Oktoberfest. Socorro County Historical Society Post Office Box 921 Socorro, New Mexico 87801

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1 C Oktoberfest Socorro County Historical Society Post Office Box 921 Socorro, New Mexico Membership News Summer 2018 Printed periodically Saturday, October 6, 2018 In this Issue... The annual SCHS Oktoberfest is almost upon us. We certainly hope you plan to attend to enjoy the yummy food and drink, and a nice lineup of live bands and entertainment (agenda on next page). The weather is predicted to be a nice Autumn day in the wintergarten... about 68 at the 11 a.m. start, warming to 77 by 3 p.m with no outlook of rain. This will be one of the busiest Saturdays in Socorro with SocorroFest also being held on the first Saturday of October this year coinciding with Oktoberfest. This has created some confusion. For example, when we applied for our required Foo d Service Permit for Oktoberfest, we were asked, Do you mean Socorro Fest? No - we mean Oktoberfest! We have worked together to support each others activities, but Oktoberfest remains an independent SCHS function like always. Socorro Fest decided to move to the first Saturday in October to appeal to the visitors in town for the VLA Open House tours and the public opening of the Trinity Site. Most major Socorro Fest activities, food service, and bands on the plaza do not begin until after Oktoberfest at 3 p.m. by arrangement. As a result, Oktoberfest will be little changed from years past with additional activities at the plaza afterwards for those still in the mood to party. In earlier years, Oktoberfest was catered by commercial food vendors. The cost became so high, very little revenue was generated to cover the expenses of maintaining the Hammel. The decision was made a few years ago to cook and SCHS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization Oktoberfest agenda/flyer Modern Day Ghost Towns Some interesting ghost towns not all that old The Hammels and Oktoberfest History of Oktoberfest at the Hammel Brewery In the Autumn Issue... Special issue on the history of Rosedale and the Rosedale gold mines Visit the SCHS Website: or, like us on Facebook, Hammel Museum provide our own food the brats, hamburgers, and hotdogs for the kids. This was quite a commitment as it takes the full participation of the Board for the planning and all the cooking and food service (oh yeah, and that cleanup thing afterwards) but we think it has been wo rt h it for h ig h er qua lit y fo od a n d entertainment, and once again profitable for SCHS to cover our annual overhead expenses. Thanks to all Board members and the others that work so hard to make Oktoberfest such a nice and enjoyable Saturday. This particularly includes our bands and dance groups. They volunteer their time and talent to support SCHS and to entertain our guests. We can t thank these groups enough for their continued support of Oktoberfest.

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3 Prip Che reac Page 3 Modern Day Ghost Towns The Sochi Olympic Village was the site of the 2014 Winter Olympic games. Built at a cost of about $51 billion, it was intended to be a resort town on the Black Sea and a winter playground following the olympics. The hotels, olympic lodging and restaurants, stadiums, and highways are completely abandoned today, making Sochi one of the largest and most Sochi Stadium being dismantled expensive modern day ghost towns on Earth. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant suffered a catastrophic failure in 1986 spreading radiation over much of Europe and extreme levels of contamination in the nearby city of Pripyat. All 49,000 residents of Pripyat were evacuated due to the radiation and remains an abandoned ghost city and a restricted no-visit exclusion zone to this day. Abandoned Pripyat and Chernobyl Ordos, China is the world s largest ghost city. Ground was broke in 2004 for a city of over a million people to alleviate the housing shortage of China s 1.4 billion people. However, after it was built, few came. About 5,000 people live in just a few of the dozens of towering apartment buildings. Other recently built cities, such as Zhangmutou, Jing Jin, and Wuqing suffer the same fate filling China with about a dozen ghost cities. World s largest Ghost City Closer to home... Glenrio, NM was a small railroad town built smack on the NM-TX border, the state line bisecting the town. It was a popular traveler s stop in the 1920s 1970s on Route 66. When I-40 was opened in 1974, it bypassed the town by only yards, but enough that left the gas stations, restaurants and motels empty and instant ghost town status. Other towns along Rt.66 bypassed by I-40 suffered the same fate forming modern day ghost towns. Abandoned motel Glenrio, NM/TX New Mexico State Prison south of Santa Fe was the site of the nation s 2nd deadliest riot in 1980 that claimed the lives of 33 inmates and injured 200. The prison complex, housing over 1,200 inmates, was heavily damaged by fires, broken water mains and other destruction. The old prison was abandoned as new prisons were built the entire prison complex now an eerie ghost town today with reports of hauntings. Old State Prison Santa Fe, NM Continental Divide, NM is another town that cropped up in the 1920s catering to the travelers along Route 66. Located between Grants and Gallup, it s location on the Continental Divide proved quite a tourist attraction, even after I-40 opened. However, today most of the motels, trading posts, Whiting Bros. Gas and an old Stucky s restaurant are now silent. One trading post is opened periodically. It has a small Post Office for the nearby ranchers and residents, and those tourists that want that Continental Divide, NM postmark on their postcards. But to most who exit I-40 today (exit 47) find a modern ghost town. Indian Market Trading Post Continental Divide, NM

4 Page 3 Oktoberfest has been an annual stalwart event of the Socorro County Historical Society for years virtually from the inception of SCHS. However, Oktoberfest in the wintergarten behind the brewery began in Territorial times. Ja c o b H a m m e l a n d E b e r h a r d Anheuser emigrated from Bavaria, settling in St. Louis, Missouri in In 1860, Eberhard formed the E. Anheuser Co. brewing Bavarian beer, now the famous Anheuser-Bush Brewing Co. Jacob Hammel was one of Anheuser brewers. Due to persistent health problems, doctor s urged Jacob Hammel to relocate his family to a drier climate. Jacob arrived in Socorro 1880 with his wife and two sons, William and Gustav, both in their early 20s. They quickly began importing and bottling Anheuser beer in a small warehouse on Manzanares St. under the name Hammel Bros. & Co. The beer was shipped in barrels by train from St. Louis and bottled locally. Business was good. To meet the demand, they received their license to brew their own beer in They quickly outgrew their small building on Manazanares St. In 1884, they purchased an adobe building on 6th Street from Pedro Montoya the location of today s Hammel Brewery. A 2-story structure was added to house the brewing equipment and a coal fired boiler to run the machinery. It is believed that during is when the Hammels planted some An early photo of the brewery on 6th Street before the 3-story center building was added in No trees! of the trees in the rear of their building to form a taste of back home a Bavarian style wintergarten (or biergarten). In 1886, they built a 3-story addition to expand their production facilities. This is the 3 story rock structure that still stands today as one of Socorro s historic landmarks. The name of the brewery was changed to the Illinois Brewing Co. and by the end of the year, they were the only brewery in New Mexico shipping beer packed in ice and delivered cold a real novelty in 1886 Territorial New Mexico. To celebrate their success, they held their first Oktoberfest for employees and their families in 1887 in the rear of the brewery in their newly developed wintergarten. The Illinois Brewing Co. shortly after the 3-story section was built in Note some of the trees now planted around the brewery. Also in 1887, brewmeister Joseph Eppele a rr i ve d fr o m Ha mb ur g, Ger ma n y, a n acquaintance of the Hammels from the old country. Eppele was hired to be the head brewmeister, the job he held until 1919 Prohibition forced the closure of the brewery. O r a l h i s t o r y f r o m F r a n c e s S e n n ( ) describes how Oktoberfest continued each year primarily for employees, their families, and invited guests. During these early years, it became a tradition to plant a new tree or two in the wintergarten. Continued next page

5 The Hammels and Oktoberfest (cont d) And, Fr ance s kne w this fi rs t hand B re w me i ste r Jose p h E p p el e w as her grandfather. By the 1900s, the Hammel wintergarten had become a small forested shady park in Socorro. Frances told how groups of German tourists would often come to Socorro for the fr esh br ewe d Bavarian beer, which they claimed was the best in the country outside of Germany. Some of th es e g ath er i n gs Frances Eppele-Senn, a long turned into a sudden time SCHS Board member, gree ting visitors to Oktoberfest. in Joseph William Hammel Oktoberfest Eppele, the Hammel brewonce claimed that meister, was her grandfather. every time a group of Germans showed up in Socorro, it would cost him two barrels of beer before they left town. Hammel s Bavarian beer had a distinctive flavor rich with the taste of hops and malt, and always served cold. The famous Hammel beer came to an end in late 1918 when New Mexico or dered all breweries closed six months before 1919 Prohibition. After that, the Hammel s continued operating their ice plant with daily ice delivery in and around Socorro, and began operating a soft drink bottling plant. William Hammel died in 1920 and Oktoberfest continued in his memory. Clarence Hammel assumed operation of the old brewery and expanded the ice and soft drink operations, returning the business to profitability during Prohibition. Robert Eppele remained with the Hammels running the ice plant and bottling equipment. In 1925, while cleaning a mashing tub, the machine was accidentally energized and the German brewmeister was killed. Frances Eppele-Senn was born the following year, never knowing her famous grandfather. Page 4 During the 1930 Depression years, the generosity of Clarence and Lulu Hammel opened Oktoberfest to Socorro in their beloved wintergarten as a family picnic. They served cooked meats, and of course, Grapette and other soft drinks from their bottling plant, to all that showed up. Town s people brought what they could making Oktoberfest a unique town feast and a chance to visit with neighbors and friends a welcome reprise from the hard times of the Great Depression. Frances Senn remembered a couple of those Oktoberfest picnics as a child. Oktoberfest ended during the WWII years as most Socorro men were gone for the war effort. By the 1950s, most households had refrigerators with little demand for delivered ice. Clarence Hammel closed the ice plant and operated only the soft drink franchise until retiring in Clarence willed the Hammel Brewery building to SCHS upon his death in Oktoberfest at the Hammel Food, drink and entertainment with a long tradition Then SCHS President Spencer Wilson and the Board reinstated the tradition of Oktoberfest in 1987 to dedicate the SCHS Hammel Museum and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first Oktoberfest in Oktoberfest has been held, in one form or another, on the first Saturday in October ever since. Today s Board is proud to continue the tradition by offering food, drink, and entertainment suitable to the entire family. It is the main annual fundraising activity for SCHS for which we hope you enjoy and your participation and support always appreciated.