Friedrich Nicholas Arnold Wagener was born in Germany. His family emigrated to America in the 1850s, settling in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. In 1874, 30 year old Frederick and his brother, 37 year old William, moved north to start a brewery in the town of Sturgeon Bay on Door Peninsula. The Sturgeon Bay Brewery barely got a start when William died in 1878. Frederick sold the brewery the next year to Louis and Ernst Leidiger. Under their leadership the Sturgeon Bay Brewery continued to brew beer until Prohibition on January 16th, 1920. After Repeal the brewery reopened as the Schonbrunn Brewing Co., Inc. and produced beer until 1939.

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Associated Breweries