ca. 1933. In April of 1933, the first production of 3.2% beer was allowed in the US after the repeal of prohibition. Full strength beer would not be legal until January of 1934. Columbia Brewing Co. used this slight variation on a preprohibition label to introduce their new product, Alt Heidelberg Pale Beer. The brewery's symbol of the female figure "Columbia" was replaced by the Student Prince, from the 1903 play "Alt Heidelberg," later reproduced as the operetta "Student Prince." The old style label was later replaced with less ornate one featuring the student prince alone. Photograph ordered by the North Pacific Bank Note Company. (filed with Argentum) (www.brewerygems.com)

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Beer--Tacoma; Signs (Notices); Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Labels;

Approximately 50 county auditors and treasurers from around the state met in Tacoma in June of 1938 for their third annual joint convention. One of the highlights of their visit to Tacoma was a trip to the Columbia Brewery where these two unidentified conventioneers were photographed enjoying a sample of the company's popular brew. Representatives of all the state's 39 counties were expected to attend the banquet held in the Crystal ballroom at the Hotel Winthrop with a total attendance, including wives, of over 100. (T. Times 6/16/1938, pg. 1) TPL-9935

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Government officials--Tacoma--1930-1940; Beer; Eating & drinking; Meetings--Tacoma--1930-1940;

ca. 1940. Columbia Breweries, the manufacturers of Alt Heidelberg and Columbia Ale. Columbia was established in 1900 and had a 41 year record of nonstop continuous brewing. This elevated view shows the plant's facade, automobiles along the street and a delivery truck is backed up to door. A hill and residential buildings are seen in the background. (Argentum)

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1940-1950;

ca. 1940. Columbia Breweries, the manufacturers of Alt Heidelberg and Columbia Ale were getting ready to go through a massive expansion and modernization of their brewing facilities and offices. Columbia was established in 1900 and had a 41 year record of nonstop continuous brewing. During the dry period they produced "Columbia Brew", a near beer. This elevated view shows the plant's facade, automobiles along the street and a delivery truck is backed up to door. A hill and residential buildings are seen in the background. (WSHS)

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1940-1950;

ca. 1939. After the remodeling and rebuilding of Columbia Breweries, it would become the largest brewery north of San Francisco and west of Milwaukee. Their expansion would help the company fill the increasing demands for their Heidelberg beer and Columbia ale. View of Columbia Breweries Alt Heidelberg sign: "We are serving Alt Heidelberg. So good--and good for you." (WSHS)

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Beer--Tacoma; Advertisements--Tacoma; Signs (Notices); Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1930-1940;

ca. 1942. In this advertising photo, a waitress or car hop carries a tray with a wax paper wrapped sandwich, a coffee cup and saucer, a clear glass carafe of milk and a can of Acme beer. The ads for Acme in July of 1942 advocated adding a refreshing, thirst quenching beer to your lunch. It, according to the ad, put an "edge" on your appetite and made good food taste better. It further said that being a "light beer," it caused no after lunch slow down when you returned to work. Acme, according to its ads, was brewed with Pacific Northwest hops and barley. It was made by Acme Brewing in San Francisco and distributed in Tacoma by Century Distributing Co., 2523 Jefferson Ave. TPL-10215

Beer;

Large machine at Columbia Breweries. Columbia Breweries had added a 20,000 square foot, two story building that housed a new bottle shop and a can beer line earlier in 1949. They added new machinery for their expanded production. The company was founded in 1900 or 1902 depending on which account you read. In 1953 the company changed its name to Heidelberg Brewing Company. The company was purchased by Carling Brewing Company in 1956 and was sold again in 1979 to G. Heileman Brewing Company.

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1940-1950; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Trucks--Tacoma--1940-1950; Machinery;

Interior views at Columbia Breweries, Griffith, Pick, Phillips and Coughlin, James Bull. A view of the bottling line. A man is seated along the bottling line at Columbia Breweries. The bottles pass in front of a lighted panel and the man is able to detect any flaws in the bottle, the filling, or the cap. In 1946 Heidelberg was brought back on the market in long-neck, 12 oz. brown bottles. In 1947, when machinery became more readily available, the brewery converted to stubby containers.

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1940-1950; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Bottles;

Columbia Breweries was about to begin a massive expansion project, this would enable them to increase production of their Heidelberg beer and Columbia Ale. Columbia advertised "We are serving Alt Heidelberg. So good--and good for you." Aerial view of Columbia Breweries plant, prior to expansion project, located between Jefferson and C Streets.

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Aerial photographs; Business enterprises--Tacoma; Remodeling--Tacoma; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1940-1950;

The Industrial Bureau of the Chamber of Commerce toured Columbia Breweries and posed for this group portrait. Columbia Breweries welcomed individuals and groups for tours of their newly enlarged and updated plant.

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Tacoma Chamber of Commerce (Tacoma);

Equipment at Columbia Brewery. Ordered by Seattle Equipment & Supply.

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Machinery;

A line of tanks are seen in the new cellars at Columbia Breweries. Once the newly brewed beer, "wort", had been boiled it was transferred from the kettles through a strainer, or "hopjack", which separated the hops from the wort. The wort was then cooled in wort coolers. The wort was piped into a large vat, "fermenting tun", housed in a cool cellar or an ice chamber. Yeast was added while the wort was in the fermenting vats. For lager beer, bottom-fermenting yeast was used, taking 7-11 days to complete fermentation. Ale was made using top-fermenting yeast that was faster acting and fermented at a higher temperature. Ordered by Columbia Breweries. (Brewed in the Pacific Northwest, Gary and Gloria Meier)

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

The loading docks at Columbia Breweries are filled with trucks ready to deliver Alt Heidelberg throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and northern California. A warehouse for case goods and a new receiving and shipping depot was added to the plant during the expansion begun in 1948. A gasoline pump can be seen in the left foreground. Ordered by Columbia Breweries.

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

The interior of Columbia Breweries where one of the brewery's more than 160 employees operates the switches to machinery moving materials throughout the facility. Most early breweries had arranged their equipment for efficiency and took advantage of gravity. Grain storage and milling was often located high in the brewery on the 3rd or 4th floor. Ordered by Columbia Breweries. (Brewed in the Pacific Northwest, Gary and Gloria Meier)

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Workmen are using forklifts to move cartons of Alt Heidelberg into delivery trucks backed up to the loading docks at Columbia Breweries. A warehouse and shipping depot was developed on the Jefferson Avenue frontage of the plant while the main office remained at 2120 South C Street. Ordered by Columbia Breweries.

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

ca. 1919. A horse-drawn wagon is pulling an early horseless delivery van out of a muddy road. The horses have the name of Columbia Brewing draped over their necks on this cold, snowy day. Copies of old prints ordered by Columbia Breweries in 1951. TPL-8348

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1910-1920; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma); Snow--Tacoma; Horse teams--Tacoma; Carts & wagons--Tacoma; Trucks--Tacoma--1910-1920;

ca. 1948. Columbia Brewing Company was purchased by Elmer Hemrich of the Hemrich brothers' Seattle brewing empire in 1933 after the end of National Prohibition. The name was changed that year to Columbia Breweries, Inc. In 1948 president Norman Davis announced four new officers and a plant expansion. The company had acquired a two-block-long property extending from 21st to 23rd on Jefferson Avenue adjoining their present plant on South C Street on the rear. The initial building program called for a 2-story bottle shop, bottling storage, cellars, and a steam plant to make additional bottle lines possible. A second unit was to warehouse case-goods and a new receiving and shipping depot. Copies of old prints ordered by Columbia Breweries in 1951. (TNT 12/9/1948)

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1940-1950;

Columbia Breweries employees. A large group of Columbia Breweries drivers were photographed near their delivery trucks on October 26, 1951. The drivers are dressed in dark uniforms with white shirts and ties. Three trucks have Alt Heidelberg beer logos on them. L-R, Andy Anderson, James Carbone, Wandrow Johnson, Kenneth Call, Jack Manley, Arthur Sohn, Leslie Bussard, Ted Harris, Thomas Wallace, George Bratton, Jack Harris and Joseph Gaidos. Andy Anderson, left, was the sales supervisor in charge. (TNT, 1/8/1952, p.B-8)

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Trucks--Tacoma--1950-1960; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--People;

Columbia Brewery building. View of brewery over industrial complex and telephone poles. Automobiles parked on railroad service tracks. Photograph taken in November of 1951.

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Room full of large rectangular tanks- fermenting room.

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1940-1950;

Two large silos with man standing on lower left side looking up the grain storage. Columbia Breweries stored the world's finest grains in these 3-story-high silos. The grain was siphoned from rail cars to the silos and from silo to hoppers pneumatically. (TNT, 1/8/1952, p.B-5)

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Silos--Tacoma;

The interior of the Fermenting Cellar at Columbia Breweries shows rows of open tanks. The air in this cellar was sterilized and refrigerated and the room was not open to tours but could only be viewed through glass from a specially-provided gallery. The exterior of the vats and the floor are covered with tile for ease of cleaning. (TNT, 1/8/1952, p.B-6)

Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Exterior brewery. The Heidelberg Brewing Co. occupied most of the 2100 block of South C Street in the 1950's, with only the J.E. Bunker Co., dealers in bicycles, between its buildings. A sign on the receiving department's exterior indicates that a three-story cellar building was under construction; Heidelberg continued to grow along with Tacoma, expanding and rebuilding, tripling in size in seven years. It would also install in the summer of 1954 a second brewing line which doubled brewhouse capacity. The company, which had purchased Columbia Breweries in 1949, finally changed its name to Heidelberg in 1953. It was later purchased by Carling Brewery in 1959 and closed its doors twenty years later. The above photograph was taken on August 26, 1954. (TNT 9-16-54, C-16)

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Heidelberg Brewing Co. (Tacoma); Signs (Notices);

Exterior-Heidelberg Brewery. Taken from across busy Jefferson Avenue on May 15, 1957, the Heidelberg Shipping Depot can be spotted in the center of the photograph. Other Heidelberg buildings are to its left. Heidelberg was well known for its Columbia Ale and Heidelberg beer. The brewery was purchased by Carling Brewery in 1959 and closed its doors twenty years later.

Heidelberg Brewing Co. (Tacoma); Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

ca. 1900. An emblem of Columbia Brewing Company's trademark, a large circle with an ornament at the top, shows a female figure holding a sheaf of barley in one hand and a glass of beer extended above her head in the other. A bald eagle behind her grasps barley and hops in his claws and a barrel with the initials CB Co. on the end is beside her. Mountains rise in the background. Drawings of barley and hops also wreathe the banner around the circle of stars completing the design. The name "Dawes, P'gh, Pa." appears at the bottom of the emblem. Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954. TPL-6695

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1900-1910; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma); Trademarks;

ca. 1917. A print of a photograph of the Columbia Brewing Company as it appeared in 1917 has been outlined, the date added and measurements written on the left and bottom margins, possibly for use in an advertisement. Stamps have been affixed to the back of the mock-up for Sterling Engraving Company at 1417 Fourth Avenue Building and How. J. Ryan & Son, R Advertising in the Joseph Vance Building, Seattle, Wash. Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954.

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1910-1920; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma);

ca. 1923. Two men are seen in the racking room at Columbia Brewing Company filling wooden barrels with beer. The man on the left is checking the brew for clarity before he cheks it for taste.Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954. TLP-7957

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1920-1930; Columbia Brewing Co. (Tacoma); Barrels--Tacoma;

ca. 1937. One of the chemists at Columbia Breweries is examining a sample under a microscope. Other glass slides with labled samples are seen lying on a towel next to the paper the chemist is using to take notes. Beakers with larger samples are seen on the counter with cotton stuffing in their necks. Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954. The photographer's name in the lower right shows, "Associated Photographic Service, Commercial Photographers, 714 Market Street, Tacoma".

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Chemistry--Tacoma; Scientists--Tacoma; Microscopes;

ca. 1935. Two teams of horses are shown with a wagon full of barrels of Alt Heidelberg, brewed by Columbia Breweries in Tacoma, at the 1935 Yakima Frontier Days celebration. On May 17-19, 1935, the town of Yakima celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding. The Frontier Days events included a parade, pageant, Indian village, grand ball and entertainments in "Old Town". Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954.

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Horse teams--Yakima; Carts & wagons--Yakima;

ca. 1937. A man sits at his desk at Columbia Brewing Company wearing a tweed three-piece suit, smoking a cigarette. A Portland Telephone Directory (it appears to be fron 1937) hangs from a nail in the woodwork around the windows behind him and a map of Oregon is pinned to the wall at the side of his desk along with important phone numbers and business cards. His telephone and a floor lamp, whose stem is made of a stack of bottle caps, are at his left side. Albert H. Greenberg was manager of the Portland branch in 1935 and 1936. Richard N. Lanser was manager in 1938. Copies of old prints ordered by Heidelberg Brewing Company in December 1954.

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1930-1940; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1930-1940; Smoking--Portland; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Portland); Desks; Offices--Portland;