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Texas
Brewing Company (9th and Jones Streets) 1890-1918
Superior Brewing Company 1933-1940
James J. Gannon, Martin Casey, Thomas Roche and Zane Zetti opened a plant of fifty thousand barrels capacity in 1890. By 1892, they increased their capital stock to build railroads and refigeration unit to produce some 80 tons of ice a day. In 1901, Texas Attorney-General C. K. Bell filed papers in several suits against brewing companies which, he claimed, were doing business in violation of the Texas anti-trust law. The other defendants were: the Lone Star Brewing Co. and the San Antonio Brewing Association, San Antonio; and the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association and Wm. J. Lemp Brewing Co., St. Louis. (Both Busch and Lemp had interests in Texas breweries.) Bell's case alleged that the companies tried to force a competitor out of the business territory of Austin, by reducing the price of their product to a point below the cost of manufacture. In 1915, Anti-Trust charges were filed against Texas breweries, and Adolphus Busch, for price collusion and politicking. Busch was an ardent anti-Prohibitionist, and funded several grass roots groups in the state. The Texas brewers eventually pleaded guilty to the charges and paid a $280,000 fine. Finally, In 1918, Prohibition forced the company to close its doors. It reopened in 1933, and lasted for only 7 years.