Former Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association Distribution - 920-924 East Ohio Street

Year Built: 1891

Architecture Style: Neoclassical

Key Features:

• Pediment Over Entrance with Anheuser-Busch Logo
• Deep Entryway with Arch and Elaborate Door Surround
• Stone Construction

Behind the office, located on three acres on the banks of Pogues Run, stood large frame buildings to house beer, carriages, delivery horses, bottling works, and an ice house. Refrigerators could hold up to sixteen carloads of beer sent directly from the Saint Louis brewery. A railroad spur on the grounds provided easy access to the nearby tracks to distribute beer throughout the state.

Times got tough for the company during Prohibition and city directories from the 1920s list this site as “Anheuser Busch, soft drink manufacturers.”

Oxen pulled the covered wagons until 1933 when the sons of August A. Busch, Sr. surprised him with a six-horse Clydesdale hitch to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition (or at least the legalization of low-content alcohol such as beer and wine). The horses became a marketing hit when they delivered cases of beer to the governor of New York and President Roosevelt as thanks for their work to end Prohibition. Today, Anheuser-Busch owns over 250 Clydesdales throughout their company.

The property also was home to C.F. Branham’s Coal Yard before, long before the interstate.

As of 2020, the property belongs to the Capitol City Fence Company who have been excellent stewards and preservationists of this historic building.

This article discusses more about the history of the property: https://historicindianapolis.com/indianapolis-then-and-now-anheuser-busch-brewing-association-and-capitol-city-fence-company-920-24-e-ohio-street/