“The brewery at 5th & DuPont Streets, known for much of its duration as the Bavarian Brewery, was the last of “the Big Three” to be constructed. A brewery would stand on the northeast corner of that block for nearly three quarters of a century.
The brewery at 5th & DuPont Streets, known for much of its duration as the Bavarian Brewery, was the last of “the Big Three” to be constructed. A brewery would stand on the northeast corner of that block for nearly three quarters of a century.
Carl Specht, who was born in Saxony, immigrated to America and operated breweries in Havre de Grace, Maryland and Philadelphia before arriving in Wilmington in the mid-1870s. In 1877, Specht opened a weiss beer brewery and bottling plant at 7th and DuPont streets.
In 1880, Specht and his son-in-law, Adam Spahn, purchased the property on the northeast corner of 5th and DuPont and constructed a brewery and bottling establishment. The brewery, named the Excelsior Lager Beer Brewery, supplied its beer in kegs to saloons and also delivered directly to Wilmington homes.
By 1886, the Specht & Spahn partnership encountered insurmountable legal and financial issues and went out of business. Specht skipped town and was later discovered to have been operating breweries under assumed names and in Towanda, PA; Dunshore, PA; Buffalo, NY; and Canal Fulton, OH. Spahn remained in the beer bottling business in Wilmington until his retirement 20 years later.
A brewing company called the Excelsior Brewing Company, headed by Evan Rice as president and B. Frank Townsend as secretary/treasurer, took control of the brewery after Specht & Spahn’s closure. Unfortunately, the business lasted little more than a year before closing in 1888.”
From Delaware Beer History
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