Quincy Was A Beer Brewing City

It's no secret that Quincy has a proud German heritage. Along with that huge migration of Germans to this area in the 1800's, came the desire to brew beer, as they did in the "old country."

At one time, Quincy was home to ten different breweries. Beer making then, was considered more that just a drink, it was considered a craft.

The largest brewery in the 1800's through the early part of the 20th century in Quincy was the Dick Brothers Quincy Brewing Company. Many of the original brewery buildings are located at 9th and York.  Dick's Beer was nearly a century old company when its doors closed in the early 1950's.

It's hard to believe, but the Dick Brothers Brewing Company was once larger than Anheuser Busch in St. Louis.  Dick's never quite recovered from the effects of Prohibition. The once proud beer dynasty was auctioned off in bankruptcy, and the original buildings were re-purposed as other businesses over the years. There was even discussion that the permits for Dick's to begin production again, were purposely delayed by other large breweries, who were concerned about Dicks possible re-domination of the beer market.

I've always had a fascination with the story of the brewery and it's property. I actually own a few pieces from the brewery, a tray, bottle and opener. Although I have never had the opportunity to explore them,  I have heard that there are a maze of underground tunnels surrounding the brewery area, where beer was once stored before modern cooling became available.  I was told there was a tunnel leading from the home of the brew-master to the brewery, so he didn't have to go outdoors in bad weather, when traveling back and forth. My hopes were, that someday the brewery might be returned to some type of display, if not a micro-brewery, to showcase Quincy's brewing heritage.

It appears that there are folks that are renovating a portion of the original brew house as a gallery.  That's good news, not only for Quincy, but also for that area of town, which has a rich heritage that needs to be showcased.

It's a part of Quincy's heritage that needs to be "remembeered."