Johann Adam Lemp was born in 1798 in Eschwege, Germany, and two years after his arrival in the United States in 1836, he moved to St.

Since railroads allowed brewers to transport beer more than 20 mi (32 km) from where it was made, this led to the rise of regional and eventually national brands.

In 1920, the Lemp Brewery's factory complex and brands were sold to other beer brewing companies.

The brewery is built upon a complex of natural caves which were once used for the lagering of beer by early German brewers.

The Lemp Brewery Complex currently consists of 27 buildings that have been semi-occupied by various tenants for light industrial, commercial, and warehousing uses, office space, and artist studios since approximately 1980.

The extensive basements under the buildings were also used for several seasons during the 1990s as a Halloween haunted house and were rented out for rave parties.

In 1939 the struggling Central Brewing Company of East St. Louis Illinois renamed itself as the Wm.