German mechanic became regional brewer.
Originally named Walraff, John Walruff was born in Germany. He learned the locksmith and mechanic trade there, but worked at a variety of jobs during his lifetime: mechanic, farmer, politician, banker, and brewer. He first worked as a mechanic in Connecticut, then Chicago, where he married Elizabeth Dietrich. In 1857 the Walruff and Dietrich families came to Kansas to claim land in southern Franklin County. After seven years, Walruff quit farming and entered politics in Ottawa. By 1867 he and a partner established the First National Bank of Ottawa.
In 1872 John became sole proprietor of the Lawrence Brewery, of which he had previously been a silent partner, with his younger brother Christian as brewer. He became the active manager. The brewery was a three-story building at the north end of Maine Street. Two floors of the facility accommodated a drinking parlor where Walruff's beer was sold on tap for five cents a glass. The beergarden stretched over five accres, offering swings, lawn bowling, strolling peacocks, and a shooting gallery. John Buch's Military Band also played at the brewery on weekends. By 1872 the Walruff brewery had a monopoly on the Lawrence beer market, which included twenty-three saloons and five wholesale liquor dealers. He also shipped his beer south to every railroad station on the Leavenworth, Lawrence, and Galveston Railroad Line.
When Kansas citizens were asked, on November 2, 1880, to vote whether Kansas would become a "dry" or "wet" , Walruff's business immediately became illegal. To respond to the situation, Walruff announced that he was brewing a new medical beer. However, that ruse was trasparent enough that he served light jail sentences or paid fines more than once. Walruff did not stop brewing beer, and sold the brewery to his son August and son-in-law John Isemann in 1883 for $80,000. He also campaigned against the prohibition law. An injuction closed the brewery in 1885. Walruff carried this case to the federal court in Topeka, where Judge Brewer decided that although the state had a right to close the brewery, it had not compensated Walruff for his loss in property value. Another injunction followed, and this time the case reached the United States Supreme Court, where Walruff lost the argument.
Walruff finally closed his brewery and moved to Weston, Missouri, where he and his son became the owners of the Georgian Brewery. He eventually moved to Kansas City and opened a butcher and restaurant supply business. The brewery building in Lawrence was used as a tanning factory until it was torn down in 1964 to make room for a trailer parK. This portrait of John Walruff was taken as a member of the Lawrence Turnverein, a sports and social club which trained its members in gymnastics in the Turnhalle at 9th and Rhode Island in Lawrence, Kanss. It is poster photo 2D |
