The incredible story of A.M. SMITH, Minneapolis Wine Merchant

I’m an avid reader of the “Curious Minnesota” column in the Star Tribune, thanks to articles such as why are Honeycrisp apples so expensive? Why does everyone love to hate Edina? And why do Minnesotans say ‘ope’ all the time?

A few years ago there was an article titled “Why does the Stone Arch Bridge cross the river at such an odd angle?” The article was full of historic photos of the Great Northern trains crossing the bridge, photos I had not seen before. As an urban geography and history nut, I absorbed it all.
 

Then, an image in the article to reinforce the odd angle of the bridge caught my eye…
 

The inscription is “A.M. Smith’s California Wine Depot, 249 Hennepin Avenue … Established for the sale of pure wines and liquors to consumers at wholesale prices … Port Wine $1.50 per gallon.”
 

This needed more research!
 

His name was Andrew Madsen Smith, born in Denmark in 1841 to a poor family, where he eventually left for work on the ships sailing the world. Jumping from ship to ship he found adventures throughout Europe and Brazil, but ultimately got off the cross-ocean ships after landing in America. When the Civil War erupted, he returned to the boats as part of the Union Navy, utilizing his skills while fighting for the north.

After his stint in the Navy was over, he joined the Army and found himself on the new railroads crisscrossing the country with the opening of the new west and California. His experience with shipping and railroads were soon to form his future. Eventually finding love and marriage in Salt Lake City, Utah, he also found himself to be a whiskey dealer. Big and gregarious, Smith commanded every room he walked into, embellishing stories to all who would hear, and was a natural salesman. His network allowed him to become the main player when it came to getting wine from the west and liquor from the east, and he went into business as a liquor wholesaler and retailer.

He built up his little whiskey and wine empire in Utah, eventually leading the industry in that state through daring investments and keen advertising. Wanting to expand and knowing the ins and outs of the rail system in the country, he went to Philadelphia to set up a new shop, where he had mixed success. Philadelphia was well established and the market was saturated. His business failed, and he had to look for a new city for his next whiskey and wine venture.

Perhaps it was his Danish heritage, perhaps it was the youthfulness of this new city, but something drew him to Minneapolis. Arriving in 1886 he opened his new store and warehouse near the train yards but also in the heart of the city at 249 Hennepin Avenue (presently the empty lot next to the Minneapolis Public Library in the direction of the river).

The astonishing 1891 aerial map of Minneapolis, published by A.M Smith
See the map in glorious detail: https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/21353/birds-eye-view-of-minneapolis-minn-published-by-am-smit-eg-christoph-lith-co

He coined himself “The Wandering Dane” and stayed in our city for the rest of his life, becoming the number one wine and spirits retailer around.
 

The autobiography of A.M. Smith, written under the pen name Hans Lykkeleger (for reasons unknown).
View the whole book digitally here.

His store and warehouse were typical of larger wine and spirits merchants of the time: big full casks and lots of empty bottles. Orders were placed and bottles, embossed with the store name and address, were filled to order. These bottles have found a high local collector’s value.
 

When it came to wine, Port-style wines were the most popular. They were more stable and less prone to oxidation than non-fortified wines. They traveled better. They got you drunk faster (a key selling point at the time, for we’re still in the era of ‘wine is medicine’ and if you had a toothache the standard prescription was ‘liquor of choice’). And they were usually a bit sweet, appealing to a larger slice of the population.
 

Aggressive advertising and marketing kept the ‘wandering Dane’ on top of the business, appealing to both bars and the end consumer. Freebies to the bar owners in the form of shot glasses kept the name A.M. Smith in front of all eyes. Other giveaways included tip trays for bartenders, calendars, posters (including the amazing map of Minneapolis seen above), and more. 
 

Meanwhile, train cars full of casks would arrive regularly, brought to the store by teams of horses, rolled into place by workers, and tapped. 

Before prohibition, this was pretty much how it was done. Even after Prohibition, the first stores to open up (Haskell’s and Surdyk’s) had their house brand of wines and whiskeys, provenance unknown to the end consumer (nor did the end consumer really care), and sometimes bottled locally. 
 

A very strange advertisement indeed.

Speaking of Prohibition, the storms were on the horizon for businesses such as Smith’s. Municipalities and counties were starting to vote dry throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin (let’s not forget it was Minnesota’s own Representative Volstad that introduced the Volstad Act, i.e. Prohibition, to congress). Pivoting as a good businessman does, A.M. Smith switched to mail order and strengthened his thriving business even more. (Even then, direct to consumer liquor sales via shipping were a growing industry … it’s not a new thing by any stretch of the imagination). 

By the time WWI was near and Prohibition was gaining political favoritism, Andrew Smith died in 1914. He’s buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Burlington, Iowa. His son took over the family business, which shuttered with the start of “the great experiment” of Prohibition five years later. 
 

It wouldn’t be until 1933 when Prohibition ended that wine was sold legally again in the Twin Cities, and the next generation of retailers kicked off with Fritzi Haskell getting the first new retailer license for her store on 7th Street in downtown. The modern era of liquor sales begins!