Description: Dated 1935-1940, this photograph shows a mustached man standing behind a bar with a mirror that runs the length of the bar and reads "Welcome" and "Auf Wiedersehen," or when we meet again. A cash register, which could have been manufactured by the National Cash Register Company, sits in the middle of the back counter. A sign for Wooden Shoe Beer hangs on the wall. It is unclear where this bar is located, though it could be in the Germantown area of Dayton, Ohio. Wooden Shoe Beer was produced by the Wooden Shoe Brewery in Minster, Ohio, in Auglaize County. Formerly known as the Star Brewery, it was renamed in 1913 to take advantage of the local Pennsylvania Dutch connection. Around 1919, the company was again renamed the Star Beverage Company, and began selling non-alcoholic drinks, due to prohibition. In 1933, Wooden Shoe Beer was reintroduced and officially changed the company name back to Wooden Shoe Brewery in 1940. Several management changes, and cost cutting beginning in 1950 affected the quality of the beer and the bar closed in 1954. The building was used as a warehouse for many years and was eventually demolished in 1990. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B09F03_009_001
Subjects: Breweries; Bartenders; Brewing industry; Beer; Business and Labor; Ohio--History--Pictorial works
Places: Ohio