JANESVILLE — Tucked into the west bank of the Rock River, along the Kiwanis Trail in Janesville, are the ruins of what was once a successful local brewery.
Janesville native and amateur beer historian Robert Bier, the Rock County Historical Society, and others, have teamed since 2015 to excavate the Northside Brewery. It operated along the river from the mid-1800s until an evolving industry landscape and related pressures sent it into bankruptcy in 1939.
At the dig site, across the street from Mercy Hospital, a brown fence now outlines the footprint of the former brewery building. Deeper down the hill, on what was once the brewery floor, stains from old machinery and barrels are still imprinted nearly a century later.
Northside Brewery opened in 1857 and operated for nearly 80 years. It was owned and operated by John and Michael Buob, Louis F. Knipp, and Frank and William Croak. It resumed production after prohibition but industry changes, most crucially the mass-producing of beer and competition from the Milwaukee breweries, forced it into bankruptcy.