Anthony Ilg, Pioneer Brewer

Anthony Ilg, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Casper Ilg, was born in Germany in 1820. He came to the United States in 1849, settling first in Cincinnati, where he worked in the hotel and saloon business. In the 1870s, he and his family moved to Sandusky, where he purchased an interest in the old Fox brewery, becoming a partner in the brewery known as Raible, Strobel, and Ilg. From 1874 to 1879, the brewery was operated by Strobel and Ilg. Eventually Mr. Ilg became the sole proprietor, with his son Otto working for him. The Anthony Ilg brewery operated at the foot of Harrison Street on Sandusky’s west side until the late 1880s.  

The 1886 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the layout of the Ilg Brewery, with a large ice house, and smaller areas for coal, barley, mash and malt:

An excerpt from Hewson L. Peeke’s A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio, describes the popularity of breweries and saloons in Sandusky in 1883:

According to Peeke’s History, there was a saloon for every sixty five residents of Sandusky in 1883.

Anthony Ilg passed away on July 18, 1905, and was buried in the North Ridge section of Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.