Take Your Beer for a Walk: April 2025

Contributed

This month, Erie Ale Works brewer Jeff McCullor is taking us through downtown Erie (with a beer in hand, of course) by the numbers. Stroll past City Hall or take a walk down towards the bay and reflect on the changes Erie has been through over the past 230 years.

Join me once again as we take another short stroll in Erie with a perfectly acceptable open container in-hand. So grab your favorite barley pop and let's hit some points of interest, organized by some important numbers discovered through my amateur sleuthing.

230: Erie was permanently settled by Mr. Seth Reed and his family in 1795, 230 years ago. They lived near the mouth of Mill Creek, which emptied into Presque Isle Bay near the channel — well before the infamous Mill Creek flood of 1915 and subsequent rerouting of the creek in a giant tube carrying the waterway beneath our city. The flood killed almost 30 and destroyed 400 buildings. I bet Mr. Reed and his fam really enjoyed those third-best sunsets along the bay! Cheers to you, sir.

646: City Hall's current address on State Street. You'll want to know this one if you ever have to pay a parking ticket, pull a building permit, or visit a City Council meeting (you should). Prior to the 1960s, the original, and rather impressive, Victorian-style City Hall existed across the block on the southeast corner of South Park Row and Peach Streets. Plug "original Erie PA city hall" into Google sometime, it was quite the sight.

14: Hey happy birthday Erie! I'll raise my plastic cup to you! Erie was officially incorporated as a city on April 14, 1851, a scant 174 years ago. Congrats to our fair city on another trip around the sun. Back then the city's population hovered between 5,000 and 6,000 residents with the entirety of Erie County reaching about 38,000. We've come a long way baby.

1: The minimum number of local beers you should drink on the street this month. It's our privilege! Live it up!

Drink local, and keep on walking.

Jeff McCullor is the co-owner of Erie Ale Works. He can be reached at jeff@eriealeworks.com