Rufus Read was a brewer at Abbott Street, corner of Atwells Avenue, Providence circa 1838. By 1841 he had started his own brewery at the corner of Pine and Richmond Streets also in Providence. He ran the brewery until quitting in 1855 going into the tinsmith and stove business.

In 1856, Calvin Fletcher & Co. Brewers took over the Read's Brewery which was still located at the corner of Richmond & Pine Streets.

Samuel A. Wesson joined the company, which was putting out Superior Pale XX and Cream Ale, in 1859. The brewery was also wholesaling and retailing lager beer as well as hops, barley, and malt.

Fletcher quit the business in 1868, at which time his two partners, Samuel Wesson and William F. Baker, took over and changed the name to William F. Baker & Co. The business only remained under this name for two years until 1870 when Baker took total control, evidently buying out Wesson's partnership.

One year later Baker changed the name of the company, back to the original name of Read's Brewery.