Chicago History Tidbit - What's a tied house?

Schlitz is a name that was at one time very famous in Chicago. I laugh now because the name seems so old and is equated to times long gone. Schlitz was the cheapest 6 pack that a kid could buy illegally! But I digress ....

I was going through an email and I noticed that phrase 'tied house' and didn't know what it was. Obviously I remember Schlitz but I wanted to investigate this. Intrigued on this part of our Chicago history, here's what they were and are now officially being designated as Chicago Landmarks.



"In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, a combination of intense competition among brewing companies and increasing legal restrictions and social pressures (prohibition was coming) on public drinking establishments compelled brewing companies in Chicago to adopt a “tied house” system. Developed in England a century earlier, the tied-house system involved the direct control of taverns not by independent entrepreneurs, but by large brewing companies which sold their products exclusively at their own establishments.

Brewery control of the tavern trade in Chicago began with the purchase of existing saloon buildings, but soon evolved into the acquisition of choice real estate and the design and construction of tavern buildings. At least forty-one of these tied-house buildings are known to survive today in the city. They were built by large Milwaukee-based brewers, most notably Schlitz, and by several local brewers such as the Atlas, Birk Brothers, Fortune Brothers, Gottfried, Peter Hand, Standard, and Stege companies. In many cases, to attract customers, brewing companies employed high-quality architectural designs and popular historical styles of architecture for their tied houses to attract, and perhaps also to convey the legitimacy and decency of the neighborhood tavern in the face of rising social opposition."

Five Schlitz Tied Houses and Schlitz Stable Building

"Chicago designates the former Schlitz Brewery tied house at 1801 W. Division St. as a Chicago Landmark. The West Town building, an excellent example of the German Renaissance Revival style, was commissioned in 1900 by Edward Uihlein of the Milwaukee-based brewery as a tied house for the exclusive sale of its products.

The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co. was the most prolific builder of tied houses in Chicago, constructing at least 57 such taverns from the 1890s to the early 1900s. Its logo featuring a distinctive relief of the belted Schlitz beer globe insignia is still visible on the building’s facade in the 1st Ward.

This is the second of a group of nine Schlitz tied houses that are being considered for landmark status."


Resources: Chicago Landmarks Site
Chicago Historic Preservation