ABSORPTION REFRIGERATION CYCLE

Charles G. Stifel's Brewing Co., North Fourteenth and Howard Streets. Advertisement with wood engraving by A.J. Kroer, 1888. From The St. Louis of To-Day, 1888. Missouri Historical Society Library. N35224.

Northwest corner of Fourteenth and Howard Streets
St. Louis, MO
63106

This corner of Fourteenth and Howard Streets was once the site of a brewery owned by Charles Gottfreid Stifel. Born in Wuertemberg, Germany in 1819, Stifel came to St. Louis in 1849 by way of Cincinnati. His arrival coincided with the influx of German immigrants who had fled their homeland following the failed revolution of 1848. With their progressive ideas about individual freedoms and rights, they staunchly opposed the pro-slavery platform of the Democratic Party. As a result, German immigrants and African Americans shared a common political perspective.

During the Civil War, Stifel was one of many German immigrants who took up arms against the Confederacy. In 1860, Stifel bought 25 muskets and began drilling fellow Germans in the malt house of his brewery. Named Colonel of the Fifth Missouri Volunteer Infantry in 1861, Stifel served for ten months at Camp Jackson (now the site of Saint Louis University's Frost Campus), and fought various battles in Western Missouri along side of Generals Frank Blair and Nathaniel Lyon. In 1862, he returned to his brewery business, which had suffered tremendous losses during his absence.

Stifel was one among many German immigrants who transported their brewing traditions across the Atlantic to St. Louis. The caves under the city supplied the proper humidity and natural refrigeration to brew and store pilsner beer. Stifel made use of one these caves when he relocated his brewery to this corner in 1859. In addition to brewing beer, Stifel served as president of Northwestern Savings Bank, a local financial establishment, from 1873 until 1893. The brewery on this corner continued to operate for several decades after Stifel's death in 1901. His former residence is located on Twentieth Street and St. Louis Avenue and has been the home of the Polish Falcons, a gymnastic and social organization, since 1932.

Here is the bar/buffet at the Boma. All the supplies are kept in here such as plates cups and the like. It also has a refrigeration unit in there as well. Being the crass American I vote for an icemaker to be installed as well.