The business was strong for over 25 years, and the Weber’s were an influential family in old Victoria. They had 7 children Lena (my great grandmother, Richard, Katie, Val, Justina, Annie, & Fred. & the family lived in their house at the corner of Constitution and William.
Lena Weber (her grandkids called her Muddie) lived in a house next door when she got married.
There is a stained-glass window at Our Lady of Lourdes Church that was donated in his memory, and his wife Katherine gave the Lutheran Church the bell for the steeple. The bell is on display in the church atrium.
The Weber brewery stayed in business until 1896 when refrigerated beer made its way into the market,and larger breweries such as Pearl Brewing (est 1883), Lone Star (est.1884) was started byhis old boss Adolphus Busch), were making it difficult to compete.
I've been told that Michael Weber ran a few other local business’– such as a molasses mill, and a soap factory, but none were as successful or impactful to the community as the brewery. The brewery property was sold upon the death of Michael Weber in 1913 & that area went on to become Pleasure Island, the legendary entertainment resort and swimming pool, currently near Club Westerner, the popular dance hall.
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After learning of my family history in the brewing business, I wanted to learn to make beer.
Starting out as a hobby and encouraged by my friends and family the beers got better and better over the years. I eventually left my job in the fashion industry in New York City to work at local breweries and improve my knowledge and skills.
I've been working on developing a lager beer as similar to the 1870s brew that my great/3 grandfather made, but using modern ingredients and equipment. Some of the main ingredients – 6 row malted barley is still available – although most breweries use the 2-row variety as their base malt, and some of the native American hop varieties such as cluster & fuggle hops are still thriving & German hallertau hops were being imported, and I'm using these in the Weber Lager recipe.
Now after more than 150 years since my ancestors opened their brewery in Victoria, I will be re-opening it again. I have recently secured a property at 206 Water Street (formerly Rositas's bakery & Garcias Tamales, and earlier the Water Street Saloon) and I plan to retrofit it into a small microbrewery, where we will produce and sell lager beers and other variations along with casual dining. If the business does well, the plan is to expand to larger system and begin distributing locally.