The 1880 United States census shows Adam Mundegal (age 27, Bar Trader, born in Prussia around 1853) living in Grand Forks, Dakota Territory.
A car-load of machinery was received by Messrs. Mundigel & Zengel the forepart of the week, which is now being placed in the brewery. The proprietors expect to brew sometime this month. (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Friday Evening, September 11, 1885, Volume 7, Number 265, Page 4).
Ho Every One Who Thirsts! Know ye now that within a very few weeks Messrs. Mundigel & Zengel the East Grand Forks brewers will have their building completed and ready for business. Having put in all the modern conveniences and constructed their brewery with reference to producing a superior quality of beer, they will invite comparison with any other liquor brewed in the country. Both are practical men of large experience, Mr. Mundigel being quite well known in this valley and they have the material on hand to make a superior quality of wholesome beverage. They are bound to succeed. (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Tuesday Evening, September 15, 1885, Volume 7, Number 268, Page 4).
East Grand Forks Brewery. The East Grand Forks brewery owned by Mundigal & Zengal (Gorge Zengel), two worthy, energetic and practical men, is an institution which promises much good as a home industry. The establishment, situated on the Red Lake river, from which the water required is pumped, is a mammoth structure, complete in all its parts, costing $35,000 for building, machinery and stock. It is subdivided in such a manner as to give the greatest convenience in the manufacture of the beer and to preserve malt and everything in the cleanliest and best possible shape. Each department is distinct. The beer is kept in immense hogsheads and tanks under ice all the year and is therefore improving all the time – the amount now on hand, being valued at about $10,000. The brewery during the season just past, has used 15,000 bushels of barley and given employment to from twelve to fifteen men. The quality of the beer is such as to procure for it a ready demand all over the northwest, in every town, at every station, where the genial Mundigal speeds as a messenger to commend the foaming, laughing beverage to his many friends. There is perhaps no man in the Northwest more generally acquainted than Mr. Mundigal the senior member of the firm, and this fact, added to the excellence of the article manufactured here, gives it a wide demand. As far as the name of the firm is known it is a guarantee of fair-dealing. (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Sunday Morning, December 19, 1886, Volume 11, Number 42, Page 5)
John A. (Adam) Mundigel, one of the proprietors of the East Grand Forks Brewing Company, is a resident of East Grand Forks, Polk county, Minnesota, where he is engaged in the business indicated. He is a native of Germany, born in Hessen-Darmstadt, on the 21st of November, 1854, and is the son of John A. and Anna M. (Lammer) Mundigel, natives also of the kingdom of Germany. Mr. Mundigel was thrown upon his own resources when he was at the early age of nine years, and from that period in life until he was fourteen years old he attended the excellent common schools in his native land. At the age of fourteen years he emigrated to the United States and after landing settled in Menomonee, Wisconsin, where he remained nine years, clerking in a store. At the expiration of the nine years Mr. Mundigel removed to Grand Forks, Dakota, where he engaged in a brewing factory as clerk. He remained with that establishment until the spring of 1885, when he went to East Grand Forks, Polk county, Minnesota, where he entered the brewing business with Messrs. Zengel and Hoffman.
The firm name stands, Mundigel, Zengel & Company, and the brewery has a capacity of 10,000 barrels per year. They are doing an extensive business and have $10,000 worth of stock on hand, and are one of the heaviest firms in the Red River Valley. Mr. Mundigel was united in marriage in Grand Forks, Dakota, to Miss Mary Wingen (the daughter of Peter and Catharina Wingen), on the 30th of December, 1881. Mrs. Wingen died in 1882 (April 9). Mr. Mundigel was married the second time on the 21st of January, 1885, to Miss Anna Rippel, the daughter of Paul and Anna Rippel. This marriage has been blessed with the following children – George W. (deceased), William A. and Mamie L. Mr. Mundigel is one of the active citizens of the city, and is a staunch democrat in politics. Liberal and enterprising, every movement calculated to benefit his city or county receives his active support and encouragement, and he has been prominently identified with the growth and development of the western portion of Polk county in late years. (Illustrated Album of Biography of the Famous Valley of the Red River of the North and the Park Regions, Alden, Ogle & Company, Chicago, 1889, Page 237)
Died. Mundigel. – In Grand Forks, D. T., Sunday evening, April 8th, 1882, Mary, wife of J. A. Mundigel. Funeral will take place 9 o’clock Wednesday morning at Mr. Mundigel’s residence on lower Third street. (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Tuesday Morning, April 11, 1882, Volume 1, Number 138, Page 4)
Burglars at Grand Forks. Grand Forks, N. D., Special, Oct. 4. – Burglars made a successful raid on the office of Mundigal & Hoffman’s brewery in East Grand Forks last night. The safe was blown open, all papers in the office were ransacked and scattered over the floor and the iron cash drawer in the safe was carried off bodily. The burglars secured $475 in cash, $100 in checks and $2,000 in notes. No clue to the thieves. (The Princeton Union, Thursday, October 6, 1892, Volume XVI, Number 42, Page 3)
Death of Adam Mundigal. Adam Mundigal died at his home in East Grand Forks yesterday morning (January 23, 1894). The news of his death will prove a shock to the community, as he was widely known and universally esteemed. The deceased was one of the early comers to Grand Forks and has always been actively engaged in business pursuits. He was president of the board of education of East Grand Forks and was serving his second term as alderman. Mr. Mundigal was about 38 years of age and leaves a wife and two children in comfortable circumstances. He was a member of the Knights of Honor order and his funeral will take place tomorrow afternoon under the charge of the members of his lodge. (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Wednesday Morning, January 24, 1894, Volume 13, Number 73, Page 4)
He (Nicholas Hoffman) made some poor investments, and loaned considerable money to two young men (Mundigal & Zengel) to start a brewery on the East Side. He was finally obliged to take an interest in the concern to protect himself and finally purchased the entire property, borrowing money to do so. A want of business management, together with the general business depression made the property a losing investment for him, and he became deeper and deeper involved, until he had practically lost his all. (Grand Forks Daily Herald, Thursday Morning, August 6, 1896, Volume 15, Number 239, Page 4)
Wets Propose to Test Law. East Grand Forks Brewery Distributing Stations to Attempt to Continue Operations. East Grand Forks. – A test of Minnesota’s option law, as it relates to the operation of brewery distributing stations within “dry” counties, probably will grow out of the election by which Polk county was made dry. It is understood the 12 brewery distributing stations in East Grand Forks will continue to operate. This doubtless will bring on the test. It is also understood that the East Grand Forks brewery and the Kewald brewery at Crookston will continue in operation, maintaining their business on the basis specified in the option act. Just how valuable the East Grand Forks distributing depots are to the breweries is indicated in the statement of one brewery agent, who says shipments in a single month from one depot have aggregated as high as $50,000. These shipments were made into the “dry” state of North Dakota. There are 12 such depots in the city, all doing a big business. Polk county “drys” are making plans for the holding of a jubilee to celebrate their victory. (The Tomahawk, White Earth, Minnesota, Thursday, June 3, 1915, Volume XIII, Number 6, Page 7)