The Hauenstein sign had hung from the building roughly 50 years and, until recently, was showing its age.

The sign and the old brewery building belongs to Mojra Hauenstein and Steve Brown. The two live in the former brewery and operated a bed and breakfast on the site.

Mojra Hauenstein said when she first first acquired the property in 2020, the sign was already significantly deteriorated and that was something she wanted to correct. This year she was finally able to make the necessary restorations with the help of artist Billy Thomas.

Thomas is no stranger to painting brewery signs. He previously painted the Schell’s sign hanging in the brewery’s taproom.

Steve Brown helps pull back the tarp to unveil the newly restored Hauenstein beer sign on the former brewery building. The sign was repainted two weeks ago by local artist Billy Thompson. Submitted photo

Mojra Hauenstein said before Thomas could repaint the Hauenstein sign, they needed to do some research to determine what the sign originally looked like. However, this proved more difficult than originally thought as there were few photos of the original sign available. In researching the sign, Mojra Hauenstein could not even confirm how old it was, but they suspect that it had once served as a highway billboard.

“It is a very large sign and if you look closely, there are 20 bullet holes it it,” she said. “You generally do not see bullet holes in a sign attached to a building.”

In addition, the corners of the sign have special tabs were lights were attached, which was common with highway billboards.

Mojra Hauenstein said that since starting the sign restoration project multiple people have shared memories of seeing the sign on Highway 14 between New Ulm and Sleepy Eye, but the exact location and time is not clear.

Brown said they did find one photo of the brewery from the 1970s that had sign on the front, suggesting that it had previously been a billboard in the 1960s or earlier.

The Hauenstein beer sign before its recent restoration. The sign has hung on the former Hauenstein brewery for at least 50 years and had seen significant deteriration. Submitted photo.

Without historic photos available, Thomas used other vintage Hauenstein ads to give his restoration direction.

One of the first changes made to the sign was to bring back the sign’s original color. Much of the paint on the sign’s lettering had faded and there was evidence of previous attempts to repaint it.

“The lettering on ‘Hauenstein’ was yellow,” Mojra Hauenstein said. “The lettering on Hauenstein’s label is always red.”

Other lettering on the sign was white in color, but it was not clear if this was the original color or the result of fading.

Mojra Hauenstein said they were not sure if the other lettering should remain white or be painted red with the other labeling.

The Hauesntein beer sign following the repaint by artist Billy Thomas. The lettering on the Haustein sign was returned to is original red and greater detail on the beer glass. Photo by Clay Schuldt

“We let people online vote,” she said. “The majority of people said we should leave it white.”

There is also debate about what color to paint the hammer wielding cartoon figure at the top of the sign. The cartoon had a red jacket, but his hat had faded in color.

Mojra Hauenstein said after research other promotional material they found his hat was often depicted as grey, but Thomas decided to paint the hat to match the jacket. The biggest artistic license Thomas took in repainting the sign was the extra detail on the beer glass. All the details on the beer glass had faded away over the decades, leaving no clues. Thomas decided settled on a design with light reflected off the glass.

Once a design plan was in place, Thomas was able to start repainting the sign two weeks ago. He started working on the sign on a Friday and had the project completed by the end of the weekend.

Mojra Hauenstein and Brown thanked Thomas for his work bringing the sign back to its former glory. Though the story of the Hauenstein sign remains a mystery, there no doubt it is a piece of history worth preserving.