references to beer everywhere around here, from historic brick buildings to local spots who brew beer and not to mention the massive Anheuser-Busch presence. What drew my attention to this topic was realizing that brewing in St. Louis doesn’t just have to be about beer, but rather immigration and culture. Even the development of the city itself! Many of the breweries were started by German immigrants from what I’ve gathered, transforming STL into one of the most important brewing centers in the united states. Learning about the mass influence something as simple as beer has on entire neighborhoods and community interested me in this topic and curious about how the industry shaped St. Louis’s history and identity.
I aim to answer how brewing influenced the economic and cultural development of St. Louis, and how the city become one of the most important brewing centers in the United States during the nineteenth century.
I want to approach the history of brewing in St. Louis through the lens of immigration and urban development. My project will examine how immigrants influenced larger brewing traditions and how technological innovation and geographic advantages helped breweries expand nationally. I will take into consideration how events such as the Prohibition dramatically changed the industry and led to a cultural decline too.
Sources I will likely use:
https://shsmo.org a primary source with image proof attached
St. Louis Brews: The History of Brewing in the Gateway City by Herbst, Roussin, Kious a book that seems very informative, a digitized version will be used
Lastly, I plan to create an interactive timeline showing brewery development in the St. Louis area from the early 1800s to today. Im considering using tools used in class to organize this timeline. It would show key events in places like Soulard and Benton to help convey that brewing helped shape St. Louis.