“I love the nostalgic myself. I hope we never lose some of the things of
the past.”
~ Walt Disney
~1901-1966
The historic Neuweiler Brewery is soaked in spring sunshine on an April afternoon
in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
I presented the image in sepia to enhance the nostalgic mood.
Also known as Germania Brewery, Neuweiler’s is an historic brewery
complex built between 1911 & 1913, and consists of the office building,
brew house, stock house, pump house, wash house, chemistry lab building, boiler
room, bottling house, garage, fermenting cellar and smokestack with the name
“Neuweiler” on it. The office building is a two-story, brick and granite
building. The remaining buildings in the complex are built of brick. The brew
house stands six-stories, and has a copper hipped roof with cupola. The stock
house is a long, narrow four-story building. The brewery closed in 1968.
Today, although the buildings have
been vacant and/or underutilized since the brewery’s closing, the towering
structure and copper cupola atop the brew house has been an iconic part of the
city’s skyline for nearly 100 years, symbolizing Allentown’s rich industrial
history.
Neuweiler’s was added to the
National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The site is currently listed on
Preservation Pennsylvania’s “Pennsylvania at Risk” list.
Unfortunately, the structure has
fallen into disrepair and has been vandalized with graffiti. Hopefully, it will
be redeveloped and returned to its former glory.
Thanks to Neuweiler’s, history
really “hops” in Allentown!
