John H. Von der Horst was born in Gehrde, Germany. He was the son of John H. and Catherine A. Kuenst Von der Horst.  His ancestors immigrated from Sweden in the middle of the sixteenth century. He came to America at about twenty-one years of age and found a home in Baltimore.

Von der Horst entered the grocery house of Heise & Dougherty, at the corner of Fayette and Howard streets, as a porter, and continued with this firm and its successors, Young. Carson & Bryan, in different positions, until 1880. He then set out on his own in the grocery business in East Baltimore, and in 1866 he formed a partnership with Andreas Rupprecht, when they bought the property known as Richardson's oil cloth mill, on Belair road, and converted it into a brewery. Mr. Rupprecht died the next year, and from that time on Mr. Von der Horst conducted the business, associating with him in later years his son. Harry R. Von der Horst.

It is said that during his first year as a brewer, he made twenty-eight hundred barrels of beer. In 1874 he erected a malt house, five stories in height, and in 1887, an ice nouse of equal dimensions, with very deep vaults. In 1880 the Eagle Brewery was completed, and at seven stories in height, it was the largest in Baltimore at the time, and one of the finest and best equipped in the United States. The cost of the ground, the buildings, and the machinery was three hundred thousand dollars.

In 1851 Von Der Horst married Johanna Keditz, by whom he had five children, four sons and a daughter. The only surviving children are Harry R. and John H., the latter became a successful merchant in San Francisco, California. He was a member of Garden Lodge, No. 114, L. O. O. F., and of the Independent Order of Red Men. having received his degree in Pocahontas Lodge in the late 1850s.

At the time of his death, John H. Von der Horst was one of the most successful brewers in Baltimore. He had extensive establishments on the Harford and Belair roads and was known for his broad and liberal treatment of all of his employees.

(cribbed and re-written from his obituary in the Baltimore American)

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