*From an old faded photocopy I have. Article may be in the WHS archives circa 1985 or 1986*
The Braendle Cider Mill, Heidelberg, Ontario
By Rosanne Atwater-Hallatt
Mrs. Atwater-Hallatt is a member of the Wellesley Township Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee
A fellow gathered apples
One September afternoon
And, thinking of his loved one, said
"I may be `side her soon"
But the apples might have answered:
"Don’t you brag so, like a loon.
We’re as good as any lover,
For we may be cider soon!"
-Frank T Palmer 1900[1]
Almost hidden by the gently rolling hills that define much of
Wellesley Township lie the remains of a once operating cider mill.
Passing by it today, driving a little more than a mile [2km] north of
the village of Heidelberg, Ontario on Regional Road #16 [Kressler Rd],
only the cookhouse and farmhouse stand to remind us of what was once one
of the largest cider mill and pressing operations in the area, The
history of the cider mill and the ownership of the lands that made up
the farm to which it belongs date back to 1885. [2]
In 1885, John Braendle (c. January 10, 1824 - November 8, 1900)
and Barbara Rosina Eberwien-Braendle (June 12 1826--April 6, 1910)
immigrated to Canada probably via Quebec from the southwest state of
Arthemberg, Germany.[3] The Braendles (also spelt Brandle,
Brindley,Brindle, Brundle, and Brendle) chose Canada for it was a land
which offered them opportunities of all kinds…even the possibility of
free land! Germany in the first decades of the 19th century, suffered
from untold political and economic strife. "Poverty, famine and
confiscation were the order of the day".[4] All Germans were victims of
the increasing lack of land, economic want, the Napoleonic Wars,
various political upheavals and the industrial revolution.[5] It is
estimated that between 1820 and 1870 60,000 Germans emigrated to Canada
and that the flow peaked in the mid 1850s.[6] Mostly farmers and/or
skilled labourers, these emigrants were generally either practicing
Roman Catholics or Lutherans, and many were extremely poor.
In the mid-fifties when German immigration peaked, many of…the
german poor began to arrive via Quebec (Hamburg/Bremen to Quebec]. This
trip was cheaper than the New York route because slower sailing vessels
were used which required a fifty-day run. Accommodation, sick and
sanitary facilities on board left much to be desired.[7]
Following their eight week ocean crossing, the German speaking
Braendles settled in the predominantly German township of Wellesley, one
mile north of the settlement of Heidelberg.[8] Their 50 acre grant of
land (lot 14, Concession A of Wellesley Township) was won in a lottery
organized by the crown in 1855, but it was not until June 26, 1856 that
this grant was officially registered in their name. Quickly, Braendle
arranged to sell off some of his land - 16 acres, a portion of the west
section of lot 14, to a neighbouring farmer, Francis Ohlhaeser and four
acres, another part of the west end of his holdings, to his brother
Jacob, age 62. [9] These two transactions were registered on December
17th 1856, leaving Braendle with only 30 acres of his original grant.
Industrious and hardworking, Braendle cleared some of his land
and built a small 1.5 storey log cabin for his family’s accommodation
(where the extant cookhouse now stands).[10] about this time too,
Braendle planted the first of what would eventually number three
orchards on his farm. Planting apple orchards, it seems, was one of the
first tasks new homesteaders undertook. Because his land was high, with
rolling hills, and it had light soil with good drainage (as a result of
underlying gravel deposits), Braendle’s apple trees grew well. His first
orchard was planted where the 1985 Gravel pit is located.[11]
By trade, John Braendle was a shoemaker and by 1871, Braendle’s
annual production of footwear, in cooperation with his brother Jacob,
who was also a shoemaker, was about 75 pairs of boots and shoes for
residents of Heidelberg and its environs.[12] In addition to this, for a
few months of the year, Braendle supplemented his income by offering
custom pressing at his small cider mill.
The original Braendle cider mill was located on the land of the
western section of lot 14 and not far from the present day location of
the sand hill. This cider mill had an old wooden horse driven grinder,
known as the "horse-mill".[13] "The horse-mill crushed large quantities
of apples very fine. This was a large, circular trough of stone with a
large stone wheel set in it, which a horse, harnessed to a sweep,
turned round and round. In North America, where timber was plentiful,
these mills were…made of hewn logs with heavy wooden wheels to do the
crushing."[14]
In the spring of 1868, Braendle negotiated the first of three
sizable mortgages. Using his 30 acres of collateral, he borrowed $1000
from the estate of the late Samuel B. Bowman. Early in 1869, Braendle
purchased the 50 acre lot next to his property (lot 15, Concession A of
Wellesley Township), to bring his total land holdings to 80 acres. This
purchase was registered on March 1, 1869. It seems probable that
Braendle used this money from the Bowman estate to finance this
investment. After discharging this mortgage by late 1875, two additional
mortgages, both sizable by 19th century standards, were secured. A
$1500 loan was taken with Christian Weber and an $1800 loan was taken
with Anna B Clemens. In both cases, his land was again put up as
collateral for these 1876 mortgages.[15] Although it is not possible to
pinpoint precisely the exact date when Braendle built his second larger
home and his newer, more modern cider mill, it seems likely that both
were constructed in the late 1870s, not only because of the $3300
secured in mortgage money but also because of the architectural style of
his home. Supporting this chronology is the fact that Mrs. Lauretta
Braendle-Zinkann remembers her parents’ conversations which recalled
that "..Moses was 17 years old when the house was built."[16]. This
would place the construction date of the house firmly in the year 1879.
Lumber for the Braendle home was purchased in the Listowel,
Moorefield area. Purchased in the winter, it had to be brought by horse
and sled to the Wellesley Township farm. It was then stored in a low icy
spot in the field so that when spring melt waters rose, it would
submerge under water. In midsummer, the lumber was hauled out of the
water and laid to dry for a year and a half or so, thus resulting in
wood that was "of better quality than kiln dried"[17]
The Braendle home was a large two storey house, built in a
restrained Italianate style (without the identifiable tower, however).
Solid and square, the house had a medium-pitch hip roof, wide eaves with
prominent decorative brackets attached to a plain frieze board and
segmental sash windows with plain surrounds, radiating voussoirs and
wooden lug sills. The exterior walls of the house, which were two feet
thick, were constructed with a core of plain fieldstone and a dressed
exterior surface of plaster made to look like coursed, cut stone. The
foundation wall was material was also of cemented fieldstone. The south
facing façade had a single paneled, double entrance door with a recessed
transom. The original open porch (since removed) had round-headed
openings between its six support columns and strongly modeled detailing.
The present porch is somewhat less sympathetic.
The production of all the custom woodwork on the exterior of the
13-room house was delegated to the expertise of a local carpenter, Mr.
Knappes.[18]. Heat for the house was supplied by four large wood stoves
on the main floor and one small woodstove on the second floor. The first
floor of the house had 10-foot high ceilings, while the second storey
boasted 11-foot high ceilings. It is thought that the Braendle home cost
about $1000 to build.[19]
During this period of construction (perhaps even after the house
was finished), a smaller, one-storey outbuilding was erected. It had a
medium gabled roof and, like the house it sat beside, it had walls
constructed of plain fieldstone core with a dressed plaster exterior,
also made to imitate coursed cut stone. Its sash windows with plain
surrounds like wise featured radiating voussoirs. All in all, it
resembled and complemented the house by featuring some of the
architectural detailing of the larger building. One important feature of
this building not found on the house on the house is a date stone.
Tucked under the south facing gable, the date stone bears the incised
date of 1885 and may commemorate the end of the construction period.
On the interior, this small building had a pine planked floor
and a large bake oven which saw multi-use service: baking, soap making
and "schnitz" drying (a method of preserving apples by quartering them
and drying them in a warm oven. In winter, the dried apples are soaked
in water, to be made into pies). This building also served as the farm’s
slaughterhouse and as the Braendle’s shoemaking workshop.[20]
Once the new house was ready for occupancy, the original 1.5
story log cabin was torn down and, close to its site, a new, larger and
more powerful cider mill was built.
In colonial Upper Canada, the apple held a very important place
in the lives of the settlers. "Cider was drunk by all, at every
meal"[21] thus designating it THE basic drink. Even though excellent
drinking was usually readily available on their farms,
…colonists were quite leary of drinking it. As recent arrivals
from Europe, they had reasons of sorts for not drinking water.
Sanitation in Europe was abysmal during the day of the colonies. In
Elizabethan England, for example, it was standard procedure when someone
died of the plague for his survivors to throw his bedding into the
nearest lake or river. For the most part, water in Europe was so
contaminated that it wasn’t worth one’s life to drink it. Of course,
people didn’t understand why this was so, because the discovery of
bacteria and the bacterial theory of diseases were many years away. All
they knew was that disease was somehow connected with the water they
drank, so they drank as little of it as possible. When Europeans came to
America, they had no particular reason to forsake that belief.[22]
With most private orchards planted chiefly for cider production
and its associated by-products, a large local market waited ready to be
served by the Braendle cider mill.
The Braendle cider mill was a two storey barn cum cider mill
which combined the activities of custom pressing with those of
traditional farm husbandry. The north side of the building featured a
large, two-storey bank barn with a saltbox roof, and a smokestack 50
feet tall and 20 inches in diameter. The south side of the barn had two
projected single storey wings, the most eastern of which was the cider
mill’s cookhouse. The entire structure house the Braendle’s new press,
the largest in the area, and other cider making equipment.
In a 1917 catalogue published by the Dunning and Boschert Press
Co. Ltd., of Syracuse, New York, they promised not to make extravagant
claims for their machinery, but rather that "…(the machinery’s)
reputation for good work, power, capacity and durability is
appreciated."[23] It seems that Dunning and Boschert’s reliable
reputation convinced Braendle to order his large California-Style grape
press from the Syracuse based company, established in business since
1870.
The grape press which Braendle purchased was steam driven and
could exert 150 tones maximum pressure on the 60 inch square racks.[24]
With a gross weight of more than two tones, the press could produce
about 210 gallons of cider in a single pressing (70 bushels of
apples).[25] This gear drive mechanical press was operated by a steam
engine which had a large coal and wood fired boiler. Water for the
boiler, some 1000 gallons a day at full running capacity, was supplied
by five cisterns situated at various locations on the homestead
property.[26] The powerful wooden windmill which pumped the water to
fill these reservoirs was located near the south facing side of the
house and was over 400 feet high. It had "wooden slats in blades set on
‘gates’ to act as self-governers in high wind situations."[27] Its
supporting wooden derrick, entirely covered by narrow clapboard siding,
enclosed a pump house in the base along with yet another water storage
tank. No part of this windmill exists today except for the well, which
is still in use.
Extremely labour intensive, the production of cider was a long
and involved process. In the fall, ripe apples were gathered from the
orchards in bags and transported to the Braendle cider mill. Unwashed
(chemical sprays were unheard of), the apples were dumped into a second
storey trough which had wooden slats at the hopper end to allow leaves
and dirt to separate out. After rolling down the trough to the hopper,
the apples were ground into a pulp by 10 knives or "cutters". This apple
pulp was known as pomace. The pomace then slid from a spout in the
bottom of the hopper onto 60 inch square racks lined with cloth (these
were called "chesses"). Once the top rack was covered with boards, up to
10 stacked racks at one time were swung on a turntable over to the
press. The press advanced at a rate of one inch per minute on fast speed
or one inch per 2.5 minutes on slow speed. [25] The slower the pressing
speed the more thorough and completely the pomace was squeezed. The
cider juice was then pumped into storage tanks, and later collected and
stored in clean wooden barrels to be consumed either as "sweet" fresh
cider or as "hard" fermented cider. An interesting and significant
structural feature of the press that Braendle operated was that it had
four "buttress thread" screws - screws with their heads bevelled down so
that when the pressure on them increased, they simply distributed more
load, more evenly on the thread.[29] After the pressing operation was
completed, the apple pomace - which was completely dehydrated - was used
on the land as fertilizer. Occasionally it was also used as cattle
feed.
Capable of handling massive amounts of custom pressing,
Braendle’s cider press stood 10’ tall x 7’ long x 4’ wide. It had
22-inch round gears, support beams measuring 20" wide x 12" deep and a
reversible platform. The press used racks 60-inches square which were
larger even than those of the Wellesley Cider Mill. Because frosted
apples could not be used in cider production, the mill operated for only
two or three months a year, usually from late September through
November. Depending on the year, area farmers and local townsfolk were
charged two to three cents a gallon for pressing apples into cider and
eight cents a gallon for making apple butter. There was, however, no
additional charge for making cider if you were already having apple
butter made![30]
According to most authorities on cider making, the best cider is
produced from a blend of several different kinds of apples, resulting
in a better balanced drink - sweetness from one kind, tartness from
another, fragrance from another, and so on. Generally, it is believed
that a combination of the European varieties of the Golden Russet{31]
and the Yellow Pippin[32], plus the North American variety of Northern
Spy[33] producted a very palatable cider.
As mentioned above, cider was almost THE universal drink. But it
also served as the raw material for other apple products, such as apple
syrup, apple butter (to which wintergreen was sometimes added to
neutralize the acid), apple sauce, apple jelly, apple (cider) vinegar
(used in pickling vegetables and fruit for winter use), and in some
cases, apple jack - a type of brandy.[34] It is hard to estimate the
annual consumption of cider. In 19th century Canada, perhaps a dozen or
so 32 or 40 gallon barrels a year were consumed by the average family.
It is remembered by Mrs. Lauretta Braendle-Zinkann that the Braendle
family used "about one gallon a week of apple butter spread on
bread."[35]
Unquestionably, Braendle’s business interested flourished.
Already supplementing his shoemaking income with custom apple pressing,
he also grew oats, barley and wheat which he sold as seed grain.[36] In
addition he raised cattle, sheep, hogs, and chickens on his farm. In
fact, by 1875, tax assessment records list Braendle as a "farmer’ rather
than a "shoemaker", his occupational designation of previous tax
records. In any case, Braendle’s sizable mortgages of 1876 were
discharges by March of 1881 and May of 1884 respectively.
Custom pressing and cider making continued to be offered at the
Braendle cider mill continued to be offered throughout the closing
decades of the 19th century and for the first few decades of the 20th
century. During prohibition, hard cider was sold from the farm for 50
cents a gallon, and during the 1930s, a fresh (or sweet) cider was sold
throughout the twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo by wagon. The cost at
this time was 10 cents a gallon, or $4 a barrel.[37] about 1938, when
the mill’s original cookhouse had to be replaced, Elmer Braendle (a
grandson) built the new cookhouse, positioning it closer to the corner
of Regional road #16 and Wellesley Township Road 9F. With the new
cookhouse in place, pressing at the cider mill only continued for
another two or three years, finally terminating c. 1940-41.[38]. Today,
this second cookhouse is all that remains of the once operating cider
mill.
The farm and cider mill stayed in the Braendle family until 1965
when it was sold to Waterloo cider producers Frederick and Elsie Wolfe.
The Wolfes in turn sold the property to E&E Seegmiller Limited, a
large contracting company with keen interests in the sand and gravel
deposits that lay below the surface of the Braendle farm. Currently,
E&E Seegmiller have an operative aggregate pit on the lands that
once belonged to John Braendle and his family.
Nowadays, the existing Braendle cider mill cookhouse appears
slightly sunken. It was lowered below road grade level as a result of
various road improvement projects completed in the mid 1960s (I.e.
Regional Road #16 was widened from 66 to 86 feet and the roadbed was
reconstructed by raising it several feet[39])
Cider mills, and the Braendle cider mill in particular, have
suffered the same fate as many early Canadian traditions - a slow demise
- even though they were once as numerous as roadside taverns.[40] As
the temperance and prohibition movements gained strength, many privately
owned country cider mills quietly and permanently closed down. With the
ever increasing moder popularity of beverages such as milk, "pop", beer
and wine, the consumer demand for honest, pure cider (either sweet or
hard) has dropped off considerably. The demand is so specialized that,
in fact, it now only supports a small market share of the beverage
industry, allowing only a few select mills to operate (like the
Wellesley Cider Mill for example)
Today the Braendle’s large California style grape press has been
sold.[41] The cider mill has been demolished (except of course for the
second cookhouse), and all that remains of the Braendle’s once vital
cider pressing operation are fragments of enduring memories and the
dog-eared sepia snapshots belonging to a few grandchildren and a handful
of local townsfolk.
Footnotes
1. Ann Proulx and Lew Nichols, sweet & hard cider: Making it, Using it, Enjoying it (Charlotte, Vermont: Garden Way Publishers, 1908, p. 18.
2. Tax assessment Records, Wellesley Township, 1855
(handwritten). Use of the tax assessment records in the County Court
House, Kitchener was graciously arranged by Mrs. Evelyn Stettner,
Regional Clerk, Regional Municipality of Waterloo.
3. Interview with Howard Zinkann and Mrs. Lauretta Braendle-Zinkann
(grandaughter of John and Barbara Braendle), Heidelberg, Ontario,
November 3rd, 1984.
4. Dr. Gottlieb Leibbrandt, Little paradise: The saga of the German Canadians of waterloo County, Ontario 1800-1975 (Kitchener, Ontario: Allprint Company Limited, 1980), p. 25.
5. Ibid., p. 38.
6. Ibid., p. 26
7. Ibid., p. 29.
8. Zinkann interview, November 3rd, 1984.
9. John and Barbara Braendle brought Jacob with them to Canada in 1855.
Zinkann interview, November 3rd, 1984.
10. Eventually, John Braendle’s family consisted of his wife Barbara
and their 12 children, all of whom lived in their 1.5 storey log cabin.
Braendle children: John, Jr. - born c. 1845
*Catharina - born c. September 17, 1846
*Frederique (also spelt Frederica and Fredericka) - c. September 17 1846 - December 17, 1891
Mary Ann - born c. 1848
Levi (also spelt Levy) - born c. 1852
Sophia - born c. 1854
Frederick -1856 - 1934 (married Rebecca Stricker (1867 -1935) in 1899)
Christina - March 6, 1859 - June 27, 1883. Married Jacob Bott.
Sarah - born c 1861
Moses - October c. 1866
Samuel - born c. 1869
*twins
At a later date, the Braendle family also raised
two adopted grandchildren, a twin daughter of Levi’s named Hannah, and a
child of Christina’s. Christina died in childbirth in 1883. Also, at
one time or another, John’s brother and sister, Jacob and Christina
(born c. 1831) lived with the Braendle family, In addition, Hein_____, a
German showmaker, emigrated to Canada and lived with the Braendle
family all of his life.
Zinkann interview, February 24, 1985,
Personal Census Records, Wellesley Township, 1861, Kitchener Public Library (microfilm).
11. A second orchard was eventually planted near the back of the
farm and the present orchard (the farm’s third), which covers
approximately 20 acres, was planted in 1937 or 1938. It is located
bortyhwest of the house and is a mixed planting of Northern Spies,
Russets, and Pippins. The west and south sides of the orchard are
planted with hardy pear trees, thereby "boxing" the orchard in to
protect it from winter’s sever weather.
Zinkann interview, November 3rd, 1984.
12. Personal Census Records, Wellesley Township 1871. Kitchener Public Library (microfilm).
13. Zinkann interview, November 3rd, 1984
14. Proulx and Nichols, Sweet & Hard Cider, p. 33.
15. Ontario Land Registry Records, Wellesley Township 1868-1884.
Ontario Land Registry Office, Kitchener, Ontario
16. Zinkann interview, February 24, 1985.
17. Zinkann interview, November 3rd, 1984
18. Zinkann interview, February 24, 1984
19. Ibid.
20. Zinkann interview, November 3rd, 1984
21. Alice A. Martin, All About Apples (Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton, Mifflin and Co, 1976), p 49.
22. Peter Wynne. Apples (New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc, 19785), p. 19.
23. Cider and Wine Machinery, Catalogue No. 49, (Syracuse,
New York: The Dunning & Boschert Press Co., Inc 1917), p. iii. This
catalogue was provided courtesy of Doon Pioneer Village.
24. Interview with Harold Erb, Silverlining Orchards, Stratford,
(Mr. Erb, at the time of the interview was the owner of the Braendle
press), February 13, 1985.
25. Ibid.
26. There were wooden, above ground cisterns located in the cider
mill and the barn. The three cement, in ground cisterns were located by
the barn and the house.
Zinkann interviews, November 3rd, 1984 and December 2, 1984.
27. Zinkann interview, December 2nd , 1984
28. Erb interview. February 13, 1985.
29. Ibid.
30. Zinkann interview, November 3rd, 1984
31. "…the Russet is usually a medium to large apple…juicy and often
quite flavorful…reasonably plump and smooth skinned." Martin, All About Apples, p. 103.
32. "…pomologist Charles Downing wrote in 1845: The Pippin stands at
the head of all apples…best in all qualities which constitute a high
flavoured dessert apple".
Ibid., p. 102.
34. Zinkann interview, December 2nd, 1984
35. Zinkann interview, November 3rd, 1984
36. Zinkann interview, December 2nd, 1984
37. Ibid.
38. Zinkann interview, November 3rd, 1984
39. Telephone interview, Brian Soehner, Regional Offices, Engineering Department, Region of Waterloo, June 28, 1985
40. In the village of St. Clements, located two miles from the
Braendle cider mill, there was another cider mill of considerable size.
Built about 1882 by Michael and John Weber, the mill used a similar
Dunning and Boschert press, although one size smaller, and operated its
custom apple pressing business until about 1963. The mill and press were
destroyed by fire on Sunday, May 12, 1985. Annette Oudeians, "History
of the Village of St. Clements," Waterloo Historical Society, Vol. 72
(1984), p. 90; and Zinkann interview, July 29, 1985.
41. The Braendle cider press was sold to Harold Erb of Silverlining
Orchards, RR#5, Stratford, who operated the press until the mid 1970s.
In the early spring of 1985, Mr. Erb sold the press to a local scrap
dealer, for want of a more suitable purchaser.