The Story

In early 2003, a farmer/school bus driver, a teacher, a retired minister, and a school secretary came up with the idea of combining a bookstore and brewpub. They purchased a building, located on Dayton’s historic main street; which had assumed many identities over the past 100 years—machine shop, saddlery, shoe repair, ice manufacturing, and bakery, to name a few. The building was gutted and the interior wall taken down to the original brick.

Reviving A Local Tradition

Jacob Weinhard came to Dayton in 1880 after an apprenticeship with his uncle, Henry Weinhard at the Weinhard Brewery in Portland. Establishing the Jacob Weinhard Brewery in Dayton, he bought a partnership in a small existing brewery. By 1883, he was sole owner and began building his local empire. During the next decade he expanded the existing brewery and built a malt house with an outdoor German beer garden for the summer.

In 1890, he constructed the Weinhard Hotel building to house the Weinhard Saloon and the Weinhard Lodge. When the saloon opened, the newspaper called it "perhaps the finest in the State of Washington, and we doubt if there is anything of the kind to surpass it on the Pacific Coast". The interior was covered with murals of scenes depicting the Northwest.
(History courtesy of The Weinhard Hotel)