Industries
FORMOSA SPRING BREWERY
Formosa being a German
settlement, would not have been complete without a brewery. This need was supplied in 1870 by Andrew Rau, just twelve years after the township of Carrick was
incorporated.
From 1870, for a period of
nearly twenty years the brewery changed owners a number of times — recorded names
including F.X. Messner and Anthony
Messner. On Dec. 27, 1899 John Schwartz sold the brewery to Lorenz Heisz,
Buffalo, N.Y. who took possession on Jan. 8, 1900.
Parts of the original
brewery had burned down at different times and were soon rebuilt.
In the earliest days of the
brewery, the malting was done in the upper floor of the brewery. Barley was bought from local farmers, spread on
the floor, and kept warm and moist so that it
sprouted to the exact degree needed.
It had to be turned frequently, day and night. Men had to be in constant
attendance. Some of them slept in a part of the brewery.
Later on the malt was bought from Canada Malting
Co. in Toronto. In 1900 excise tax on malt was 1cD per lb.
On June 12, 1910, Lorenz Heisz sold the brewery to his son Frank A. and his son-in-law, Gustav Tiede,
Buffalo, N.Y. The brewery was known as Heisz and Tiede. They became famous for the outstanding
quality of their products.
On Sunday mornings, after hearing Mass, churchgoers would stop in at the hotels to visit with their friends and have a glass or two of
beer before returning home.
A common sight during those years in the villages, towns and townships within a radius of thirty miles of Formosa was the high-wheeled brewery wagons and the smartly harnessed teams delivering kegs of beer to homes and hotels.
A great deal of ice was needed in those days at the brewery. It was cut from the village pond in winter — cut by hand with long-tooth ice-saws into large squares, and hauled on
horse-drawn sleighs to a storage building which
was part of the brewery. It was well packed in sawdust to keep it from melting until it was needed in the summer. The cellars were
built into a hill with another ice-house
at the back to keep the cellars cold. Frank A. Heisz built an electric motor-driven ice-saw in 1916, which
greatly lightened the work of sawing the large amount
of ice needed.
Prohibition
came into effect in 1916. During the early years of prohibition Heisz and Tiede
manufactured regular beer, and also a light beer of less than 1% alcohol. Regular beer could be purchased through an importing office. The sales office for Heisz
and Tiede was J.E. Wagner
and Son, Buffalo. The purchase order was mailed to the brewery at Formosa and the customer picked up his purchase at the brewery. Often
they drove miles with horse and buggy only to be disappointed when the sales voucher had been delayed in the mails.
In 1922 the
brewery closed completely due to prohibition.
On Aug. 7, 1924 Heisz and Tiede
sold to Conrad Hammer, brewer from Welland,
Ont. In March 1925, under the management of Frank A. Heisz, the renovation of Formosa Spring Brewery was
begun.
Plank floors were replaced with concrete, wooden posts and beams were replaced by steel, new steel water tanks were built by Hunter Bridge and
Boiler Co., Kincardine, Ont. A
6" diameter copper steam coil was installed in the
kettle for heating. Previously the kettle had been fired with wood. A copper top and steam stack were added at this time. The 8 foot wooden mash tun
received a sectional slotted bronze false bottom covering the entire floor
area. A propeller with 10 H.P. motor was installed for mixing the mash. A
refrigeration system complete with cooling coils throughout the cellars was also installed at this time. This replaced the storage
of ice.
In 1926 Charles Deckop and
William Schramm of Buffalo bought the business. Renovations continued.
Early in the spring of 1927 a new bottling shop was built and completely equipped with new semi-automatic equipment, including a Barry Weimiller soaker and pasteurizer, a Henes
& Keller automatic filler, and Liberty
crowner.
New wooden fermenters and larger wooden beer storage tanks were installed.
On March 13, 1927 the first brew was run off and Formosa Spring was back in business again, with the reopening being on June 27, 1927.
Ray Schwartz, of Buffalo was brewmaster, Mat Kempel was cellar-man and Oscar Heisz was
employed in the brewhouse. Christian Rich was fireman.
In the bottleshop were Mike Vogt, Ed Meyer, Edgar Lehman and Isadore Gfroerer. Summer help included Bill and John Downs, Jack Kraemer, Walter and Paul Heisz.
Clara Heisz was stenographer. Frank A. Heisz was
general manager.
The malt was kept in bond and was released by
a custom and excise officer, which
position was held over a period of years by Len McNamara, Barney Beingessner,
Alex McLennan and Oliver Kuntz. It was later taken over by Hanover Customs
Office. The provincial government also had a representative from the Liquor Control Board as well as an inspector of retail sales and warehouse shipments. Harry
McBurney was inspector for many
years, followed by Norman Beingessner and George
Benninger. After changes in the Liquor
Control Act and methods of taxation, the inspector
position was eliminated. In 1927 excise duty on malt was as a lb., malt $1.14 a bushel (36 lbs.) and Oregon
hops 37$ a lb.
In November 1927 Ray Schwartz
resigned as brewmaster and Gustav Tiede returned to take over that position. In May 1933 Gustav Tiede returned to London and Oscar Heisz
was employed as brewmaster, from 1933 until 1966 when
illness forced him into semi-retirement.
The Heisz
family took an active part in the management of the brewery for many years. Frank's three sons,
Oscar, Walter and Paul all graduated from United States Brewer's Academy
in New York City as Master Brewers.
On April 1st,
1941 the American interests sold out to O.V. Craig, Toronto. His interests in turn were taken
over by his brother, Claude Craig, who then
acted as general manager, Oscar Heisz was brewmaster, Walter Heisz was plant superintendent and Paul Heisz
was office manager. Their father, Frank, had
died in 1940.
Over the years more storage tanks
were installed, a large addition made to the
bottle shop and larger more modern equipment installed.
The summers of 1958 and 1968 will
never be forgotten by Formosa residents.
They were the years of the beer strikes, and Formosa being non-union was the
only brewery and retail store open in the province. Thousands flocked to
Formosa. Cars from all over the province drove bumper to bumper along the main street. Demand was so heavy that customers had to be rationed to one case
apiece. Stretching for hundreds of yards the line-up of people waited patiently
to buy a precious case of beer.
In 1968 Claude Craig sold the
brewery to a group of Toronto businessmen.
In 1968 Formosa Spring Brewery
brewed 50,000 gallons of a special beer for the
first Oktoberfest in Kitchener. It was labelled "Oktoberfest Beer" and had a picture of Julius Rauchfuss, president of a German Club in Kitchener, dressed in Bavarian costume, on
the label.
After increasing storage capacity
and finding that further expansion in Formosa was
not feasible, the Formosa executive purchased a 107 acre
site on Highway 400 south of Barrie.
Before moving to Barrie the Formosa plant had reached 80,000 bbls. in sales.
Brewing was carried on seven days a week and bottling six days a week, working round the clock.
A new 600,000
barrel brewery was designed and construction was begun. On May 1st, 1970
the brewery was sold to Benson and Hedges Canada Ltd.
In December 1970 at the annual Christmas party
in Formosa for employees,
Benson and Hedges presented inscribed gold wrist watches to the men who had been employed by Formosa
Spring Brewery for 25 years or more. They were: Oscar Heisz 43 years, Walter
Heisz 42 years, Paul Heisz and Edgar Lehman 40 years, Joseph Kraemer 31 years, Lorne Hundt, Francis Borho,
Nelson Lambertus and Joseph Weiler
30 years.
The new plant at Barrie was in
operation by Jan. 1, 1972. The Formosa Spring
Brewery plant at Formosa was closed on Dec. 31st, 1971.
This was the end of an era. No
more could we enjoy the delightful sweet smell of beer
brewing. We missed the sound of bottling machinery and of trucks loaded with beer leaving for
cities and towns all over Southern and
Eastern Ontario. Most of all we missed the workers and all the activity at the brewery.
Thirty-eight employees moved to
Barrie to work in the new brewery. Most of them
moved their families as well. Their homes in Formosa were soon bought up, mostly by workers at Douglas
Point, the Bruce Nuclear Power
Development.
The new brewery at Barrie was
named Formosa Spring Brewery, and Walter Heisz was retained as brewmaster.
Barry Heisz, Oscar's son, and graduate of Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago, was assistant brewmaster.
On July 15, 1974, Formosa Spring
Brewery was purchased by Molson's
Breweries. The name has been changed to Molson's Brewery (Ontario) Ltd. Barry Heisz
is now brewmaster, the fourth generation brewmaster in the Heisz
family.
Former Formosa residents still
employed at Molson's, Barrie besides Barry Heisz are Maurice Heisz, son of
Walter, Joseph Weiler, Gerald Borho, Nelson Lambertus, Harvey Weishar,
Harold (Pepper) Voisin, Alvin, Thos. and Elmer Schlosser, Elmer Schill, Dave Schlosser, Joe Schill,
Dennis Benninger and Leo Hauck.
The old plant at Formosa has been
sold by Molson's to Frank E. and Joseph O., sons
of Oscar and great grandsons of Lorenz Heisz. It now carries the name of The Formosa Spring Water
Co. Ltd." Plans are being made for marketing bottled water. Also, part of
it is occupied by the Formosa Spring Fish Products Ltd.and
part serves as a storage facility.
The first brewery at Formosa built
in 1870. Anthony Schumacher on wagon, Frank A. Heisz,
partner in Heisz and Tiede, Cutting ice on the pond to supply the brewery
with enough ice to keep
Tony Obermeyer second from left,
F.X. Messner in buggy. and
for many years manager of Formosa cellars cold during the coming summer.
There was no refrigeration.
Spring
Brewery — until his death in 1940.
Brewery employees
during war years. Women were employed due to the shortage of
men, many of whom Labels used on different kinds of beer and ale
at Formosa Spring Brewery.
were in the armed services.
Line-up at the beer strike in 1958 Line-up at the beer strike in
1968
Dec. 31st, 1971. The last sales at Formosa Spring Brewery,
Formosa The Formosa Spring
Brewery after final closing as a brewery.
THE SAWMILL AT FORMOSA
As far as we can gather, sometime
in the 1850's, a sawmill was started in Formosa
by John B. Kroetsch. This was the first industry in
Formosa, and naturally was devoted to cutting
pine and other softwoods for building
material. However, it was not until 1864 that the Crown deeded quite a bit of the surrounding land to Mr. Kroetsch, who, as time went on, subdivided the lands into smaller farms, and
again later on these were subdivided into
building lots.
About 1877 W. J. Lynn purchased the
sawmill, producing annually about 600,000
feet of lumber, together with lath and shingles. At his death
the mill was sold to Joseph Brick, who operated for a very short time, and during the 1880s sold the operation to
Joseph Weiler and his son Christian Weiler who
renovated and expanded the business.
A few years later, Joseph Weiler withdrew from the business, and Christian Weiler
operated alone until 1913, when he took his son, Val Weiler into partnership, and again expanded the business, so that during the entire winter the sawmill was cutting up
logs, and for the summer months, the
same employees were kept busy making staves, hoops and apple barrels, which were in great demand at
that time. They also made hand sleighs.
They started a water powered
chopping mill in 1913, and built a harness shop which was run by Philip Weiler and Mr. Schickler. In 1916
a disastrous fire destroyed all these cooperage
buildings, and they were never replaced.
In 1918, on retirement, Christian Weiler sold the sawmill to his sons, Val and Philip,
but unfortunately during the same year Philip died during the influenza
epidemic and Val was left to operate the plant alone. He conducted a very successful
and extensive business. In the years of 1919 to 1923 he also operated a portable sawmill near Wingham,
then at Tinkertown and at Chepstow and
Cargill. From about the year 1930, his sons Edward
and Alfred took over part of the operation.
Adjacent to the Weiler
home was a large barn which, along with cows, horse, pigs and chickens for family use, also housed four teams of heavy draught horses. These were used to pull
sleigh loads of lumber, apple barrels,
and later hard maple squares to the railway station at Mild-may for shipment. Full time teamsters were
employed to look after these horses, to
drive the sleigh loads of finished products, to work in the bush pulling out logs with chains to a convenient
place for loading, and also to haul logs in
from the bush on sleighs. Four long time teamsters were Seraphine Meyer, Herb
Meyer, Bill Peters and Harold Bildstein.
Serry Meyer is now living in Walkerton.
During the depression years, when
sales dropped off until they were non-existent,
Val Weiler Ltd. manufactured many smaller household
items such as kindergarten sets, foot stools,
rolling pins, wooden potato mashers,
butter paddles, wooden spoons, croquet sets, trellises and flower boxes, which were sold very reasonably where ever a market could be found.
At the time of
Val Weiler's death in 1949 the firm was known as Val Weiler Ltd.* until 1960 when Weller Lumber Ltd. was formed.
They purchased large bushlots reselling the land after the timber was removed.
The production was entirely hard maple squares and dimension stock, which was exported to England,
U.S., Holland, West Germany, Russia, and even small shipments to Japan. An extensive
export business, especially to England, had been carried on for many years by Val Weiler.
In the spring of 1971 the assets of the company were sold to Alfred
McGuire who
set up the new company Weiler Dimensions Ltd. They manufacture squares for furniture.
Alfred Weiler died in July1978 at the age of 61. Edward Weiler and his son Arthur are still active in the business.
Edward Weiler has been working in this sawmill for
fifty-two years, his first job being grinding grain in the water-powered mill which was
contained in the same building as the first sawmill.
Many old timers
remember the horse-drawn sleighs loaded with logs, the high singing sound of the saw
and the shrill mill whistle sounding morning, noon and
evening.
For a few years
during the 1940's Val Weiler and his sons owned and operated a sawmill in Perth,
Ontario. The Formosa mill was sold to Gordon Litt who
operated it several years, when unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire. A new building
was erected by Val Weiler across the road from the old site.
So the Formosa
sawmill, the village's first industry, begun in the 1850's, has been operating
continuously until the present day, providing employment and serving a real need in the
community.
* From 1949 the
business was managed by Alfred H. Weiler and owned by
him from 1968 to 1971.
The old Sawmill before 1900. The Lumber Yard behind The Mill
At the Sawmill about 1900
Left to right: Alois Meyer, Frank Schumacher, Tony Beninger, Fred Brick, The
Formosa Sawmill, February 1980
Felix Gutscher, Jos.
Schumacher, Michael Anstedt, Christian Weiler,
Mike Zimmer, Philip Gehring, Wm. Anstedt,
Pete Dentinger, Joseph
Weiler
Workers at the Sawmill, 1947
Rear row: Mark
Obermeyer, Jerome Hauck, Walter Ditner, Mike Weber,
Walter Dosman, Bob Dietrich, Herb Rumig,
Linus Weber, Jack Bildstein,
Erwin Fischer.
Middle row: Harold Weiler,
Howard Durrer, Dave Meyer, Francis Kuntz, Eugene
Kuntz.
Front row: Raphael Meyer, Ken Dickison, Seraphin Schmidt, Edward Weiler,
Val Weiler, Harold Bildstein,
Alfred Weiler, Melvin Zimmer, Angus McCleod, Gerald
Schmidt, Dave Gill.
TILE MANUFACTURE
Joseph Kraemer was the first manufacturer of
concrete tile by production line
machinery in the early 1920's.
In 1860-70 quite a number of
land drains were installed using logs with large holes bored through the centre. The
ends of these 8' and 10' timbers were fitted as male and female joints.
It is known that Henry Mosack,
son of the Mosack hotel people, introduced at about the turn of the century,
the use of Portland Cement to this area From
then on concrete could be used for building walls, bridges, stabling, sidewalks, etc.
WOOLEN MILLS
About all that is known of a woolen mill
operating at Stoney Creek (Formosa). Jacob Messinger
operated a mill here prior to 1870 at which time he moved operations to Hanover. No reference of later operation could be found.
SIDEWALKS IN THE VILLAGE
It is difficult to ascertain the exact year
that the first wooden sidewalks were
constructed.
Various photos would indicate that as early as
1880 ribbons of sidewalks had
been built by the laying of long sawn timbers with plank crosses nailed
thereto. These were in use on the main street until about 1915 and on the school hill until 1923.
Gradually, as concrete (Portland Cement) was
introduced, the plank sidewalks, which were worn out or broken, were replaced
with the more permanent
concrete material, Gravel was hauled from local pits by team. Cement was shipped by rail to Mildmay and teamed to Formosa. It was packed into round white cotton cloth bags and
tied with a short, soft wire tie. The
cement was mixed by hand with round mouthed shovels and blocked in 6' x 5' squares.
Christian Weiler
could be called the father of sidewalks, as he instigated and supervised the laying of the new
cement sidewalks.
BUTCHERING
From fall until spring local men would act as
butchers to kill and process several
pigs at practically every home. Three or four different types of sausages were made (bratwurst, liverworst, blood pudding and schwardermauger). Hams were home cured and smoked in the
small smoke-house to be found on every property. Lard was
rendered in large iron kettles.
Each of these so called professional butchers
had their own recipes for seasoning
meats, and great pride was taken in their prowess.
There is a
story of two groups in a neighbourhood. On the night
of butchering
group one invited group two to taste their sausage. Of course, group two declared that the
sausage was not nearly as good as their own. Not until the next morning when they found
some of their sausage missing did, they realize that group one had stolen it and that they had
eaten and
criticized their own sausage.
Usually a card
game with an abundance of drinks ended the long day which started with out-door
fires at 6:00 a.m.
Some of the
earlier butchers in Formosa were the Weilers (Alois
and Matthew), George Weiss, Charles Waechter, Herbert Beninger,
Alphonse Zimmer and Leander Beninger. For some years Mike Goetz and later Isadore Weiss peddled meat house
to house.
Shown here is a Tailor Shop near the mill Pictured here is the modern Rettinger Meat Market on
Pond. Alois Weiler,
brother of Chris, was one Con. 12, Culross
Twp. Operated by Dave Rettinger
Of
the tailors. Later this shop was used as
a
Butcher
shop operaed by Matthew Weiler
and
Later George Weiss.
Another modern Meat Market near
Formosa is Elora Road Meats on the Elora Road,
owned and operated by the Leo Batte family.
QUILTING BEES
Quilting Bees
were popular especially in the winter time. Neighbourhood women would gather at various
homes to quilt the patchwork quilts made of scraps of material left from
dressmaking; and to tie the heavier comforters made of suit and coat material patches.
DRESSMAKING
Dressmaking was
done by various women proficient at their work in their own homes or going to
customers' homes. At times, a week or so was spent in one home by the seamstress,
making dresses, suits, etc.
MILLINERY
Beautiful hats were made by ladies
skilled in this work. Millinery shops were also conducted from the Messner store.
LOGGING BEES
Since no one
had much money to pay for wages, exchange of work was naturally in order among neighbourhoods. Usually logging bees were held for clearing land, burning
logs, putting up barns, butchering, threshing, harvesting
and assisting where sickness or misfortune had befallen someone in the neighbourhood.
CIDER MILLS
One of these
early commercial mills was conducted on the farm premises of Peter Kuntz where the horse power was used to grind the apple pulp and to apply the pressure
to the press. The John Ditner farm also had an operative mill where cider
was manufactured for many years.
From about 1920
to 1940 Joachim Kraemer owned and operated an extensive Cider Mill and an Apple Butter
cookery. Patrons would supply the diced apples for the filler to be added to the boiled cider. Apple
butter in huge
quantities was enjoyed in most homes. At this establishment, a large oil
engine supplied the motive power while a huge stationery steam boiler supplied
the cooking heat. During the fall season up to a dozen men would be employed.
Shortly after
World War II, Herb Kuntz and Andrew Opperman acquired the large building on Lot No. 1, Plan
282, Formosa, and converted same into a plant to wash and wax rutabaga for shipment to the American city produce markets. Each
fall and winter local farmers would deliver wagons and sleigh-loads to the plant
where they were processed, bagged (50lbs per bushel) reloaded into railway box
cars in Walkerton and in later years into refrigerated produce trucks, hauling out
loads of up to 800 bushels.
The
Turnip Waxing Plant at Formosa
The plant
changed hands several times, the last owner/operator being Bert Ernewein. Today only a few farmers in the area grow
this crop. Mr. Ernewein specializes by growing large acreages each
year.
Following the 1st World War, a great deal of
testing took place in connection with
limestone rock which is found in abundance in and about Formosa.
A Company generally known as the Hydro began
operating a large crusher plant
at the rock cut some two miles north of the village during the summer of 1920. As high as 50 men were
employed during the construction of buildings and plant. Wages at that time
had reached to an all-time high of 60˘ per hour for carpenters. Work time consisted of 10 hours per day, 6 days per week. Buildings consisted
of Crusher, 65 feet high, 30' Belt Conveyor,
Dynamite Storage, Bunk Houses and Blacksmith Shop. A railroad siding with
connection into C.N.R. line near Walkerton was constructed. In order to
loosen and break up the rock material a drilling rig was employed. As high as 90 holes 4 inches in
diameter would be drilled to a depth of
30 feet. Four to five tons of blasting powder would be packed into these well-like holes and set off
at one time. These blasts could be heard
and felt for many miles. Thousands of tons of rock would be loosened to be fed into crushers which
could chew up large boulders. The balance
wheels of the crusher were 2 feet wide, one foot thick and built to a diameter of 10 feet. Peak
production of 24 rail cars holding 50 tons each were shipped per day. Most of the crushed rock was shipped to the Steel Mills at Hamilton. Rail roads also
bought huge quantities for roadbeds. A
considerable amount was also shipped to the Hanover Cement Works to be used in manufacture of
Portland Cement.
This venture
which seemed to blossom overnight ground to a halt some three of four years later.
The machinery spur line was removed and most of the buildings decayed within a 10-year
period. About 40 years later a holding company purchased several hundred acres of the outcropping of rock in this area, so who
knows when further development might take place.
Among the
many who were employed at this project were Albin Schmidt, Steve Kraemer,
Harry Schill, Frank Voisin,
Anthony Schnurr, Bill Peters, Ed Spielacher,
Edgar Lehman, Frank Obermeyer and Stanley Bauman.
BLACKSMITH SHOPS
For many years Alois Meyer operated a blacksmith shop in the southern end of the village,
across the street from the general store.
John Hundt, and later his son William, served
the public in their blacksmith shop which was on the site of the present
Gerald Weishar residence.
Harry Fedy's shop
was in the northern end of the main street. That building was demolished last year, after
heavy snow caused it to cave in.
John
Hundt in his shop. He and his helper could put 106 William Hundt’s
Blacksmith Shop
Harry Fedy's Blacksmith Shop.
Harry J. Fedy, Formosa Blacksmith 1917 - 1978