Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. is an American brewing company founded and based in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008 it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev). The company operates 12 breweries in the United States. Until December 2009, it also was one of the largest theme park operators in the United States, operating ten theme parks through the company's family entertainment division, Busch Entertainment Corporation. St. Louis, Missouri is also the headquarters for the AB InBev North America unit.HistoryBeginnings and national expansionIn 1852, German American brewer and saloon operator George Schneider opened the Bavarian Brewery on Carondelet Avenue (later known as South Broadway) between Dorcas and Lynch streets in South St. Louis. Schneider's brewery expanded in 1856 to a new brewhouse near Eighth and Crittenden streets; however, the following year financial problems forced the sale of the brewery to various owners during the late 1850s. In 1860, the brewery was purchased on the brink of bankruptcy by William D'Oench, a local pharmacist, and Eberhard Anheuser, a prosperous German-born soap manufacturer. D'Oench was the silent partner in the business until 1869, when he sold his half-interest in the company. From 1860 to 1875, the brewery was known as E. Anheuser & Co., and from 1875 to 1879 as the E. Anheuser Company's Brewing Association.Adolphus Busch, a wholesaler who had immigrated to St. Louis from Germany in 1857, married Eberhard Anheuser's daughter, Lilly, in 1861. Following his service in the American Civil War, Busch began working as a salesman for the Anheuser brewery. Busch purchased D'Oench's share of the company in 1869, and he assumed the role of company secretary from that time until the death of his father-in-law.