One of the Oldest Structures in Minnesota Houses Historic Brewery

There's a brewery in St. Paul, Minnesota that has some deep ties to history. One is the building that the brewery is in and the other is the name of the brewery.

It's called Waldmann Brewery and it's got a pretty cool story to tell!

Oldest Surviving Commercial Structure in St. Paul

The building that Waldmann is in was built in 1857 and is one of the oldest commercial buildings in Minnesota that's still standing. And it's THE oldest in St. Paul.

On the Waldmann Brewery website, they mention that this building was built 6 months before Minnesota became a state, 4 years before the Civil War, and when St. Paul had a population of about 10,000.

And the purpose of the building was to house a lager beer saloon.

Lager Beers Take Minnesota by Storm

Once lager beers were introduced to America from Germany, we've loved it ever since. Of the 12 breweries in St. Paul in 1857, 10 of them were specifically for lagers. And you still see lagers in breweries and liquor stores all around the country to this day.

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Another reason for lager saloon popularity is that "Temperance supporters thought lager contained less alcohol", which it doesn't, so lager saloons were given more "favorable treatment".

St. Paul's Waldmann Lager Beer Saloon

So back to the saloon. The name of the couple that commissioned this building for their saloon? Anton and Mina Waldmann.

In 1858, the Waldmann Lager Saloon opened. The building also served as the home of Anton and Mina.

The saloon was open for 27 years and then the building was sold in 1885. It became mostly a rental property until 2008 when the current owners purchased it and started the restoration process in 2012.

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They were able to restore many original items from the building, like original square-cut nails and most of the interior trim work. They were also able to bring life back to some parts of the building and replicate how it would have been when it was originally built.