Tunnel Found Under Land Where New Brewery To Be Built\
CINCINNATI --The underground history of Cincinnati got a little bigger on Thursday.
A sledgehammer helped open a previously hidden tunnel under Hamer Street during a ceremony Thursday morning.
Images: Brewery Tunnel
The tunnel belonged to the former pre-Prohibition Kauffman Brewery, under what will become a new Christian Moerlein brewery.
"Our history is unmatched by no other city in this country.We had some of the greatest beer barons here," CM's Greg Hardman said.
Brewery officials said that the tunnel was used to connect two Kauffman Brewery buildings on opposite sides of Hamer Street because when the brewery was built, the buildings were kept separate for tax purposes.
As the tax laws changed, the tunnel was built to move things between the buildings.
"We were growing very rapidly as a city at the same time that we have this large influx of German immigrants, at the same time that lager beer becomes big. So it's the perfect recipe for becoming one of the biggest brewing cities in the United States," beer historian and author Michael Morgan said.
The tunnel will feature prominently in Oktoberfest activities, including tours.