We are in the process of doing some demolition on a 100 year old brewery building up here in Escanaba, MI, located on beautiful Lake Michigan. This building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places under the two criteria classifications of Architectural Significance, and Historical Event. The Architectural Significance is self evident. This four story brick building with twin towers and arch-topped windows was constructed as the very successful Richter Brewery. When prohibition came along, the brewmaster was supposed to de-alcoholize all the beer, but he liked his own brew and would cap a few bottles of the real stuff on the side before taking out the "kick". His friends soon started stopping by for some of his "stash", and before long he was maintaining a whole vat of the potent "amber jewel". Needless to say, the Feds got word and came to town to make their arrest. The brewmaster heard they were on the way and busted the tap off the vat, allowing the "suds" to run down the gutter of the main street of town. The report says that every "dried-out drunk" in town was in those gutters assuaging their thirsts. The brewmaster spent a year in federal prison, and the Richter Brewery closed. The building was used as a cold storage until 1933 when it was purchased by the "Delta Brewery," which leads us to the second Historic criteria. The Historic Event was that the building was home to the largest party ever thrown in this area. The Delta Brewery held a Grand Opening party with FREE BEER and sandwiches. A parade was held, streets were closed, and every lumberjack and farmer for miles came to town. This party was attended by over 15,000 people in a town with a population of a mere 13,000! The Escanaba Daily Press Newspaper reported that although "a half dozen women fainted in the crush" of people, "Police report that the crowd was the largest they have ever witnessed in Escanaba. Practically every street was crowded but everyone was in jubilant spirits and rowdyism was practically nil." Although the Delta Brewery was a very successful and growing concern, it went bankrupt in 1940 due to questionable accounting practices.

We will be converting this amazing structure into some very cool loft style apartments with exposed brick walls, concrete floors, and mezzanine levels. Although the demolition has begun, there are still some dirty jobs left.

There is a five foot high chamber at the top of one of the towers that is home to a tribe of pigeons. The floor of this chamber is a couple feet deep with saw-dust which in turn is littered with skeletons and pigeon poop. This mess needs your attention as I personally don't want to go there.

There is still some interior walls which need to be sand-blasted down to bare brick. The results are gorgeous, but the process is the dirtiest job I've ever done. There was so much dust billowing out of the windows, that the neighboring school called 911 thinking the building was on fire, and the fire department paid me a visit.

We need to remove a concrete floor which is insulated on the bottom side with pressed cork (nothing green or sustainable about this moldy stuff!). The cork was pressed and bound into bricks to be used as insulation when the brewery was built, but now is just a crumbly filthy mess to remove.

Escanaba is a peninsula protruding into Little Bay de Noc on Lake Michigan. It is a beautiful area with excellent boating, fishing, and hunting. It is also a deep water port which services the iron oar shipping industry. We are also home to a very large paper manufacturing plant, New Page Papers. I'm sure there are some dirty jobs in these businesses somewhere.

Please visit our brewery project website at www.LoftsonLudington.com. You can also contact me at 906-420-4461, or sviski@chartermi.net.

Thank you for your consideration,
Matt and Beth Sviland