August Walruff's parents, John Walruff and Elizabeth Dietrich were both native Germans who married in Chicago before moving to Kansas. They settled in Franklin County in 1857, where John was originally a farmer, then entered banking and politics. After John's brother, Christian, asked for financial help with the Lawrence Brewery business, John became owner and brewer in 1870. Even after prohibition passed in November 1880, the Walruff Brewery continued brewing "medicinal beer". August and his brother-in-law John Isemann bought the brewery for $80,00 from John, and the fight against temperance continued for almost seven years. Eventually August and his father moved to Weston, Missouri, where they were co-owners of the Georgian Brewery.

August was 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 also had a beer garden in the back, where Walruff beer was on tap. This portrait is poster photo 3E.