When the collection of buildings looming over the west end of downtown Bangor started to come down last week, it marked the end of an era. For well over a century the Hussa Brewery/Sprehn Feed Mill (or their remnants) dominated the local skyline.

It all began in 1860 when Joseph Hussa and his family moved to Bangor from Watertown. A Czechoslovakian brewmaster trained in Prague, Hussa had emigrated to Wisconsin in 1849.

One of the necessities for a brewery in the days before refrigeration was the existence of nearby tunnels or caves where beer could be kept cool year round (one of the reasons Milwaukee became a brewing center was that it was easy to dig tunnels into the hillsides along the Milwaukee River).

After the 40-foot square brewery was built, Hussa convinced Dominic Cavidini, a master stonemason from Italy to come to Bangor and build a cooling system for his brewery. The Italian built numerous underground tunnels and caved rooms.

Kay Kastenschmidt of Bangor is the great granddaughter of Joseph Hussa. She said she recalls her brothers playing in those tunnels when they were kids. “I was too scared to,” she said.

She did, however, have memories of the fine masonwork, the arches in the tunnels and the fine ironwork in the elevators. “It was all very interesting,” Kastenschmidt recalled.

Back in the late 19th century, as the business grew, the brewery expanded. After 1885 yellow brick additions were made. An office (the current VFW building) was added in 1904.

Beer from Bangor was known throughout the state and touted for its health benefits. Barrels were shipped by train to many areas and by horse and wagon to towns that didn’t have rail service. Paragon and Crystalline were the two best brews made by the Hussa Brewery.

A 1911 fire did extensive damage to the brewery but much of the inventory — 600 barrels of beer — was saved because it was in the underground tunnels.

The business was not as lucky surviving the political firestorm called Prohibition. Forced to give up making beer, the Hussa family used the building as a vegetable canning company. It has been reported, however, that workers used steam from the vegetable vats to brew up to 500 gallons of illegal alcohol per day.

After Prohibition, the building became Sprehns Feed Mill. It was abandoned in 1994 and has been deteriorating at an increasingly fast pace ever since.

Kastenschmidt had mixed feelings about watching the old brewery being demolished. “It’s really sad, but I understand why it had to come down,” she said.

There was a temporary but not unexpected halt to the demolition process this week as the company involved, Adams Recycling LLC., waited for a permit from the railroad to take down the buildings nearest the railroad tracks