Family Business

Bill Wolf has Pittsburgh roots and some of them happen to be in the wine-and-beer trade. His great-grandfather came from Germany to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century and opened a bakery in Blair (now Clairton), Pa.

Bill's grandfather left that family business in 1902 and opened a store nearby with a license to sell beer, wine and whiskey. One photograph is of a horse-drawn delivery wagon filled with kegs and a large sign on the side panel displaying the company name: M. F. Wolf and a child to make the deliveries. The photo of delivery day shows all the horse and wagons loaded and ready to go.  In the photo of the store front you can see the horse barn in the back.

Another picture was of a cellar stacked with barrels. Some were equipped with spigots to make it easier to fill the jugs brought in by regular customers for refills.  It is decorated for Christmas and the store key is hanging on the counter.

Wolf also bought a beer distributorship and the Duquesne photo with the 2 white horses proudly shows that.  In order to grant this license, the State told him he had to be married.  He was 37 years old at the time and he found someone to marry and was granted the license.














In those pre-prohibition days, alcoholic beverage distributors in Pennsylvania could sell to both wholesale and retail clients.  Now it is all state controlled.