Images(3)

Chain, Key

Object number2017.94.1

Date1949

MediumBrass; Wood; Paint; Plastic

Credit LineGift of Robert Thomas

DescriptionKey chain comprised of brass ball chain with brown wooden bowling pin, black spherical wooden "bowling ball," and white plastic oval. Bowling pin has red painted beer advertisement on body and chain runs through top of pin. Plastic oval has gold lines and laces depicting a football on both sides; one side has black and red beer advertisement and other side has black and red Pittsburgh Steelers 1949 football schedule.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 2.375 × 3.875 × 0.625 in. (6 × 9.8 × 1.6 cm)
InscriptionsBowling pin has red painted text on body "Fort-Pitt / Special / BEER".

Plastic oval has red text on one side "FORT PITT / The Better Beer" and black and red text on the other side including "PITTSBURGH STEELERS / 1949 / [game schedule]".
Historical NotesFort Pitt Brewing Company key chain. Part of a collection of Fort Pitt Brewing Company artifacts that was collected by donor Robert Thomas to document the time his family ran the company (1930s through the 1950s). The donor’s great uncle, Michael Berardino, became president of Fort Pitt Brewing Company two years after one of the original owners and founder, Samuel Grenet, died suddenly in 1935. Grenet had started the business in 1906 with Herman Hechelman. They built a brewery in the suburb of Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, survived Prohibition and were set to be the number one brewery in the state when Grenet passed. Berardino began an aggressive sales campaign to turn the company around after lagging sales the year before. The company also bought the Victor Brewing Company of Jeannette, Pennsylvania, but continued to produce their signature Old Shay beer. In the early 1950s due to local strikes and an increase in national brand popularity, Fort Pitt struggled. After Berardino died in 1957, the company stopped brewing at the Sharpsburg plant and expanded into other products and became the newly incorporated Fort Pitt Industries. The rights to the brand were sold to Gunther Brewing of Baltimore. In 2010, the Fort Pitt name was purchased by Mark Dudash who began producing Fort Pitt Ale.

Related institution Fort Pitt Brewing Company (1906 - 1957)

Related person Michael Berardino (died 1957)

Related institution Pittsburgh Steelers

Collector Robert M. Thomas

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