Read time: 6 min.

Yesterday, my friend David sent me a few photos of a building at the northwest corner of Willard and Hoyt near downtown Muncie. I’ve driven past the place countless times over the years and never given it much thought. This time, though, was different: large sections of an exterior skin had been stripped away, revealing something few passersby have seen in years: intricate brickwork hidden underneath! Beneath all that siding sits part of the old former Muncie Brewing Company. Thanks to the recent work, a long-obscured piece of the city’s heritage is finally peeking back into view.

The Muncie Brewing Company is generally considered to be Muncie’s third brewery, following the earlier C.H. Alvey and A.J. Garst operations¹. Incorporated in 1902 by John Weisse, John L. Sweigart, John C. Greisheimer, Charles A. Greisheimer, and Colonel John Birkenstock, Muncie Brewing wasted little time turning its ambitions into brick and mortar.

Construction moved at a remarkable pace. By November 1902, workers had already laid 300,000 of the million bricks needed to complete the sprawling complex². Birkenstock personally supervised the project alongside his son. Once finished, the facility featured offices, a boiler room, and a three-story brewhouse that lined Willard Street; cold-storage and shipping rooms that stretched along South Council; and a bottling department that occupied their hypotenuse³.

Birkenstock, the brewery’s director and master brewer, originally had plans of his own. In 1903, he purchased property along South Walnut Street beside the Big Four tracks with the intention of building a brewery there. Once he became involved with Muncie Brewing, however, the group decided the site was too valuable for such a purpose and less practical than the location bounded by Hoyt, Willard, and Council. Muncie Brewing purchased Birkenstock’s land for $11,500 and planned to resell it⁴. More than a century later, that land occupies a very different setting. If you’ve visited downtown Muncie’s Canan Commons, you’ve been nearby- the tract sat just south of today’s Walnut Street roundabout.

Unfortunately, Muncie Brewing Company didn’t last very long. It seems to have closed after its officers and stakeholders, all of Muncie, sold their interests and dissolved the partnership⁵. The company’s assets were sold at receivership auction by Edward Tuhey -later twice a Muncie Mayor⁶– in 1912⁷. After that, there’s some confusion involving the Durham Manufacturing Company. Durham made specialty metal furniture like Bridge sets, game tables, toy chests, bar stools, and serving carts⁸. 

Historically, the Durham factory sat at the northeast corner of Willard and Elliott, at least until a huge conflagration burned down much of the facility in 1956⁹. It’s my understanding that the company purchased property owned by Kitselman Brothers, an entity that produced wire fences, for operational space until it could rebuild the plant that was destroyed. Much of that was north of the old Muncie Brewing Company, but part of their acquisition may have included the old brewery itself¹⁰. A Sanborn map from 1950 seems to conclude that, too, listing the old brewery as Durman’s second plant¹¹. 

Durham Manufacturing was bought and sold many times over the course of decades. Its final sale occurred in 1974, when the entity was offloaded to International Fastener Research Corporation. New ownership decided to discontinue the Muncie operation¹¹. I’m not certain what happened to the complex in the intervening years, but I remember it -with the three-story brewery portion demolished- as DeHaven Residential and Commercial; then now -or just recently- as Specialty Tree Care. You’d never guess its original provenance! 

What struck me most about David’s photos, then my own, wasn’t the brewery itself, but how effectively a century of alterations had hidden it in plain sight. Thousands of people have driven past that corner over the years without realizing they were looking at one of Muncie’s earliest industrial landmarks. A layer of siding transformed a turn-of-the-century brewery into just another anonymous commercial building.

That’s one of the things I love most about local history. Sometimes the past isn’t buried underground or hidden away in an archive. Sometimes it’s right there in front of us, disguised beneath aluminum, paint, and decades of neglect. Peel back enough layers and the city begins to reveal the stories it has been carrying all along.

I’m not sure what will happen to the greater property since many of the old structures seem to be undergoing demolition. Nonetheless, after the siding came down, Muncie Brewing Company was visible again. The handsome brickwork, the arched windows, and the craftsmanship of part of a place erected with a million bricks in 1902 can once more be appreciated by passersby. Whether the exposure is temporary or permanent remains to be seen, but it serves as a reminder that pieces of old Muncie still survive in the most unexpected places- just waiting for people like David and me to notice them.

Sources Cited
1 Kirby, A. (2018, December 25). You can now purchase a Muncie-made beer in a can. The Muncie Star Press. p. A2. 
2 Brewery Building (1902, November 15). The Muncie Star. p. 8. 
3 (See footnote 2). 
4 Brewing Company Buys Real Estate (1903, January 10). The Muncie Star. p. 10. 
5 Old Muncie Brewing Company (1948, April 14). The Muncie Star. p. 18. 
6 Death claims Edward Tuhey, Twice Mayor (1933, August 15). The Muncie Morning Star. p. 1. 
7 Notice of Receiver’s Sale (1912, September 3). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 7. 
8 New York Firm Buys Durham (1969, September 3). The Muncie Star. p. 1. 
9 The Durham Fire (1956, December 29). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 14. 
10 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana (1955). Sanborn Map Company, 1955. Web. Retrieved from the Library of Congress. 
11 Stack, M. (1974, December 4). Durham Workers Phased-out as Plant Operations. Cease. The Muncie Star. p. 3.