When John Adam Lemp came to America he was one of thousands of immigrants seeking a new and better life. His grocery business did well but it was the lager beer that his father had taught him to brew in Germany that became his fortune. With the opening of his first small brewery on Second Street in St. Louis, he founded an empire. An empire filled with intrigue, scandal and mystery; that would propel the Lemp family into the highest levels of St. Louis Society.

Within the Walls

The Lemp Mansion served both as the family residence and offices for the brewery throughout it's history. Apparently still mourning the loss of his youngest son and heir apparent, Frederick Lemp, William Lemp, Sr. committed suicide in his second floor bedroom on February 13th, 1904. In 1922, the mansion was witness to the death of his son, William Lemp, Jr., who died from a self-inflicted gunshot while in his office. Charles Lemp was the last of the family to die in the mansion. By all accounts a bitter man and in failing health, Charles committed suicide thus ending the sad and tragic story of the Lemp family, at least in this world.