The Kamm Money: Beer, a Brother-in-Law's Milling Wealth, and an Island's Name

1870 – 1951

The fortune: The Kamm fortune was a family firm in the literal sense, and its one published capitalization is the record's measure of it. The brewery on the river — John Wagner's of 1850 — was bought in 1870 by Adolph Kamm (born 13 June 1842 at Zöbingen, Württemberg, brought to America at eight) and Clemens Dick, from Toledo; when Dick disposed of his interest in 1880, Kamm took in his brother-in-law Nicholas Schellinger (born 4 November 1847 at Muehlheim), and in 1883 the Kamm & Schellinger Brewing Company incorporated with a capital of $65,000 — Adolph Kamm president, Nicholas Schellinger treasurer, Adolph's daughter Laura Kamm secretary, and a third Kamm, Rudolph, foreman and brewmaster, "regarded as one of the best master brewers in the state." Schellinger brought money of his own to the marriage and the firm: the brewery's biographical record describes him as the son of a wealthy miller, emigrated in 1870, settled in Mishawaka, and married to Amelia Kamm in 1874 — imported milling wealth joined to the brewery by marriage before it was joined by partnership. The firm's scale at its height is documented in the Businesses file — a capacity of 150,000 barrels in 1937 — and its course, through the Prohibition reinventions and the post-Repeal Kamm's brands, runs to 1951 in the marker and business record (the Tribune's 1993 account says the company "made beer in Mishawaka until 1952"; both endings stand in the Businesses file).

Its scale and what it left: No estate or probate figure for Adolph Kamm, Nicholas Schellinger, or any member of the family appears in the sources consulted, and none is stated here. What the fortune left in the city's geography is a name: Kamm Island, in the river at the brewery ground, carries the family into the present park system (the Parks & River file owns its litigated public course). And the family's own continuity is documented once, at the end: in 1993 a group of 100 Center investors and Kamm family members considered reviving the Kamm's Beer label, brewed elsewhere under family taste-test approval — the Tribune's account, and the last dated appearance of the Kamm money as a family interest in the record reached.

Sources:

1. National Register nomination record, Kamm and Schellinger Brewery (NRHP 79000042), and the Indiana Historical Bureau marker 71.1995.1 — the 1850 Wagner founding; the 1870 Kamm and Dick purchase; the 1880 Schellinger association; the 1883 incorporation; the end of beer production in 1951.
2. Businesses file of this build — the 1883 incorporation at $65,000 capital with its officers (Adolph Kamm president, Nicholas Schellinger treasurer, Laura Kamm secretary, Rudolph Kamm brewmaster); the partners' Württemberg origins and dates; Schellinger as a wealthy miller's son married to Amelia Kamm in 1874; the 150,000-barrel capacity of 1937; the 1951/1952 division on the end.
3. South Bend Tribune (1993), "Not any brew will do for Kamm's label" — the 1993 revival group of investors and Kamm family members and the taste-test condition.
4. Parks & River file of this build — Kamm Island's place and public course.