POTOSI -- There may be no other place that pays better tribute to Wisconsin's beer industry than a room here on the second floor of the old Potosi Brewery.

The memorabilia include signs, serving trays, lithographs and antique bottles. They come from places like Pabst and Schlitz in Milwaukee but also the smaller and lesser-known breweries that at one time dotted the state.

They include Leidiger in Merrill, the Epstein brothers in Portage, Knapstein in New London, Hochgreve in Green Bay, Gabriel Zweifel in New Glarus and Fauerbach, one of Madison's first breweries, which opened in 1848.

The National Brewery Museum, which opened in June in this former lead-mining town, also chronicles the brewing industry from around the nation with collections from members of the American Brewiana Association.

But the facility, which includes a restaurant, micro-brewery, gift shop, an interpretive center for the Great River Road and the Potosi Brewery Transportation Museum, is also serving as a catalyst for revitalization in this village of 711 people less than a mile from the Mississippi River in southwestern Grant County.

"We always thought there was potential down here with everything going on," said Mary Uppena, who owns the Country Fields with Country Floral gift shop across the street from the museum. "It's going to be a tiny Galena (referring to a community in Illinois known for its specialty shops) but it's going to take time."

Uppena, and her husband, Bill, moved their shop from Platteville in February, into what used to be the brewery's original bottling facility. Next door, on what used to be the brewery farm, the Holiday Gardens Event Center has been open for about a year and can host meetings and banquets for more than 500 people.

There is talk of a new motel and more shops on what is billed as the Longest Main Street in the World.

With other major tourist attractions -- including Mineral Point, Prairie du Chien and Galena, the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa, the Stonefield Historic Site in Cassville and House on the Rock in Spring Green -- the National Brewery Museum adds another historic stop for visitors to the tri-state area.

"I see that as being a destination stop," said Ron Brisbois, executive director of the Grant County Economic Development Corp. "The brewery and convention facility (are) very impressive. They didn't do it the quickest and cheapest way. They put a lot of time and money and thought into it."

The Potosi Brewery was founded in 1852 and made beer, like Holiday, Bohemian Club and Garten Brau, and at one time was the fifth-largest brewery in Wisconsin. It survived Prohibition by bottling milk and making root beer, returned to making beer after Prohibition's repeal and closed in 1972.

After years of deterioration, the brewery building, on the National Register of Historic Places, was purchased from the county in 1998 by Potosi native and world-class woodworker Gary David. He paid $6,330 for the property.

Since that time, the Potosi Brewery Foundation was created, more than $7 million has been poured into the project and, perhaps one of the most surprising achievements, the ABA was persuaded to locate its museum in Potosi instead of the larger brewing hubs of Milwaukee or St. Louis.

"We made a presentation and I think they were very captivated by what they heard," said Frank Fiorenza, a member of the Potosi Brewery Foundation and village president. "Milwaukee and St. Louis, they had no real building, they had no plans and they hadn't done a feasibility study. We had done all of that and we had a building."

Beer production in Wisconsin didn't begin in Milwaukee. Instead, it began in southwestern Wisconsin to help quench the thirst of lead miners who flocked to the area in the 1820s. The first brewery in the state was built in Mineral Point in 1835 and the second, a year later, just south of Platteville. By the time the Civil War began, the state had more than 160 breweries, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Located along the Great River Road, the Potosi Brewery Foundation's facility is again making beer. Brewmaster Steve Zuidema, owner of the Front Street Brewery in Davenport, Iowa, makes four kinds of beer with names like Good Old Potosi, Holiday Bock, Snake Hollow IPA and Potosi Pure Malt Cave Ale.

The beer is sold out of taps at the restaurant but the brewery will soon be selling the beer in 22- and 12-ounce bottles and half-gallon growlers. The brewery, which also makes Good Old Potosi Root Beer, has the capacity to make about 3,000 barrels of beer a year.

Distribution is also planned in bars and restaurants in Galena and Dubuque, which will help promote the village and support the museum complex.

'Revenue stream'

"If we do it properly, it will provide the revenue stream for sustainability going forward," said Dave Fritz, who is interim executive director of the Potosi Brewery Foundation and whose grandfather worked at the old Potosi Brewery for 33 years. "What we're hoping is that people understand the mission of the complex and that if they like the beer, they'll be big supporters. We really want people to be exposed to the facility."

Once they arrive, they'll find the original beer cave that was dug into the hillside. The spring that provides the water for the beer and the koi pond in the beer garden also is visible inside the restaurant where a hole in the floor covered with glass allows visitors to see the flowing water.

The bar in the restaurant was made by David, who spent more than 2,000 hours crafting the 34-foot-long curved bar that is valued at $150,000. David, who also made the bar at the nearby Holiday Gardens and also bought and restored the brewery's former bottling building, is amazed at what has transpired over the last 10 years on Potosi's south side.

"I never anticipated that we'd get to this point," David said from his workshop in Galena. "I was only trying to save some historic buildings."

Most of the museum collections are provided on loan from members of the ABA and who are scattered throughout the country. A library and research center also are being developed. Since opening in June, more than 15,000 people have visited the brewery complex, Fiorenza said.

"It's a great thing. It's good for this corner of the state" said Jim Lenz, 63, of Cassville and who recently toured the museum. "I drank a lot of Potosi beer. Years ago, it was only 20 cents a bottle."

'Great for bus tours'

Claire Baeten, 74, of Rockton, Ill., and who travels full time in a motor home with her husband, Jerry, 75, said the museum and restaurant facility will be a destination for travelers for years to come.

"We love museums and we love history," Claire Baeten said. "This will be great for bus tours."

Fritz, 48, said once a permanent executive director is hired, one of the key parts of the job will be marketing the facility. Potosi is on the Great River Road but tucked into the Potosi Valley, off of Highway 61 and about 20 miles north of Dubuque. Capitalizing on existing attractions, like Galena, which gets about 1.5 million visitors a year, will be crucial, officials say.

"We know the challenges that are facing us," Fritz said. "Until we get a little further down the road with our fundraising, it's going to be difficult to sit back and enjoy it. We have a lot of work ahead."