Made by Blatz Brewery, these collectable bubblegum cards display the colorful buildings from the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition. The Blatz Brewery Company was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by Johann Braun in 1846 and was originally named City Brewery. In 1850, Valentin Blatz established a brewery next door and merged both breweries together upon Braun’s death in 1852. By 1884, Blatz was ranked as the third largest beer producer in Milwaukee and was one of the big four Milwaukee breweries, along with Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz. When Prohibition was ratified by the U.S. on January 16, 1919, and went into effect on January 17, 1920, Blatz and many other Milwaukee breweries transitioned to selling juice, sodas, and even gum to stay in business. The practice of pairing packs of gum with bubblegum cards, such as baseball cards or trading cards, goes back to the 1880s. Originally, bubblegum cards were cigarette cards and were included in packs of cigarettes, but as tobacco companies stopped marketing cigarettes to children, gum companies took to the practice. Starting in the 1930s, many gum companies, including Blatz, began including bubblegum cards with their gum. During the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition, packs of Blatz gum came with bubblegum cards with views of the Exposition. These colorful cards displayed the realistic and vibrant colors used on the exterior of the Exposition’s buildings. This card from the set is of the Hall of Science building.