von Stiehl Winery

The Italianate structure was constructed in 1868 on what was then called South Water Street by mason Thomas Bacon for partners, Wojta Stransky and Herman Seideman, who established a brewery in the building and called their product Ahnapee Lager. The brewery was complete with an ice house, windmill to grind barley and pump water, and three underground vaults. It was considered Kewaunee County’s first “sizeable” building.

After Stransky and Seideman created a successful business putting barrels on both sailing vessels and sleighs, they sold the brewery to Henry Schmiling, a Civil War veteran, in 1879. Coincidentally, Henry was the Great Great Great Great Uncle of the current day owners Aric and Brad Schmiling. The Brewery shut down in 1886, put out of business by a severe blight of the Wisconsin hops crop.

The building was then used as a warehouse, still later to make fly nets for horses by the Kelsey Fly Net Co. until 1918 (which was the original business of our current Algoma Net Company). It was a factory in the 1920s where one of the first gas-powered washing machines, the Algoma Thermo washer, was built. In the 1940s and 1950s a local feed mill used the building for storage.

By the 1960s, the building fell into disrepair and should have been torn down. In the mid 1960s, Dr. Charles Stiehl purchased and restored the building to expand his hobby, making wine out of Door County cherries.