Last week, the St. Louis Recorder of Deeds office uncovered some St. Louis historical relics: The original labels of Anheuser-Busch beer bottle labels.
KMOX's Stuart McMillian talked with Chris Naffziger, an archives researcher, about the labels and what they show about St. Louis history.
Naffziger explained that one of the main figures behind the Anheuser-Busch brand is Carl Conrad, a friend of Adolphus Busch.
"He did research throughout Central Europe in what was at the time, the Austro Hungarian empire, what is now known as the Czech Republic," Naffziger said. "And he went to this little town, which in German is called Budweiser. And he found this recipe. Apparently, he brought it back, he patented it. And he also registered his trademark with the city of St. Louis."
Conrad ended up declaring bankruptcy, but his friend Busch helped him out and took over the trademark.
Carl is the reason that original label says "CCC": It stands for Carl Conrad and Company. Now, that part of the label says "AB."
"Otherwise, it's pretty much in a lot of ways, still looks exactly the same," Naffziger said. "The same type font, that cursive, you know, it's kind of a St. Louis standards, a tradition that hasn't changed since the 1870s."
Listen to more about the history of the original logo here:
