Noramco, Inc. - 1965-67 dated Stock Certificate - Fox Head Brewing

Stock printed by E.A. Wright Bank Note Co., Phila. During the early 1960s, Fox Head Brewing attempted to diversify its interests. In November 1960, it acquired a share in a new brewery in Managua, Nicaragua. Executive vice president (and former Weber Waukesha brewmaster) Andrew Schnell went there to supervise the beginning of production. In November 1961, the company acquired the Marrakesh hotel in Jamaica, at that time the largest on the island. While both of these acquisitions could be tied to the company’s core business, the purchase of Illinois Felt Corporation was less logical. To reflect the more diverse nature of the company, in January 1962 stockholders agreed to change the name of the business to Noramco, Inc. (short for North American Consolidated).

The end of Noramco’s brewing business came in June 1962, when G. Heileman Brewing Co. of La Crosse acquired the brewery and its brands. While Heileman president Roy Kumm initially said that the purchase of Fox Head would provide the company with additional capacity, production of Fox Head brands was soon moved to Sheboygan and La Crosse, Wisconsin and the brewery was shut down in late 1962. Much of the building was demolished, but part of the complex still stands and has housed various light industries and artists’ studios, and during the late 1990s was home to RWS Brewing/Watson Brewing Company. Read more at https://manifold.umn.edu/read/untitled-c03b01eb-d71f-472b-a159-cb7ce235e1d5/section/c9ca4018-ced1-4997-84fc-2daa570304f5