Letter

Archive

Museum of History Benicia

Benicia Brewing letter page 1

The image shows a typewritten letter on letterhead from a brewing company in San Francisco, dated March 13, 1934, addressed to Mr. Paul Sparks in Benicia, California. The letter discusses a proposed brewery in Benicia, aiming to become the largest west of St. Louis, emphasizing ample expansion grounds, a superb mountain water supply, and excellent shipping logistics. It notes their strategic choice of Benicia due to cost-effective transportation to San Francisco docks. The letter refers to the pre-prohibition era, mentioning how the number of breweries could have grown in proportion to California’s population increase. It concludes with the discussion on California's population growth addressed in their answers.

Name/Title

Letter

Entry/Object ID

2016.003.0034

Scope and Content

This is a letter addressed to Mr. Paul Sparks of Benicia California. It is from R.L. Hepler who was the General Manager of The Benicia Brewing Company. The letter answers 12 questions that Mr. Sparks had asked about the proposed venture in Benicia to convert the Tannery into a brewing company. Also attached are some newspaper articles from 1934 about the plans to establish the brewery. The articles show that the plans were fairly far along and then there is no mention of what happened to the venture. Not sure if the brewery ever was started or not but cannot find a record of that business in Benicia history.

Collection

Benicia Arsenal Collection