Ghost of a brewery
As I’ve mentioned, the story of Pennsylvania’s frontier (and that of much of the rest of the United States) is inextricably entwined with that of beer. Almost every town, camp, or outpost had some sort of plan for the provision of beer, much as they did for any other of life’s necessities.
We found an interesting example of this in a so-called “ghost town” in Pennsylvania’s Oil Country, a town once known by the unfortunate moniker of Pithole. Much of Pennsylvania’s history involves “firsts” which are later taken over in a big way somewhere else. Oil is no different, and shortly after the first oil well was built near Titusville, PA there was a Gold Rush of a different sort to the Northwestern woods of Pennsylvania as a host of hopefuls, ne’er-do-wells, and merchants hoping to supply both with goods and services sought their fortunes in oil.
Pithole was a town which was born and died with the supply of oil, building up to 15,000 inhabitants and a host of businesses, including banks, a post office, and some 57 hotels, before fading away in something less than 2 years. One of those businesses was the brewery of D Steadman (see above), located between 1st and 2nd streets on the other side of the river from the center of town.
It’s logical, of course, that beer would follow the men and women in search of riches and success. That the demand for beer would warrant an entire brewery for a relatively small town with an incredibly short life span shows how the development of the US has been driven by beer in a way which wine and other spirits could never hope to replicate.
photo by JCE
** Don’t forget to enter this month’s contest! Click here to find out how to win! **
(c) Brew Ha-Ha, 2008
Tags: beer, Brewery, ghost town, oil, pennsylvania, Pithole
0 opinions for Ghost of a brewery
No one has left a comment yet. You know what this means, right? You could be first!
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: