A 1956 Tour of the Oshkosh Brewing Company

Unless you were lucky enough to traipse through the Oshkosh Brewing Company when it was up and running, almost 40 years ago, the three minute movie below is as close as any of us are going to get to actually seeing the place in operation. This short clip is taken from the 1957 movie Oshkosh Story, a four-hour documentary that was underwritten by a coalition of Oshkosh businesses calling themselves the Associated Industries of Oshkosh. Filmed in the fall and winter of 1956 by an Iowa company that made civic and industrial films, the movie was shown on WBAY in half-hour segments at 2 in the afternoon on consecutive Sundays beginning Easter Sunday in 1957. That first segment included this tour of the Oshkosh Brewing Company.

 

“The pleasant, relaxed moments of the citizens of our town.” I just love that! If that floats your boat, there’s more. A condensed (two hour) version of the original movie is available on VHS tape at the Oshkosh Public Library under the title This Is Our Town. It was produced by the Oshkosh Public Museum as part of Oshkosh’s 150th Anniversary celebration in 2003. It’s an incredible glimpse into 1950s Oshkosh and if you have a functioning VHS player you really ought to check it out. The Oshkosh Public Museum holds the footage to the film, let’s hope that one day the rest of the movie finds its way to the digital age.