Niehaus-Klinckhamer, Park Brewery

THE NIEHAUS-KLINCKHAMER, PARK BREWERY

Joseph Niehaus established an ale brewery on Woodward Street (13th) in 1850. Then in 1861 he moved it to the southwest comer of Race and 13th Streets. He and George Bach bought the Park Brewery with the purpose of producing lager beer which was already very popular in Cincinnati. Before long, Heinrich Klinckhamer bought Bach's share of the business to become Niehaus' partner. In 1869 Bernhard Kluemper was hired as the brewmaster of the Park Brewery. Ten years later he was one of the partners in the business.

In 1871 the brewery was the ninth largest in the city. The company also operated a bottling works on the same location. The Park Bottling Company bottled other brewers' beer.

Joseph Niehaus died in 1887. Heinrich Klinckhamer Sr. and his son Heinrich Jr., also a partner in the brewery, died in 1888. By 1891 the business was known as the Klinckhamer Brewing Company and was operated by Henry Wolf, president and Henry Niehaus, vice-president.

The company closed in 1896. The brewery was razed and the Klinckhamer Apartments was constructed on the site where it still stands.

BIOGRAPHY
Joseph Niehaus was born in 1819 in Hanover, Germany to a farming family. He worked in the fields until he was 13. At 16, almost as a whim, he sailed to the United States to see what he could do on his own. Being accustomed to hard work, he found employment immediately in the construction of the Miami-Erie Canal on which he worked for two years. After working for a year on a railroad near Vicksburg, Mississippi, he returned to Cincinnati. Here he worked at the Niles Iron Foundry on Main Street near Woodward (13th). Three years later, he joined Walkers Brewery on Sycamore Street.

In 1849 he went back to Germany to see his parents. After staying with them for six months, he returned to America as a guide for three hundred immigrants, all Germans. He brought them to Cincinnati. Immediately after his arrival, he established his brewery to make ale. Then in 1861 he opened his brewery on Race Street.

Niehaus also acted as the local agent for various steam ship lines that sailed between America and Europe.

In 1847 Joseph Niehaus married Elisabeth Wiehebring originally from Oldenburg, Germany. They had four children. In 1872 they resided at 12th and Walnut Streets.

Heinrich Klinckhamer was born in Hanover, Germany in 1825. Orphaned at 8, he worked as a cowherd. Then when he was 16 he fled to Holland to avoid military service. For the next six years, he earned his daily bread by digging peat for fuel which is a difficult and dangerous job. Upon his return to Germany, he met Joseph Niehaus who encouraged him to come to Cincinnati. Klinckhamer arrived with only 73c in his pocket. Because he could find no work, he went to Kentucky where he worked side-by-side with the slaves in the fields on a large farm.

In 1850 Klinckhamer worked on the construction crew of the Little Miami Railroad. However, seven years later he had his own dairy on Montgomery Pike near the cemetery in Evanston. In 1868 he joined Niehaus at the brewery.

In 1853 Klinckhamer married Elisabeth Feldmann, also from Hanover. They had two sons and two daughters. In 1872 they resided at 35 Jackson Street in Over-the-Rhine. The sons, Heinrich Jr. and John, worked at the brewery.

Bernhard Kluemper was born in 1824 in Lingen, Germany. In 1852 he went to New Orleans where he worked in a brewery. After a little while, he journeyed to Cincinnati. In the outskirts of the city, he worked as a farmer for $8 a month. Then he worked in an iron foundry until 1861 when he took a job at Kleiners' Jackson Brewery. When he left there in 1869, he was making $100 a month. Then he joined the Park Brewery.