09 Dec 2013

Lost Capitol Hill: Humphreys and Juenemanns Pleasure Garden

tnA while back, I wrote about the Washington Brewery Company, and mentioned that it grew out of the Humphreys and Juenemann operation from the late 1850s. At the time, however, the archives of the Washington Evening Star were not yet online, which meant that data from the pre-Civil War era was hard to find. With the DC Library now granting access to this important database, it is time to revisit the story.

The first that the good citizens of Washington D.C. knew about a new way to pass a pleasant evening came via a small advertisement in the Washington Evening Star of June 19, 1857. It stated that “Humphries and Junniman … have fitted up their place, which will be open daily to visitors, and every Monday afternoon for those who wish to engage in the English Quadrilles or German Waltzes,” and concluded that “[t]hey have on hand and constantly making the purest Larger [sic] to be obtained in the city.”

George Juenemann and Owen T. Humphreys were the two men behind this new venture, and clearly more interested in getting their new business off the ground than such mundanities as checking the spelling of their names – or that of their most important product. Juenemann was, at the time, in his mid-thirties, and had arrived in D.C. six years earlier from Germany. Originally finding work as a tailor, he soon shifted to selling alcohol, becoming the proprietor of the National House on New Jersey Avenue. The first time his name appeared in print was when he was being taken to court for selling liquor on Sunday. He was fined $10 and costs.

While Juenemann seems to have gotten in trouble with the law, Humphreys was the more shadowy person. Other than that he was a few years older than Juenemann and originally from Maryland, it is unclear of what he did prior to opening this establishment  – or what became of him. He may be the same Owen T. Humphreys who was a railway man in Baltimore, and later worked for the Post Office in South Carolina, but there is no way of knowing for sure.

Be that all is it may, in 1858 the future looked bright for these two entrepreneurs. Their first season had been a success, and so a second was called for. This time, they knew their market better – and had more money to advertise, so the space they took up in the paper was that much greater. After explaining when and what was to be had at their ‘Pleasure Garden,’ they laid down the law: “1st. No political discussions whatever will be permitted. 2d. Boys will not be admitted, unless accompanied by their parents or guardians. 3d. No intoxicated person permitted to enter the gates or remain on the premises.” They added that “[t]he public will, at a glance, comprehend the necessity for the due enforcement of these regulations, which will be the business of the police officers who will always be in attendance.”

Ad from the 1877 Boyds City Directory of Washington D.C. (archive.org)

Ad from the 1877 Boyds City Directory of Washington D.C. (archive.org)

In spite of the outbreak of the Civil War three years later, the Pleasure Garden continued to open every spring for business. Somewhere around 1863, however, Humphreys disappeared from the scene, and Juenemann continued to operate the business on his own. Over the next years, the business continued to thrive, though the brewery became ever more important, with the Pleasure Garden becoming more of a sideline. This is evident in their ads that Juenemann had printed in each year’s city directory: As time goes on, the size of the words “And Pleasure Garden” continue to shrink in comparison to the name of the brewery.

After Juenemann’s death in 1884, his family sold out to Albert Carry, who closed down the beer garden, and concentrated entirely on brewing, ending a long chapter in the history of beer gardens on the Hill.


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