Peoria, Illinois was a hub for distilling in the state and the Woolner brothers were a large part of the industry. The Woolner brothers came to America from Hungary and purchased the Grove Distillery in the mid-1870s, from Richard Gregg. The brothers, Adolph, Samuel and Ignatius were soon joined by their other brothers, Jacob and Morris. They incorporated the company by 1850. The company became part of the Whiskey Trust and Adolph Woolner was vice-president of the Trust until his death in 1891. That year, the company purchased the Atlas Distillery and ran this distillery until 1898 when they sold it to Standard Distilling and Distribution Company, an extension of the Whiskey Trust.
The company existed until the beginning of Prohibition when it was sold to U.S. Food Products, a company that produced yeast, vinegar and cereal products. The company went into receivership in 1921 and was reorganized into National Distillers Products Company in 1924. This company produced industrial alcohol, medicinal alcohol and yeast, but the yeast production was soon sold to Fleischmann. In 1927, National Distillers became the largest stockholder in American Medicinal Spirits Company.
The Atlas Distillery operated under that name until 1905, when it was sold to U.S. Industrial Alcohol Company and then sold again in 1933 to Century Distilling Company in 1933. In 1943 the company was sold to National Distillers Products Company.
Peoria was a major city for the Illinois distilling industry and the Woolner brothers played a major role in making it so. The company would end up being part of National Distillers.
Photo Courtesy of the Peoria Public Library