John Adolph Foerster was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany. He emigrated to America in the middle of the 19th century and settled in Sioux City, Iowa, where he married Eliza Braun, also a Hessian immigrant. They moved to Yankton, in the territory of Dakota in 1870 and soon after arrival he built a brewery in the western part of town where he made Foerster Superior Lager Beer. He ran it until he died on the 7th of June, 1882 from injuries sustained in a buggy accident. He was 43 years of age.

Prohibition in South Dakota Begins.  On October 4, 1889 The new state of South Dakota's Constitution appeared on the same ballot as statewide Prohibition.  Both items were passed by citizen vote. 39,608 were in favor of Prohibition and 33,456 against. Because the law was unclear as to what was an intoxicating liquor, breweries were allowed to exist.