The Lemp Mansion and Brewery

The story of the Lemp family is one of fortune and tragedy. Fueled by the popularity of their German lager beer, the Lemp family had built the city's largest brewery by 1870.

But misfortune first struck the family when Frederick Lemp, heir to the Lemp fortune and the patriarch William J. Lemp's favorite son, died under "mysterious circumstances" in 1901.

William J. Lemp seemed never to recover from his son's death. In 1904, the man with so much shot himself in the head in a bedroom in the Lemp Mansion. His son William Jr. took over as president of the Lemp brewery.

Prohibition added to the Lemp Family's misfortune in 1919. Then, in 1920, Elsa Lemp, William's daughter and known to be Saint Louis's wealthiest heiress, took her life.

The Lemp brewery languished. Unlike other breweries, Lemp did not turn to manufacturing other goods. In 1922, after permanent closure, it was sold for pennies on the dollar.

At this point, all the Lemp family seemed to have left was their magnificent mansion just blocks from their old brewery. But this did not seem to be enough as William Jr., just after the sale of the brewery, shot himself in the same mansion where his father and sister had done the same.

Charles Lemp, William and Elsa's brother, took up a reclusive existence at the mansion. He spent much of his time in the caverns that his father had used that connected the house to the brewery.

In these caverns were many rooms, including offices and a ballroom. Charles rarely was seen outside of these until he, too, shot himself. The last member of the Lemp family, Edwin, discovered the body.

Finally, in 1970, ninety years after his birth, Edwin seemed to escape the apparent curse of his father and siblings when he died of natural causes.

Today the lovely mansion and brewery still stand just south of downtown Saint Louis, along with the caverns (which have been sealed) connecting them.

The brewery sees little activity and is all but abandoned while the mansion is now a popular restaurant and bed and breakfast. It still retains some of the early twentieth century charm that the Lemp family experienced through all of their tragedies.

And, it seems, the mansion still retains the spirits of the Lemp family. The house has been called one of the nation's most haunted, and the many overnight guests and late night visitors can attest to this.