John Louis Ziegler, known as Louis, was born in Mayville, Wisconsin.  When he was 16 years of age his father bought the South Side brewery in town and employed young Louis in the firm from the start.  Eventually Louis was placed in charge of the business end of the brewery, while his father concentrated on the manufacturing.  When his father died in 1892 Louis took charge of the brewery completely, and ran it for another ten years.

In 1902 Louis took the opportunity to purchase another brewery in the neighboring town of Beaver Dam from the estate of John Goeggerle.  The Goeggerle's had been in the brewery business since 1856, a full generation before Ziegler's family.  Growing up in a brewery allowed Louis to fill Goeggerle's shoes well, and the Beaver Dam firm thrived.  When a fire in 1912 leveled the brewhouse Ziegler rebuilt and even larger building and constructed a mansion on the site of the old brewery.  The two Ziegler breweries just 16 miles apart established a reputation for good beer in Dodge County that would keep the Ziegler name in the brewery business for another 50 years.  

Louis Ziegler died on the 4th of September 1927 at age 68 years.  His house in Beaver Dam still stands over the ruins the original Goeggerle brewery The Mayville brewery never reopened after prohibition.  The Beaver Dam plant closed down in 1953.

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