Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company

75-101 Belmont Avenue
Between W. Kinney & Montgomery Streets

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From Pete Bruno:

The Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company was a brewery in Newark, New Jersey founded by Gottfried Krueger and John Laible (Gottfried's Uncle) in 1858. The company produced Krueger Beer, which was the first beer to be produced in cans on January 24, 1935.

By 1952, the Newark plant was producing one million barrels a year. Unfortunately, the 1950s saw consolidation in the brewing industry, and breweries like Anheuser-Busch and Miller squeezed out market share. In 1961, the Krueger brewery drained its tanks of their last trickles of beer and closed its doors for good. Relentless competition added the Krueger brewery to its long list of victims. The venerable Krueger label was sold to the Narragansett Brewing Company, which brewed its version of the brand in Rhode Island and shipped it back to Newark to tap any lingering demand for the century-old brew. But, of course, it was never the same. Krueger Beer—true Krueger Beer—was gone forever.

The following are excerpts from Nat Bodian:

Gottfried Krueger came to Newark from Germany at the age of 16 wearing wooden shoes. At the age of 27 he opened his own brewery after a long apprenticeship. Krueger Brewery on Belmont Avenue was the first brewery in the world to put beer in cans?

On the Krueger Mansion:

The rundown and neglected Krueger mansion on High Street was bought in the early 1950's by Gladys Scott who ran a string of black beauty parlors and became wealthy doing it.

In the early l950s she bought Weather Check storm windows aluminum combination storm windows and screens for the mansion. There were 140 windows. I got this from the salesman who made the sale to Gladys Scott. The company who made the windows was located at 7 South Avenue in Garwood on the Cranford line. Today it is auto body shop. I wonder if the Weather Check storm windows are still on the mansion.

On the Krueger Auditorium:

There was a Krueger Auditorium on Belmont Avenue at Court Street for many years. It was rented out for dances and Ed Koch and his brother worked the Krueger Auditorium checkroom relying on the 10 cent tips for their income. Ed Koch writes about working in the Krueger Auditorium in his bio. He went on to 5 terms as Congressman and 3 terms as Mayor of New York City. In the 1920's it was also used for High Holy Day prayer services for the Jews of Newark's Third Ward who had no synagogue affiliation. I attended with my parents as a child.