Meister Brau's Stallion Hitch

Postcard of the "Original Lowenbrau Brewery Wagon" pulled by Westphalian stallions

 at the New York World's Fair 1964-1965. Rudi Kurzenberger is holding the team. 

In 1964, Lowenbrau Brewery of Munich, Germany brought its Westphalian stallions to the New York World’s Fair as a feature for their Lowenbrau Gardens. A few years later, these stallions would live on the Meister Brau, Inc. farm near Grayslake, Illinois.

The team of Westphalian draft horses named Pauli, Michel, Gustl, and Blasi (and backup horse Dammerl) were driven by Rudolf “Rudi” Kurzenberger (1931-1991), a native of Munich, Germany. The horses only understood German and were the first of their kind in the United States.

The Westphalian stallions were prized by the 600-year-old Lowenbrau Brewery. The stallions pulled the brewery’s 5,000-pound beer wagon through the World’s Fair venue, adding to the Bavarian charm of its beer garden. 

Lowenbrau's Westphalian stallions with their new owner, Donald E. Gingery. 

Buffalo News October 16, 1965.

When the World’s Fair ended in 1965, the plan was for the stallions to return to Germany, but they became some of the many fair attractions auctioned and sold. The stallions were purchased by Donald E. Gingery, chairman of the board for Peter Hand Brewery of Chicago. Gingery said, “I just had to have them.” Gingery was part of an investment group that purchased the financially troubled brewery, and renamed it Meister Brau, Inc. after its’ top brand.  

Lowenbrau's team driver, Rudi Kurzenberger, was hired to remain with the horses and take over management of the hitch. As part of the purchase of the stallions, Gingery was required to pledge to the German Trade Minister that the horses would never be separated.

Meister Brau was the only company in the U.S. to own Westphalians and the only hitch to be comprised totally of stallions, which tend to be temperamental. The stallions were also of a rare color called chestnut or sorrel, and featured a white mane and tail. 

Meister Brau's Westphalian hitch in Libertyville, IL, circa 1967.

Driving the team are Rudi Kurzenberger and wife Kathi in traditional Bavarian costumes. Dunn Museum, 2013.11.2.

With Meister Brau's brewery located in Chicago, the Westphalian stallions were brought to Illinois. They were initially stabled in Barrington (location unidentified), and then at the Robert E. Jones farm in Farmer City, Illinois. By early 1967, the stallions were moved to Winds Chant Farm, a Shetland pony farm near Grayslake. 

The 45-acre farm was located east of U.S. Route 45 on the south side of Route 120. About 20-acres of the farm’s former site is now part of Almond Marsh Forest Preserve. 

Star denotes former location of Meister Brau's 45-acre farm near Grayslake, IL. 

Lake County IL Maps Online (Basemap Streets).

The farm was owned and operated by Meister Brau, Inc. The herd of Westphalians increased from five to 14, as Meister Brau imported more stallions and two mares from Germany. In May 1967, the first generation of “American” Westphalians were born at the Lake County, Illinois farm, one filly and one colt, weighing 250 pounds each.

Meister Brau’s Lake County farm was open to the public for horse-drawn wagon rides, meet-and-greets with the famous horses, and tours of the farm. 

Westphalian stallion being walked at Meister Brau's farm near Grayslake, June 1967.

Note the "Meister Brau" on the barrel. Dunn Museum, News Sun Collection.

Westphalian stallions stabled at Meister Brau's farm near Grayslake. Chicago Tribune, June 23, 1967.

Kurzenberger and his team took the stallion hitch—which increased in size from four to six stallions—to advertised appearances at shopping malls, fairs and parades throughout the Midwest. The hitch won awards, including Governor Kerner’s award for excellence in performance at the Illinois State Fair (1966).

Meister Brau hitch at one of its many promotional appearances in the Chicago area.

Chicago Tribune, October 4, 1970.

The brewery wagon and horses were transported in specially built vans. Part of the draw for spectators was to watch the process of the horses being unloaded from the vans, wearing the beautiful harnesses made in Germany for Meister Brau, and hitched to the brewery wagon.

In 1971, Meister Brau leased its famous Westphalian team, wagon and gear to Midwest Park Service, Inc., the operators of Pioneer Park (today’s Blackberry Farm) in Aurora, Illinois. The horses remained stabled at the Lake County farm where Kurzenberger and his team continued to care for them. On days prior to their appearance, the stallions were washed and brushed. They were transported in Meister Brau’s vans to Pioneer Park and became a highlight of visitors to the living history park.

Westphalian stallion hitch at Pioneer Park, Aurora, IL. The Daily Chronicle, October 26, 1972.

In 1972, after over-extending itself in business ventures unrelated to brewing, Meister Brau, Inc. went into bankruptcy. It sold the Meister Brau and Lite brands to Miller Brewing Company, and their iconic Westphalian hitch to Pioneer Park. In 1978, after a decade of financial woes, the brewery closed.

At Pioneer Park, the Westphalians were given special care as there were less than 100 horses of the breed in existence. Only 14 registered stallions remained, eight in Germany and six at Pioneer Park.

Initially, Larry Mitchell, was the driver and trainer of the hitch at Pioneer Park. Brian Morrissey (1940-2023) later took over as driver of the hitch. Morissey was a co-owner and manager of Pioneer Park. The Westphalian stallion hitch made appearances at the park and elsewhere through 1974. If anyone has information about the stallions after 1974, please let me know.

Rudi Kurzenberger with the German-made harness at Meister Brau's farm near Grayslake, May 1967. 

Dunn Museum, News Sun Collection. 

Rudi Kurzenberger and his wife Kathi worked for Meister Brau until about 1972. They remained in Lake County and Rudi became a contractor and built homes. Kathi Kurzenberger shared her Bavarian heritage through yodeling and playing the zither at festivals and restaurants, including The Wunder-Bar Restaurant in Antioch.

The famous Westphalian stallion hitch in Waukegan, IL, March 1968. Pictured are Phil Archdale (left) of Archdale's bar and restaurant and Rudi Kurzenberger demonstrating how a barrel was rolled in the "good old days." Dunn Museum, News Sun Collection.

For a brief shining moment, Lake County, Illinois was home to the only “Westphalische Kaltblut” (Westphalian draft horses) in America. From 1965 to the early 1970s, Meister Brau’s stallion hitch was seen throughout the Midwest. Today, the appeal continues as collectibles of Meister Brau's famous hitch remain popular with breweriana collectors.

- Diana Dretske, Curator ddretske@lcfpd.org

Special thanks to museum volunteer, Al Westerman, for research assistance! 

Sources:

Bess Bower Dunn Museum of Lake County, News Sun Collection
Lake County, Illinois Maps Online https://maps.lakecountyil.gov/mapsonline/
“Pony Show Slated as Eye Catcher,” Belvidere Daily Republican, August 7, 1958.
“See the Lowenbrau Westfaelisches Kaltblut,” The Record, March 23, 1965.
“Bring on Your Beer Barrels,” Illinois Press, October 16, 1965.
“Rare Stallions Shown Here,” Chicago Tribune, November 28, 1965
“Grayslake Corners Market on Rare Westphalians,” Chicago Tribune, April 23, 1967.
“Special Treat: The Westphalian Horses,” Daily Herald, August 6, 1967.
“Plan Rural Farm,” Chicago Tribune, July 21, 1968.
“In Illinois State Fair Horse Show,” Daily Sentinel, August 11, 1969.
“Stallions Appearing,” Daily Calumet, May 7, 1970.
“Famed Stallions to be Displayed,” Daily Herald, July 8, 1970.
“Meister Brau’s Stallion Hitch Comes to Meadowdale,” Cardunal Free Press, Carpentersville, IL, August 7, 1970.
“Rare Westphalisches Stallions to Make First Appearance Here,” Daily Herald, November 13, 1970.
“Young at Heart Group Visit a Gem Museum,” Daily Sentinel, July 1, 1971.
“Meister Brau Westphalian Hitch at Pioneer Park,” Cardunal Free Press, July 16, 1971.
“Famous Horses in Parade,” Daily Chronical, Dekalb, Illinois, October 26, 1972.
“Meadowdale Businessman Sponsor Meister Brau Hitch,” Cardunal Free Press, June 27, 1973.
“Westphalian Hitch a Parade Special,” Arthur Graphic, Clarion, Ilinois, August 23, 1973.
“Parade at Palestone Will Feature Westphalian Hitch,” Journal Gazette, August 25, 1973.
“Midwest’s Savory Autumn,” Chicago Tribune, September 22, 1974.
“Nevermore the Local Lagers,” Richard J. LaSusa, Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1977.
“The Last Call for Chicago’s Last Brewery,” Jon Anderson, Chicago Tribune, February 27, 1979.
“Action Line,” Chicago Tribune, August 30, 1979.
“Zither Player, Yodeler Thrilled Fans for Years,” Chicago Tribune, November 27, 2003. 

Avon Center School (c. 1841 - 1988)

One-room schoolhouses dotted the landscape of 19th century Lake County. By 1861, there were 70 of them, including the Avon Center School (District 47) in Avon Township.

Avon Center School was located in today's Grayslake, east of Route 83 at Shore Wood Road and Drury Lane. The school was built about 1841. The exact date is unknown, because the school’s records were destroyed in a fire in 1886 when Leonard Doolittle’s house burned down. Doolittle, who was the school treasurer, attempted to rescue the school documents from his house, but was overcome by smoke and died in the blaze.

This is the first page from the Avon Township Board of School Trustees's new ledger book, after the school's treasurer and records were lost in a fire. The first act of business on April 5, 1886, as shown on this page, was to "settle with the Administrators of L. Doolittle former Treasurer as follows to wit money in his hand..." and to appoint Emory Adams as the new treasurer. This ledger from the museum's collection dates from 1886 - 1951. The records lost more than likely dated from 1841.

The first school was a log building, 16 x 14 feet. The teachers were Tom Whitmore and Miss Cook, who was called “Little Miss Cook” for her short stature. Apparently, her feet could not reach the floor when she sat on a chair. The log cabin school was in use from circa 1841 to 1850.

The drawing was made by Gunnor Petersen for the Avon Center School History compiled in 1918 by its scholars in celebration of Illinois' centennial. (LCDM 2003.3)

Students from the log cabin school period (c 1841 - 1850) had contact with Native Americans who camped under a locust tree north of the schoolhouse. Despite relinquishing their land to the U.S. Government in the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, Native Americans continued to pass through Lake County for many years, returning to ancestral burial grounds. The students noted that the visitors carried a large quantity of dried meat and corn, and had a great many dogs and ponies. The Native Americans also continued to plant corn on islands on nearby lakes.


In 1850, a new school was built for its 70 students, and the log cabin structure became a blacksmith shop. The second schoolhouse was a frame structure about 20 x 30 feet. Teacher, Frances Simens (later Mrs. F.C. Doolittle) provided a globe and a map for study purposes.

The first frame schoolhouse (above) in later years when it was the residence of A. Petersen.

The third Avon Center School was built about 1887. This building was 36 x 25 feet with a brick foundation, and a wooden flagpole out front. Photo of school and students taken circa 1916.

The 1887-built school was remodeled about 1916. The school was raised and a cement block basement put under it for a furnace room and "play" room. The wooden flagpole was replaced with galvinized pipe. Larger windows were added and the porch enclosed. Photo of the improved school and its students taken in 1918.

Interior of the remodeled school, 1918.

In 1950, a two-room brick building was constructed for Avon Center School on Route 83 in Round Lake Beach. The following year, the framed schoolhouse was put up for bid. It sold for $6,700 and became a family residence.

The new brick building marked the end of Avon Center School's one-room school history. In 1988, the school merged with Grayslake District 46, putting an end entirely to Avon Center School.

In 1918, the school's history was compiled by several of its' scholars—Walter Parker, Leo Sheldon, Maybelle Sheldon, Della Bacigalupo, and Bertha Doolittle.

Shown in the photograph (left) are Askel and Gunnor Petersen, holding a kitty and puppy. Gunnor did the fantastic drawings shared in this blog. Many more of his drawings are included in the school history, along with more photographs and information about the school and environs.









I am grateful to the wisdom of school officials in 1918 who created the project to "chronicle" area history from "original sources." The museum holds 52 Lake County school histories, 18 of which have been digitized with grant funding and made available online at the Illinois Digital Archives. Though they are referred to as "school histories" they also document early settlers, businesses and town histories, and often share rare photographs and anecdotes, as seen in Avon Center School's history.

The Avon Center School History can be seen in its entirety online at the Illinois Digital Archives. The museum's online collections recently moved to the IDA, and are accessible on the site's Digital Past link.

Let's All Go to the Fair

The Lake County Fair opened this week in its new digs on Route 137 in rural Grayslake. The move has been controversial. However, the Fair has had many homes in its' 157-year history, including Waukegan, Libertyville, Antioch, Gurnee, Wauconda, and of course, Grayslake.

The Fair got its start as the Lake County Agricultural Society in the 1840s, by local nurseryman and horticulturalist Robert Douglas, who held arbor and floral exhibits at the county courthouse in Waukegan.

In 1852, the first county fair was held at the McKay race track in Waukegan. The fair's purpose was to encourage "better farming and livestock raising by holding annual exhibitions of all sorts of farm produce: fruit, vegetables, dairy products, items of home manufacture, poultry and livestock."

This artful arrangement exemplified what the fair association promoted--beautifully grown produce. This display was made by Fremont Township farmers and Prussian immigrants, Christian and Catherine Thomas, and exhibited at the fair, circa 1880. At the center of the apples and grapes are the Thomas's portraits, who were rightfully proud of the fruit of their labor. 

Tom Thumb (1838-1883) in 1863. Encyclopædia Britannica online.

The fair also featured entertainers and horse harness races. In 1855, General Tom Thumb appeared at the Lake County Fair in Waukegan.

Horse harness racing at the Waukegan Fair, McKay's racetrack, circa 1878. Dunn Museum Collection

The McKay race track was located west of the County buidling on the north side of Washington Street. This image shows a harness race at the track, probably during the Waukegan Days Fair, circa 1880. The courthouse can be seen in the center distance.

Having the fair on the east side of the county was probably a burden for farmers and visitors. In 1854 it was moved to French's Farm in Libertyville, a more central location, but went back to Waukegan from 1855 to 1857. Farmers then convinced the county board to lease 10 acres in Libertyville for the fair's use. It was held at the Lake County Farm (Winchester House) location from 1858 to 1881.

In 1882, the fair moved to Appley Avenue (now Lake Minear) in Libertyville. This location was popular and used until 1925.

Shown at left are the Libertyville fairgrounds which included a racetrack, circa 1910.

In 1928, the fair was reborn in Antioch, where it remained through 1947. In 1948-49, it was again held in Libertyville at Memorial Field; 1950 in Gurnee; 1951-55 in Wauconda; and had its longest run in one location from 1956 to 2008 in Grayslake at Routes 45 & 120.

The Grayslake location was the former property of one of the fair's founders, John Gage (1802-1890). Gage's farm was often praised as being a "model for eastern and western farmers."

This photo shows the Fine Arts Department building at the Grayslake fairgrounds, 1968. Each year, local artists are encouraged to enter paintings and photographs to be judged for fair ribbons.

With the exception of four years, the fair has been held each year from 1852 to 2009. In 1861 and 1864 it was not held due to the Civil War. The fair board stated: "the times are too troublesome for holding of airs successfully on account of the volunteerings of so many of our labouring men for the war, and on account of the general depression all over the land, our people have no heart for such shows." And in 1926 and 1927 there was no fair, for unknown reasons.

Bud Slusser with his "team of pigs" at the Lake County Fair in 1968. Dunn Museum Collections.

There's something for everyone at the fair!

Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org 

The Boys of Summer

The Chicago Cubs are having a wobbly season, but it's summer and that means baseball!

The game we know and love today developed in the 1840s and 1850s. This photo was taken about 1885 and is from the Museum's Lux Family Collection.

By the Civil War in 1861, baseball was so popular it was being played by the soldiers in prison camps, and five years later, baseball was referred to as the national pastime.

The rise of the game’s popularity correlates with the rise of manufacturing jobs in the United States. This economic boom increased the size of the middle class and gave families more leisure time to play and watch sports.

U.S. Army Fort Sheridan baseball team on the post's parade grounds, circa 1900.

Grayslake baseball team, 1905. Pictured are Dr. William Clarke, A.A. McMillen, Rev. Schultz, William Brandstetter, George Thomson, Fred Battershall, R.W. Churchill, J.T. Morse, and George Fredericks.

In Lake County, Lake Forest Academy organized a team that played its first game in 1867 against the Waukegan Amateurs. Local baseball teams regularly played against one another beginning in the spring of 1871. Teams such as the Pioneers and Lake Shores of Waukegan, the Nine of Lake Forest Academy, the Prairie Boys of Libertyville, and the Highlanders of Highland Park played each other for championship titles. Wauconda was the archrival of Lake Zurich, and Grayslake of Monaville (east Fox Lake).

This terrific photo shows a crowd cheering on the Fort Sheridan team, circa 1930. On June 9, 1944, the Fort’s team played an exhibition game against the Chicago White Sox at the Fort, beating the Sox 8 to 6.

Thought I'd include the "Girls of Summer," too. Here members of the Women's Army Corps play ball on the parade grounds, circa 1950.

George Battershall

The name Battershall may be familiar to folks in central Lake County, since the Battershalls had general stores in Hainesville and Grayslake.

George Battershall was born in Columbia County, New York in 1837. He came to Lake County with his parents in 1854 by rail to Chicago and then "drove out" in a wagon to Justus Bangs’s residence in Wauconda. (The railways did not extend into Lake County until 1855). Battershall worked for the Marble Nursery grafting trees before settling in Hainesville.


George, and his wife Magdelena, lived in this house along Route 120. A portion of this residence was built by Elijah Haines for his mother Charlotte Haines Bowen, probably in the early 1840s. It was Elijah Haines who platted Hainesville and ensured its incorporation in 1847, making it the first village in Lake County to do so.


Battershall worked as a farmer, and also operated a general store in Hainesville (shown at right). In 1900, Fay Hamilton, a fourteen-year old boy from Wisconsin worked as a clerk at Battershall's and boarded with the family.

Battershall was elected the president of Hainesville, and also its postmaster from Nov 2, 1885 - April 26, 1891, and again in 1894 to 1912. The post office was located at the general store.


It is believed that George opened his second general store in Grayslake in the 1890s. The bustling Grayslake with its train depot made it a prime location for business. Unlike tiny Hainesville which by the turn of the 20th century was already stagnating. This photo shows George at about 80 years of age, standing in front of his old store in Hainesville.