A little background

on our namesake…

Michael Diversey (born Dec. 10, 1810- Dec. 12, 1869).

Diversey Parkway, the major east-west street we sit on is named after none other than nineteenth-century beer brewer Michael Diversey. A German immigrant and dairy man by trade, Diversey landed in Chicago in 1830.

Chicago’s first commercial brewery, Haas & Sulzer Brewery, was established in 1833 by two New Yorkers with whom Mr.Diversey shared ice for his dairy business. William Lill, an immigrant from England, settled in Chicago in 1835 after infamously walking to the city from Louisville, Kentucky. Lill bought a large share of the Haas & Sulzer Brewery in 1839. Lill and Diversey became partners in the brewery in 1841 as Haas and Sulzer left the brewing business. The company changed its name and became the Lill & Diversey Brewery. Known widely as The Chicago Brewery, the two men saw huge success and by 1861 were producing 45,000 barrels of beer a year and employing over 75 men. Famous for “Lill’s Cream Ale,” by 1866 the brewery had sprawled to over two acres and four stories high. The Water Tower Pumping Station, which still stands today, was put in directly across the street!

Serving two terms as a Chicago Alderman (1844-45; 1856-1868), Mr. Diversey also donated a small plot of land where a Catholic church for fellow German immigrants was built. St. Michael’s was the tallest building in Chicago until 1885 when The Old Chicago Board of Trade building was completed. Known as a great city leader and keeping company with the likes of Joseph Sheffield and William Ogden, Mr. Diversey was integral in bringing great growth to Chicago.

Michael Diversey died in 1869 but Lill continued to operate the brewery on his own. Sadly, like so much of the rich history of this time period, The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 marks the end. The brewery burnt to the ground and never reopened. William Lill lost everything and passed away in 1875.