PINE MEER FOUNDATION

The couple that established Pine Meer, William Charles Schott and Lucia Riedlin Schott, grew up in Cincinnati and were both from families that had immigrated to America from Germany, as described below. 

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JOHAN MICHAEL SCHOTT FAMILY
William (Will) C. Schott was the youngest of Johann Michael (J.M.) Schott's five sons and two daughters.  J.M. immigrated from Frankfurt, Germany, where he was a brewer. However, his family was originally from the Franconia area of Bavaria, where his father had been a cooper (barrel maker). When J.M. arrived in New York City in 1866 with his wife and daughter he became a cooper (barrel maker) at Schaefer's Brewing.  He met one of Christian Moerlein son's at work, who was serving an apprenticeship, and whose family had one of the largest breweries in Cincinnati. This contact provided him with employment with the Moerlein Brewery and required him to move to Ohio with his family around 1870. After working for only a couple of years at Moerlein's, he had a disagreement with his supervisor and decided to open his own firm.  He borrowed some money and established J.M. Schott & Son's Cooperage. Some time later, he also established the Cincinnati Galvanizing Co. When J.M. passed away in 1903, his four oldest sons carried on his businesses. At this time Will was attending the University of Cincinnati (U.C.), graduating in 1905. He then attended the U.C. Medical College. In 1908 with only one year remaining to complete his medical degree, Will left college to join the growing family businesses and became the General Manager of the Cincinnati Galvanizing Co. He met Lucia around 1910 and they married in 1914. During Prohibition, he also became President of the entity that held the Bavarian Brewing Co., and liquidated the equipment and some of the real estate, while retaining the main plant. The couple had two sons, Bill and Lou. 

 

WILLIAM RIEDLIN FAMILY

Of his children that survived adolescence, William Riedlin had two sons, William Jr. (Will) and Walter, as well as two daughters, Mayme and Lucile (Lucia).  Like Will, Lucia (or Lucy), was the youngest child in her family.  William Riedlin Sr. was raised in Bäden Germany in an area just a couple miles from France and not far from Switzerland. He emigrated to America in 1870 with his brother. They arrived in Baltimore, and then traveled to Cincinnati, staying initially with his mother who had arrived before them. William Riedlin started work as a blacksmith, then worked for a company manufacturing safes and opened a grocery store around 1876. A couple years later he became the proprietor of Tivoli Hall in the OTR area of Cincinnati. In 1882, he learned of an opportunity to become a partner in the Bavarian Brewery with John Meyer located in Covington, KY, and he moved his family into a home in that city across from the brewery. By 1888 the brewery was incorporated, William Riedlin became its President and owner, and the brewery thrived under Riedlin's stewardship. (See the Wikipedia page about the brewery.) Unfortunately, there were some untimely and premature deaths in the family. The wife of his son Will Jr. died in 1909, William Sr's. wife died in 1912 and the death of his youngest son, Walter, was in 1915. In early 1919 William Sr. preceded his oldest son's death by just two weeks. Mayme and Lucia Riedlin were the principal surviving family members who had little experience with the business interests of their father and brothers. Their husbands became more involved with the businesses.

 

The Bavarian Brewing Co. was reopened after Prohibition in 1935 by the husband of William Riedlin's granddaughter, Murray Vorhees. It had financial  difficulties and went into bankruptcy in 1937. Will Schott and three of his brothers purchased Bavarian's out of bankruptcy court in 1938 and around that time disposed of the cooperage business, but continued operating the Cincinnati Galvanizing Co. Will's son Bill was attending college during this period, beginning at Harvard, but graduating from University of Cincinnati and joining his father and uncle at the brewery shortly after it was acquired by his family. Bill's younger brother, Louis. attended the same school as his brother, Western Hills High School, and entered Dartmouth College in 1940. WWII interrupted Louis's college education, but he returned to Dartmouth and graduated in 1948. After WWII, Lou joined his father, uncles and brother at Bavarian's. By 1950 the brewery was operating 24 hours a day and was very successful. Both brothers married and had sons. By the mid 1950's Will's oldest son Bill became President and his youngest son Lou became Secretary/ Treasurer.  However, the big breweries were entering the Cincinnati market at that time, which made it difficult for the smaller local breweries to compete. In a lawsuit pitched as David vs. Goliath, Bavarian''s attempted to keep Busch Bavarian from using the Bavarian name in 1956. They were successful in doing so, but only for the tri-state area.  In 1959 a regional brewer, International Breweries Inc. (IBI) merged with Bavarian's. Bill (William R.) Schott remained in charge of Bavarian's for several years after this acquisition while Lou left the brewery in 1961 to became Vice President of the family owned Cincinnati Galvanizing. Bill left Bavarian's in 1965, a year before IBI closed the brewery in Covington. Lou remained at Cincinnati Galvanizing until it was sold around 1967 to a company that became Textron Industries. Lou then became involved in acquiring some farmland in the region and developing excess Pine Meer acreage for single and multi-family residential use, with an effort to preserve its unique character. Will died in 1981 and about a year later Lou was successful in having the Pine Meer Manor house placed on the National Historical Register.

 

Lou and his wife, Virginia Erhardt, retired to Naples, FL in 1986. They are survived by their son, L. Ried Schott.  Bill and his wife, Sue Lake, remained in Cincinnati for their remaining years. Their son, William P. Schott, still resides in the Cincinnati area.

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More information about the Riedlin Family and the Schott Family, accompanied by numerous photographs, is contained the history of the Bavarian Brewery at www.bavarianbrewery.org.