Beer Ads in Oshkosh No. 16: Happy Labor Day from the Oshkosh Brewing Company

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Here's an ad from the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern of August 31, 1935. It appeared a time when Oshkosh was hurting. In the late summer of 1935, Oshkosh was firmly in the grip of the Great Depression. The city had lost 40% of its manufacturing jobs and overall unemployment was estimated to be at nearly 50%.

But over at the Oshkosh Brewing Company, they were doing their part to boost the local economy – not to mention the local cheer – by pumping out beer. In 1935, OBC had 40 employees on the payroll and together they managed to produce over 40,000 barrels of beer. That’s a lot of lager for a city of less than 40,000 that also had two other breweries in operation. Obviously, there were plenty of folks in Oshkosh in 1935 who weren’t going to allow the Depression dampen their spirits.