ANTON REYMANN, proprietor of the Reymann brewery, the
largest establishment of the kind in West Virginia, was
born at Gaubickelheim,
near Bingen-on-the-Rhine, Germany, September 15, 1837. In 1853, he
came with his parents to the United States, the family landing at
New Orleans, from which city they came up the Mississippi river to
Galena, Ill., where they made their first settlement. In the fall
of the same year they came to Wheeling and made a permanent
location. George Reymann, the father, engaged with P. P. Beck, a
brewer, and the two purchased the ground where the present brewery
stands, and opened a summer garden. After coming to Wheeling, Anton
Reymann entered the public schools and attended the Fourth ward
school until they were closed in the spring of 1854 on account of
the small-pox. He then entered the employment of P. P. Beck, and
served an apprenticeship of four years in the brewery business. He
completed his knowledge of the trade at Cincinnati, where he went
in 1858 and remained one year, working at different breweries, and
then spent two years in different St. Louis breweries. At the
outbreak of the war he returned to Wheeling with the intention of
enlisting in the army, but upon the solicitation of his friends his
enlistment was delayed, and later, Mr. Beck's health failing he
took charge of the business of the latter, and was thus prevented
from enlisting at all. In 1862, he was married to a daughter of Mr.
Beck, and upon the death of that gentleman he formed a partnership
with his widow in the brewery, taking charge of the establishment.
The business was then of small proportions, the output being about
2,000 barrels per year. Several years later Mrs. Beck's retired
from the business, and Mr. Reymann rented the establishment, which
was then located between Market and Main streets. In the latter
part of the sixties, when it became necessary to make extensive
repairs, Mr. Reymann purchased the entire business, and removed the
plant to the present site, erecting new buildings, to which more
have been added from time to time, until the plant is the largest
in the state with a capacity of over 100,000 barrels per year. In
1880, a stock company was formed for the prosecution of the
business by the admission of Henry Hess. Mr. Reymann was interested
in various other enterprises, being a large stockholder in the
Wheeling & Elm Grove railroad company, president of the
Wheeling Park company, president of the State Fair association and
vice president of the German Fire Insurance company, of which he is
one of the originators. He was one of the founders of the German
bank, and is a stockholder in both the Warrick and North Wheeling
Pottery companies. Mr. Reymann was a member of the Ohio lodge, F.
& A.M. Reyman built a beer garden on national road with a
casino and amusement park that is now Wheeling Park. Antons brewery
still stands at the hillside on 17th street, but his home is long
gone.Henry
Schmulbach, a well-known citizen of Wheeling, is president of the
Schmulbach Brewing company, which conducted one of the largest
brewing establishments in West
Virginia, situated at the head
of Thirty-third street, Wheeling. Mr. Schmulbach was born in Hesse-
Darmstadt, Germany, in 1844. He came to the United States in 1852,
with his parents, who settled at Wheeling. Before reaching the age
of seventeen years he engaged in the retail grocery business in
partnership with his uncle, George Feller, and four years later, in
1865, embarked in the wholesale liquor business. His uncle retired
from business in January, 1870, but Mr. Schmulbach continued it
until 1882. In 1881 he became owner of a majority of the stock of
the Nail City Brewing company, and January 1, 1882, he took
possession of the property and formed the Schmulbach Brewing
company, which was incorporated with a capital stock of $80,000.
Mr. Schmulbach became president and H. C. Caldwell secretary. The
capacity of the old company was from 6,000 to 8,600 barrels per
year, but under the new organization the works were immediately
improved and enlarged, new buildings were added, improved machinery
was put in, and the capacity was gradually increased until it
reached the ample proportions of 50,000 barrels annually, and in
the spring of 1890, still greater improvements and enlargements
increased the capacity to 200,000 barrels per annum. The product
finds a ready sale throughout West Virginia, and in 0hio, Maryland
and Pennsylvania. Mr. Schmulbach had also been active in many
enterprises. For twenty years he had been connected with the
steamboat interests of Wheeling, owning at one time as many as six
steamboats. He has been a stockholder and director of the Wheeling
Iron and Nail company, the Junction Iron and Nail company, and the
Aetna Iron and Nail company. He was the stockholder and director in
the Hobbs Glass works; director and treasurer of the Washington
Hall association; director of the German bank, and otherwise
identified with various important industries of Wheeling. Mr.
Schmulbach has rendered the city honorable service as a member of
the board of public works, on which he served a second term, being
president of the board, and also as a member of the board of
education. He was a member of the German Lutheran church and was a
prominent Mason, of which fraternity he was made a member in 1867.
He was a member of Bates lodge, No. 33, of Wheeling, of Union
chapter, No. 1, and of Wheeling commandery, No. 1, K. T. His many
buildings in wheeling still stand today. He built the first sky
scraper in W,Va that now in present day is a Steel company
building. He built an incline to a beer garden, casino and
amusement park in Mozart that had an incline railway to South
Wheeling. His original home is still standing at 2311 Chapline
street, but a mansion he built at Roney's Point is now only ruins.
His brewery still stands at 33rd street and wetzel. These two great
men helped make Wheeling what it became and left an awesome past
that can still be seen today. When you enter the gates of the
cemetery you will see a very tall white Corinthian column on the
right and an even taller obelisk on the left still in battle for
who was the best. Antons monument is just a few feet taller then
Henry's monument to get the last and final
say.
