The Life of JOSEPH WAINWRIGHT

Joseph Wainwright was born in England and traveled to Pittsburgh in 1803. By 1818, he was owner and operator of his own brewery, named “Winterton,” in Lawrenceville where he specialized in English style ales and porters. He and his wife, Elizabeth Greaves, raised a family of eleven children on “Wainwright’s Island.” The small island is no longer there, but it was located just 20 yards from land near the 40th Street Bridge, and, according to Neville B. Craig, was the true site of Washington’s famed crossing in December 1853. Wild hops grew abundantly along the riverbed at the time and Wainwright used these in his brewery. Thus, Wainwright’s Island was commonly known as “Good Liquor Island” and his family was as popular as their business. In 1899, the Wainwright Brewing Company merged with several other local breweries, which includes the Eberhardt & Ober (Penn Brewery) outfit and Iron City Brewing Co.