Frank J. Hess and Sons Cooperage

Frank J. Hess and Sons Cooperagewas the last open cooperage in the United States.

Frank J. Hess Sr. was born in Bohemia on April 10, 1870. At the age of 14, he started and completed a 4 year cooperage apprenticeship in Pilsen, Bohemia. At the age of 19 he traveled to America and worked as a cooper, manufacturing white oak beer kegs. In Chicago he met his wife and started his family.

In 1904, Henry Fauerbach of the Fauerbach Brewery in Madison persuaded him to move to Madison, Wisconsin to start an independent cooperage business. His business became Wisconsin’s largest cooperage. They manufactured and repaired beer kegs for the Fauerbach, Hausmann, Breckheimer, Brunkow and Mueller, Potosi, Stork, Slinger, Rhinelander, Portage, Baraboo, Sauk City, Columbus, Watertown, Wausaw, Janesville, Duluth, and Monroe breweries. They also manufactured and repaired wine and whiskey barrels. In 1966 the cooperage factory closed.