Engels and Krudwig Winery records

Collection

Identifier: MS-0254

Staff Only

Collection Overview

Abstract

This collection contains the business records of the Engels and Krudwig Winery from 1930 to 1956. The files consist of church sales records, business and sales associate correspondence, and vintage bottle labels and other winery-related ephemera. From 1863 to 1959, the Engels and Krudwig Winery operated in Sandusky Ohio, along the Lake Erie shoreline. At one point, the winery was the largest east of California. The winery was also one of very few to stay in operation during Prohibition, selling sacramental and medicinal wines.

Dates

Creation: 1930-1956

Extent

25 Cubic Feet (24 record cartons)

1 Items (1 oversized poster)

16 Recordings (16 vinyl records)

Creator

Engels and Krudwig Winery (Organization)

Scope and Contents

The records from Engels and Krudwig Winery document the final 30 years of the winery from 1930 to 1959. The collection contains primarily correspondence between the winery and its sales associates, customers, and business partners. The collection primarily documents E&K’S wine-making history and business operations during wartime.

The original organization of the records as they were received by the CAC has largely been maintained.

The collection contains five series:

Client files-Churches, 1933-1950

Client files-Businesses, 1930-1956

Sales associate correspondence, 1930-1956

Printed materials and winery ephemera, 1930-1950

Audio recordings, 1938

Biographical / Historical

Ohio’s Lake Erie shores and islands were, at one point, the largest producers of wine in the United States, and remained the third-largest center of wine production once California entered the wine-making scene. There are vineyards across the Erie shoreline, but the highest concentration is in the islands, as well as in the city of Sandusky in Erie County. Sandusky’s vineyards and wineries were known nationwide, and one of the city’s most successful wineries was the Engels and Krudwig Winery Company, known simply as E&K, which was at one point the largest winery east of California.

Founded in 1863 as Engels Wine, E&K was the private business of German immigrant Jacob Engels. With ten acres of land, Engels cultivated grapes for distribution to other wine makers and made wine privately. He began selling his own wines after the Civil War, and upon his death ownership of the winery passed to his nephew, Herman Engels. With the help of R.P. Krundvig, Herman opened the Engels and Krudwig Wine Company in 1870. The wines made by E&K utilized Concord and Catawba grapes, which both flourished in the region. During Prohibition the E&K Wine Company sold wines for sacramental purposes, which led to E&K being one of the only companies in the country that sold wines for religious purposes. This helped the company endure through Prohibition.

During World War II, the wine industry in the United States saw a brief boom. With Europe and Asia torn by war, even those who could safely produce wine found it difficult to ship products. Without the world-renowned European wines readily available, this created a great opportunity for American wine exports and domestic sales from 1939 to 1941. However, this brief success was brought to a halt after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Soon the country and job market shifted and small businesses such as wineries fell under to large manufacturing jobs that better aided the war effort. Job shortages as well as rationing of sugar, glass, rubber, and gasoline all affected E&K, a slump in business that the winery never fully recovered from.

In 1959, owners Brad Granfield and Marion Yenney sold the E&K winery. In the mid-1970s the winery opened for a brief time as a private wine maker, but it closed and was then sold to Feick Contractors in the late 1970s or early 1980s. The winery building itself still stands as of July 2017 and is utilized for office space.

Conditions Governing Access

No known access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Researchers using this collection assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright, and are responsible for securing permissions necessary for publication or reproduction.

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was transferred to the Center for Archival Collections in 1982 with the cooperation of Edward and Anita Feick and Feick Contractors, who in the 1980s became owners of the building that had once housed the winery.

Processing Information

Records were processed and this finding aid was prepared in 2017 by Alyssa Kapelka, Archives Assistant and graduate student in the History Department at Bowling Green State University.