New day for the E&K

SANDUSKY — Once filled with flavorful wines, now thousands of empty bottles lining a storied structure contain crucial pieces about Sandusky's history as a wine-making capital. These past few weeks, as they empty the Engels and Krudwig Building — often shortened to E&K, on East Water Street near Boom Town Coffee and Paddle Bar — they can't help but to reminisce. "It's a special place," said Jean Feick, who, along with her husband, John, began clearing space for its newest venture. "This last month, we have been working hard," John said. "We are selling stuff that has been here longer than what we have owned the building for, things that my mom (Anita) and dad (Edward) have stored in here." Among some of the items going to a high bidder: the company's bottles, advertising materials and other supplies. "It's been a little hard to put up a for sale sign, but it's something that we need to do," John said. Operating from 1863 to 1959, the building, a national landmark, produced and bottled wine under its E&K label. Known as the E&K Wine Co., it also helped manufacture other wines, such as the Lonz variety. "It's bonded as 'Winery No. 3' in Ohio, meaning it was the third winery in the state to be licensed — and the first one around here," John said. "At one time, this was the largest-wine-producing business east of California." The company's crowning achievement came in 1900 when, during the American Wines at the Paris Exposition — akin to the Olympics of wine-making and wine-tasting — E&K took home a silver medal. After some time, and once the business got passed down from one generation to another, activity stalled and then suddenly halted. "Business had slowed considerably for them, and they decided to get out of the business," John said. "So, on a Friday afternoon, they told all the workers, 'Don't come back on Monday.'" Since then, however, John and Jean kept the building in their portfolio, as they own Feick Contractors and Feick Design Group, two city-based businesses. Over the years, John, a local architect and designer, segmented the building. For instance, he split off some space to create about 20 apartments on East Water and Hancock streets. John did, however, maintain about 30,000 square feet, roughly one-third of its overall footprint, for commercial activity. Previously, several bars, including The Underground, leased out space from there, but they also seem to pose problems, he said. That's why this portion remained empty for the better part of about eight years now. "We've had opportunities for people to rent this space, but I wasn't interested unless it was something that fit in with my neighbors," John said. "We just want to be a good neighbor." Whatever goes in this space and the structure's other remaining portions, best believe it will complement nearby commercial activity, Jean said. "We have always strongly supported the Sandusky community because we believe in it," Jean said. Added John: "All the way back to my great-grandfather, we have always been here, in the city of Sandusky. We've worked here, lived here, raised our children here. It's been a great place for us and our kids to grow up, and we just want the best for the building." The newest venture The Feicks recently worked out a lease agreement with Tambo Entertainment to operate inside a portion of the building's commercial end. Ryan Tamburrino, one of the company's co-owners, gave some insight into what could be coming there: • The business: "Our business, Tambo Entertainment, is a newly formed brand management company. Our focus is to add to the fabric of the community by bringing new entertainment and social experiences to downtown Sandusky." • The purpose: "It aims to create an entertainment destination in downtown Sandusky that offers an elevated gaming experience for both locals and tourists combined with craft cocktails and beverages. It will be a new catalyst for unique experiences in the downtown area." • The timeline: "We are excited to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. We're shooting for a late 2021 opening." • The location: "Firstly, we knew that we had to plant ourselves in the heart of the growing entertainment district. We absolutely fell in love with the historic nature of the E&K winery building. The building provides us with the opportunity for future stages of growth along with the opportunity of having a landlord, like the Feick family, for this venture was the icing on the cake." History lesson With help from his wife, Jean, John Feick provided some background information, context and insight into the Engels and Krudwig Building, often shortened to the E&K Building, on East Water Street in Sandusky: Jacob Engels was born in 1799 in Solingen, Prussia. He settled in Sandusky, Ohio, about 1848. The beginning of E&K coincides with the genesis of the grape industry on Lake Erie's southern shore. During the 1850s, Jacob Engels began a wine importation business. He planted a 10-acre plot of grapes to the east of the city in 1860. In 1863, he began erection of the winery building and founded the Engels Wine Co., Ohio's third bonded winery. He began selling his own wines after the Civil War. We assumed he never married or at least had no children. Herman Engels, nephew of Jacob, was born in Germany in 1827. He and his wife, Louise, immigrated to the U.S. in 1874. After Jacob's death in 1875, Herman Engels inherited his uncle's wine company and took over operations. Herman's children, Paul, Hugo, Otto, Carl and Hermine assisted their father with the business. In 1878, the firm became known as Engels and Krudwig after R.P. Krudwig joined the company. Together they became the leaders in the burgeoning industry. By the turn of the century, E&K Wines were famous across the eastern United States. E&K native wines were being toasted as far east as New York City and as far west as California. Engels and Krudwig produced numerous varieties of red and white wines, both sweet and dry. In the late 18th century, the bottling works was across Water Street, in the now Mike Prout Building, and connected to the main facility by an underground tunnel. The tunnel had two purposes: • When grape juice was delivered by rail, to the north on Railroad Street, juice was pumped from tankers through the building across the street into the basement of this building. The end of the tunnel is still visible in Mike Prout's building. • When the wine making operation was completed, it was pumped across the street for bottling. Herman Engels died on July 6, 1899. His son, Carl, took his father's place in managing the business. The Engels and Krudwig families expanded their lines to include sparkling wines and vermouth and, with the erection of the distillation equipment, went into grape and fruit brandy production. With prohibition threatening ruination of the business, the Engels and Krudwig families kept alive their tradition by the production of sacramental wines, de-alcoholized wines and fresh grape juice. This led to E&K being one of the only companies in the country that sold wines for religious purposes. This helped the company endure through Prohibition. From 1934 to 1935, with prohibition behind them, E&K began its final major expansion. With the addition of 18,000 square feet, the building to the far west, E&K became the largest winery east of the Mississippi River. Total storage capacity, consisting entirely of white oak casks and cypress vats, was 868,000 gallons. They had a bottling capacity of 1,000 cases a day. The total building is approximately 73,000 square-feet in size with the basement and two floors and sits on just over 1.1 acres of land. During World War II, the wine industry in the United States saw a brief boom. With Europe and Asia torn by war, even those who could safely produce wine found it difficult to ship products. Without the world-renowned European wines readily available, this created a great opportunity for American wine exports and domestic sales from 1939 to 1941, however, this brief success was brought to a halt after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Soon the country and job market shifted and businesses, such as wineries, fell under to large manufacturing jobs that better aided the war effort. Job shortages as well as rationing of sugar, glass, rubber and gasoline all affected E&K, a slump in business that the winery never fully recovered from. The sons-in-law of Carl Engels operated the E&K Wine Co. until the business closed. Carl's daughter, Florence, married Marion Yenny. We are not aware of the direct relationship of Bradford Granfield other than he is listed as a son-in-law. Marion Yenny's daughter, Barbara Barnhill, still owns an 18-acre vineyard on South Bass Island that was part of the E&K property. In 1959, after nearly 100 years of operation, E&K Winery ceased production. Beset with internal problems and general lack of interest, E&K closed its doors. Ed and Anita Feick purchased the building in 1970 from Bradford Granfield and Marion Yenney. Ed was a good friend of Marion Yenney, told (Ed's son John) that, as the business was not as profitable, Marion and Brad were not getting along and disagreed how to manage the operation. One Friday, they told all the employees not to show up on Monday and they closed the doors. After closing, Brad Granfield came in every week and did all the government paperwork required to keep the wine license operational. Everything in the entire building was left ready for work the next day. Wine bottles were on the conveyors, wine was still in the casts, in essence, time stood still inside the building. My parents bought the building but not the contents. The physical contents of the winery were sold to two different companies. They came in and cherrypicked what they wanted and left the immovable and the debris. As you look at the office, the woodwork in the entry and conference room is wormy-chestnut. The woodwork in the wine tasting room is black walnut. As you leave, we have gifts of wine labels and bottled, unlabeled wine. My dad drank several glasses a day. I recommend you drink it at your own peril.