Morgan Street Brewery is operated by the husband-and-wife team of Steve and Vicki Owings. The Owings are owners of the establishment along with Dennis Harper of Columbia, MO.
A native of Unionville, MO, Steve Owings attended the University of Missouri-Columbia where he studied agricultural economics. He went to work for Harpo’s bar and restaurant to make some extra money and discovered he really enjoyed the bar and restaurant business.
Owings graduated from college and returned to St. Louis to pursue the restaurant business. In 1982, he found a location on Laclede’s Landing and, with the support of Dennis and Randy Harper, opened another Harpo’s restaurant and bar on N. First Street. In 1984, they opened a second restaurant on Laclede’s Landing called Sundecker’s that caters to the sports crowd and business lunch patrons.
A graduate of Ritenour High School, Vicki attended the University of Missouri-Columbia and later studied in Atlanta to become a paralegal. Steve and Vicki were married in 1988.
By the mid-1990′s, Dennis and Steve had sold Harpo’s and were ready for their next challenge. In May 1995, they acquired the former Schoelhorn-Albrecht Machine building, which had been last occupied in the mid-1980s by the Second Street Diner.
This property was cleared in 1791 and was the site of the freeing of the first Mulatto slave, Esther. The building was constructed more than 120 years ago and is one for the oldest buildings on the Landing. Originally, it was used by the Schoelhorn-Albrecht Machine Company, where they manufactured capstans for the Mississippi River barges. As you walk up Morgan Street towards Third Street, you will notice that the sidewalks are uneven, concealing a room underneath Morgan which was used to hide run-away slaves.
