In 1852, German American brewer and tavern operator George Schneider opened the Bavarian Brewery in South St. Louis. Schneider expanded the brewery in 1856, but hard economic times forced Schneider to sell, and in 1860, William D’Oench, a local pharmacist, and Eberhard Anheuser, a prosperous German-born soap manufacturer, bought the brewery.
Adolphus Busch married Anheuser’s daughter and when the civil war started in 1861, Busch began working for his father-in-law at the brewery.
Busch had innovative ideas, including pasteurizing beer to keep to fresh longer, used mechanical refrigeration in order to ship beer via the railroad. Expansion of their distribution range caused a large demand for their product.
The company was renamed Anheuser -Busch in 1879. Anheuser died in 1880 and the Busch family controlled the company until it was sold to InBev in 2008.
Today, Anheuser-Busch is the largest brewing company in the world. The company employs over 30,000 people and has 12 breweries in the US alone. The company also operated 10 amusement parks and was the largest amusement park operator until 2009.
The company maintains a corporate office in St. Louis, Missouri, where it has since 1852.
