Edelweiss Beer

Top of the button has green text set on a red music staff with red musical notes. Center of the button has red script text with a green shadow. Bottom of the button has bold green text. All text is set on a white background.

Peter Schoenhofen, a Prussian immigrant, was in Chicago working in the brewing trade in 1861 when he started a partnership with Matheus Gottfried. They were soon operating a brewery where they made about 600 barrels of lager beer a year. In 1867, Schoenhofen bought out his partner, and the company became the Peter Schoenhofen Brewing Co. During the 1890s, the business was owned by the City Contract Co. of London, England, but then around 1900, the Schoenhofen family regained control of the company. The company's "Edelweiss" brand of beer was a big seller. Operations shut down during Prohibition, but by 1933, after the national ban on alcohol production was lifted, the company was back in business as the Schoenhofen-Edelweiss Co.

See more photos of pre- and post-prohibition beer buttons on the Busy Beaver blog.