Gettelman house might be moved
Historic home possibly saved from demolition
The 19th-century Gettelman homestead on the MillerCoors campus may have earned a reprieve.
“The demolition is on hold,” Brian Randall, an attorney with Friebert, Finerty & St. John, said Wednesday night.
At a public meeting with residents Wednesday night, Randall represented the brewery in proposing a “compromise” to tearing down the State St. building where the Gettelman family lived and established a brewery on Milwaukee’s west side in 1856.
The latest plan calls for saving the original house in front of the brewery and moving it to another location, one with more public presence and possibly more access. Randall didn’t disclose possible partners or sites but said that engineering consultants and the Wisconsin Historical Society called the move feasible.
Ald. Michael Murphy, whose district includes the Miller Valley, called for the public meeting with residents. The project goes before the city’s Zoning and Neighborhood Development committee for review on Sept. 19.
MillerCoors owns the 19th-century building and adjoining brewery, but the company wanted to demolish both to turn the site into a staging area for truck transit.
Residents pushed back on the idea after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in April that MillerCoors wanted to raze the buildings, and the city Historic Preservation Commission granted the Gettelman property a temporary historic designation.
MillerCoors engineering services manager John Van Nelson told residents at the meeting Wednesday night that the brewery needs the space for safer truck parking. The plan proposed adding 75 more truck parking spots and putting all truck parking on the east side of the lot. Employee parking would be allowed on the west side.
MillerCoors now runs three shifts and Van Nelson said there isn’t enough employee parking space during the shift crossovers.
The new plan calls for demolition of the vacant brewery behind the house and filling in the lagering cellar, which features a wide rathskeller with an arched ceiling, refurbished for the 1937 convention of the Master Brewers of America, according to the book “A History of A. Gettelman Brewing Company.”
Gettelman started life at the Menominee Brewery in 1856 when George Schweickhart purchased the land. In 1870, Adam Gettelman married Schweickhart’s daughter and in 1871 bought a share of the brewery.
The brewery, known for its slogan “Get-Get-Gettelman,” was sold to Miller Brewing in 1961. The historic farmhouse was last used as administrative offices for the Plank Road Brewery, which marketed Icehouse and Red Dog beers.