By 1862, the year of Adam’s death, the Lemps’ Western Brewery was among the most successful in Missouri. After Adam passed away, his son William took over the brewery. William Lemp expanded the brewery in 1864, and he and his wife Julia built their family mansion in 1868, a year after the birth of their first child.

Built in the early 1860s, the mansion was purchased by William Lemp to function both as a residence and a place where his brewery could thrive. The new Lemp mansion had 33 rooms, a Victorian look, and a sizable basement within three floors—not including the attic room.

As owner and operator, William Lemp pushed the Western Brewery to become the largest brewery in St. Louis—it later became the largest outside of New York with a single owner. William demonstrated innovation and a strong business sense: He began to brew and bottle the beer in the same facility; he installed the first refrigeration machine in an American brewery; and he added refrigerated railway cars to allow the transport of Western Brewery beer across the United States. The beer became a national product that would soon reach worldwide distribution.

William and Julia had six children. The fourth, and William Sr.’s favorite, Frederick, was being groomed to replace his father as the head of the business. Unbeknownst to the family, Federick had significant health problems that would lead to his death in 1901 of heart failure. The family took the death of the 28-year-old hard, especially Frederick’s father. William Lemp mourned deeply for three years. When a close friend of his, Frederick Pabst (of PBR fame), passed away in 1904, William was already despondent and slowly declining. About a month after Pabst's death, William Lemp committed suicide with a shotgun.

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Thanks to the strengthening temperance movement, beer was significantly less popular by the time of William’s death. Eldest son William, Jr., or "Billy," took over the Western Brewery but struggled to return it to its former glory. In fact, Billy was much better at partying than running a business. It was rumored he took part in many discrete gatherings that involved illicit alcohol and prostitution.

These misdeeds became grounds for his wife to divorce him in 1908, citing mistreatment and indecency. After only 11 days, the divorce was successfully filed. Billy’s wife received a large sum of money from the Lemp family and gained full custody of their only son.

The Lemp Mansion Curse

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