The story of the Lemp beer dynasty has drawn public interest for generations. Yet, along with the innovations in brewing and creative use of St. Louis’ cave systems, it is a string of tragedies — and the supposedly haunted mansion that bears their name — that have made the family infamous.
But local historians say there is much more to the Lemp family story than fodder for ghost stories and true-crime lore.

“I was given the opportunity by the owner of the Lemp brewery to basically explore all the cellars and every nook and cranny of the cave where all the beer used to be stored,” said author and researcher Chris Naffziger. “No spirits ever came and said hello.”
On St. Louis on the Air, Naffziger described how his initial fascination with Adam Lemp — a German immigrant who founded the Lemp beer dynasty with a saloon in 1840 — led him to scour business documents and other records to explain how the business became an empire.
The research eventually inspired Naffziger to write a book, “Adam Lemp and the Western Brewery,” which was published this summer.
“Adam Lemp, who we didn't know much about 10 years ago, had a really complex, very fascinating, in many ways kind of very tragic life,” Naffziger said.
The Lemp family’s troubles, including several widely reported suicides, have made it a popular topic for dramatization. Amanda Clark, a public historian and See STL Tours manager at the Missouri Historical Society, said she often gets questions from people who are eager for details of death, wealth and theories of murder.
For Clark, those moments present “a chance to get people to either look at more history or to kind of shift that perspective.”
Instead of treating the story like entertainment, Clark suggests a more grounded approach: “Let's look at the family [and] why are we fascinated in this? Why do we need them to be ghosts, why do we need that piece? Why can't it not be just a story exploring mental health issues and the challenges that people face no matter how much money they have? It's a human story.”
To hear the full conversation with historians Chris Naffziger and Amanda Clark, listen to “St. Louis on the Air” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The production intern is Darrious Varner. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.