LIMITED OPTIONS LEAD MITTEN BREWING TO HISTORIC, AND POSSIBLY HAUNTED, LOCATION Amy Sherman MiBrewTrail Historical buildings can be super cool and so full of character, in fact sometimes so much character they are said to be haunted. Mitten Brewing Company in Grand Rapids calls the former firehouse Engine No. 9 home, and they have graced this charming brick lined spot with baseball themed decor, award winning pizzas, and lots of fantastic beers to drink. In return, the building has quite literally sometimes given up its ghost.
The Mitten Brewing Company is located in the former Engine House No. 9 on Grand Rapids West side. It has undergone extensive renovations since 2012, which may be the cause of some of the paranormal “occurrences” that have happened over the years.
“We knew we wanted an older style building to fit with our vintage baseball theme,” said co-owner Max Trierweiler, who owns the Mitten with his childhood best friend Chris Andrus. As lifelong residents of the neighborhood, they knew they wanted their business on the west side of Grand Rapids, Andrus said. “It sort of shrunk our options,” he said. “But our realtor said to just pick a building you like.” A prominent building located on busy Leonard Street, the old engine house “wasn’t even for sale,” at the time, said Andrus. “Everyone knew it was cool,” he said. “It was our first choice.” The station, which was a working firehouse until 1966, was originally built in 1890. A classic example of Victorian-era architecture, it is constructed of a warm red brick, with brightly painted green doors. With its peaked attic located right on the corner of the building, it’s been an attention grabber for years.
The original Engine House No. 9 fire pole still remains at The Mitten Brewing Company, right between the original doors that first horse and carriages would use to head out, and then fire trucks.
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Now, you can enjoy a flight of pizza and a Country Strong IPA in the remodeled ‘apparatus’ room. You’ll be dining and drinking right on the floor where previously engines, both
horse drawn and gasoline powered, used to lie in wait for the call to serve. Look up and you’ll find beams stamped with the original makers names. The brass fire pole is still in place between the two large doors where the vehicles would exit, and you can totally visualize a firefighter sliding slickly down it from the living quarters above to head out on a call. The incredible history of this building revealed itself almost board by board as the new owners began renovations. “As we started opening up walls and finding names written on things, you learn a lot about it as you take it down to its studs,” said Andrus. As each new bit was revealed, another part of Grand Rapids’ history came to light, and the two owners started their research, which has turned out to be pretty extensive. When they took ownership of the building in 2012, the solid brick building was divided up into three apartments, covered in drywall, and a bit of a mess. “You couldn’t even really get a sense as to what was here,” said Andrus. “It was so partitioned up.” “We could definitely see the potential,” Trierweiler added. As they started to strip away the layers, they found everything from old newspapers and pay stubs, to special equipment to pull the hoses in. History doesn’t just live in and on the walls here. Father Paul Morrow, from nearby St. Peter and Paul Parish was the former chaplain for the firehouse. He donated one of the original desks used at the firehouse to the Mitten, and they continue to use it today. “It’s our manager’s desk,” said Andrus. The coolest thing they’ve found so
far is a ‘captain’s log’ they discovered for No. 9 at the Grand Rapids Public Library. A snapshot in time, it is a day-by-day account of the occurrences here. “Who was working, what happened,” Andrus said. They even found one log from the flood of 1904, which listed how high the waters had risen in the neighborhood and in the building. The brewery has drawn visitors over the years who are former and current firefighters who come to check out the historical building. They’ve even had a few who actually used to call Engine No. 9 home, as well as relatives who had to see firsthand where their loved ones used to work. These guests are always welcome, “because they very often fill in a gap that we didn’t know,” said Andrus about the history of the building. While the current owners have done lots of research on the building, accessing records through both the city and the library, Andrus explained that there are forty-year gaps in the records. “We ran into a dead end around 1923 to 1960,” he said. “There was some sort of fire and a bunch of documents were lost.” Trierweiler jumped in to say that a lot of documents were destroyed when downtown Grand Rapids underwent a major urban renewal during the 1960s. “When they were redoing the face of downtown, they destroyed a lot of buildings, and they also destroyed documents,” he said. The duo, who are clearly committed to preserving and sharing not just the history of this building, but really of the West side of Grand Rapids as well, have gone so far as tracking See Mitten on 42
MI Brew Trail |Fall 2021
