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Group of Five Men Attempt to Save Potosi Brewery Building

By Mrs. Clifford McCabe


	Gary and Denis David.

POTOSI, Wis. -Cousins Gary David and Denis David are among five men who have purchased the Potosi Brewery Company at a sealed bid auction. They have undertaken a major restoration of this historic site that was established in 1852 and once employed 100 people. The brewery closed in 1972 and has stood empty for the past 27 years.

Gary David was raised in Potosi and now lives in Galena, IL. "This brewery is a community treasure. We felt we had to save the heritage as there is so much valuable history here. My parents and I couldn't stand to see the building destroyed. We have gotten tremendous response from people who stop by while we are working."

Denis David, also a native of Potosi, now resides in the state of Washington and has a home in Cassville. "With our own money we are working on the dire needs as its critical structural needs must be met to preserve it from collapsing. This also buys us time to explore all its potential uses."

Gary said, "We plan on bringing in more private funding with two to four additional partners. Each partner must be committed to this and each must contribute a certain sum of money."

In addition to the two Davids, the other current owners are Rick Tobin of Potosi, and Michael Hoge and Adam Johnson, both of Galena, IL.

Their objectives are to restore the brewery buildings, get community involvement and interest, make the buildings presentable to the public for viewing the interior for future funding, utilize the Great River Road attraction and future bike trail, preserve the heritage for the community, get National and Wisconsin Historic Society involvement, develop the spring water and raise $100,000 for roof restoration,

"We are on a humanitarian mission because there is so much history and culture seen here at the brewery with it being on both the National and Wisconsin Registers of Historic places. Once we get the building stabilized we will seek grant money to help complete the project," explained Gary.

Big Project

"There was no way we could stand to see the building destroyed," added Denis about this piece of Grant County history.

The desired outcome is to stabilize the roofs and masonry by the winter of 1999. They plan to make available to the community approximately 30-50 percent of the square footage for public use such as for an information center, bike wayside and water fill up station, Potosi Brewery-Holiday Beer paraphernalia museum, retail space and studio lofts.

In addition to bringing in more private funding, they plan on forming an advisory committee including the five original LLC partners, community leaders and local business people; seek grant money from the National Historical Society, Wisconsin Historic Society, Great River Road and Historic Preservation Association; utilize the sawmill, raw materials in restoration across the road in the old bottling building of Gary David's; seek volunteers from the community as needed; hold fundraising by engaging a local microbrewery to bottle and label Potosi Beer and or Holiday Beer to be sold at a premium $25-$50 per case with a 4,000 gallon limited release; possibly have an early release of the first 100 cases at an undetermined amount per case; seek broad input with 'The Visioning Process' a series of public meetings in which residents are encouraged to offer their ideas for future use; listen to experts and finally to start small making sure the first opportunity they tackle is diverse and doable. "Success builds confidence in the process and confidence in the community," said Denis.

People who are open to helping so far are: G. David Woodworks, David Enterprises LLC, David Lumber Company, Galena Architectural Resources, Tri-State Masonry and Cedar King Lumber Company.

"We will establish a review committee for at least a quarterly review of all activities of the project, make recommendations for changes as needed with anticipated results and develop a method to measure the progress of the project," said Gary.

Contacted By Assemblyman and Congressman

Assemblyman Steve Freese contacted the men, "He told us he wanted to inform us of a preservation trust fund bill he is attempting to pass through the legislators which will come before them in August. He expressed interest in seeing this structure preserved and will keep us notified on how the bill is resolved," said Denis.

Congressman Ron Kind is serving with Hillary Clinton on a committee on National Historic preservation. "Kind told us he hopes to see more effort put in Wisconsin from this committee," noted Gary.

Charles Dietrich of Cassville, who is the Grant County commissioner for the Great River Road, is also helping Denis added, "Dietrich is trying to get the tour bus route lengthened to include coming down through Potosi to East Dubuque."

An upcoming event that is planned is to hold an open forum Community meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 11, at 6:30 p.m. at the Potosi Brewery Bottling building.

"We would like to at that forum answer any questions, seek input, let people express their interests in sharing memorabilia for eventual display and see what the community would like to see happen to this project," concluded the Davids.

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