Northwestern Brewery

In July of 1853, Samuel and Nancy Leech sold Government Lot 2 to Henry and Hannah Crosby of Stillwater for $300. Three weeks later, for $50, the Crosbys sold 62/100 of an acre of their property to Norbert Kimmick, a Stillwater brewer who wanted the spring in the hillside for making beer, and the caves in the cliff side for storing his finished product.

The spring that he purchased must have been a sizable one, for at that early date there was a bridge on the road over a stream coming from the brewery site. This bridge can be seen in the far right corner of the plat map. (See page 17) This bridge is also mentioned in an early newspaper account of the building of the Mill: “I walked down to the bridge a few hundred yards below town, to examine the extensive works going forward upon the mills of Messrs. Hersey, Staples & Co.”[1][2]

Norbert Kimmick had started with a small whiskey still on the corner of Third and Chestnut Streets. This “brewery” was located in Kimmick’s kitchen, and he distilled about five gallons a week. About the time, he bought this site to expand his business, he took as a partner, Frank Aiple. Together they ran the business until Kimmick’s death in 1857. One year later, former partner, Frank Aiple, married Kimmick’s widow, Suzanne, and together Frank and Suzanne ran the brewery.

Frank and Suzanne Aiple Residence
Collected by John Runk/Washington County Historical Society
Frank and Suzanne Aiple Residence, next to the brewery.

In November of 1868, Frank Aiple died from a fall from the bluff while he was working on his house. Because the Aiple family is one of the dynasties of Stillwater, and because the family continued to own the brewery property more than 130 years after they purchased it, it might be appropriate to quote the biography of Frank Aiple upon his death November 11, 1868.

Death of Mr. Frank Aiple
Last week we chronicled an accident that happened to this gentleman and stated that his recovery was thought certain.
He died last Wednesday morning, however, at his residence in this city rather unexpected.
Mr. Aiple came to this city about fourteen years ago and entered the employ of Mr. Kimmick (whom our old citizens all remember as an extensive brewer,) in the capacity of brewer. His industry and accurate knowledge of his duties rendered him a very efficient man and he remained in the employ of Mr. Kimmick until his death, some three years afterward in 1857. One year thereafter he married Mrs. Kimmick and came into possession of all the property, partly through purchase, and partly through his marriage. He continued to manage the
business and by his thrift and industry kept adding to and building it up until he had probably the most extensive brewery in the St. Croix Valley, and had accumulated a great deal of other property. Last spring we chronicled the burning of his brewery, which he had now almost entirely rebuilt in a greatly enlarged and improved manner of stone two stories high. Apart from his brewery was his dwelling house which was hardly yet completed, but into which he had just moved, and which was a fine two story building of cut stone. He was just getting everything around him nice and comfortable when he was thus suddenly taken away. Aside from his brewery and dwelling house, he owned the Minnesota House and lot on which it stands, and had some other property in Oak Park.
There are few men in our city that have more friends than Mr. Aiple. He was one of those free, open hearted, generous men that everybody likes when once they become acquainted with them. His hospitality was unbounded and his success in business was attributable as much to this probably as anything else.[3]

After Frank’s death, Suzanne continued the business of the brewery until she married Herman Tepas in December of 1869—just over a year after Frank’s death.[4]

On June 4, 1889, Suzanne Tepas died, but it was not until September 30, 1902 that Herman Tepas, her third husband, died.[5]

Aiple Brewery Float
Photo by Halmrast Brothers, collected by John Runk/Washington County Historical Society
A parade float for Frank Aiple Jr.'s Northwest Brewery, entered into Stillwater's Fourth of July parade in 1893. The teamster driving the wagon was George Walters, who would later become a Stillwater police officer.

In the late 1880s the Brewery passed into the hands of Frank Aiple’s son, Frank Aiple, Jr. who ran the brewery under the name of the Aiple Brewery until 1899 when the name was changed to the Jung Brewery.

The Jung Brewery was in business until 1919 when the advent of Prohibition apparently marked the end of the company. In 1933, South Main Street was widened, and the wonderful limestone Aiple house, and most of the brewery buildings, were demolished for the highway.

—Donald Empson

References

  1. D Deeds 279

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  2. The Daily Minnesotan, September 13, 1854

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  3. Stillwater Republican, November 17, 1868

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  4. Brent Peterson, St. Croix Valley Press, March 5, 1998

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  5. History of the St Croix Valley, Augustus Easton, ed. , H.C. Cooper , Jr. & Co, Chicago , 1909, pp. 125, 161.

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