John Walker Brewery (1826-1912)
John Walker emigrated from Scotland, arriving in Cincinnati in 1824. Although a machinist by trade, Walker acquired the small brewery as a settlement of a debt. After failing to find a buyer for the the brewery, Walker would ultimately begin brewing ale and porter on a small scale. Isaiah Blake would become a partner in 1836, but by 1839 had left the company. Walker died in an accident in the brewery in which a beer cart crushed one of his legs resulting in a subsequent infection to set in. After Walker’s death his widow directed operation in the brewery for five years, until her own death. Nephews Andrew, James, William, and Archibald managed the brewery before buying out the shares of the rest of the heirs in 1860. in 1878 Peter Andrew and Conrad Schultz bought into the business as partners, and in 1885 the company was incorporated as the J. Walker Brewing Company, with $200,000 in capital stock. Schultz and Andrew would both die in 1895, and their next of kin would run the business for the next 17 years before the brewery closed for good in 1912.
