Goetz Family

Michael Karl Goetz was born in Alsace-Lorraine in 1833 and came to America in 1856. He stopped in Buffalo, New York, for a time, then decided to go to the California gold fields. On the way he stopped in St. Joseph, decided to stay, and in 1859 in partnership with J. J. Max started a small brewery. The location chosen was alongside Blacksnake Creek at Sixth and Albemarle Streets. The creek is now confined in Blacksnake Sewer and the Chicago Great Western railroad tracks cover it. The brewery has remained at that location, having expanded over several acres, and with a branch in Kansas City.

M. K. Goetz was married to Miss Caroline Wilhelmina Klink who had come from Germany with her parents. To them were born two daughters and four sons: William L., Frank L., Albert R., and Henry E. Goetz. When the founder died in 1901, the four brothers carried on the business, developed the Artesian Ice and Cold Storage Company, and made extensive real estate investments.

When national Prohibition came in 1919 many breweries closed but the Goetz Company was successful in developing a near-beer which had all the character, taste, and flavor of real beer, but without the proscribed alcohol. The Company thus weathered the difficult period and when Prohibition was repealed in 1933 production resumed as before and the business expanded. About 1952 the plant pioneered in the production of malt liquor.

The oldest son, William L. Goetz, was born in 1867 and at the age of twenty began working for the Company. He was made vice-president in 1891 and after his father died he became president in 1902. He was married in 1898 to Miss Anna Pape of St. Joseph and had two sons. He was a very public-spirited citizen of St. Joseph, active for years in the work of the Community Chest. In 1947 he and the Goetz family purchased the Tootle house at Eleventh and Charles Streets to house the St. Joseph Museum. He then purchased the outstanding H. L. George Indian collection for the Museum. He led the way in the restoration of the Pony Express stables and was awarded the outstanding citizenship medal of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He died December 26, 1953, at the age of eighty-six. e Michael Karl Goetz, son of Frank L. Goetz, was elected president of the Goetz Brewing Company in 1954. He was born in St. Joseph in 1909, attended Central High School, and graduated from the University of Missouri in 1931. He joined the family business in 1933 and became director of sales. During World War II he held the rank of colonel in the U.S. Army Air Corps and was stationed in Washington D.C. He married Miss Nancy Russell of Kansas City in 1935 and established a country home, “Bridal Wreath Farm, on the old John D. Richardson estate east of St. Joseph, now called "Stonecrest.’

Karl Goetz was active in St. Joseph affairs as his uncle had been He died of a heart attack on January 17, 1960, at the age of fifty. In 1961 the Goetz Company was purchased by the Pearl Brewing Company of San Antonio, Texas. Frank L. Goetz, Jr., younger brother of Karl Goetz, became a director of that Company.