Frederick William Schwenk Biography


	This biography appears on pages 880-881 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				FREDERICK WILLIAM SCHWENK. 

	The volume of business now controlled by the Schwenk-Barth 
Brewing Company makes it one of the leading commercial enterprises of 
Yankton, and at its head stands Frederick William Schwenk, one of its 
founders and promoters-a man who has never feared that laborious 
attention to detail so necessary to the successful management of an 
important and growing industry. He was born in Dackenheim, Rheinpfalz, 
Germany, October 19, 1871. His father, Kasper Schwenk, was a native of 
the same locality and there owned extensive vineyards. He married Emma 
Hergetrath, who was born in Beindesheim, in the Rheinpfalz. In the year 
1853 the father, then a lad of fifteen years, came to the new world, 
settling first at Cleveland, Ohio, but in 1858 he returned to Germany 
and on account of the death of his father he remained at home for a 
number of years. It was during that period that he was married and in 
1882 he returned to America, settling on a farm near Cleveland, Ohio, 
where he remained to the time of his death, which occurred in July, 
1891. For a brief period he had survived his wife, who passed away in 
1890. In their family were eleven children, two of whom died in infancy 
in Germany. Of the living eight were born in the fatherland and one in 
the United States. 

	Frederick William Schwenk, who was the sixth in order of birth, 
was about eleven years of age when he came to the United States with 
his parents. He had previously attended the common schools of his 
native country and he afterward continued his education in the district 
schools of Cuyahoga county, Ohio. Also through the period of his 
boyhood and youth he assisted his father in the work of the home farm 
until sixteen years of age, when he left home and went to Cleveland, 
where he was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade and also took up the 
study of architecture at a night school and further studied under 
various architects of that city. In 1890 he went to Chicago, being sent 
there by the Standard Oil Company to assist in the construction of 
their Chicago plant. In 1891 he went to Harvey, Illinois, where he 
aided in the erection of several buildings. In the same year he joined 
George H. Fuller, now at the head of the Fuller construction Company, 
which is the largest company of the kind in the United States, in 
erecting some buildings at Chicago Heights, Mr. Schwenk acting as 
foreman for Mr. Fuller for more than a year. He next secured employment 
with the Western Ice Machine Company, becoming their erecting engineer 
and installing many plants around Chicago, remaining in the employ of 
that company until April, 1893, when he returned to Cleveland, where 
for three years he was engaged in contracting and building. He met with 
substantial success in that work, in which he continued until 1896. 
when he became construction engineer for the Phoenix Brewing Company at 
Cleveland, having charge of all of their buildings and similar work for 
five years, or until the Cleveland breweries were consolidated under 
the name of the Cleveland-Sandusky Breweries. In 1901 he was made 
engineer of the latter, having entire charge of all buildings, etc., in 
all of their seventeen plants and branches. 

	In October, 1901, in connection with Martin Barth, Mr. Schwenk 
purchased the plant of the Montz Brewing Company of Yankton, South 
Dakota, a very small brewery and in a much run down condition. They 
made necessary repairs, put their plant in operation and incorporated 
the business in 1903 under the name of the Schwenk-Barth Brewing 
Company, with Mr. Barth as vice president and brewmaster. He continued 
active in the business until 1907, when he sold out. In 1904 the firm 
made plans and began the erection of a modern brewing plant. They 
erected an entire new plant and equipped it with the most modern and 
thoroughly improved machinery in the west. This plant is complete and 
up-to-date in every detail, having splendid refrigeration and every 
facility to advance the business. The capacity is one hundred and forty 
barrels per day and the company now enjoys an extensive patronage, each 
year marking an increase in their business over the preceding year. 
They manufacture the famous Rosebud bottled beer and are now well 
established in trade throughout South Dakota. This concern represents 
an investment of a half million dollars and employs thirty-five men in 
their Yankton plant. Mr. Schwenk is the president and general manager 
of the company and devotes his entire attention to the control and 
development of the business. 

	On the 17th of October, 1893, Mr. Schwenk was united in marriage 
to Miss Anna K. Flick, a daughter of Jacob Flick, of Cuyahoga county, 
Ohio. Their children are: William Frederick, who was born in 1904 and 
is now attending school; and Edward William, born in 1910. 

	Mr. Schwenk has never been active politically, but through his 
ballot gives earnest support to the democratic party. He belongs to 
Concordia Lodge, No. 345, F. & A. M.; Helman Chapter, No. 166, R. A. 
M.; and Forest City Commandery, No. 40, K. T., at Cleveland, Ohio; and 
Omega Council, No. 2, R. & S. M., of Salem, South Dakota. He has also 
attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite in Oriental 
Consistory, No. 3, S. P. R. S., at Yankton, and he has crossed the 
sands of the desert with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine of El Riad 
Temple at Sioux Falls. He likewise has membership in the Elks Lodge, 
No. 994; and the Eagles Aerie, No. 1486, at Yankton. Motoring is his 
principal source of recreation and he is an expert with his car. He has 
had a notable career, inasmuch as he left home when a youth of sixteen 
years with a capital of twenty five cents. Steadily and persistently he 
has worked his way upward until he is today recognized as a man of 
prominence in manufacturing and commercial circles of South Dakota. 
Ambition, diligence and honesty and a wide-awake persistency of purpose 
have been the causes of his success winning for him the proud American 
title of "a self made man."