The Brewery

The culture and history of The Tumwater Brewery site, former home of Olympia Beer, lie deep in the land and flow in the waters of the Deschutes River and the artesian wells so integral to the Olympia Beer brand and our region’s identity.

The City of Tumwater has been defined by the presence of the brewery site for more than 120 years. The City recognizes the economic, political, environmental and logistical challenges it faces, as it works toward redevelopment of the grounds and buildings of the shuttered brewery while keeping a focus on reinvigorating a site with enormous historical, cultural, and community value.

The Tumwater Brewery District Plan is based on extensive community visioning. It reflects progress in infrastructure, changes in ownership, the realities of budgets and funding, and evolving priorities for the City and its partners. 

History

The land on which Olympia Beer was produced was home for many centuries to the Statca'sabsh people, a subgroup of the Coastal Salish Indian groups, whose descendants are members of the tribes now known as Nisqually, Squaxin Island, and Chehalis. The site remains an important historical and cultural site for the Statca'sabsh people.

On this same ground at the mouth of the Deschutes River, the first permanent pioneer settlement in the Puget Sound region was established in 1845.

In the 1890s, German-born brewmaster Leopold Schmidt acquired the land that would become the Olympia Brewing Company property. The original four-story brewhouse was part of the group of structures that supported production of Olympia Beer starting in 1896.

The Schmidt family sold the brewery to G. Heileman Brewing Co. in 1983. Later, in 1999, the Oly brand was acquired by Pabst Brewing Co. The Tumwater brewery was closed in 2003.

The more modern brewery site south of present-day Custer Avenue comprises 175  acres and three distinct areas: the Knoll, the Valley and the Bluff. Structures in these areas total approximately 800,000 square feet.

The historic buildings that housed the first brewing of Olympia Beer are located north of Custer Way.

The Old Brewhouse Tower

In 1906, Schmidt replaced the original wooden brewhouse and built a new six-story structure of red brick from Chehalis, with elegant arches, copper roof and Tenino sandstone trim, designed by The Vilter Manufacturing Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

This grand building, known as the Old Brewhouse Tower, [BP2] has captured the imagination of the public and the City of Tumwater for its modern-day potential. The Old Brewhouse Tower and adjacent historic buildings north of Custer Way comprise 32 acres and approximately 150,000 square feet. A more modern building used for keg storage fronts Custer Way (156,000 square feet).

The importance of the Old Brewhouse Tower was recognized in 1978, when the property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the mid-1990s, the City adopted special zoning and shoreline designation for the tower to encourage its preservation and redevelopment.

Over the years, the Old Brewhouse fell into into disrepair. In 1995, it was named to the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation's Ten Most Endangered Properties List, and in 2003, moved to the Trust's Endangered Properties List.

In 2017, the City began work to rehabilitate the tower.

More recently, the City is working with regional partners to address issues such as infrastructure and environmental mitigation on the historic property site as part of a broad re-imagining of its potential for center of cultural and historical activity, This is envisioned to include private and public development to include educational, historical and recreational resources, retail stores, and dining establishments.

The Brewery District

Tumwater’s Brewery District includes the former Olympia Brewery and the triangle of roads formed by Custer Way, Cleveland Avenue, and Capitol Boulevard, some of the oldest parts of Tumwater. The District extends north to the Sunset Life property (on Capitol Boulevard just south of Carlyon Avenue) and south to E Street.

This area, the original site of the first pioneer settlement on Puget Sound, became the heart of Tumwater. By the mid-20th century, it boasted a variety of commercial businesses and manufacturing operations that took advantage of the Deschutes River to generate hydroelectric power.

Construction of Interstate 5 in the 1950s, however, demolished Tumwater’s downtown and forced commercial businesses to relocate east within the neighborhood or south outside the neighborhood.

Closure of the Olympia Brewery in 2003 further impacted the area, leaving a large brownfield (land polluted by brewing operations) in the center of the Brewery District.

Tumwater leaders recognized the potential for redevelopment in the historic brewery site. Through a series of studies and projects, the City in 2014 crafted the Brewery District Plan (updated in 2020) with four goals in mind:

1. Create a stronger sense of place by facilitating pedestrian access, establishing gathering places for residents, and fostering a distinct district identity
2. Improve transportation options, safety and access within and across the district
3. Expand economic opportunity and activity
4. Improve the function and appearance of the built environment

Activity and Growth

The City has been actively working to redevelop the Brewery District:

• The Craft District located on former brewery property at Capitol Boulevard and E Street is home to South Puget Sound Community College’s Craft Brewing, Distilling, and Cider-making Program. Heritage Distilling Company headquarters and tasting room with quality distilled offerings is co-located with the College.
• The Market Building in the Craft District is a retail hub offering locally-sourced food and beverages, including a seafood store, ice cream store and art gallery, with more to come.
• A brownfield study of the Old Brewhouse Tower has been completed, funded by a grant from the state Department of Ecology to facilitate environmental mitigation for the brewery site.
• As a result of the City's advocacy, the long-obsolete covenant that existed on the site prohibiting the production of alcohol on the site was removed.

Opportunities

Tumwater continues to lay groundwork for future development opportunities. The City has:

• Launched a grant-funded feasibility study for the future E Street extension across properties.
• Moved ahead with work on the Tumwater Valley Trail.
• Developed, with LOTT, a master plan for development on its property at the former brewery site. LOTT will emphasize riparian restoration and public access/education as an important environmental component of future site development.
• Secured an EPA grant to conduct brownfield studies of the Knoll and the Warehouse (Valley) properties. The studies are currently underway.

The E Street Connection

An ambitious part of the long-range vision for the Brewery District is a road project that would extend E Street eastward across the northern end of the brewery grounds to meet Cleveland Avenue/Yelm Highway. This critical connector would facilitate traffic circulation and provide new direct access south of Custer Way/North Street from the brewery site to eastern Tumwater. The E Street connection will alleviate congestion near the brewery and provide access over the railroad tracks to the brewery warehouse. A conceptual design is complete and pending public input. The City is seeking funding for design, engineering, initial permitting, and right-of-way acquisition.

Contact Us

For more information, contact the Community Development Department at (360) 754-4180.