"Ludwig (Louis) Schneider in 1849 established a brewery on the site of his barrel making factory on Augusta between John and Smith Streets, close to the Ohio River. Later, he leased this property to Sandmann and Lackman for their brewery. However, in 1861 Schneider returned with Phillipp Ammann to reopen his brewery business. Then in 1865 he sold the Augusta Street site to the Mitchell and Rammelsberg Furniture Company. Two years earlier the brewery was moved to Freeman Avenue at Court Street. There it was known as the Louis Schneider Brewing Company, also know as the Queen City Brewery.
When Louis Schneider was forced to retire because of illness, his son, Peter W. Schneider was joined by Henry Foss and John Brenner. The company became Foss, Schneider, and Brenner. In 1877 Henry Foss bought out Brenner's share. Then the company became the Foss-Schneider Brewing Company.
The Freeman Avenue brewery plant was 250 feet square and a very imposing edifice. The facade was pressed brick trimmed with cut stone and terra cotta. Three hundred and fifty barrels per day was the average production. The bottling department was added to the brewery in 1879 and was located on Fillmore Street, just north of the main building.
In 1863 the output was 5,000 barrels a year. In 1870, 20,000 were produced. Ten years later, the production increased to 40,000 and doubled again in 1890. By that time, John H. Foss, vice-president, and P. W. Schneider, secretary and treasurer.
The brewery was incorporated in 1884. The same year, the second highest flood in Cincinnati's history reached the brewery. The foundation of the malt house was undermined and it collapsed. Sixty thousand bushels of malt were lost. Nevertheless, work at the brewery continued and more beer was produced that year than in 1883. A new brewery plant was then completed by 1885 and by 1894 the annual output exceeded 80,000 barrels.
By 1819 the company officers were John G. Broxterman, president; Adelaide Foss, vice-president; and Edward A. Foss, secretary and treasurer. They produced 'Nonpareil', 'Export', 'Congress Club' and 'Capital' beers.
Prohibition forced the brewery to close in 1919 but it did reopen under the same management in 1933. Edward A. Foss was president; A. Foss, vice-president; Edward G. Schneider, second vice-president; Edward H. Foss, secretary and treasurer.
The brewery closed in November, 1937 and the buildings were sold in May, 1938. Nothing remains of these structures today." Cincinnati Breweries, Robert J. Wimberg (1997)
