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Sweetwater Brewery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	48 W. Railroad Ave., Green River, Wyoming
Coordinates	41°31′44″N 109°28′5″W / 41.52889°N 109.46806°W / 41.52889; -109.46806
Built	1900
Architect	Hugo Gaensslen
NRHP reference No.	82001838
Added to NRHP	November 1, 1982

The Sweetwater Brewery, also known as the Green River Brewery, was built in 1900 in Green River, Wyoming. The present structure is the surviving remnant of a three-building complex comprising an office/saloon, engine house, and the present brewery building. It was the first brewery in Wyoming, with operations dating to 1872 when Adam Braun began the business, the first of a series of ethnic German brewers. The brewery was further developed by Otto Rauch and Karl Spinner. The present structure was built by the fourth proprietor, Hugo Gaensslen, a Chicagoan who decorated the building with turrets reminiscent of the Chicago Water Tower.

The two story building is composed of rock-faced ashlar sandstone, mostly quarried 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away. The fanciful turrets feature mock-medieval features such as merlons and crenels. The largest tower is on the southwest corner and features a flagpole topped by a large ball.

Gaensslen concentrated on brewing, leasing the adjacent saloon to an operator. With the passage of the Volstead Act, brewing stopped and the company's name changed to the Sweetwater Beverage Company, making a non-alcoholic drink named Green River and a near-beer called "Wyoming Beverage". The business did not prosper and failed with the death of Gaensslen in 1931, two years before the end of Prohibition.

In 1936 the closed business was bought by a con man named Tom Flaherty, who made some poor beer and skipped town to Canada. Since that time, no beer has been made in the building, which has housed various commercial businesses. It currently is a local bar, known as "The Brewery".

See also

• List of breweries in Wyoming
• List of defunct breweries in the United States

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
2. "Sweetwater/Green River Brewery". National Register of Historic Places. Wyoming State Preservation Office. 2008-10-29.
3. ^ Werner, Brian; Chadey, Henry (April 1982). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Sweetwater Brewery". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-06-10.

External links

• Photographs of the Sweetwater Brewery at the National Park Service's NRHP database
• Sweetwater/Green River Brewery at the Wyoming State Preservation Office

v t e National Register of Historic Places in Sweetwater County, Wyoming
National Historic Landmark	Expedition Island
Historic districts	Downtown Rock Springs Historic District Green River Downtown Historic District Lucerne Valley Archaeological District Wardell Court Historic Residential District
Historic properties	Araphoe and Lost Creek Site Bairoil Town Hall Dean Decker Site Dug Springs Station Site Eden-Farson Site Eldon-Wall Terrace Site ETD Bridge over Green River ETR Big Island Bridge Finley Site First National Bank Building, Rock Springs Granger Station Gras House Laclede Station Ruin Natural Corrals Archeological Site Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church Parting of the Ways Point of Rocks Stage Station Red Rock Reliance School and Gymnasium Reliance Tipple Rock Springs City Hall Rock Springs Elks' Lodge No. 624 Saints Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church and Rectory Slovenski Dom South Superior Union Hall Elinore Pruitt Stewart Homestead Sweetwater Brewery Taliaferro House Tolar Petroglyph Site United States Post Office–Green River
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Sweetwater County, Wyoming and List of National Historic Landmarks in Wyoming

• Brewery buildings in the United States
• Green River, Wyoming
• Buildings and structures in Sweetwater County, Wyoming
• Defunct brewery companies of the United States
• German-American culture in Wyoming
• Industrial buildings completed in 1900
• Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming
• Drinking establishments on the National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming
• National Register of Historic Places in Sweetwater County, Wyoming