Andy Howell, the founder of Thornton Distilling Co., was trying to find a place to run a new electrical conduit in his brewery’s historic building when, instead, he came across a loaded gun.
The gun was found on Monday in a nondescript vent in a wall of the brewery’s artesian well, a part of the building that’s often host to weddings. Howell said wedding photographers had recommended he light the space better, leading him to search for a place for the conduit.
“There were two big chunks of mortar there, and they are loose,” Howell said. “When I stuck my arm in there, it felt like they kind of wiggled. Removed them, and shined the flashlight in there, and that’s when I saw the pistol.”
The pistol was loaded and in a holster when Howell found it. Howell’s not particularly knowledgeable about guns, he said, but he’s been told the gun is a Colt 1908.
“They told me it looks like the ammunition is from 1920,” Howell said.
Thornton Distilling Co. was founded in 2014, but operates out of a building with a brewing history that dates back to 1857, according to its website. It’s the oldest standing brewery in the state, Howell said.
They’ve turned up a variety of historical artifacts in the course of working on the building, but hadn’t found anything in a couple years, Howell said.
“We’ve done so much construction in the building, and any time we find something it’s really exciting,” Howell said.
However, his mood shifted when he realized the gun was loaded.
“There was a full gun, fully loaded, that was in an area where, you know, when we first opened, we were letting people just go down the well when they asked,” Howell said. “That was alarming. So it went from excitement to alarm.”
An underground chamber built more than a century ago houses the artesian well that became the basis for a series of breweries in Thornton and now, Thornton Distilling Co. (Paul Eisenberg/Daily Southtown)
Howell said he called immediately called the police.
The Thornton Police Department issued a statement saying officers conducted a standard check and confirmed the gun was not associated with any crimes.
That was a relief, Howell said.
“It’s so old it’s not in the system,” Howell said. “They consider it like an antique that you’d, like, find in your attic or something like that.”
Howell is having the gun cleaned and assessed.
“It’s in pretty good condition,” Howell said. “I was told by someone online that the chrome may have protected the exterior a bit. And then the inside’s got a good deal of rust in it, I don’t know if it’s fireable.”
Once it’s been cleaned, the gun may end up on display at the brewery, Howell said.
“We’re thinking about it, if there’s a way to do it securely,” Howell said. “We have all of the stuff we’ve found on display.”
When the Thornton Distilling Co. building was being remodeled, a cigar box containing old postcard beer orders from the 1800s fell from a ceiling. One of the cards requests the brewers to “Please send beer tomorrow.” (Paul Eisenberg/Daily Southtown)
There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the gun and how it got stashed in the wall of the brewery.
“It’s begging more questions. We have more questions than answers,” Howell said. “Who put it there? When did it get put there? Why did it get put there?”
The brewery was involved with bootlegging operations during Prohibition, Howell said. It operated as Bielfeldt Brewing Company from its founding in 1857 up until Prohibition was enacted in 1920, when the head brewer, Carl Ebner, took over.
“That’s where the story gets murky. I think that year he registered as, like, a soda-pop bottler with the census,” Howell said. “But it was a front, apparently. There was a raid on the building at one point, during that time. I believe it was one of the largest raids in Chicagoland. They dumped thousands of gallons into Thorn Creek.”
Andy Howell holds an enlarged photograph in 2023 of a group purported to include Chicago area mobsters sitting outside the brewery in Thornton, though he hasn’t been able to verify the claim. (Paul Eisenberg/Daily Southtown)
Howell said that while there are plenty of rumors about Al Capone’s presence in the area, they haven’t verified any direct connections between the distillery and Capone. Capone arrived in Chicago in 1920, the same year Prohibition began and the brewery changed hands.
“We hear a lot of local legends about Capone having tunnels all over underground,” Howell said. “We’ve always taken that with a big grain of salt.”
They do have a photo they believe shows Johnny Torrio, Capone’s mentor and predecessor, in front of the brewery, Howell said.
“We think it was just like a hotbed for bootlegging activity,” Howell said. “But there’s a lot of unknowns. It wasn’t very well-documented.”
elewis@chicagotribune.com