Vintage Mitchell's Beer Clock (1945-1951)

The Harry Mitchell Brewery
Chapter 7c – The Harry Mitchell Corporation
[Much of this was originally published in the American Breweriana Journal as “The Harry
Mitchell Brewery: The Harry Mitchell Corporation” in 2011 – see Lockhart 2011]
The Harry Mitchell Corporation (1945-1951)
The year, 1945, held many changes for the Harry Mitchell Brewing Co. On June 19,
Dittmar & Co., San Antonio investment bankers (represented at meetings by H.S. Stewart),
financed Harry Mitchell in his purchase of all of the stock previously owned by Helen Keller and
Globe-Fico (Figure 7c-1). Mitchell admitted that he had wanted to buy the Keller-controlled
stock since Will Keller’s death in 1936, but Helen, Keller’s widow, refused to sell until April of
1945 (Chavez 1988; 1995:4; El Paso Herald Post 6/20/1945).
The three top stockholders were now Dittmar & Co.
with 5,168 shares (controlled by Mitchell); Mitchell with his
own 1,251 shares, and Mrs. Lela Mitchell with 320 shares. It
is worth noting that Lela was not mentioned in earlier minutes
either as an attendee or as a stockholder, but, from 1945 on,
she attended board meetings until the Mitchells retired. In
addition to the other refinancing, the new board reduced the
7,000 shares of Class B stock to 5,000 shares “to be hereafter
known as Common Stock of the Company” and issued 15,000
shares of “Cumulative Preferred Stock.” Holders of preferred
stock (as with the older, Class A stock) would be denied the
right to vote at board meetings (Harry Mitchell Brewing Co.
[HMBC] 6/15/1945).
Figure 7c-1 – Harry Mitchell (El
Paso County Historical Society)
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Reorganization
Vice president Nicholson, along with O.J. Allen resigned on June 14. The remaining
three stockholders at the directors’ meeting – Mitchell, Grider, and A.R. Grambling – elected
H.S. Stewart and Eugene R. Smith as new board members, then both Grider and Stuart resigned.
No stranger to corporate America, Smith was the secretary for the Magnolia Coca-Cola Bottling
Co. from 1937 to 1949 and was a brother of Hope M. Smith, Magnolia’s founder (HMBC
6/14/1945; Lockhart 2010).
Upon Grider’s and Stuart’s resignations, the new board voted William W. Cunningham to
return to his seat and Paul O. Sergent as a new director. Cunningham – formerly a vice president– returned to his old position. The directors also authorized a loan of $200,000 from the State
National Bank and established a repayment plan that would inhibit dividends to stockholders
until the note was paid in full in 1950. The board earmarked the money, along with an additional
$12,000 to be placed in a trust fund to redeem all outstanding shares of Class A stock (HMBC
6/14/1945).
Despite the decision just four days earlier to inhibit dividends, the board declared a
dividend on common stock of $10 per share on June 16. Due to his position as President of the
corporation, Chairman of the Board, and General Manager, the directors set Mitchell’s salary at
$12,000 per year. Cunnigham became Director of Sales as well as Vice President, and the board
awarded him a $7,500 annual salary (HMBC 6/19/1945).
In November, the Board authorized a 6% semi-annual dividend for holders of preferred
stock. At the June 6, 1946, meeting, however, they reduced the dividend to 3% for that period
and paid out $10 per share to common stockholders in August. The group elected Lela Mitchell
to serve as a director in October and agreed to redeem all preferred stock by December 15
(HMBC 11/15/1945; 6/6/1945; 8/26/1946; 10/11/1946). In the final session for the year, the
board doubled the number of shares of common stock for each stockholder, effectively creating a
100% dividend (HMBC 12/16/1946).
Mitchell also hired a new brewmaster, Carl Weiss. Weiss may have been hired as early
as 1944 to replace Albert Braasch who died suddenly that year, leaving the position vacant. Born
in Bavaria, Germany, in 1899, Weiss received his early training as an apprentice at a nearby
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brewery. For 15 years, he learned the trade including making his own malt. After his arrival in
the United States in 1913, Weiss worked for several breweries in this country before coming to
El Paso. The work was difficult. In 1949, a typical day at Mitchell’s began at 3 or 4 AM and
lasted until 5 PM or later. Like other workers at the brewery, Weiss was on duty seven days a
week (El Paso Times 12/19/1949).
Surviving World War II
Former employee, Alfredo Perea, told three interesting stories about the brewery during
World War II. The first involved the use of quart bottles to conserve glass and steel for the war
effort. Mitchell’s was one of many breweries that encouraged customers to buy these “victory
quarts” in the early 1940s. Second, both beer and the ingredients used to make it were rationed
during the war. To augment the allotment of resources, bars returned caps to the brewery.
Working women at the brewery (most men were at war) sorted the caps, straightened out those
with the least damage, cleaned them thoroughly, and reused them on refilled bottles (Perea).
The final story may be apocryphal but is nonetheless a good tale. When rationed grains
ran low, Mitchell would go to “the feed company next door” and buy chicken feed to use in place
of the normal grains. Perea said sales remained the same regardless of ingredients, so apparently
the public noticed no difference (Perea). Because of the war effort, 15% of the brewery’s beer
production went to military use (El Paso County Historical Society [EPCHS]).
More Reorganizations
In October 1947, Cunningham, now the last of the original stockholders (excepting
Mitchell), elected to retire from his position as vice president and was replaced by Charles A.
Kuper who was then to receive $6,000 per year for his services as vice president and sales
manager. Kuper, a native of Fort Smith, Arkansas, had served more than five years as an Air
Force pilot at Houston and the Caribbean before coming to work at Mitchell’s. He had played
football for and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas. He also
graduated from the University of Houston (Chavez 1988; 1995:7; El Paso Times 7/20/1951;
HMBC 10/11/1947; Kuper 1953). Kuper left the company in March 1949 to become the director
of advertising, public relations, and sales promotion for Lone Star Brewing Co. in San Antonio
(El Paso Times 7/20/1951).
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In April 1948, the Board contracted J.E.
Morgan & Sons to build the new “Bottle House”
designed by the architectural firm of Trost & Trost
and engineered by Davis & Foster (Figure 7c-2).
Built at a cost of $400,000, the 185 by 50-foot
building contained no posts or other obstructions to
be avoided by the workers. In addition, a “5-foot
strip of glass brick at the top of the side and front
walls of the addition” provided adequate interior
lighting. The Board also purchased two Emold
Labelers from the Meyer Supply Co., one Cemco
Figure 7c-2 – Drawing of the brewery (Wil
Mitchell collection)
50 Filler and Crowner machine from the Crown Cork and Seal Co., and a Soaker and Pasteurizer
machine from the Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Co. (Chavez 1988; 1995:7; HMBC 4/1/1948).
The Times described the bottling process:
The very first operation involves soaking bottles to be filled in a chemical
solution, sterilization, removing old labels and then washing. After that, the
bottles are dumped on a conveyer and carried to the filler and crowner. Then they
go immediately to the pasteurizer. The heat is brought to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
After that, the bottles are cooled and carried on a conveyor to be labeled. Then
the bottles go into cases ready for delivery (EPCHS).
The brewery finished out the year with a production of 19,784,296 bottles of beer in
addition to draught beer sales (El Paso Times 12/19/1949). By this time, 75% of the business
was in bottled beer.
Enter the Can Line
By this time, canned beer had become an important factor in the brewing industry.
Although canning of beer had been suggested as early as 1909, the first beer cans were used
commercially for Kruger’s Special Beer in 1933. Initially, many cans were “cone tops” – each
can having a conical projection extending upward from the cylindrical section of the can to be
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topped with the same crown cap used on bottles. A
second style was the flattop – cans with a flat
surface that must be opened by an external device. As
cone tops gradually fazed out, flattops became the
industry standard until 1962 when “pull-tabs” or “pop
tops” became available (Maxwell 1993). Mitchell’s
cans were all of the flattop variety.
On December 4, 1949, Mitchell announced his
intention to join the national trend. The brewery
installed a canning line, raising its annual payroll to
$300,000 to accommodate the additional employees
needed to operate it (Figure 7c-3). The new system would fill 250 flat top cans per minute,
roughly the equivalent of the bottle production unit which filled bottles at the rate of 220 per
minute. The brewery installed the canning line in an addition to the bottling house completed
nine months earlier (Chavez 1988; 1995:7; El Paso Times 12/4/1949).
Figure 7c-3 – Harry examining the
first cans off the Line – 1949 (Wil
Mitchell collection)
Figure 7c-4 – Inspecting the can line
(Wil Mitchell collection)
The line was already equipped with more than
600,000 cans purchased from the Continental Can Co.
with an additional 2,000,000 “scheduled for early
delivery.” Total production at the time was about
110,000 barrels of beer per annum, and the board
voted to increase Mitchell’s salary to $25,000.
Despite a two year sales slump, Mitchell was
optimistic (Chavez 1988; 1995:7; El Paso Times
12/4/1949).
In describing the canning operation, the Times (12/19/1949) observed that “over 500 feet
of conveyor belts and lines move the cans through a process that is more neatly efficient than a
railroad man’s model train system.” Throughout the system, the cans were never touched by
human hands from the time they entered the conveyer belts, through washing, filling,
pasteurization, and packaging into cardboard cartons, including six-packs, twelve-can cartons,
and cases of 24 (Figure 7c-4).
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At one point in the operation, the cans would “jog into the closing machine, which has
seven automatic controls and the latest safety devices. The tops drop on the cans and the first
operation forms a double seam. The next operation irons out the seam and makes it air tight.”
Further down the line, another automatic device “kicked off” any cans that were oversized. A
weighing device then removed any cans that were over- or underweight. The entire system was
efficient. Unlike the canning operation, human beings visually inspected the bottles for defects
(El Paso Times 12/19/1949).
At the same time, the Times described the keg operation noting that
specially constructed aluminum kegs, featuring the Golden Gate valve system, are
used exclusively in the distribution of Mitchell’s Premium to draft users. The
kegs, lined with pitch to prevent the sensitive beer from coming into contact with
metal, replace the old-type containers which were made with easily removable
corks. The kegs contain valves, which are kept closed at all times (El Paso Times
12/19/1949).
The kegs were more expensive and required more labor cost to use, but the brewery felt justified
in their use to preserve “the outstanding quality of their beer” (El Paso Times 12/19/1949).
In July 1949, Mitchell became one of the directors of
the Texas Brewing Institute (El Paso Times 7/25/1949). He
was also highly involved in civic activities (Figure 7c-5). He
was known as “a generous supporter of many worthy causes”
and was a member of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce,
BPO Elks, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion,
and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Posse (El Paso Herald Post
5/17/1971).
Still More Expansion
According to the El Paso Times (12/4/1949),
Mitchell’s Premium was the top selling beer, not only in El
Paso, but in a territory extending from “Big Spring and San
Figure 7c-5 – Harry tests the
canned beer (Wil Mitchell
collection)
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Angelo in the east to Tucson in the west and includes all of New Mexico.” The brewery was one
of only seven at that time operating in Texas (two in San Antonio and one each in Houston,
Galveston, Dallas, and Shiner). The neighboring state of New Mexico boasted no breweries.
In February 1950, Bob Dorman, general sales director announced the appointment of
Farmers Produce Co. as Mitchell’s distributor for Phoenix, Arizona. Although Arizona salesmen
had been eliminated in 1942, Mitchell had obviously reinstated them by at least 1950. Bob
Reynolds, special representative for Mitchell’s spoke at a Farmers sales meeting on February 11.
Other distributors wholesaled Mitchell’s Beer at Safford, Tucson, Douglas, and Winslow
(Arizona Beverage Journal March 1950:20). On April 3, the Journal also published a letter from
Norm’s Place – a local beer hall – praising Mitchell’s beer:
You may be interested in knowing that our customers have accepted Harry
Mitchell’s Premium Beer beyond our fondest expectations. You will recall that
our order for 5 cases was placed on February 9th. A few days later we ordered 10
cases more. We have just looked over our records and find that we have sold
over 150 cases the first four weeks we have had it. We think this is pretty good.
What do you think?
The brewery also continued
sponsoring radio shows under the new
management. An ad in the Times on July 3,
1950, admonished readers to “Listen to
Elmer Davis and the News Tuesdays and
Thursdays at 6:15 over KEPO.”
A Mitchell ad boasted in 1950 that
“brewing is ‘big business’ in El Paso,
enriching our community to a great degree
Figure 7c-6 – Mitchell Trucks at the new bottle
shop (Wil Mitchell collection)
and adding much to the industrial growth of our Fabulous Southwest” (El Paso Times 9/3/1950).
The ad continued: “Here at this modern plant, representing an investment of over $1,100,000.00,
103 employees draw an annual payroll of $273,000.00. Approximate annual taxes – Federal,
State, City, Social Security, and other – totals $1,000,000.00.” The brewery was clearly an
important business in El Paso (Figure 7c-6).
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Sales continued to rise, and the
directors regularly distributed dividends
through mid-1951 (Figure 7c-7). Despite
the increased revenue, Harry and Lela
Mitchell announced on July 19, 1951, their
resignation from the Board of Directors.
The reason given by Mitchell was that he
and Lela had “disposed of all of their stock
in the corporation” (HMBC 7/19/1951).
Figure 7c-7 – Envelope used in 1951 (Courtesy of
Jim Mitchell)
Three companies, Harold S. Stewart and Sons, Bassett Towers, and the Russ Co. of San Antonio,
Texas, had purchased the Mitchells’ share of stock for more than one million dollars (Chavez
1988; 1995:7; El Paso Herald Post 7/11/1951). A major chapter of the Harry Mitchell Brewing
Co. was at an end.
Sources
Arizona Beverage Journal
1950 “Future Advertising.” Arizona Beverage Journal March 1950:20.
Chavez, Richard R.
1988 The Bell Rings Again (A History of the Harry Mitchell Brewing Co.). Privately
published, El Paso, Texas.
1995 “The Bell Rings Again (A History of the Harry Mitchell Brewing Co.” American
Breweriana Journal May-June:4-9.
[EPCHS] Harry Mitchell scrapbooks, El Paso County Historical Society collection.
[HMBC] Harry Mitchell Brewing Co.
A Record of the Organization and Incorporation of Harry Mitchell Brewing Co., A
Corporation (including Articles of Incorporation and Minutes of Board of Directors,
September 14, 1933-December 19, 1956.
Lockhart, Bill
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2010 Bottles on the Border: The History and Bottles of the Soft Drink Industry in E