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The fortune: The Berghoff brothers came from Dortmund, Germany — Herman (born 1852) first, then Henry C. (1856–1925), Hubert, and Gustav. After years in bottling and wholesale trade, the brothers capitalized a brewery in April 1887 with $100,000, raised with help from their friend A. C. Trentman. The Herman Berghoff Brewing Company was completed in 1888 at a cost of $140,000, brewing Dortmunder-style beer; a fire that August did $50,000 in damage and the brewery was rebuilt and brought to an output of 100,000 barrels a year. The company was later reorganized with capital of $500,000. The business entry is in the Business section.
Its scale: No estate figure for any brother has been found in print; the fortune shows in the capitalization and in what the brothers did with their positions. Herman moved to Chicago and in 1898 opened the Berghoff saloon at Adams and State — the root of Chicago's famous Berghoff Restaurant — while keeping the presidency of the Fort Wayne brewery. Henry stayed and ran the city as well as the business: three terms as city treasurer (1883–1889), comptroller (1896–1901), and mayor from 1901 to 1906, the only five-year mayoral term in the city's history. The brewery outlived them as the Berghoff Brewing Corporation from 1933, until Falstaff took over the brewery and its labels on April 12, 1954.
Sources:
- Doug Farmer and Susan Berghoff-Prowant, "Berghoff Brewery History," fortwaynebeer.com — capitalization, construction cost, fire, output, reorganization, the Falstaff takeover.
- Henry C. Berghoff biographical record — treasurer, comptroller, mayor 1901–1906.