Gustave Klemmert was born in Burgsinn, Bavaria. He learned the trades of cooper and brewer in his native land. In 1868 at age 22 he left Bavaria, alone, for America. He arrived in the city of New York a stranger and without money but he was soon employed by a brewery.

In 1870 he moved to Altoona, Pennsylvania and came into the employ of brewer Martin Hoelle, with whom he remained until 1873. In that year Klemmert and John Stehle and purchased the Eagle Brewery in that city. The next year Klemmert bought out his partner and thereafter he conducted business as a sole proprietor.

He immediately went to work updating the works and by the end of the next decade the entire brewery had been replaced and enlarged. He was at the top of his game when he died on July 15th, 1891. He was only 46 years of age.

Geo. A. W. Arnholt purchased the brewery from the estate, then in turn passed it off to V. A. Oswald in 1900. Oswald ran it until Prohibition. The brewery reopened after Prohibition as the Oswald Brewing Co. but lasted only a few years before closing for good in 1936.

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Associated Breweries