Oliver Evans Chapter/SIA

Presents

Tour of former Scheidt brewery complex & Von C Brewing Co. in Norristown

Tour is not limited to Chapter Members. All are welcome. Just register with contact information below.

DATE: Saturday, August 20, 2022
TIME: 10AM to noon
ITINERARY: We will meet in the Stony Creek Office Center parking lot, 151 W. Marshall St., Norristown. After reviewing the old Adam Scheidt brewery complex we will take the driveway from the parking lot down to Markley St. to the current U-Haul Self Storage Center (former Scheidt bottling house). This is located across Markley St. from the SEPTA Elm St. Station.
https://www.septa.org/stations/rail/elm.html

11AM Drive to Von C Brewing Co., 1210 Stanbridge St., Suite 300, Norristown for tour.
https://voncbrewing.com/home   12 Noon – Tap Room opens. Cash Bar.

Background Information
On this tour we will see remnants of the Adam Scheidt aka Valley Forge Brewery. The complex has been beautifully restored as the Stony Creek Office Center and is a shining example of brewery preservation.. There are two “ghost” sites on the tour. Norristown’s first brewery was established in 1830 at the southwest corner of Main and Markley Sts. and was ultimately the brewery of A.R.Cox. What became the Scheidt brewery got its start in 1866 and was a  much smaller business. When Cox died, Scheidt purchased the brewery and ran it as Plant #2.

 Norristown industry included the Wildman Mfg. Co. that produced knitting machines. Their Plant #1 was located in the block behind the Elm St. Station. In the 1940’s Wildman built their Plant #2 on Stanbridge St. and remained in business into the 1950’s. These buildings have been repurposed and one of them is occupied by Von C Brewing Co.

The Von Czoernig family was the last of Christian Schmidt’s descendants to own the Schmidt brewery in Philadelphia. Schmidt’s purchased the Scheidt brewery in 1954 and operated it as their Plant #2 for twenty years. The Von Czoernig’s had “beer in their blood” and decided to get back into brewing a short time ago. Fortunately they’ve made it easy on us by shortening the name to Von C Brewing Co.

 TOUR ORGANIZER & LEADER:
Rich Wagner has been researching Pennsylvania brewing history since 1980. In 1990 he brewed at Pennsbury Manor using reproductions of seventeenth century equipment. Two years later he worked with a cooper to make his own system and has taken it on the road to demonstrate the brewing process of antiquity at historical sites and festivals. 

In 1994 he earned a diploma in brewing technology from the Siebel Institute in Chicago and worked in Philadelphia craft breweries over a seven-year period. Since his retirement as a high school science teacher, he has devoted his time to writing and speaking. He has given tours of breweries in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Lehigh Valley and South-Central Pennsylvania and published guidebooks to go with each tour and is the author of “Philadelphia Beer, the Heady History of Brewing in the Cradle of Liberty” (The History Press, 2012).

 REGISTRATION or QUESTIONS: E-mail or call Reese Davis at reesepdavis@gmail.com or 610-692-4456

Our tour guide has assembled an array of information relating to locations on our tour. 

BACKROUND INFORMATION, IMAGES

Here are some links for additional information on the Adam Scheidt Brewing Co. The Flickr Albums give people on the tour the ability to connect with information, historic maps and images of the brewery complex. Of course, they can be viewed any time, even for those who don’t take the tour, or to conduct their own self-guided tour. 

Flickr Collection of Albums: Tour of Scheidt and Von C Breweries:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15424848@N07/collections/72157720942701060/

This Collection contains 5 Albums that correspond with our tour.

Album: A.R. Cox Brewery is a “ghost site” and location of a brewery which was purchased by Scheidt.

Album: Adam Scheidt Brewery Complex, including Bottling House on Markley St.

Album: Wildman Mfg. Co. Plant #1 “ghost site” in the blocks behind the Elm St. Station Wildman manufactured knitting machines.

Album: Wildman Mfg. Co. Plant #2 on Stanbridge St. is the property which has been subdivided and repurposed, a portion of which houses the Von C Brewing Co.

Album: Von C Brewing Co. Brewery and Taproom.

Article on Scheidt’s 1940s Czech Connection with Prior Beer. 
https://pabreweryhistorians.tripod.com/ScheidtPriorCzechStory.html

Article describing a reporter’s tour through the Scheidt Brewery in 1952.
https://pabreweryhistorians.tripod.com/Observer060952_Scheidt.html

Rich Wagner has been researching Pennsylvania brewing history since 1980. In 1990 he brewed at Pennsbury Manor using reproductions of seventeenth century equipment. Two years later he worked with a cooper to make his own system and has taken it on the road to demonstrate the brewing process of antiquity at historical sites and festivals. 

In 1994 he earned a diploma in brewing technology from the Siebel Institute in Chicago and worked in Philadelphia craft breweries over a seven-year period. Since his retirement as a high school science teacher, he has devoted his time to writing and speaking. He has given tours of breweries in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Lehigh Valley and South-Central Pennsylvania and published guidebooks to go with each tour and is the author of “Philadelphia Beer, the Heady History of Brewing in the Cradle of Liberty” (The History Press, 2012)

Maps of the tour locations: