A "Star" is born

While over in Peru visiting the Westclox building I noticed a large display of  Star Union and Star Model memorabilia and thought I'd write up a short article about the former brewery.

Beer has been around for centuries and it's no secret that the earliest successes were from German immigrants who brought brewing secrets with them when they came to America. One such man was Fred Kaiser who started making beer in the Peru area in 1845. By 1868 he had incorporated the business into the Union Beer Co. which he ran until it was bought by Henry Hoerner who renamed it Star Union Beer Co. in 1880. Hoerner ran the company for the next 40 years but when Prohibition came about in the 1920's the company switched over to Root beer to stay in business.

When prohibition was repealed in 1933 they switched back to regular brewing again and the company thrived for another 33 years, growing into one of the largest breweries in Illinois with over 100 full time employees working night and day to satisfy thirsty patrons. In 1963 Star Union was sold to the Canadian Ace brewery in Chicago and continued business for another 3 years before competition and rising costs shut the doors for good on January 9th, 1966. Very little remains of the brewery itself, a few crumbling ruins down near the river front is all there is of the buildings but there's a ton of incidental ephemera left over in the form of coasters, boxes, advertising and more. Here's a few examples.