Quick Facts
Biography
August Uihlein (1842–1911) was a German-American brewer, business executive and horse breeder.
Early life
August Uihlein was born in 1842 in Wertheim am Main, Baden, Germany. He had a brother, Henry Uihlein.
His family had for years kept the Gasthaus zur Krone, an inn. In 1850, the Tauber River flooded, filling the inn's basement. Uihlein's grandfather, George Krug, offered to take his oldest grandson with him to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States, where Krug's son, August Krug, had a tavern and brewery. During the trip from Wertheim, their ship caught fire in the mid-Atlantic. Krug and Uihlein held on to a wooden box until rescued by sailors of the American bark, Devonshire.
In Milwaukee, Uihlein attended the German-English Academy. He also attended St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri from 1855 to 1857.
Career
Uihlein worked in the Uhrig Brewery in St. Louis from 1857 to 1867. Returning to Milwaukee in 1867, he joined what was now the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, the same brewery that had been founded by his uncle August Krug in the 1840s (Krug's widow, Anna Maria, had married Joseph Schlitz in 1858).
On the death of Schlitz in 1875, control of the firm passed into the hands of Uihlein and his brothers. When Mrs. Schlitz died in 1887, the Uihlein brothers acquired complete ownership of the corporation. Uihlein was secretary and chairman of the board (1874–1911). He was also actively involved in banking, real estate, and many other Milwaukee businesses.
Horse breeding and philanthropy
Interested in purebred racehorses, he kept a large stock farm at Truesdell, Wisconsin, near Kenosha. He was the owner of Harvester. Uihlein donated large sums to the German-English Academy and to the Milwaukee Public Library.
Personal life and death
Uihlein had three sons, Erwin, Joseph and Robert, and three daughters, Mrs Fred Pabst, Mrs W. C. Brumder, and Miss Paula Uihlein. He was widowed in 1910, and moved to Heligoland, Germany to rest with family members. He celebrated his 69th birthday in Switzerland.
Uihlein died in 1911 in Heligoland, Germany. By the time of his death, he was worth an estimated US$4 million, which was split among his six children.