Newspapers: BRENNER 1927 CUYAHOGA COUNTY OHIO
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THE GERMANS IN CLEVELAND

Published in the Cleveland Press on December 12, 1927

by Dan W. Gallagher...copyright , 1927

Article No. 12---Mine Host Brenner and His Famous Smoked Sturgeon

The most genial German boniface of the 
long ago was Charles F. Brenner. His
tavern, known as the HARVEST HOME, situated 
on the road to Lorain, was famous 
throughtout the state.  It was kept open 
all night in order that travelers 
journeying by night might be accorded the 
same comforts as those arriving by 
day.  The bountiful table Brenner set won 
him renown. His dinners, with 
smoked sturgeon as the chief dish, were 
acclaimed by his patrons.  
Tavernkeeper Brenner bought up fresh catches 
of sturgeon from the lake and 
superintended their smoking.  He also had a 
big farm in connection with his 
business, raising large quantities of vegetables.

Here is a description of the now exterminated 
sturgeon, as published in 1837.

"The sturgeon, with a form as terrible 
and a body as large as the shark, is 
yet harmless.  Incapable and unwilling to 
injure others, it flies from the 
smallest fishes.  It is a harmless fish, 
in no way voracious.  It never 
attempts to seize any of the finny tribe.  
It lives by rooting at the bottom 
where it makes insects and waterplants its 
whole substance. This great fish  
must therefore be a slender feeder.  Hence 
has arisen the German proverb, 
which is applied to a man  extremely temperate, 
when they say 'he is as 
moderate as a sturgeon'.  The sturgeon ought 
to be as numerous as it is 
powerful.  For Leuwenhoek professes to have 
reckoned one hundred and fifty 
thousand millions of eggs in a single roe.  
This seems extravagance, yet 
Catesby declares that the female frequently 
contains a bushel of spawn.  
Either estimate is surprising."

In winter, HARVEST HOME was the destination 
of a majority of sleighing 
parties out of Cleveland.  And every evening 
during the summertime, scores of 
rigs stood in the tavern yard while swain and 
their sweethearts dined at the 
famous resort.

Brenner was born in Hesse Darmstadt, 
Germany, July 22, 1830.   While still a 
boy, his parents brought him to America.  
They were seven weeks and two days 
on the Atlantic, making the passage 
in a sailing vessel. The family lived in 
Philadelphia, where Charles started 
to learn the trade of hatmaking.  
Becoming an expert in this industry, 
he met and married Sophia Dueringer, a 
native of Barbarie, Germany.

Stories having reached them concerning 
opportunities for advancement to be 
found in Cleveland, they set forth with the 
view of establishing their home 
here, arriving in Cuyahoga county in 1849.  
Brenner followed his trade for a 
time in Cleveland.  When the Civil War 
broke out, he enlisted in the seventh 
New York Infantry.  He served throughout 
the conflict, taking part in many 
battles.  When he mustered out, 
he was a second lieutenant.

Following the war, he opened his tavern, 
twelve miles from Cleveland on the 
road to Lorain, and the place soon became 
noted for its hospitality. In 
politics he was a Democrat.  And during 
the Hayes-Tilden campaign in 1876, he 
raised a "hickory pole" in front of his 
tavern, a big throng from Cleveland 
and other places attending.

Brenner was a member of the Masonic order, 
being affiliated with the 
Concordia  lodge.  He was also connected 
with the  Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows.  He died at the age of 64 and 
surviving members of his family 
ultimatly exchanged the tavern and farm 
for property in Cleveland.





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