September 29, 2020
Due to Covid-19, the official Oktoberfest was canceled for this year, but Historic Jacksonville, Inc. thought we would at least acknowledge the German brewers who brought German lager to Jacksonville. Although Viet Schutz and his Viet Schutz Hall may have been the most famous, the Eagle Brewery was probably Jacksonville’s first brewery, in operation no later than 1856 on the block between Main and California streets that now houses the Orth Building. By 1859 the Brewery was in existence at its current location, 355 S. Oregon Street, and under the ownership of German-born Joseph Wetterer. Two years later Wetterer “commenced the building of a large beer saloon in front of his brewery.” The complex of buildings eventually included a “malt kiln,” “mash tub,” “cooler,” “furnace heat,” and “beer kettle.” For the next 18 years, Wetterer and his wife Fredericka ran the saloon, advertising “the best lager beer in Southern Oregon.”