Pa. brewery historian contributes items for 'Cheers to 250: Brewing in America' exhibit

BETHLEHEM, Pa. (WPVI) -- Paid Sponsor Partnership: Philadelphia Corporation for Aging

For more than 40 years, Rich Wagner has researched the history of breweries in Pennsylvania.

"Columbia was in Shenandoah. Over here, you have Lackawanna from Scranton," says Wagner, a Pennsylvania brewery historian.

He says his passion for breweries started with a vacation back in 1980.

"We got to see about six Pennsylvania breweries that were still in business," he says.

But in between traveling to those places, he says he noticed, "hulking wrecks of old breweries."

"That's what captivated my imagination," he says.

He went looking for the defunct buildings' stories, researching and studying, and never stopped.

The National Museum of Industrial History tapped Wagner's knowledge for a new exhibition to celebrate the semiquincentennial.

"'Cheers to 250: Brewing in America' is our signature exhibit," says Andria Zaia, President & CEO of the National Museum of Industrial History. "One of our oldest industries is the brewing industry."

The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 is a major focal point.

"We kind of tried to do a whole tap takeover, really, of the museum, and create an overlay of the Brewer's Hall experience that happened at the centennial," says Zaia.

Wagner says the exhibition goes through many aspects of the story of beer in America, from home brewing and prohibition to advertising and breweriana. He points out an image of the pioneering Engel & Wolf Brewery that existed in the 19th century on a can. The brewery was one of the first to produce lager beer and stood in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia along the Schuylkill River.

Wagner loaned his tools for a section on colonial brewing, showing off a dipstick used to measure how much water is in the copper pot when brewing.

For years he traveled with his wife, Anna, doing demonstrations at beer festivals and historic sites, like Pennsbury Manor.

"It started with an interest in the product, and so by 1983, I started to home brew," he says.

After meeting people in the industry and learning more, he made a career change.

"I had been teaching school for 23 years. I went to brewing school, got a diploma in brewing technology, and then I set out to work in the craft brewing industry in Philadelphia," he says.

He started at Independence Brewing Company, then worked at Manayunk Brewery and Restaurant until 2003.

"Since then, I've devoted my time to my research, giving talks," he says. "I wrote a book on the history of brewing in Philadelphia, past, present and future."

His book is called, "Philadelphia Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in the Cradle of Liberty."

"And he really was such a key adviser to the success of this show," says Zaia.

The exhibition showcases some 19th century machines, but also includes brewing of today.

"In 1980, there were nine breweries in Pennsylvania and now there are hundreds, literally, with the craft brewing revolution," says Wagner. "So, it's really neat."

"Cheers to 250: Brewing in America" is on view at the National Museum of Industrial History on the Steel Stacks Campus in Bethlehem, PA through March of 2027.

For more information:

Rich Wagner
Rich Wagner on Facebook
"Cheers to 250: Brewing in America"
Link to Tickets at the National Museum of Industrial History

National Museum of Industrial History
602 E. 2nd Street
Bethlehem, PA 18015