A color lithographic postcard from about 1900 shows two of the four Kurth-family residences on Madison Street (now Park Avenue) on the southwest side of Columbus, Wisconsin. At top left is the Christian Kurth house and to lower right is the mansion built by Henry John Kurth, brewing-company founder, for his son John Henry Kurth. The home in the middle belonged to J. Hein. At one time an underground tunnel ran from the J. H. Kurth mansion to the brewery’s office building across the street. Henry John Kurth arrived in Columbus in 1859 and established Kurth Brewery, which by 1870 grew into the largest of the three Columbus breweries and the most profitable business in Columbus at the time. By 1914 the operation was producing 100 barrels of beer a day, making it the largest brewing company in Columbia County. J. H. Kurth also owned malting operations in Milwaukee, two ice houses and a large grain elevator near the Columbus railroad depot. He also owned beer-distribution warehouses in Tomah, Portage and Luxemburg, Wisconsin.