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Frieburg and Workum's Boone County Distillery
The Distillery sold for $500,000 in 1899. Story
here.
| The Courier-Journal noted (April 25, 1909) that if prohibition should happen, Petersburg's Boone County Distillery would close, eliminating 58 jobs, and an annual payroll of $34,250. They would not buy 186,000 bushels of grain from farmers, and not pay $2,550 in state and local tax revenue. |
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Distillery, in the Flood of 1907
Distillery map, 1910
Note the number of cattle sheds. If you're in the distillery business, you process a lot of corn. And what do you do with all of that corn after distilling. Well, you could use it as an already paid for feed for cattle... |
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Distillery Groups
image on right is 1903; identifications are here.
Cincinnati Daily Gazette, December 2, 1857
The Levi J. Workum, a.k.a. The
Whiskey Boat
Seen docked here at Cincinnati, the Levi J. Workum was used to regularly
transport whiskey from Petersburg to Cincinnati. Note the barrels on the
landing.
The distillery's owners, Frieberg & Workum, issued an anniversary booklet of their company in 1904.
Read it here.
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The following is the tax paid by distillers in the Sixth (Covington) District of Kentucky during the month of
September, 1876. |
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| Boone County Distilling Co., Petersburg | $ 59,848.20 |
| G. W. Robson, Jr., & Co., Finchtown | $ 45,795.60 |
| Dorsel & Wulftange, Covington | $ 37,963.80 |
| Willow Run Distilling Co., Covington | $ 36,323.10 |
| Andrew W. Darling, Carrollton | $ 6,557.40 |
| C. B. Cook & Co., Cynthiana | $ 3,801.60 |
| Kenton Distilling Co., Covington | $ 3,137.40 |
| Samuel Fearn, Jr. Milton | $ 1,590.30 |
| James H. Gray, Cynthiana | $ 195.30 |
| $195,212.70 | |
The Petersburg Distillery not only sold under its own brands, but sold to other distilleries, who re-branded it. Thanks to Ben Wolfe for the chart.
Details about the Petersburg Distillery are at this site.
Fire at the distillery, 1884.
| “The plant of the Boone County Distilling Company, at Petersburg, the largest distillery in the Sixth Kentucky District, will soon be a thing of the past. The plant, which is now owned by the Trust, will be dismantled and further operations will cease. Including the cattle pens, the plant covers fourteen acres of ground. There are now some 30,000 barrels of whiskey in storage, which is being taken out at a rate of 300 barrels a week. Thomas H. Matthews, who has been superintendent of the place for years, will be sent to New York, where he will take charge of the large distribution houses.” Warsaw Independent, May 24, 1902 |
Daily Commonwealth, January 30, 1883
The distillery stopped distilling in 1910, but left several warehouses filled with aging whiskey. As the stock depleted and was sold, the warehouse bricks were used in Petersburg and other towns. The stock of whiskey was gone by 1918. “Brick of the Boone County Distillery at Petersburg, Ky., is being used to build a church in that city, according to dispatches received in Covington. “Some of the brick of the distillery also was used in the erection of the Odd Fellows' Temple and high school at St. [sic] Petersburg.” from the Courier-Journal, May 30,1920 |
| Some of the brick was used to build the library on the side of the Christian Church. And the jail. And a couple of houses. and the old Ryle's Grocery. |
