Beer Office and Bottling Company
La Grange, Fayette County, Texas
Marker Inscription
F. W. Grassmeyer commissioned German-Texan stonemasons to construct this Italianate style commercial building between 1856 and 1859. The structure served as a hotel until 1893, when German immigrant Fritz Presun purchased it as a regional sales office for large American breweries. In 1897 Presun added a bottling operation, The Crown Soda Factory. His son Henry continued the business and also sold oil and gas here. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1983
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
German-Texan stonemasons raised this Italianate commercial building for F. W. Grassmeyer in the late 1850s, and for decades it served as a hotel. In 1893 German immigrant Fritz Presun bought it as a regional sales office for large American breweries, adding a bottling works — the Crown Soda Factory — a few years later. His son carried the business forward, even branching into oil and gas, tying the little building to the wave of German enterprise that shaped central Texas.
Why it matters
It captures how German immigrants built the commercial backbone of nineteenth-century Texas towns, from stonemasonry to brewing and bottling.
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Related people
- · F. W. Grassmeyer
- · Fritz Presun
- · Henry Presun
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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