In celebration of Indiana’s 2016 Bicentennial, 15 geocaches have been placed throughout St. Joseph County near historic sites or places of interest. It is our goal to highlight interesting areas in the county, as well as to introduce new cachers to the hobby.
The earliest of the buildings at the 100 Center was built in 1853 by John Wagner, who made a "fine grade of corn whiskey" that sold for 25 cents per gallon. In 1870 the brewery was purchased by a German immigrant, Adolph Kamm. He was joined by his brother-in-law, Nicholas Schellinger, in 1880 and the name became the Kamm and Schellinger Brewing Company. The brewery prospered with the latest machinery and plant improvements producing a superior quality of beer. Extensive improvements and additions were made to the brewery, many of which were built by the brewery workers themselves.
The brewery had become one of the largest commercial enterprises of the area when prohibition stopped the production of beer. The brewery soon converted the distillation processes into producing various soft drinks and distilled water. In 1933, with the repeal of prohibition, the firm was the first in Indiana to have beer on the market and the brewery continued to prosper. In 1950, however, a serious fire swept through the building and the brewery closed in 1951. In the late 1960’s, a group of local businessmen, seeing the potential of once again returning the brewery to productive use, set out to convert the complex into a family-oriented shopping, dining and entertainment center known as the 100 Center. That effort to bring the brewery back to life continues today.
The cache is in a potentially very high muggle area; be very stealthy! The cache is handicap-accessible. BYOP; room for very small swag only.