Stroh's Bottled Beer Phone Main 316

White, Black

Bernhard Stroh’s Brewing Company

253–275 East Elizabeth; 909–921 East Elizabeth; 991 Gratiot Avenue

Detroit

MI

This porcelain bottle stopper marked “Stroh’s Bottled Beer / Phone Main 316” originates from the early bottling era of Stroh’s Brewing Company, one of America’s most significant regional breweries. The stopper dates to the period when bottled beer was becoming an increasingly important complement to saloon draft service and when reusable glass bottles sealed with porcelain closures were standard industry practice. Stroh’s Brewing Company was founded in Detroit in the mid-nineteenth century by German immigrant Bernhard Stroh, whose lager-brewing tradition aligned with the tastes of a rapidly growing immigrant population. From its beginnings as a small family-run operation, the brewery expanded steadily, benefiting from Detroit’s industrial growth, access to transportation networks, and a strong local demand for lager beer. By the late nineteenth century, Stroh’s had become a major producer in the Midwest, operating large-scale brewing and bottling facilities rather than relying on independent neighborhood bottlers. The branding on this stopper reflects that maturity. The use of the Stroh’s name alone—without reference to an individual proprietor—demonstrates the company’s transition from founder-identified enterprise to established corporate brewery. The inclusion of a telephone listing, “Phone Main 316,” is particularly revealing. Named exchanges and short numbers were a feature of early urban telephone systems, and their appearance on bottle hardware indicates that Stroh’s had adopted telephone-based ordering and delivery coordination, a sign of operational sophistication and volume trade. By this period, Stroh’s was producing beer not only for immediate local consumption but also for broader regional distribution. Bottled beer required substantial investment in equipment, labor, and logistics, including bottle washing, refilling, and return management. Porcelain stoppers like this one were a functional part of that system, serving as durable seals while reinforcing brand identity and maintaining ownership of returnable bottles. Although no street address appears on the stopper, Stroh’s brewing and bottling operations were firmly rooted in Detroit, where the company maintained multiple large industrial facilities associated with its expanding output. Early operations are tied to Catherine Street, reflecting the brewery’s modest origins. By the 1890–1920 period, Stroh’s operated major brewing and bottling plants along East Elizabeth Street, commonly cited in period records at addresses including 253–275 East Elizabeth and later 909–921 East Elizabeth, as well as a large consolidated brewery complex at 991 Gratiot Avenue. These sites formed the physical backbone of a vertically integrated operation that included brewing, bottling, storage, and delivery. The stopper also reflects a transitional moment in American brewing history. Porcelain stoppers were soon replaced by crown caps as bottling technology evolved, and the onset of Prohibition in 1920 temporarily halted beer production nationwide. Unlike many breweries of its era, Stroh’s survived Prohibition by adapting its operations and later reemerged as one of the country’s best-known brewing brands in the twentieth century. As an artifact, this stopper captures Stroh’s at a formative stage: a large, technologically modernizing brewery asserting its brand, embracing new communication tools, and expanding bottled beer distribution. It stands as physical evidence of the company’s rise from immigrant-founded brewery to major industrial producer within America’s pre-Prohibition brewing landscape.

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Original Manitou Colo. U.S.A.

White, Black

Manitou Mineral Water Company

906 Manitou Avenue; 1310 Manitou Avenue

Manitou Springs

Colorado

The stoppers and associated bottles embossed “...Manitou, Colo...” are products of the historic mineral water industry that grew around Manitou Springs, Colorado, a town founded in 1872 by William J. Palmer and Dr. William A. Bell as a resort community centered on health, healing, and the restorative qualities of its naturally carbonated mineral springs. For centuries before settlement, Indigenous peoples revered these bubbling waters — believed to be the “breath of the Great Spirit Manitou” — for their curative and cleansing properties. This long-standing reputation for wellness became the foundation of Manitou Springs’ rapid development as one of the West’s most prominent spa and health destinations. Commercial bottling of Manitou spring water began soon after the town’s establishment, with early bottling works capturing water from major springs such as Navajo Spring and Cheyenne Spring. These naturally effervescent waters were marketed as Manitou Table Water, alongside flavored beverages made from the same mineral sources, most notably Manitou Ginger Champagne, a ginger-root drink that became one of the town’s signature products. By the 1870s and 1880s, Manitou water was being shipped well beyond Colorado, promoted as both a refreshing beverage and a therapeutic mineral tonic. The operation was organized under what became known historically as the Manitou Mineral Water Company, which expanded bottling capacity significantly in the late nineteenth century. One major bottling plant upgraded in 1889 (by Jerome Wheeler) and associated with the company’s primary operations, stood at 906 Manitou Avenue, placing production directly along the town’s central commercial corridor near the principal spring houses. By the early 1890s the business had reached an impressive scale, with contemporary accounts reporting shipments in the millions of bottles annually; a case of fifty quart bottles sold for roughly $7.50, and by 1893 production was said to approach four million bottles distributed across the United States. As demand grew, additional facilities were established. In the 1890s a second major plant — initially operating as the Pikes Peak Bottling Company — was developed farther west using water from what was then known as Ute Soda Spring. This operation later adopted the evocative name Ute Chief Mineral Water Company, aligning its branding with the region’s Indigenous heritage and the perceived natural authenticity of the spring waters. Around 1900 the enterprise came under the ownership of Jacob Schueler, a co-founder of what would later become the Coors Brewing Company. Under Schueler’s direction the business reached its peak, drilling new springs such as the Ute Chief Gusher to expand supply and diversifying into naturally carbonated sodas including lime soda, ginger ale, and cola. The later western bottling works became associated with the site now recognized on local historic tours at 1310 Manitou Avenue, reflecting the geographic spread and industrial scale the Manitou water trade achieved at the turn of the twentieth century. These bottling operations were substantial multi-story enterprises, distinct from ordinary soda bottlers elsewhere in Colorado because they relied entirely on Manitou Springs’ naturally carbonated, mineral-rich waters — the very feature that made the town famous nationwide. Embossed bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing names such as Original Manitou served both as branding and as practical returnable containers, a standard practice among mineral water producers of the era. The inclusion of “Colo., U.S.A.” emphasized geographic authenticity for national markets, linking each bottle directly to the celebrated springs. While complete corporate records and detailed production logs have not survived in easily accessible form, the physical containers themselves, combined with the well-documented history of Manitou Springs’ bottling industry, firmly anchor these stoppers within one of the West’s most important mineral water enterprises. For southern Colorado, the Manitou mineral water trade was more than a beverage business — it shaped the town’s identity as the “Saratoga of the West,” drawing tourists, health seekers, and investment. As the twentieth century progressed, changing medical beliefs and competition from national soft drink companies gradually eroded demand for spring-sourced mineral waters. Bottling declined, many springs were capped, and large-scale production faded. Yet the legacy endures in the preserved spring houses, historic district, and surviving bottles like these, which remain tangible links to an era when Manitou Springs’ mineral waters flowed onto tables across America.

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The Edward Smith Co. Pawtucket, R.I. Smith's A1 Pure Rye

White, Black

The Edward Smith Co.

68 Water Street

Pawtucket

Rhode Island

The porcelain stopper and bottle variants embossed “Edward Smith Co. Pawtucket, R.I. — Smith’s A1 Pure Rye” preserve the identity of a named liquor bottling concern operating in Pawtucket whose containers consistently appear in New England bottle registries, collector holdings, and auction records. Surviving examples include both shoulder-embossed blob-top bottles and later crown-top forms, indicating that the firm’s products circulated across the transition from hand-finished closures to crown caps and suggesting activity spanning the late nineteenth into the early twentieth century. Collector documentation places the Edward Smith Co. bottling operation broadly within the period from about 1899 to 1920, and the repeated appearance of the same embossing confirms that “Smith’s A1 Pure Rye” was a branded product distributed in returnable containers rather than a one-off or contract marking. These bottles and stoppers establish the company as a local Pawtucket liquor and bottling house supplying retail and wholesale trade within the city and surrounding Rhode Island communities. Separately, regional biographical histories record an Edward Smith born in May 1842 in County Monaghan, Ireland, who emigrated to Pawtucket around 1859, initially worked in engraving and tanning, and by the 1870s had become a successful merchant through the grocery partnership of Tierney & Smith at 68 Water Street, which developed into a substantial retail and wholesale enterprise. What can be stated with certainty is that an Edward Smith Co. marketed and bottled a rye whiskey known as “Smith’s A1 Pure Rye” in Pawtucket using embossed returnable containers, and that an Edward Smith of the same name and era lived and prospered in Pawtucket as a documented businessman with known birth details and commercial interests. What has not yet surfaced in readily accessible directories, licensing records, incorporation filings, or probate material is a definitive document that directly links the biographically documented Edward Smith to the specific bottling concern responsible for the A1 Pure Rye embossing. As a result, the bottles and stoppers themselves remain the strongest primary evidence, firmly anchoring the product name, company identity, and location in Pawtucket’s pre-Prohibition liquor trade while existing biographical records outline the life of a contemporary Edward Smith whose confirmed connection to the bottling firm has not yet been conclusively established.

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Madlener's Fine Whiskies / Borderland Rye & Bourbon

White, Black

Fridolin Madlener’s Fine Whiskies (Albert F. Madlener-son)

147–149 West Lake Street

Chicago

Illinois

The embossed mark Madlener’s Fine Whiskies / Borderland Rye & Bourbon relates to the commercial liquor enterprise established and operated by Fridolin Madlener, a German-born immigrant who became a prominent liquor merchant and rectifier in Chicago during the second half of the nineteenth century. Born in Uberlingen, Baden, Germany, in 1835, Madlener emigrated to the United States in his early twenties and entered the liquor trade in Chicago, a city with a large German-American population that provided a robust market for whiskey and blended spirits. Madlener’s business, which he later styled as Fridolin Madlener, Inc., first appears in records at 62–64½ West Lake Street in Chicago before moving in 1879 to 147–149 West Lake Street as he expanded operations into rectifying and blending whiskey rather than exclusively retailing it. Madlener was widely recognized in his time for his skill as a liquor rectifier — a blender of whiskeys — and marketed his products under a variety of brand names. Among the roster of labels he placed in the marketplace were offerings such as Blue Ridge Malt, F. M. Private Stock, Old Keystone Rye, Gilt Edge, and Standard Hand Made. Within this portfolio, Borderland Rye and Borderland Bourbon stood out as specific brand designations for rye and bourbon whiskies that Madlener marketed as part of his fine-whisky lineup. These products were blended and bottled by his firm for distribution to retailers, saloons, and drinkers across the region, and embossed closures like the one on your piece carried the brand identity into commercial circulation. Fridolin Madlener was also noted for his development of “Fig Rye,” a proprietary whiskey blend he touted aggressively in national advertising and mail-order sales. His success with these products enabled him to build substantial wealth, and upon his death in January 1897 his only son, Albert F. Madlener, took over the business and continued promoting the family’s whiskey lines, including Borderland, into the early twentieth century. Albert Madlener maintained the enterprise for years following his father’s death, retaining the firm’s Chicago presence into the first decade of the new century before ultimately selling the business around 1913 to new operators. Objects marked Madlener’s Fine Whiskies / Borderland Rye & Bourbon therefore attest to the commercial whiskey blending and bottling activities of a well-established Chicago liquor house whose proprietor, Fridolin Madlener, built a nationally marketed portfolio of branded whiskey products in the late nineteenth century that his son carried forward into the early twentieth century.

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I. Goldberg 5 Stores NY

White, Red

UNKNOWN

7 Allen Street / 133 East Broadway

New York

New York

I. Goldberg began as a wholesale liquor business in Manhattan under Isaac Goldberg. As of 1890, he was listed as a “wine and liquor” dealer at  Allen Street. By 1891 his business had moved to 133 East Broadway, where he remained a wholesale liquor dealer through about 1901. In 1902 Isaac Goldberg relocated to a new primary address at 171 East Broadway, a site which became central to his expanding operations. Around 1903 he added a second Manhattan store at 3 Clinton Street (Houston St./Clinton St.), effectively marking the start of a multi store network. During the first decade of the 1900s, the business evolved into a small chain. By 1905 a further Manhattan branch had opened at 1390 Fifth Avenue (corner 115th Street). By 1907–1909 expansion included Brooklyn, with stores at 1691 Pitkin Avenue (corner Rockaway Ave.) and 28 Graham Avenue (corner Debevoise St.) by 1909. At its peak the firm billed itself as “I. Goldberg 5 Stores, New York,” reflecting multiple retail locations across Manhattan and Brooklyn. One of the more distinctive features of Goldberg’s operations was his hiring of a largely deaf workforce: by 1907 his bottling department was entirely staffed by deaf “mutes,” organized internally as the “Lead Pencil Club.” This labor model was publicly showcased as efficient and humane. The growth continued into the early 1910s, when the business incorporated as I. Goldberg, Inc., reportedly with capital around $100,000. In the 1915 copartnership directory, Isaac Goldberg was listed as president, with his sons Joseph, Samuel, and Shepard as officers. By 1917–1918, as pressures mounted toward prohibition, some family members reorganized — for example, two sons formed a food-products company under the name I. Goldberg’s Sons, using the 171 East Broadway address. The enterprise is remembered today largely through collector documented bottles bearing multiple addresses, and period newspaper accounts that highlight its unusual employment of deaf workers.

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Holander Bros. 1-3-5 N. Main St. Paterson, N.J. / Importers and Wholesale Liquor Dealers

White, Red

Holander Brothers

1/3/5 N. Main St.

Paterson

New Jersey

The embossed “Holander Bros. 1 3 5 N. Main St. Paterson, N.J.” identifies a locally rooted wholesale liquor and beverage firm operating in Paterson’s downtown commercial district in the early 1900s. Samuel Hollander first appears in Paterson civic records around the 1900 U.S. census as a liquor dealer, originally operating at 3 Temple Street. By 1901, he relocated his business to 1 3 North Main Street, a prominent commercial corridor in the city’s business district. This move likely reflected business growth and higher customer traffic, situating the enterprise within the heart of Paterson’s bustling commercial hub. In 1902, Samuel’s brother Albert Hollander joined the enterprise, and the firm became publicly known as Hollander Bros. The business operated throughout the period before Prohibition as “Direct Importers and Wholesale Dealers in Fine Wines, Liquors and Cordials.” Their stock included a variety of bottled beers, spirits, and imported wines, typical of a successful wholesale liquor operation of the era. In the 1910 federal census, Samuel Hollander listed his occupation as “saloon keeper,” suggesting that the business may also have included a saloon outlet or maintained ties to on-premises consumption in addition to wholesale and retail distribution. The address — a multi-number storefront on North Main Street — indicates that Hollander Bros. occupied a large, contiguous set of spaces, reflecting a well-established business. North Main Street was Paterson’s economic spine, lined with warehouses and distribution houses that traded in goods ranging from dry merchandise to spirits. The location offered convenient access to rail and road freight, critical for importing heavy goods such as barrels, kegs, crates of wine, and bottled liquor. The designation “Importers and Wholesale Liquor Dealers” highlights the dual nature of the business: bringing in wines and spirits from abroad and supplying local taverns, hotels, saloons, and retailers with both imported and domestic beverages. Embossed bottles and stoppers carrying the Holander Bros. name and full address served as both packaging and marketing, signaling to customers and competitors the business’s reliability and prominence. Although detailed personal biographies of the Hollander brothers are scarce, the combination of civic records, census data, and embossed packaging demonstrates that Hollander Bros. was a significant player in Paterson’s beverage trade, supplying a wide network of commercial customers in the city and surrounding region. Today, bottles and stoppers bearing “Holander Bros. 1 3 5 N. Main St.” remain valued artifacts, illustrating the firm’s role in early-20th-century urban wholesale distribution and its deep integration into Paterson’s commercial life.

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Compliments of Jacob Ruppert Bottling Department

White, Black

Jacob Ruppert Brewing Company

1601–1639 Third Avenue

New York

New York

The embossing “Compliments of Jacob Ruppert Bottling Department” connects the piece directly to the bottling arm of the Jacob Ruppert Brewing Company, one of New York City’s most powerful and technologically advanced industrial breweries of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, later operating as Jacob Ruppert, Inc., and to the life of Jacob Ruppert Jr., whose career bridged nineteenth-century family brewing and twentieth-century corporate-scale beer production. Jacob Ruppert Jr. was born on August 5, 1867, in New York City, the son of German immigrant brewer Jacob Ruppert Sr., and died on January 13, 1939, after more than four decades at the center of American brewing, business, and public life. The Ruppert brewing enterprise began under Jacob Ruppert Sr., who arrived in New York in the 1840s and entered the lager-beer trade during its earliest expansion in the United States. By the 1860s he had established a successful brewery on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, gradually expanding cellar space, brewhouses, and distribution as New York’s population surged with European immigration. The brewery’s main complex developed along Third Avenue between East 90th and East 94th Streets in Manhattan, a strategically placed industrial zone near rail connections and dense working-class neighborhoods that consumed vast quantities of beer, commonly cited in period directories as “Third Ave near 91st or 92nd Street,” with commercial listings in the 1600 block of Third Avenue specifically centered at 1601–1639 Third Avenue, and by the early 1900s had expanded into a sprawling multi-building industrial campus spanning multiple lots between Second and Third Avenues. When Jacob Ruppert Sr. died in 1915, full control of the brewery passed to his son, who immediately accelerated modernization and expansion. Under Jacob Ruppert Jr.’s leadership, the brewery evolved into a vast industrial campus comprising brewhouses, ice plants, fermentation cellars, cooper shops, stables, refrigerated warehouses, and large mechanized bottling halls. By the early twentieth century Ruppert had invested heavily in automated bottle washers, fillers, crown-cappers, pasteurizers, labeling machines, and conveyor systems that allowed beer to be bottled in enormous volumes with consistent quality. Annual production reached hundreds of thousands of barrels, placing the Ruppert brewery among the largest in the United States and making bottled beer a cornerstone of its commercial strategy. Core products included mainstream lagers such as Knickerbocker and Ruppert’s Pale Ale, widely distributed throughout the New York metropolitan region and beyond. The formal identification of a Bottling Department reflects the degree of specialization within the vertically integrated brewery. Bottling was no longer a side operation but a massive industrial process with dedicated staff, quality controls, and promotional functions. Bottled beer enabled Ruppert to reach hotels, restaurants, excursion boats and steamers, private homes, and distant wholesale markets where keg distribution was impractical, while appealing to consumers increasingly concerned with sanitation, purity, and product consistency — themes Ruppert emphasized heavily in advertising. Promotional glass marked “Compliments of Jacob Ruppert Bottling Department” fit squarely into this system of brand building. Large breweries routinely distributed complimentary bottles and souvenir ware to saloonkeepers, hotel operators, political allies, business partners, and loyal customers. These giveaways promoted bottled beer consumption, reinforced personal relationships in the trade, showcased the brewery’s modern packaging technology, and served as tangible proof of cleanliness and industrial sophistication at a time when public trust in food and beverage safety was becoming a competitive advantage. Beyond brewing, Jacob Ruppert Jr. became one of New York’s most influential businessmen. He served several terms in the United States Congress in the 1890s, built a vast real-estate portfolio, and in 1915 purchased the New York Yankees baseball club, transforming it into a dominant professional sports franchise that reshaped American baseball. The brewery itself employed thousands of workers and formed a major pillar of Manhattan’s industrial economy before Prohibition. The approach of Prohibition posed an existential threat to such massive operations. Wartime grain restrictions, rising temperance activism, and finally the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920 forced the Ruppert brewery to halt alcoholic beer production. The company attempted to survive by producing near-beer, malt beverages, and soft drinks, repurposing its vast bottling infrastructure for nonalcoholic output. Although Ruppert resumed full beer production after repeal in 1933, the market had shifted toward national brands and new distribution structures, and the brewery never fully regained its pre-Prohibition dominance. Operations continued for several more decades before final closure in the mid-1960s, after which the sprawling Third Avenue works were demolished. Artifacts tied to the Ruppert Bottling Department preserve a vivid material link to the height of American industrial brewing, when beer production was organized on factory scale and bottling represented both technological progress and marketing power, reflecting a period when a single urban brewery could command enormous production capacity, maintain vertically integrated departments, shape consumer habits, and influence city life itself.

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E.L. Husting Trade Mark

White, Red, Black

Eugene L. Husting

454 5th Street & 432 Vliet Street

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

The embossed name "E.L. Husting" refers to a well established soda and beer bottler and brewer based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — originally founded in 1877 by Eugene L. Husting. Over its lifetime the company operated under various forms (bottler, brewer, weiss beer maker, soda manufacturer) at the address 454 5th Street & 432 Vliet Street, Milwaukee, Wis. By the 1880s the firm was producing stoneware and glass bottles, often with embossed markings (“E.L. HUSTING / MILWAUKEE / WIS.”) on the body or base. Their output included weiss beer, ginger ale, soda water, fruit sodas, and — beginning in the early 1900s — even bottled cola for a time. After the advent of Prohibition the brewery side closed (1918), but the company continued as a soda water bottler and later a distributor. A stopper bearing the E.L. Husting name therefore likely dates from the late 1800s to early 1900s — a time when soda and beer were bottled in reusable glass or stoneware with tailored closures, typically sealed by corks or early stiff stopper systems (before crown caps became universal). As a piece of breweriana, it connects directly to Milwaukee’s vibrant brewing and soda industry of the 19th–20th century, reflecting both the craftsmanship of early bottling and the entrepreneurial spirit of mid western beverage makers.

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Buckley's Private Stock / W.P. Buckley 296 East Main Rochester, N.Y.

White, Red, Black

William P. Buckley

296 East Main

Rochester

New York

The imprint “Buckley’s Private Stock / W. P. Buckley / 296 East Main, Rochester, N.Y.” identifies a proprietor-operated beverage or liquor-related business active in Rochester during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The wording of the imprint is unusually informative, preserving not only a branded product name (“Private Stock”) but also the proprietor’s name and a precise street address. Together, these elements firmly anchor the business to a specific individual and location within Rochester’s commercial core. East Main Street was one of Rochester’s principal business corridors, lined with retail shops, wholesalers, hotels, and food-and-drink establishments. The address at 296 East Main Street places Buckley’s operation within a dense urban environment where liquor dealers, bottlers, and wholesalers commonly operated from storefront or mixed-use buildings. Businesses at such addresses were typically oriented toward walk-in trade, nearby saloons and restaurants, and short-range delivery rather than large-scale regional distribution. The phrase “Private Stock” was widely used in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to denote a premium or house-selected product, particularly in the liquor trade. Its appearance here suggests that Buckley was offering a branded whiskey, spirits blend, or possibly a bottled beer or wine selected or bottled under his own supervision. This language indicates an emphasis on quality and differentiation rather than mass-market production, consistent with a proprietor-controlled operation catering to local clientele. The inclusion of “W. P. Buckley” identifies the business as owner-operated. In this period, liquor dealers and bottlers frequently placed their own names prominently on bottles, stoppers, and labels to establish accountability and reputation. The use of initials rather than a fully spelled given name was standard practice and does not imply anonymity; instead, it reflects contemporary business conventions. The explicit pairing of Buckley’s name with the address strengthens the attribution and suggests that Buckley either owned or directly managed the establishment at 296 East Main Street. Period Rochester city-directory conventions and surviving trade listings strongly indicate that the proprietor operating as “W. P. Buckley” was named William P. Buckley. In Rochester directories of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the initial “W.” almost universally expands to William, particularly in liquor and beverage trade listings. Entries for “William P. Buckley” appear in association with liquor or beverage-related occupations and align geographically with East Main Street commercial activity. While no surviving bottle or label spells out the given name in full, the consistency of directory usage, occupation, and location supports identifying the proprietor of Buckley’s Private Stock at 296 East Main Street as William P. Buckley. The middle initial “P.” is preserved as an initial only, with no surviving record definitively expanding it. Rochester supported a substantial number of liquor dealers, bottlers, and wholesalers during this era, supplying a growing industrial population. Many such businesses bottled spirits, wine, or beer on site, using reusable glass containers marked with proprietary names to ensure return and brand recognition. Buckley’s operation fits this model. The presence of a branded “Private Stock” offering implies that Buckley was not merely reselling factory-sealed products but was engaged in bottling or private-label distribution, activities that required a stable premises and investment in marked containers. The absence of a separate corporate name beyond Buckley’s own is significant. Rather than operating under a generic company title, Buckley chose to trade under his personal name, a common approach among independent liquor merchants and bottlers. This practice fostered trust and local recognition, especially in competitive urban markets like Rochester. It also means that surviving objects bearing the Buckley name may represent one of the few remaining records of the business’s existence. As with many small urban liquor and bottling enterprises, the broader documentary record for Buckley’s business appears limited. Independent operators often left minimal paper trails beyond directory listings, license records, and marked containers. Regulatory changes, including local licensing shifts and the onset of Prohibition, led to the closure or transformation of countless such businesses. When operations ceased, records were rarely preserved, leaving physical artifacts as primary evidence. The detailed address on the imprint provides an important historical anchor. Even in the absence of extended business records, the combination of proprietor name, product designation, and street address allows the business to be placed precisely within Rochester’s historic commercial landscape. It also distinguishes Buckley’s operation from other Buckley-named firms, avoiding the ambiguity that often complicates research into common surnames. “Buckley’s Private Stock / W. P. Buckley / 296 East Main, Rochester, N.Y.” therefore represents a locally rooted liquor or bottling enterprise operating from a known East Main Street address, emphasizing quality through private-label branding. The imprint captures a moment when individual proprietors played a central role in urban beverage distribution, and when reputation, location, and personal accountability were integral to commercial identity in Rochester.

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Old Steuben Whiskey Steuben County Wine Co. Chicago

White, Red

Steuben County Wine Co. (John Henry Van Housen)

220 Wabash Avenue; 170 Madison Street; 246–248 West Madison Street; 227–229 West Madison Street

Chicago

Illinois

The inscription “Old Steuben Whiskey — Steuben County Wine Co., Chicago” identifies a proprietary whiskey brand distributed by the Steuben County Wine Co., a well-documented pre-Prohibition liquor, wine, and rectifying house whose ownership, geographic movement, and physical operating addresses can be traced with unusual clarity for a firm of this era. The company was founded by John Henry Van Housen (born 1854 in New York State; died May 5, 1936), who entered the wine and spirits trade in New York during the mid-19th century and adopted the Steuben County name as a commercial identifier tied to eastern wine-trade reputation rather than a literal place of production. Van Housen expanded the business westward in stages—first operating under the Steuben County Wine Company name in New York, then relocating operations to Michigan, and finally establishing the firm in Chicago by the mid-1870s, where it developed into a substantial wholesale and rectifying concern. In Chicago, the company’s growth is documented through a sequence of commercial addresses that reflect steady expansion: early listings place the firm at 220 Wabash Avenue around 1876–1877, followed by a move to 170 Madison Street by 1878, and subsequent relocation to larger quarters at 246–248 West Madison Street by the mid-1880s; later records associate the company with expanded premises at 227–229 West Madison Street, all within Chicago’s primary wholesale liquor district. The business was formally incorporated with Van Housen’s sons—Beach Torrey Van Housen serving as secretary and Harry L. Van Housen as treasurer—establishing a family-run corporate structure designed to operate at regional scale. From these Chicago locations, the Steuben County Wine Co. handled wines and distilled spirits and functioned as a rectifier and jobber, sourcing whiskey from producing distilleries and bottling or branding it under proprietary labels such as “Old Steuben Whiskey,” a name intended to convey age, quality, and continuity within the eastern wine-and-spirits tradition. Surviving embossed bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the Old Steuben Whiskey name confirm that the brand was placed into active commercial circulation using returnable containers typical of the late-19th- and early-20th-century liquor trade, anchoring the product firmly to the Van Housen family’s Chicago operation. Taken together, the ownership lineage, address progression, and branded containers position Old Steuben Whiskey as the product of a long-lived, multi-state, family-controlled liquor house whose evolution mirrors the rise of Chicago as a Midwestern distribution center in the decades leading up to Prohibition.

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Chas. Haas Wines & Liquors Blue Island, Ill.

White, Black

Charles Haas Wines & Liquors

UNKNOWN

Blue Island (Chicago)

Illinois

The name Chas. Haas Wines & Liquors embossed on a bottle stopper or bottle from Blue Island, Illinois represents a local merchant whose business once served this thriving suburb of Chicago. Blue Island was a growing railroad and industrial town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, populated by immigrant families, railroad and factory workers, and small business owners. In this setting, neighborhood wine and liquor dealers were essential: they supplied residents with bottled spirits, wines, and other beverages long before modern distribution networks and national brands dominated the market. Charles Haas — shown on bottles as “Chas. Haas” — very likely operated a retail establishment that combined the functions of a wine and spirits shop, a bottling point for wines and liquors, and a neighborhood retail hub. Merchants in this line of work did more than simply sell bottles off a shelf; they often procured bulk wines and spirits, provided custom blends on request, and maintained a deep familiarity with their regular customers’ tastes and preferences. In many Midwestern towns like Blue Island, the name on a bottle meant something personal: customers expected quality, fair pricing, and dependable service from a proprietor they could recognize by name. The town’s location just south of Chicago — a major rail junction — would have made Blue Island a convenient place for a merchant like Haas to receive shipments of wine, whiskey, brandy, and other imported or domestic spirits. Once delivered to his shop, beverages would be bottled, labeled, and sometimes blended or repackaged on site, ready for purchase by local taverns and households. Unlike breweries or large distillers, a retail cellar and bottling outlet such as Haas’s was community oriented, serving the town’s everyday consumers rather than distant regional markets. Names like Haas are often of German origin, and many German American families in the Midwest brought with them strong traditions in brewing, distilling, vineyard cultivation, and beverage commerce. A proprietor with a background steeped in these traditions was well positioned to operate a successful wine and liquor business, combining technical knowledge with business savvy and social connections. In smaller towns, a merchant’s reputation mattered deeply — customers returned not just for products, but for the trust and consistency that came with a familiar name. Bottles embossed with “Chas. Haas Wines & Liquors” would have functioned as both packaging and branding. In an era before inexpensive paper labels and nationwide advertising, embossing the proprietor’s name and location directly into the glass served multiple purposes: it identified the source of the beverage, helped ensure that expensive glass bottles were returned and reused, and acted as a durable marketing tool. Even if a bottle’s contents were consumed in a tavern or private home, the Haas name traveled with that bottle, reinforcing the merchant’s presence in the community. The typical product range from a business like Haas’s would likely have included fortified wines, imported and domestic spirits such as whiskey and brandy, liqueurs, and possibly sodas or mineral waters. Many wine and liquor merchants diversified their offerings to meet a range of local tastes and seasonal demands. Especially in working class towns, families and tavern patrons alike valued both traditional European imports and familiar domestic spirits, making a mixed inventory a practical business strategy. Over time, the growth of corporate brands, changes in regulation, and especially the advent of Prohibition in the early 20th century reshaped the wine and liquor trade dramatically. Many independent retailers either closed, shifted to non alcoholic beverages, or adapted in other ways. Today, bottles and stoppers bearing the name Chas. Haas Wines & Liquors remain as tangible artifacts of a bygone era of local commerce — evidence of a time when neighborhood merchants were central to the social and commercial life of towns like Blue Island. These artifacts remind collectors and historians alike of the personal nature of early beverage retailing, where a proprietor’s name on glass was more than a label — it was a symbol of community connection, trust, and everyday life in a flourishing Midwestern town.

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TBD

Murray Hill Club Magnus Trade Mark

White, Black

Joseph A. Magnus & Co.

29 Main / 49 Main / 337 Main / 121-125 East 8th St.

Cincinnati

Ohio

Jos. A. Magnus & Co. — founded by Joseph A. Magnus — launched Murray Hill Club whiskey around the turn of the 20th century, making it the signature “club whiskey” of the firm. Joseph A. Magnus had entered the wholesale liquor business in 1892 at a young age, building a thriving operation in Cincinnati, Ohio, specializing in rectifying and blending spirits rather than distilling from scratch. Murray Hill Club was reportedly named after a saloon or social establishment in New York City’s Murray Hill district — the “club” imagery evoked sophistication and social standing. Depictions of early 20th century ads describe the whiskey as possessing “delicious flavor and incomparable bouquet” and appeal to “particular people,” typical marketing of the era that emphasized refinement, maturity, and exclusivity. Though owned and operated from Cincinnati, Jos. A. Magnus & Co. distributed Murray Hill Club widely, placing it in leading bars, hotels, cafés, and groceries across the United States — aiming it at a clientele drawn to urban sophistication, gentility, and social clubs. The company reportedly created around 20 different liquor brands, but Murray Hill Club remained its flagship name. The business ceased production in 1918 when national Prohibition loomed — the legal environment made continuation untenable. Over the generations, the brand faded into obscurity, and original bottles became rare relics. Decades later, in the 2000s, a preserved bottle discovered among family possessions rekindled interest. In 2015, descendants re-established Jos. A. Magnus & Co., reviving Murray Hill Club less as an original-run whiskey and more as a modern homage — a blended bourbon crafted via contemporary sourcing and finishing techniques intended to evoke the flavor character and spirit of the pre Prohibition original. Despite the geographical shift and modern bottling, the revived brand — like its original forebear — seeks to channel the legacy of “club” refinement, blending tradition with modern craftsmanship.

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TBD

Rainier Beer Seattle Brewing & Malting Company

White, Red, Black

Seattle Brewing & Malting Company

3100 Airport Way S; 5628 Airport Way S; 5840 Airport Way S; 6004 Duwamish Ave S

Seattle

Washington

The embossing “Rainier Beer — Seattle Brewing & Malting Company” identifies a corporately organized brewery that developed into the dominant beer producer of the Pacific Northwest, with clearly documented brewing sites in Seattle that anchored its growth from the 1890s onward. The company was formed in 1893 through the consolidation of several local breweries into a single stock corporation, creating a modern brewing enterprise with the capital and infrastructure to produce lager on an industrial scale. Its earliest major production works were constructed along the east shore of Lake Union, where the brewery occupied a multi-building complex used for brewing, malting, storage, and early bottling operations. This waterfront location allowed direct receipt of grain and ice and easy shipment of finished beer by rail and water. As output expanded in the early twentieth century, the company developed and later concentrated large-scale brewing and bottling at a massive plant in Seattle’s industrial district along at 3100 Airport Way S. This complex became the primary Rainier production site for decades and housed brewhouses, fermentation cellars, packaging lines, warehouses, and shipping facilities that supplied beer throughout Washington, Oregon, and neighboring states. The scale of this property reflected Rainier’s transformation from a local brewery into a regional powerhouse whose bottled beer circulated widely across the West. The Rainier trade name itself was adopted early in the company’s history and quickly became the brewery’s flagship brand, appearing on bottled beer sold through taverns, grocers, and household delivery routes. Surviving embossed bottles and proprietary stoppers bearing the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company name confirm that Rainier Beer was marketed extensively in returnable containers as part of a structured bottling program rather than as a limited specialty product. The consistency and volume of surviving packaging demonstrate a high-output operation with organized distribution well beyond Seattle city limits. Corporate leadership in the brewery’s early decades included president Charles Pulvermacher, vice president John F. Groom, and secretary-treasurer Charles Frantz, figures who guided the company through rapid expansion and into regional prominence. Their management oversaw successive enlargements of brewing capacity, modernization of equipment, and development of bottling operations that allowed Rainier Beer to compete successfully with larger West Coast and national brewers. The brewery endured the disruptions of Prohibition by shifting into non-alcoholic beverages and industrial products to keep its facilities operating, then resumed full beer production after repeal, continuing to expand distribution under the Rainier name. Over the mid-twentieth century ownership transitioned to larger brewing interests, but production remained centered at the Airport Way South plant, and the Rainier brand retained its strong association with Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. The stopper marked “Rainier Beer — Seattle Brewing & Malting Company” thus connects directly to a brewery with identifiable historic production sites at Lake Union and later along Airport Way South, a named corporate leadership, and a large-scale bottled beer trade that shaped the region’s beverage market for generations. It preserves the early corporate identity of a brewery whose physical footprint and branded packaging remain among the most recognizable artifacts of Seattle’s brewing history.

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TBD

John Graf's Milwaukee Weiss Beer

White, Black

The John Graf Co.

901–903 Greenfield Avenue

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

The John Graf Company traces its origins to 1873, when John Graf, a young German immigrant trained in traditional brewing methods and then about twenty years old, entered Milwaukee’s beverage trade. He initially partnered with brewer Philip Madlener in a small soda water and weiss beer bottling operation known as Graf & Madlener (also styled John J. Graf & Co.). The firm specialized in weiss beer, a cloudy, wheat-based style favored by German communities and distinct from the increasingly dominant lager beers of the era. By the early 1880s Graf had assumed full ownership of the business, briefly operating as the South Side White Beer Brewery before rebranding the enterprise under his own name. As demand increased, Graf expanded significantly. In 1884 he constructed a large, modern brewing and bottling facility at 901–903 Greenfield Avenue near Seventeenth (later Twenty-Second) Street on Milwaukee’s South Side. Operating as the John Graf Weiss Beer Brewery, the company became one of Wisconsin’s most influential weiss beer producers. Its beer was sold young and unfiltered, prized for freshness and character, and distributed widely to neighborhood taverns, beer gardens, and retail outlets. The brewery also produced soda water and mineral beverages, demonstrating early diversification. Embossed bottles marked “John Graf’s Milwaukee Weiss Beer” reflected Graf’s emphasis on branded bottling at a time when many breweries still relied heavily on keg distribution, serving both advertising and ownership functions within Milwaukee’s dense saloon and distribution network. By 1909 the enterprise employed approximately sixty workers and produced beverages valued at about $120,000 annually. In 1913 the business formally incorporated as the John Graf Company, signaling its transition from a sole proprietorship to a multi-generational family enterprise. John Graf died in 1919, just as Prohibition took effect nationwide, marking a major turning point for both the family and the company. Management passed to his daughter, Sylvia Graf, who oversaw the business as it closed its brewery operations in 1920 and shifted entirely away from alcoholic production. Unlike many pre-Prohibition weiss beer breweries that disappeared, the John Graf Company survived by producing non-alcoholic beverages, including soda, root beer, and other soft drinks, continuing operations at the Greenfield Avenue plant and benefiting from established bottling infrastructure, local brand recognition, and family continuity. The company’s soft drink line—especially Graf’s Root Beer—gained lasting popularity in Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest. In later years, John Graf’s grandson, Lawrie O. Graf, rebranded the product as Grandpa Graf’s Root Beer, reinforcing its familial identity and nostalgic appeal. Although traditional weiss beer did not return to prominence after repeal, the Graf beverage business endured well into the mid-20th century. Ownership changed hands several times, including a transfer in 1968 to the industrial firm P & V Atlas (Pfister & Vogel), and later through a succession of beverage companies. The brewery buildings themselves remained a visible landmark on Milwaukee’s South Side for decades, even as the city’s brewing industry consolidated and shifted toward national brands. Today, bottles and other artifacts bearing the “John Graf’s Milwaukee Weiss Beer” name are regarded as important survivals from Milwaukee’s early immigrant brewing culture. They document not only a distinctive beer style, but also the story of a resilient family enterprise that navigated industrial growth, Prohibition, and generational change, leaving a lasting imprint on Wisconsin’s brewing and bottling history.

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TBD

Chas. A. Zahn Co. Chicago / CAZCO Trade Mark

White, Red, Black

Charles A. Zahn Co.

1093–1095 Milwaukee Ave./1273 Milwaukee Ave./1643 Milwaukee Ave.

Chicago

Illinois

The Chas. A. Zahn Co. was a distinctive fixture in Chicago’s beverage and spirits trade from the closing years of the 19th century into the early decades of the 20th. Known to collectors by its CAZCO trade mark embossed on bottles, closures, and promotional items, the brand emerged amid a flourishing industrial city where neighborhood merchants, national producers, and immigrant proprietors all vied for attention in a booming market for bottled beverages. The roots of the company trace back to the late 1880s when a partnership known as Benzli & Zahn began bottling and liquor distribution in Chicago. As the business evolved, the name changed, and by 1894 it operated as the Chas. A. Zahn Co., signaling a new phase of growth and brand development within Chicago’s densely populated neighborhoods. For more than two decades the company maintained a recognizable presence in the city’s commercial life, surviving competitive pressures and adapting to a rapidly changing marketplace. Chicago during this era was a magnet for immigrants, many of them German, who arrived with deep cultural traditions in brewing, fermentation, and distilled spirits. This city boasted a vibrant network of breweries, soda works, and independent bottlers, and into this environment Charles A. Zahn — the company’s namesake — made his mark. Though detailed personal records of Zahn’s life are scarce in surviving directories and archives, his imprint on Chicago’s beverage trade is unmistakable: bottles and closures embossed with “Chas. A. Zahn Co.” and its distinctive CAZCO monogram appear in collections and excavated sites throughout the Midwest, pointing to a business that distributed its products widely and consistently. The company’s CAZCO trade mark — a contraction of Charles A. Zahn Company — became central to its identity. In an age before printed paper labels and mass advertising, such trade marks were essential. They served not only to identify the producer, but also to reinforce trust and quality in local markets. Consumers and tavern owners who picked up a bottle bearing the CAZCO mark could recognize at a glance that it came from a familiar Chicago source, one associated with reliability and established production. This was particularly important in a crowded commercial environment where dozens of bottlers and distributors competed for neighborhood loyalty. The product range associated with the Chas. A. Zahn Co. was varied. Bottles from the company carry names like Old Stock Bourbon, Old Century, Cream of Pennsylvania, All Star, Farmer’s Delight and Sunny Hill — evocative product names that speak to both traditional spirits and flavored liquors. These names suggest a portfolio that blended classic distilled beverages with marketing flair, appealing to consumers who valued both quality and variety. While beer itself may have been part of the supply mix, the prominence of bourbon and whiskey branding on CAZCO bottles points to a core strength in spirits distribution — an area where Chicago’s taverns, saloons, and social clubs represented a stable and profitable market. The Chas. A. Zahn Co. operated from several addresses on Milwaukee Avenue, an important commercial corridor on Chicago’s North Side. Initially listed near 1093–1095 Milwaukee in the 1890s, the business later appeared at 1273 Milwaukee and, with renumbering of city streets in the early 20th century, 1643 Milwaukee by the mid 1910s. This consistency of location underscores the company’s continuity and its role as a neighborhood business anchored in a dynamic urban setting. At its core, the business was shaped by the rhythms of local commerce. In an era of horse drawn wagons and, later, early motor trucks, distribution networks were built on personal relationships and regular delivery routes. Patrons knew their grocers and tavern keepers by name, and proprietors like Zahn relied on reputation as much as product quality to maintain accounts. A bottle embossed with the CAZCO trade mark did more than contain spirits; it carried a signal of familiarity and trust, often exchanged among neighbors, friends, and colleagues gathering in Chicago’s many pubs and private homes. Family involvement and long term staffing would have been essential to maintain consistency in production, bottling, marketing, and distribution. Whether Charles A. Zahn trained relatives in the trade or partnered with trusted employees, the passed down knowledge of beverage handling and customer relations helped sustain the business through the years leading up to national Prohibition. The onset of Prohibition in 1920 dealt a transformative blow to companies like the Chas. A. Zahn Co. When the production and distribution of alcoholic beverages became illegal, independent spirit and liquor businesses either closed or attempted drastic reinvention by bottling alternative products such as non alcoholic sodas, tonics, or medicinal extracts. If Zahn’s firm survived briefly by adapting its offerings, it ultimately faded, as did so many neighborhood producers unable to compete with national soft drink brands or to remain viable in a dry legal climate. Yet the CAZCO mark endured among collectors and historians as a snapshot of a vibrant chapter in Chicago’s beverage history. Surviving bottles, closures, and advertising items provide tangible links to a business that once served local saloons, private households, and urban merchants. They are artifacts of a commercial era when names embossed in glass spoke volumes about reputation, geography, and the personal touch of a proprietor deeply embedded in his city. The story of the Chas. A. Zahn Co. is ultimately one of innovation, brand building, and community presence — a testament to how independent entrepreneurs shaped the experience of beverage consumption in an age before global brands, nationwide advertising, and centralized production. Through the distinctive CAZCO trade mark, Charles A. Zahn left a legacy that collectors and historians still recognize, connecting the rhythms of daily life in early 20th century Chicago to the physical artifacts that survive today.

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TBD

AF & Co Andrew Forbes & Co. Phila. PA.

White, Black, Red

Andrew Forbes & Co.

253 N. 3rd (early listing), Nos. 6 & 8 North 11th Street (c.1894–1912) and 940 Market Street (c.1913–1918)

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Andrew Forbes & Co. was a Philadelphia wholesale liquor and whiskey firm active in city directories from the 1890s through at least 1918. Directory entries record addresses at 253 N. 3rd (early listing), Nos. 6 & 8 North 11th Street (c.1894–1912) and 940 Market Street (c.1913–1918). The company marketed whiskies and other spirits under names such as “Forbes Pure Rye,” “Blue Label,” “Jack Rose,” and “Pabu Gin.” Surviving trade items include blown-mold glass whiskey bottles embossed with the company name and an AF & Co. trade mark, stoneware jugs, and porcelain stoppers — the latter matching the round AF monogram and circular “PHILADA / ANDREW FORBES & CO.” motif seen on your piece. These artifacts are commonly collected as pre-Prohibition / late-19th-century bottle relics; similar bottles and jugs appear regularly in online auctions and antique listings. Condition, color (clear, amber, amethyst), and whether the stopper is paired with its original bottle largely determine collecting value. Your stopper fits the known maker’s style and most likely dates to the late 1800s–early 1900s.

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TBD

Husting's Quality Soft Drinks

White, Red

Eugene L. Husting

454 5th Street & 432 Vliet Street

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

The embossed name L. Husting refers to a well established soda and beer bottler and brewer based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — originally founded in 1877 by Eugene L. Husting. Over its lifetime the company operated under various forms (bottler, brewer, weiss beer maker, soda manufacturer) at the address 454 5th Street & 432 Vliet Street, Milwaukee, Wis. By the 1880s the firm was producing stoneware and glass bottles, often with embossed markings (“E.L. HUSTING / MILWAUKEE / WIS.”) on the body or base. Their output included weiss beer, ginger ale, soda water, fruit sodas, and — beginning in the early 1900s — even bottled cola for a time. After the advent of Prohibition the brewery side closed (1918), but the company continued as a soda water bottler and later a distributor. A stopper bearing the E.L. Husting name therefore likely dates from the late 1800s to early 1900s — a time when soda and beer were bottled in reusable glass or stoneware with tailored closures, typically sealed by corks or early stiff stopper systems (before crown caps became universal). As a piece of breweriana, it connects directly to Milwaukee’s vibrant brewing and soda industry of the 19th–20th century, reflecting both the craftsmanship of early bottling and the entrepreneurial spirit of mid western beverage makers.

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TBD

Original "Manitou"

White, Black, Red

Manitou Mineral Water Company

906 Manitou Avenue; 1310 Manitou Avenue

Manitou Springs

Colorado

The stoppers and associated bottles embossed “...Manitou, Colo...” are products of the historic mineral water industry that grew around Manitou Springs, Colorado, a town founded in 1872 by William J. Palmer and Dr. William A. Bell as a resort community centered on health, healing, and the restorative qualities of its naturally carbonated mineral springs. For centuries before settlement, Indigenous peoples revered these bubbling waters — believed to be the “breath of the Great Spirit Manitou” — for their curative and cleansing properties. This long-standing reputation for wellness became the foundation of Manitou Springs’ rapid development as one of the West’s most prominent spa and health destinations. Commercial bottling of Manitou spring water began soon after the town’s establishment, with early bottling works capturing water from major springs such as Navajo Spring and Cheyenne Spring. These naturally effervescent waters were marketed as Manitou Table Water, alongside flavored beverages made from the same mineral sources, most notably Manitou Ginger Champagne, a ginger-root drink that became one of the town’s signature products. By the 1870s and 1880s, Manitou water was being shipped well beyond Colorado, promoted as both a refreshing beverage and a therapeutic mineral tonic. The operation was organized under what became known historically as the Manitou Mineral Water Company, which expanded bottling capacity significantly in the late nineteenth century. One major bottling plant upgraded in 1889 (by Jerome Wheeler) and associated with the company’s primary operations, stood at 906 Manitou Avenue, placing production directly along the town’s central commercial corridor near the principal spring houses. By the early 1890s the business had reached an impressive scale, with contemporary accounts reporting shipments in the millions of bottles annually; a case of fifty quart bottles sold for roughly $7.50, and by 1893 production was said to approach four million bottles distributed across the United States. As demand grew, additional facilities were established. In the 1890s a second major plant — initially operating as the Pikes Peak Bottling Company — was developed farther west using water from what was then known as Ute Soda Spring. This operation later adopted the evocative name Ute Chief Mineral Water Company, aligning its branding with the region’s Indigenous heritage and the perceived natural authenticity of the spring waters. Around 1900 the enterprise came under the ownership of Jacob Schueler, a co-founder of what would later become the Coors Brewing Company. Under Schueler’s direction the business reached its peak, drilling new springs such as the Ute Chief Gusher to expand supply and diversifying into naturally carbonated sodas including lime soda, ginger ale, and cola. The later western bottling works became associated with the site now recognized on local historic tours at 1310 Manitou Avenue, reflecting the geographic spread and industrial scale the Manitou water trade achieved at the turn of the twentieth century. These bottling operations were substantial multi-story enterprises, distinct from ordinary soda bottlers elsewhere in Colorado because they relied entirely on Manitou Springs’ naturally carbonated, mineral-rich waters — the very feature that made the town famous nationwide. Embossed bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing names such as Original Manitou served both as branding and as practical returnable containers, a standard practice among mineral water producers of the era. The inclusion of “Colo., U.S.A.” emphasized geographic authenticity for national markets, linking each bottle directly to the celebrated springs. While complete corporate records and detailed production logs have not survived in easily accessible form, the physical containers themselves, combined with the well-documented history of Manitou Springs’ bottling industry, firmly anchor these stoppers within one of the West’s most important mineral water enterprises. For southern Colorado, the Manitou mineral water trade was more than a beverage business — it shaped the town’s identity as the “Saratoga of the West,” drawing tourists, health seekers, and investment. As the twentieth century progressed, changing medical beliefs and competition from national soft drink companies gradually eroded demand for spring-sourced mineral waters. Bottling declined, many springs were capped, and large-scale production faded. Yet the legacy endures in the preserved spring houses, historic district, and surviving bottles like these, which remain tangible links to an era when Manitou Springs’ mineral waters flowed onto tables across America.

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TBD

Ute Chief Manitou Mineral Water

White, Black

Manitou Mineral Water Company

906 Manitou Avenue; 1310 Manitou Avenue

Manitou Springs

Colorado

The stoppers and associated bottles embossed “...Manitou, Colo...” are products of the historic mineral water industry that grew around Manitou Springs, Colorado, a town founded in 1872 by William J. Palmer and Dr. William A. Bell as a resort community centered on health, healing, and the restorative qualities of its naturally carbonated mineral springs. For centuries before settlement, Indigenous peoples revered these bubbling waters — believed to be the “breath of the Great Spirit Manitou” — for their curative and cleansing properties. This long-standing reputation for wellness became the foundation of Manitou Springs’ rapid development as one of the West’s most prominent spa and health destinations. Commercial bottling of Manitou spring water began soon after the town’s establishment, with early bottling works capturing water from major springs such as Navajo Spring and Cheyenne Spring. These naturally effervescent waters were marketed as Manitou Table Water, alongside flavored beverages made from the same mineral sources, most notably Manitou Ginger Champagne, a ginger-root drink that became one of the town’s signature products. By the 1870s and 1880s, Manitou water was being shipped well beyond Colorado, promoted as both a refreshing beverage and a therapeutic mineral tonic. The operation was organized under what became known historically as the Manitou Mineral Water Company, which expanded bottling capacity significantly in the late nineteenth century. One major bottling plant upgraded in 1889 (by Jerome Wheeler) and associated with the company’s primary operations, stood at 906 Manitou Avenue, placing production directly along the town’s central commercial corridor near the principal spring houses. By the early 1890s the business had reached an impressive scale, with contemporary accounts reporting shipments in the millions of bottles annually; a case of fifty quart bottles sold for roughly $7.50, and by 1893 production was said to approach four million bottles distributed across the United States. As demand grew, additional facilities were established. In the 1890s a second major plant — initially operating as the Pikes Peak Bottling Company — was developed farther west using water from what was then known as Ute Soda Spring. This operation later adopted the evocative name Ute Chief Mineral Water Company, aligning its branding with the region’s Indigenous heritage and the perceived natural authenticity of the spring waters. Around 1900 the enterprise came under the ownership of Jacob Schueler, a co-founder of what would later become the Coors Brewing Company. Under Schueler’s direction the business reached its peak, drilling new springs such as the Ute Chief Gusher to expand supply and diversifying into naturally carbonated sodas including lime soda, ginger ale, and cola. The later western bottling works became associated with the site now recognized on local historic tours at 1310 Manitou Avenue, reflecting the geographic spread and industrial scale the Manitou water trade achieved at the turn of the twentieth century. These bottling operations were substantial multi-story enterprises, distinct from ordinary soda bottlers elsewhere in Colorado because they relied entirely on Manitou Springs’ naturally carbonated, mineral-rich waters — the very feature that made the town famous nationwide. Embossed bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing names such as Original Manitou served both as branding and as practical returnable containers, a standard practice among mineral water producers of the era. The inclusion of “Colo., U.S.A.” emphasized geographic authenticity for national markets, linking each bottle directly to the celebrated springs. While complete corporate records and detailed production logs have not survived in easily accessible form, the physical containers themselves, combined with the well-documented history of Manitou Springs’ bottling industry, firmly anchor these stoppers within one of the West’s most important mineral water enterprises. For southern Colorado, the Manitou mineral water trade was more than a beverage business — it shaped the town’s identity as the “Saratoga of the West,” drawing tourists, health seekers, and investment. As the twentieth century progressed, changing medical beliefs and competition from national soft drink companies gradually eroded demand for spring-sourced mineral waters. Bottling declined, many springs were capped, and large-scale production faded. Yet the legacy endures in the preserved spring houses, historic district, and surviving bottles like these, which remain tangible links to an era when Manitou Springs’ mineral waters flowed onto tables across America.

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TBD

Original "Manitou" Table Water

White, Red

Manitou Mineral Water Company

906 Manitou Avenue; 1310 Manitou Avenue

Manitou Springs

Colorado

The stoppers and associated bottles embossed “...Manitou, Colo...” are products of the historic mineral water industry that grew around Manitou Springs, Colorado, a town founded in 1872 by William J. Palmer and Dr. William A. Bell as a resort community centered on health, healing, and the restorative qualities of its naturally carbonated mineral springs. For centuries before settlement, Indigenous peoples revered these bubbling waters — believed to be the “breath of the Great Spirit Manitou” — for their curative and cleansing properties. This long-standing reputation for wellness became the foundation of Manitou Springs’ rapid development as one of the West’s most prominent spa and health destinations. Commercial bottling of Manitou spring water began soon after the town’s establishment, with early bottling works capturing water from major springs such as Navajo Spring and Cheyenne Spring. These naturally effervescent waters were marketed as Manitou Table Water, alongside flavored beverages made from the same mineral sources, most notably Manitou Ginger Champagne, a ginger-root drink that became one of the town’s signature products. By the 1870s and 1880s, Manitou water was being shipped well beyond Colorado, promoted as both a refreshing beverage and a therapeutic mineral tonic. The operation was organized under what became known historically as the Manitou Mineral Water Company, which expanded bottling capacity significantly in the late nineteenth century. One major bottling plant upgraded in 1889 (by Jerome Wheeler) and associated with the company’s primary operations, stood at 906 Manitou Avenue, placing production directly along the town’s central commercial corridor near the principal spring houses. By the early 1890s the business had reached an impressive scale, with contemporary accounts reporting shipments in the millions of bottles annually; a case of fifty quart bottles sold for roughly $7.50, and by 1893 production was said to approach four million bottles distributed across the United States. As demand grew, additional facilities were established. In the 1890s a second major plant — initially operating as the Pikes Peak Bottling Company — was developed farther west using water from what was then known as Ute Soda Spring. This operation later adopted the evocative name Ute Chief Mineral Water Company, aligning its branding with the region’s Indigenous heritage and the perceived natural authenticity of the spring waters. Around 1900 the enterprise came under the ownership of Jacob Schueler, a co-founder of what would later become the Coors Brewing Company. Under Schueler’s direction the business reached its peak, drilling new springs such as the Ute Chief Gusher to expand supply and diversifying into naturally carbonated sodas including lime soda, ginger ale, and cola. The later western bottling works became associated with the site now recognized on local historic tours at 1310 Manitou Avenue, reflecting the geographic spread and industrial scale the Manitou water trade achieved at the turn of the twentieth century. These bottling operations were substantial multi-story enterprises, distinct from ordinary soda bottlers elsewhere in Colorado because they relied entirely on Manitou Springs’ naturally carbonated, mineral-rich waters — the very feature that made the town famous nationwide. Embossed bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing names such as Original Manitou served both as branding and as practical returnable containers, a standard practice among mineral water producers of the era. The inclusion of “Colo., U.S.A.” emphasized geographic authenticity for national markets, linking each bottle directly to the celebrated springs. While complete corporate records and detailed production logs have not survived in easily accessible form, the physical containers themselves, combined with the well-documented history of Manitou Springs’ bottling industry, firmly anchor these stoppers within one of the West’s most important mineral water enterprises. For southern Colorado, the Manitou mineral water trade was more than a beverage business — it shaped the town’s identity as the “Saratoga of the West,” drawing tourists, health seekers, and investment. As the twentieth century progressed, changing medical beliefs and competition from national soft drink companies gradually eroded demand for spring-sourced mineral waters. Bottling declined, many springs were capped, and large-scale production faded. Yet the legacy endures in the preserved spring houses, historic district, and surviving bottles like these, which remain tangible links to an era when Manitou Springs’ mineral waters flowed onto tables across America.

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TBD

The C.A. Lammers Bottling Co. Denver The Ph. Zang Brewing Co.

White, Red, Black

C.A. Lammers Bottling Company

2300 Eigth Street

Denver

Colorado

The C. A. Lammers Bottling Company was a pivotal bottling enterprise in Denver, Colorado, active from roughly 1890 to 1916, and best remembered for its exclusive partnership with the Zang Brewery. Founded by C. A. Lammers around 1889–1890, the company was established to serve as Zang Brewery’s sole bottling agent, responsible for putting the brewery’s beers into bottles for regional distribution. This relationship allowed Zang Brewery, one of Denver’s largest and most respected breweries, to expand its reach beyond draft beer, supplying taverns, saloons, and retailers throughout the region. Operating from its historic address at 2300 Eighth Street, Denver, Lammers’s plant specialized in bottling lager and ale products, including Zang’s signature “Export Beer,” a lager aged for stability during shipment. The facility likely handled multiple tasks typical of independent bottlers of the era: washing and sterilizing bottles, filling and capping, and coordinating distribution. Though small in scale compared with the brewery itself, the bottling company was essential to Zang’s commercial success, ensuring product quality and consistency while maintaining the brewery’s brand identity in the growing Colorado market. The exclusive bottling arrangement meant that C. A. Lammers was not merely a peripheral business; it functioned as a direct operational arm of Zang Brewery’s commercial strategy. By centralizing bottling, Zang could focus on production and brewing innovation, leaving the labor-intensive packaging process to Lammers. This symbiosis exemplifies the close partnerships between breweries and independent bottlers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After approximately 26 years, the bottling company ceased operations around 1916, likely influenced by industrial consolidation, shifts in distribution, and the pre-Prohibition regulatory environment. Though the plant no longer exists, historical directories and collector references to C. A. Lammers Bottling Company bottles preserve its role as Zang Brewery’s exclusive bottler, reflecting an important chapter in Denver’s early brewing and beverage history.

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C.A. Lammers Bottling Co. Denver The Ph. Zang Brewing Co.

White, Red, Black

C.A. Lammers Bottling Company

2300 Eigth Street

Denver

Colorado

The C. A. Lammers Bottling Company was a pivotal bottling enterprise in Denver, Colorado, active from roughly 1890 to 1916, and best remembered for its exclusive partnership with the Zang Brewery. Founded by C. A. Lammers around 1889–1890, the company was established to serve as Zang Brewery’s sole bottling agent, responsible for putting the brewery’s beers into bottles for regional distribution. This relationship allowed Zang Brewery, one of Denver’s largest and most respected breweries, to expand its reach beyond draft beer, supplying taverns, saloons, and retailers throughout the region. Operating from its historic address at 2300 Eighth Street, Denver, Lammers’s plant specialized in bottling lager and ale products, including Zang’s signature “Export Beer,” a lager aged for stability during shipment. The facility likely handled multiple tasks typical of independent bottlers of the era: washing and sterilizing bottles, filling and capping, and coordinating distribution. Though small in scale compared with the brewery itself, the bottling company was essential to Zang’s commercial success, ensuring product quality and consistency while maintaining the brewery’s brand identity in the growing Colorado market. The exclusive bottling arrangement meant that C. A. Lammers was not merely a peripheral business; it functioned as a direct operational arm of Zang Brewery’s commercial strategy. By centralizing bottling, Zang could focus on production and brewing innovation, leaving the labor-intensive packaging process to Lammers. This symbiosis exemplifies the close partnerships between breweries and independent bottlers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After approximately 26 years, the bottling company ceased operations around 1916, likely influenced by industrial consolidation, shifts in distribution, and the pre-Prohibition regulatory environment. Though the plant no longer exists, historical directories and collector references to C. A. Lammers Bottling Company bottles preserve its role as Zang Brewery’s exclusive bottler, reflecting an important chapter in Denver’s early brewing and beverage history.

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The Scholtz Drug Co. Denver

White, Black

The Scholtz Drug Co.

Colfax Avenue and Broadway

Denver

Colorado

This porcelain stopper marked “The Scholtz Drug Co. Denver” comes from a long-standing Denver pharmacy and bottling concern that played an active role in the city’s commercial life from the late 1800s through the early twentieth century. The Scholtz Drug Company was an established drugstore and apothecary firm that issued proprietary bottles and closures for a variety of medicinal and retail products from its downtown Denver location. It is associated historically with a major retail site at the corner of Colfax Avenue and Broadway, one of the city’s principal commercial intersections during its period of growth. The company was known locally for its branded products and distinctive embossed bottles, which included small medicine and apothecary containers used in drugstore retail and household dispensing. Surviving examples of embossed glass attributed to the Scholtz name show variations in form and size consistent with materials issued over multiple years, indicating sustained commercial operation rather than a brief, isolated venture. Bottles marked Scholtz, Denver, Colo. bear evidence of the firm’s participation in the returning bottle economy of the era, when drugstores commonly prepared, bottled, and sold their own tinctures, tonics, and remedies. Historical physical evidence suggests an establishment date in the early 1880s, with bottles attributed to Scholtz dating from the 1880s into the early 1900s. The retail presence at Colfax and Broadway appears in historical imagery and local memory as a recognizable downtown business through the turn of the century and into the 1910s, a period when independent drugstores served as primary sources of both pharmaceutical and everyday consumer goods. Denver’s pharmaceutical and retail landscape at that time included numerous family-run drugstores that compounded medicines and sold proprietary products alongside bottled beverages and health preparations. While specific personal biographies for individual Scholtz family members or proprietors have not been extensively documented in the surviving published record, the continuity of the company name across decades of embossed bottles and commercial closures demonstrates consistent business identity and local recognition. The inclusion of branded closures reflects a retail strategy that emphasized product origin and trust at a time when customers relied on their neighborhood drugstore for health and household supplies. This stopper thus connects a named Denver business to a defined period of operation in the city’s retail history — a firm active from roughly the 1880s into the early 20th century, centered on a major downtown intersection, and engaged in the preparation and sale of proprietary products in returnable bottles. It stands as material evidence of the Scholtz Drug Company’s role in Denver’s commercial fabric and the broader era when pharmacies functioned as both healthcare providers and local manufacturers of bottled goods.

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Charrot & Henry Brooklyn N.Y.

White, Black

Auguste Charrot & Alphonse Henry

58 Flatbush Avenue; 118 Flatbush Avenue and 571 Atlantic Avenue

Brooklyn

New York

The porcelain stopper embossed “Charrot & Henry, Brooklyn, N.Y.” represents a prominent beverage wholesaler and liquor distribution firm that operated in Brooklyn during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Founded by Auguste Charrot, a Swiss immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1880, and his partner Alphonse Henry, the company became a well-known name in the local wine, beer, and liquor trade. Charrot & Henry maintained their first business location at 58 Flatbush Avenue at the corner of Livingston Street, situating the firm in a bustling commercial district of Brooklyn. After a city street widening in 1906, the business relocated to a combined property at 118 Flatbush Avenue and 571 Atlantic Avenue, which served as the company’s headquarters through at least 1919. From these addresses, Charrot & Henry imported, bottled, and distributed a variety of alcoholic beverages, including wines, liquors, and beers such as Ballantine Ale and regional wines marketed under the Premier Brand and Brotherhood Wine labels. The firm utilized porcelain stoppers on bottles, a common pre-Prohibition practice that preserved carbonation, enabled bottle reuse, and prominently displayed the company’s name. These embossed bottles and stoppers helped reinforce the firm’s identity while facilitating its distribution throughout Brooklyn and neighboring communities. As Prohibition approached, Charrot & Henry began liquidating their stock in 1919, and the company transitioned briefly to non-alcoholic beverages, including cordials and soft drinks, before disappearing from public records by 1924. Auguste Charrot retired in 1920 and passed away in 1924, while Alphonse Henry died in 1929. Today, bottles and stoppers bearing the Charrot & Henry name stand as enduring artifacts of Brooklyn’s vibrant pre-Prohibition beverage trade, illustrating the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrant business owners and their role in shaping the city’s early liquor and beverage industry.

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Chippewa Purest Of All Waters

White, Black, Red

Chippewa Springs Water Company

600 East Park Avenue

Chippewa Falls

Wisconsin

The embossing “Chippewa — Purest of All Waters” is attributed to the Chippewa Springs Water Company at 600 East Park Avenue, a spring-water bottling concern associated with the natural source known as Chippewa Spring near Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Surviving proprietary bottles carrying this slogan appear in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century forms, establishing that the company operated as a commercial bottler using custom molds rather than anonymous filler glass, and breweriana and bottle-collector references consistently associate the brand with Chippewa Falls and with the spring itself. The spring gained local prominence in 1887, when Wisconsin politician Thaddeus C. Pound publicly championed the water for its purported health qualities, drawing regional attention to the source, and in 1893 a spring house was constructed over the original outlet, formalizing it as a managed physical site tied directly to bottled-water distribution rather than informal local use. Material evidence shows that water from this spring circulated in branded returnable bottles over a sustained period, indicating organized commercial output rather than sporadic filling. The uniformity of embossing across surviving examples reflects a single branded enterprise operating under the Chippewa Springs Water Company name and marketing its product around the identity of the spring itself. Beyond the physical bottles and the documented development of the spring, however, the company’s operational history is sparsely preserved in surviving accessible records. No city-directory listings have been located that place the Chippewa Springs Water Company at a specific street address in Chippewa Falls or any other municipality, and no incorporation filings, newspaper advertisements, or trade notices have surfaced that identify proprietors, partners, or corporate officers. Likewise, obituary records and biographical references connecting individuals to ownership or management of the company have not been found in the searchable historical record. This absence suggests that while the brand and spring were locally recognized, the formal business documentation that would normally record addresses and proprietorship either did not survive or remains confined to undigitized local archives. What can be stated with confidence is that the Chippewa Springs Water Company was a branded spring-water producer tied directly to a known natural spring developed for commercial use by the 1890s, that its water was marketed widely enough to justify proprietary bottle molds, and that its presence in the beverage trade is preserved primarily through the embossed glass that carried its name. The spring’s documented rise to prominence in the late nineteenth century provides the clearest contextual anchor for the company’s operations, while the lack of surviving corporate and personal records leaves ownership and precise bottling locations beyond the spring site itself undocumented in the current historical record.

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Enterprise Mercantile Co. Goldfield Nev.

White, Red

Enterprise Mercantile Co.

210 East Ramsey Street

Goldfield

Nevada

The porcelain stopper marked “Enterprise Mercantile Co. Goldfield, NV” originates from the early 20th century, during the height of Goldfield’s gold rush boom. Founded around 1905, Enterprise Mercantile Co. operated as a wholesale merchant of wines, liquors, and cigars, serving the rapidly growing population of miners, saloons, hotels, and boarding houses. According to period business directories, the company was located at 210 East Ramsey Street, and in 1905 it constructed a substantial stone warehouse to store and distribute its products. This building, measuring roughly 100 by 30 feet, was built to withstand the rapid growth and bustling commerce of Nevada’s largest town at the time. (npgallery.nps.gov). Goldfield’s population swelled to approximately 15,000–20,000 residents by 1907, and Enterprise Mercantile Co. played a key role in supplying essential goods to both residents and transient miners. The company’s stone warehouse notably survived Goldfield’s devastating 1923 fire, which destroyed much of the downtown, and was later repurposed as the Lyric Theater in the mid 1920s, illustrating the durability and centrality of the building to the community. Your stopper would have sealed a bottle distributed by Enterprise Mercantile Co., likely containing liquor or other beverages, and represents a tangible connection to Goldfield’s boomtown era. It is a rare artifact from a brief but intense period of economic growth and urban development in Nevada’s mining history, preserving the memory of a local business that supported daily life and commerce during one of the state’s most dramatic gold rushes.

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Diamond Cork Co VanBrunt St. Brooklyn, N.Y.

White, Red

The Diamond Cork Co.

Van Brunt Street

Brooklyn

New York

The Diamond Cork Co., located on Van Brunt Street in Brooklyn, New York, was part of the bustling industrial landscape of Red Hook during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Although precise records of the firm’s founding and proprietors are scarce, the company’s embossed porcelain stoppers indicate it specialized in manufacturing high-quality cork closures for bottles — a critical component in the beverage industry before crown caps became widespread. Van Brunt Street was a hub for shipping, bottling, and small-scale manufacturing. Firms like Diamond Cork Co. served the many soda, beer, and mineral water bottlers in Brooklyn and greater New York City, supplying stoppers that preserved carbonation and ensured product quality during transport. Porcelain stoppers were especially prized for their durability and ability to create an airtight seal when paired with natural cork or rubber washers, and embossing the company name helped both the bottlers and distributors identify the source of the closure. Operating approximately between 1890 and 1920, Diamond Cork Co. contributed to the growing industrial ecosystem of Brooklyn, supporting a network of beverage manufacturers and bottlers across the region. Although the company itself may not have survived past the widespread adoption of crown-top bottles, its products endure as collectible artifacts, offering insight into early bottle manufacturing and the ancillary trades that underpinned New York’s beverage industry. Today, porcelain stoppers embossed with “Diamond Cork Co., Van Brunt St., Brooklyn, NY” serve as tangible reminders of the small, specialized manufacturers who helped build the infrastructure of American bottling, linking the industrial heart of Brooklyn to beverages enjoyed throughout the city and beyond.

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Bieler's Brookfield Rye Cincinnati

White, Black

George Bieler Sons

Main Street and East 7th Street

Cincinnati

Ohio

At the turn of the 20th century, Geo. Bieler Sons of Cincinnati stood out as one of the city’s notable whiskey merchants and blenders. Operating from the late 1800s into the early 1910s, the firm specialized in buying, blending, and marketing whiskey under its own trade names, the most famous of which was Brookfield Rye. Unlike large-scale distilleries, Bieler’s business model emphasized merchandising and presentation, using ornate packaging and promotional items to distinguish their brand in a competitive market. Bieler’s Brookfield Rye was marketed with the slogan “Rare Old Perfect”, and was distributed in both embossed glass bottles and brown glazed stoneware jugs. Some of the jugs took novelty forms, such as miniature canteens or animal-shaped flasks, reflecting the merchant’s flair for eye-catching design. Lithographed tin advertising signs and caricatures of the proprietors further reinforced the brand’s visibility, emphasizing quality and tradition. The firm maintained a series of downtown Cincinnati addresses over the years, including locations on Main Street and East 7th Street, as well as corners of 7th & Main, reflecting both the growth of the business and the changing urban landscape. Bieler’s operations illustrate the role of merchants and blenders in the late 19th and early 20th-century liquor trade, bridging the gap between distillers and consumers through savvy marketing. Today, surviving Brookfield Rye bottles, stoneware jugs, and advertising materials remain highly collectible, offering a window into the commercial creativity of one of Cincinnati’s prominent whiskey houses of the era.

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Korsmeyer Colo. Springs Druggist

White, Black

Korsmeyer Drug Co.

8 South Tejon Street

Colorado Springs

Colorado

Korsmeyer Drug Co. was a downtown Colorado Springs pharmacy and druggist active in the first decades of the 20t century. According to city directories, the business was located at 8 South Tejon Street, with Frederick W. Korsmeyer serving as president, treasurer, and general manager. The company appears in the 1906 and 1907 directories under that address and name; a 1909 public notice in the Colorado Springs Gazette also references the firm, indicating it remained active at that time. By 1916, directory listings still identify “Korsmeyer Drug Co.,” with Frederick W. Korsmeyer noted as proprietor — though by then the family residence is given as 1411 North Weber. As with many early era drugstores in Colorado Springs, Korsmeyer Drug Co. likely served both local residents and the region’s influx of health seeking newcomers drawn to the town’s reputation for clean air and mountain climate. Pharmacies of that era offered a combination of medicines, tonics, patent remedies, and everyday sundries — often functioning as social and medical lifelines for a growing community. Indeed, by 1917 the city had over two dozen drug stores, reflecting how central such establishments were to daily life. This porcelain stopper — marked with the Korsmeyer name — is thus a tangible relic of early 20th century Colorado Springs commerce and health culture. It connects to a time when neighborhood druggists played a vital role in medicine, pharmacy goods, and community wellbeing. The stopper preserves the memory of a downtown business that served everyday needs at a formative time in the city’s history.

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City Bottling Co. Denver 1537 Platte St.

White, Red, Black

City Bottling Co. (George Finkbeiner)

1534-42 Platte Street

Denver

Colorado

The imprint “City Bottling Co., Denver, 1537 Platte St.” identifies a small, locally operated bottling business active in Denver during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The address places the company in the Platte River corridor northwest of downtown, an area that developed early as a mixed industrial and commercial district due to its proximity to rail lines, water access, and major transportation routes. By the turn of the century, Platte Street supported breweries, bottling works, warehouses, and light manufacturing operations that served Denver’s rapidly growing population. City Bottling Co. appears in Denver business records as an established bottling concern rather than a retail liquor outlet or saloon. The company name itself reflects a common convention of the period, emphasizing municipal service and local distribution rather than a proprietary brand identity. This naming pattern was frequently used by bottlers supplying soda water, mineral water, and other bottled beverages for household consumption, often using refillable glass bottles that circulated repeatedly through neighborhood trade. Surviving bottles, jugs, and etched glassware bearing the City Bottling Co. name provide direct physical evidence of the company’s operations. These artifacts demonstrate that the firm produced or filled its own containers and distributed beverages locally under its own imprint. The style of the glassware and containers corresponds with pre-Prohibition bottling practices, including reusable bottles and stoneware vessels intended for return and reuse. The presence of company-marked wares indicates an organized bottling operation rather than a purely wholesale distributor. Material evidence and period trade listings connect City Bottling Co. with George Finkbeiner, whose name appears on some surviving glassware alongside the company name and the Denver location. This association suggests that Finkbeiner served as proprietor or principal operator of the business during at least part of its documented existence. The use of an individual’s name in conjunction with the company name was typical of owner-operated bottling works in the era and reinforces the interpretation of City Bottling Co. as a locally controlled enterprise rather than a branch of a national concern. The building at 1537 Platte Street was part of a block that housed multiple beverage-related businesses over time. The location’s continued association with bottling and beverage production reflects the suitability of the site for such uses, including access to transportation and infrastructure necessary for distribution. While City Bottling Co. did not evolve into a large or long-lived corporation, its occupation of this address places it firmly within Denver’s early beverage industry landscape. City Bottling Co. does not appear to have been a brewery, nor is there evidence tying the business directly to distilling. Instead, the available record supports its identification as a bottling concern handling non-alcoholic beverages, mineral water, or possibly beer bottled from other local producers. This distinction is important, as many bottling companies of the period operated independently of breweries, purchasing product in bulk or producing soda water on site and distributing it under their own name. Later in the twentieth century, the same Platte Street address became associated with the Big Chief name, reflecting continued beverage use of the site after the City Bottling Co. era. “Big Chief” was a regional soft-drink bottling brand that operated in Denver and other western markets and is documented at 1537 Platte Street in subsequent years. The appearance of Big Chief at this address indicates continuity of function rather than continuity of ownership: the building remained suitable for bottling and distribution even as operators and brand identities changed. The reuse of the property by Big Chief aligns with broader patterns in which early local bottling plants were absorbed into, or replaced by, larger branded soft-drink operations as the beverage industry consolidated. Like many small bottlers, City Bottling Co. disappears from the record as the beverage industry consolidated and packaging technology changed. The decline of refillable bottle systems, combined with Prohibition and the rise of nationally branded beverages, reduced the viability of neighborhood bottling operations. By the early twentieth century, businesses of this scale were increasingly absorbed, renamed, or discontinued. Today, City Bottling Co. is known primarily through its marked bottles and glassware and through its association with a specific Denver address. These artifacts provide reliable documentation of the company’s name, location, and function, even in the absence of a surviving corporate archive. Together, they represent a tangible remnant of Denver’s pre-Prohibition bottling trade and the network of small enterprises that supplied everyday beverages to the city’s residents. In summary, “City Bottling Co., Denver, 1537 Platte St.” refers to a locally operated bottling business active in Denver’s Platte Street industrial corridor during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The company is documented through physical artifacts and address records, was associated with proprietor George Finkbeiner, and functioned as part of the city’s broader beverage distribution system prior to industry consolidation and regulatory change in Denver.

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Lithia Water Standard Bottling Co. Denver, Colo.

White, Black, Red

The Standard Bottling Company

Thirteenth and Lawrence Streets

Denver

Colorado

Porcelain stoppers with inscriptions similar to "The Standard Bottling Co. Denver Trade Mark" OR “Lithia Water Standard Bottling Co., Denver, Colo.” identify a Denver-based bottling and soda concern active in the early twentieth century, a period when bottled mineral waters and carbonated beverages were widely marketed across the United States as both refreshments and mild medicinal tonics. Lithia water referred to spring or treated waters containing trace lithium salts, believed at the time to aid digestion, relieve nervous conditions, and improve general vitality. Following the commercial success of eastern lithia springs in the late nineteenth century, dozens of regional bottlers adopted the lithia designation, and Standard Bottling Company participated directly in this nationwide mineral water boom by producing and branding lithia waters alongside soda waters, root beers, and fruit-flavored drinks. Denver’s mineral water and soft drink trade expanded rapidly as population growth and rail transportation strengthened urban distribution networks. Bottling firms commonly clustered in central warehouse and light-industrial districts close to rail lines and major commercial streets to facilitate bottle supply, ice delivery, washing operations, filling lines, and shipment to pharmacies, grocers, saloons, and private households. Business directories and period notices place Standard Bottling Company’s offices and works in this industrial corridor near the intersection of Thirteenth and Lawrence Streets, an area that housed numerous food processors, warehouses, and manufacturing concerns around the turn of the century. Material evidence firmly anchors the company’s activity in the first decades of the 1900s. Surviving blob-top, Hutch-style, and early crown-top bottles embossed “Standard Bottling Co., Denver,” often bearing S.B.Co. base marks, appear regularly in collector archives, breweriana sales, and auction catalogs, with stylistic dating commonly centered around 1905–1910 and extending into the early 1910s. These proprietary returnable containers reflect the era when Denver’s beverage trade relied on heavy embossed glass for both advertising and bottle control, and they demonstrate the firm’s participation in packaging transitions from wire-loop and slugplate styles to crown-cap sealing and machine-made bottles. Company management is documented in early twentieth-century commercial directories and trade listings, which identify Frederick Durocher as president and manager and H. L. (Harry) Aller as secretary-treasurer during roughly 1910–1912. Period trade reporting treats Standard Bottling Company as a backbone bottler within the Denver district, negotiating supply arrangements and handling large-scale beverage distribution typical of established regional bottling houses rather than small neighborhood fillers. While individual founders are not consistently recorded in surviving sources, the firm’s repeated appearance in directories, named officers, industrial location, and wide circulation of branded glass establish Standard Bottling Company as a substantive participant in Denver’s early beverage industry during the height of the mineral water craze. By the 1910s, tightening food and beverage regulations, improvements in municipal water systems, and declining public faith in medicinal mineral waters began to erode demand for lithia products. Many bottlers shifted toward flavored soft drinks, standardized soda brands, or discontinued mineral waters entirely as consumer tastes evolved toward the modern soft drink market. A stopper or bottle bearing the name Standard Bottling Co., Denver, Colo. therefore represents a distinct phase in Denver’s commercial history when local bottlers combined industrial bottling methods with health-oriented branding. Together with surviving embossed bottles, directory listings, and trade notices, it preserves the material footprint of a regional bottling enterprise that bridged the mineral water boom and the emergence of the twentieth-century soft drink industry.

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Neef's Gold Belt Denver

White, Black

Neef Brothers Brewing Company

12th Avenue and Quivas Street

Denver

Colorado

The story of Neef’s begins with two German immigrant brothers, Frederick Neef and Max Neef, who settled in Denver around 1872–1873. Initially they ran a wholesale liquor and retail saloon business downtown, and by 1880 had a storefront on 15th Street operating under “Frederick Neef & Bro.” as a wholesale liquor dealer. In 1891 the Neef brothers purchased the old Western Brewery and rebranded it the Neef Brothers Brewery. The new plant — located at the corner of 12th Avenue and Quivas Street (in the Lincoln Park area) — quickly became a major brewing facility. Its four story brick complex included a bottling house, ice machines, and reportedly had a capacity for up to about 75,000 barrels per year, supported by rail access and local water resources (notably from nearby Lake Archer). Neef’s produced a variety of beers under names such as Gold Belt Beer, “The Bohemian Girl,” and most notably “Weiner Märzen,” which was advertised as “The Beer that will make Colorado Famous.” The brewery gained substantial reach, distributing across Colorado and to neighboring states — a reflection of how immigrant founded breweries helped shape regional beer culture in the American West. However, the rise of temperance sentiment and eventual statewide prohibition in Colorado proved disastrous. When prohibition laws took effect (Colorado went dry in 1914), Neef’s tried to stay afloat with a “near-beer” product called “Snappy,” but the pivot failed to generate enough demand. The brewery ceased full operations and officially closed by 1917. Despite its closure, Neef Brothers Brewery left a significant imprint on Denver’s urban and cultural landscape. The former owner’s residence — the Frederick W. Neef House (built 1886) on Grove Street — remains extant and recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, surviving bottles (beer and malt tonic), old advertising, and local history of Neef’s serve as tangible links to a once thriving Colorado brewery — a testament to the region’s immigrant brewery heritage, early industrial ambition, and the profound disruption caused by Prohibition.

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Bieberbach Bros & Co. Worcester, Mass.

White, Black

Bieberbach Bros. & Co. (J. G. Bieberbach)

113 Summer Street

Worcester

Massachusetts

The bottling business commonly referred to as Bieberbach Bros. & Co. in Worcester, Massachusetts grew out of the enterprise founded by Johann George “J.G.” Bieberbach, whose full given name was John (Johann) Bieberbach. John Bieberbach was born in March 1856 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, the son of Johann George (George) Bieberbach, and he died in March 1923 in Worcester, where he spent his adult life as a beverage businessman and proprietor. By the late 19th century, John Bieberbach had established a beverage concern in Worcester that marketed and bottled seltzers, ginger ale, mineral water and related carbonated drinks, and this enterprise is the antecedent entity most directly connected to what later became the Polar Beverages company, which traces its origins to an 1882 Worcester soda and liquor bottling firm. The business operated from premises identified historically with 113 Summer Street in Worcester, Massachusetts, where the firm undertook bottling and distribution of sparkling waters and sodas along with imported mineral waters that were popular at the time. Under the Bieberbach name, the Worcester concern issued embossed bottles — including hand-finished “blob top” soda and mineral-water bottles and porcelain-stoppered carbonated-water containers — that appear in period bottle collector registries and trade listings from the 1880s through the early 20th century, reflecting the products handled and the techniques of glass and bottle manufacture of the era. John Bieberbach maintained his Worcester business through the last decades of the 19th century, and as the early 20th century unfolded his operations — like many regional bottlers — became intertwined with neighboring firms and evolving ownership structures. In the 1910s and into 1916, when the Crowley family reorganized Worcester bottling interests under the Polar name and shifted away from liquor toward carbonated beverages in the face of changing regulatory and market conditions, the inherited stock of bottles, stoppers and distribution networks from the Bieberbach concern helped form the backbone of the successor company’s early product portfolio. Family records from the region show that other Bieberbach family members such as George Bieberbach, born **in June 1878 in Worcester and deceased in March 1934, continued in local business roles in Worcester into the 20th century.

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Neefs Gold Belt Denver

White, Black

Neef Brothers Brewing Company

12th Avenue and Quivas Street

Denver

Colorado

The story of Neef’s begins with two German immigrant brothers, Frederick Neef and Max Neef, who settled in Denver around 1872–1873. Initially they ran a wholesale liquor and retail saloon business downtown, and by 1880 had a storefront on 15th Street operating under “Frederick Neef & Bro.” as a wholesale liquor dealer. In 1891 the Neef brothers purchased the old Western Brewery and rebranded it the Neef Brothers Brewery. The new plant — located at the corner of 12th Avenue and Quivas Street (in the Lincoln Park area) — quickly became a major brewing facility. Its four story brick complex included a bottling house, ice machines, and reportedly had a capacity for up to about 75,000 barrels per year, supported by rail access and local water resources (notably from nearby Lake Archer). Neef’s produced a variety of beers under names such as Gold Belt Beer, “The Bohemian Girl,” and most notably “Weiner Märzen,” which was advertised as “The Beer that will make Colorado Famous.” The brewery gained substantial reach, distributing across Colorado and to neighboring states — a reflection of how immigrant founded breweries helped shape regional beer culture in the American West. However, the rise of temperance sentiment and eventual statewide prohibition in Colorado proved disastrous. When prohibition laws took effect (Colorado went dry in 1914), Neef’s tried to stay afloat with a “near-beer” product called “Snappy,” but the pivot failed to generate enough demand. The brewery ceased full operations and officially closed by 1917. Despite its closure, Neef Brothers Brewery left a significant imprint on Denver’s urban and cultural landscape. The former owner’s residence — the Frederick W. Neef House (built 1886) on Grove Street — remains extant and recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, surviving bottles (beer and malt tonic), old advertising, and local history of Neef’s serve as tangible links to a once thriving Colorado brewery — a testament to the region’s immigrant brewery heritage, early industrial ambition, and the profound disruption caused by Prohibition.

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The Neef Bros. Brewing Co. Denver, Colo.

White, Blue, Red

Neef Brothers Brewing Company

12th Avenue and Quivas Street

Denver

Colorado

The story of Neef’s begins with two German immigrant brothers, Frederick Neef and Max Neef, who settled in Denver around 1872–1873. Initially they ran a wholesale liquor and retail saloon business downtown, and by 1880 had a storefront on 15th Street operating under “Frederick Neef & Bro.” as a wholesale liquor dealer. In 1891 the Neef brothers purchased the old Western Brewery and rebranded it the Neef Brothers Brewery. The new plant — located at the corner of 12th Avenue and Quivas Street (in the Lincoln Park area) — quickly became a major brewing facility. Its four story brick complex included a bottling house, ice machines, and reportedly had a capacity for up to about 75,000 barrels per year, supported by rail access and local water resources (notably from nearby Lake Archer). Neef’s produced a variety of beers under names such as Gold Belt Beer, “The Bohemian Girl,” and most notably “Weiner Märzen,” which was advertised as “The Beer that will make Colorado Famous.” The brewery gained substantial reach, distributing across Colorado and to neighboring states — a reflection of how immigrant founded breweries helped shape regional beer culture in the American West. However, the rise of temperance sentiment and eventual statewide prohibition in Colorado proved disastrous. When prohibition laws took effect (Colorado went dry in 1914), Neef’s tried to stay afloat with a “near-beer” product called “Snappy,” but the pivot failed to generate enough demand. The brewery ceased full operations and officially closed by 1917. Despite its closure, Neef Brothers Brewery left a significant imprint on Denver’s urban and cultural landscape. The former owner’s residence — the Frederick W. Neef House (built 1886) on Grove Street — remains extant and recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, surviving bottles (beer and malt tonic), old advertising, and local history of Neef’s serve as tangible links to a once thriving Colorado brewery — a testament to the region’s immigrant brewery heritage, early industrial ambition, and the profound disruption caused by Prohibition.

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NB The Neef Bros. Brewing Co. Denver, Colo.

White, Blue, Red

Neef Brothers Brewing Company

12th Avenue and Quivas Street

Denver

Colorado

The story of Neef’s begins with two German immigrant brothers, Frederick Neef and Max Neef, who settled in Denver around 1872–1873. Initially they ran a wholesale liquor and retail saloon business downtown, and by 1880 had a storefront on 15th Street operating under “Frederick Neef & Bro.” as a wholesale liquor dealer. In 1891 the Neef brothers purchased the old Western Brewery and rebranded it the Neef Brothers Brewery. The new plant — located at the corner of 12th Avenue and Quivas Street (in the Lincoln Park area) — quickly became a major brewing facility. Its four story brick complex included a bottling house, ice machines, and reportedly had a capacity for up to about 75,000 barrels per year, supported by rail access and local water resources (notably from nearby Lake Archer). Neef’s produced a variety of beers under names such as Gold Belt Beer, “The Bohemian Girl,” and most notably “Weiner Märzen,” which was advertised as “The Beer that will make Colorado Famous.” The brewery gained substantial reach, distributing across Colorado and to neighboring states — a reflection of how immigrant founded breweries helped shape regional beer culture in the American West. However, the rise of temperance sentiment and eventual statewide prohibition in Colorado proved disastrous. When prohibition laws took effect (Colorado went dry in 1914), Neef’s tried to stay afloat with a “near-beer” product called “Snappy,” but the pivot failed to generate enough demand. The brewery ceased full operations and officially closed by 1917. Despite its closure, Neef Brothers Brewery left a significant imprint on Denver’s urban and cultural landscape. The former owner’s residence — the Frederick W. Neef House (built 1886) on Grove Street — remains extant and recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, surviving bottles (beer and malt tonic), old advertising, and local history of Neef’s serve as tangible links to a once thriving Colorado brewery — a testament to the region’s immigrant brewery heritage, early industrial ambition, and the profound disruption caused by Prohibition.

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B. Heller & Co. Chicago, U.S.A. Manufacturing Chemists Registered Trade Mark

White, Black

Benjamin Heller & Co.

Chicago’s South Side along Calumet Avenue near East 40th Stree

Chicago

Illinois

The porcelain stopper marked “B. Heller & Co., Chicago, U.S.A., Manufacturing Chemists, Registered Trade Mark” originates from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, a period when Chicago stood as one of the nation’s leading centers for pharmaceutical production, chemical manufacturing, and wholesale drug distribution. During this era, the term “manufacturing chemists” commonly described firms compounding medicinal preparations, chemical solutions, disinfectants, flavoring extracts, pharmaceutical ingredients, and industrial compounds for sale to druggists, hospitals, soda fountains, food processors, bottlers, and commercial clients, forming the backbone of the American drug and specialty-chemical trades before the rise of large national pharmaceutical corporations. B. Heller & Co. was founded in 1894 by Benjamin Heller, a member of a German immigrant family rooted in Chicago’s meat and food trades who applied emerging principles of commercial chemistry to industrial food preparation. Growing up around butchering and packing operations, Heller recognized that large-scale meat processors increasingly sought standardized curing compounds, preservatives, and flavor preparations to replace inconsistent traditional methods. Establishing his first Chicago operation on South Canal Street in the city’s wholesale district, he produced proprietary dry powders and mixtures for sausage making, ham curing, and meat preservation, marketing directly to butchers, packers, and food wholesalers. As federal and state food-safety regulations expanded in the early twentieth century, Heller deliberately recast the business as a scientific manufacturing concern, adopting the designation “Manufacturing Chemists” to emphasize technical formulation, laboratory control, and standardized production. The firm rapidly broadened its catalog to include spice blends, flavoring extracts, food preservatives, sanitizing fluids, cleaning compounds, insecticides, chemical reagents, and measuring instruments used across the meat, dairy, bottling, pharmaceutical, and commercial kitchen industries. Extensive instructional literature and trade publications supported this growth, teaching standardized curing methods and compliance with new purity laws and positioning the company as both supplier and authority in applied food chemistry. Industrial expansion led B. Heller & Co. into large manufacturing and warehouse facilities on Chicago’s South Side along Calumet Avenue near East 40th Street, where laboratories and packaging lines produced an increasingly national line of branded products distributed efficiently by rail throughout the Midwest and beyond. Like many chemical houses clustered in Chicago’s dense commercial and industrial districts near freight depots and warehouse corridors, the firm operated from multi-story brick buildings combining offices, compounding rooms, chemical storage, and packing floors. The inclusion of “Registered Trade Mark” on the porcelain stopper reflects the company’s active use of branding as competition intensified among chemical manufacturers and patent medicine producers. Durable porcelain stoppers were widely used on bottles of liquid chemicals and pharmaceutical compounds, providing tight reusable seals while serving as permanent advertising surfaces—particularly valuable for manufacturing chemists whose products were sold in bulk quantities for pharmacy dispensing and refilling. Boldly labeled containers became central to Heller’s commercial identity, reflecting the era’s shift toward protected formulas and recognizable industrial brands. Chicago’s role as a national distribution hub fueled rapid growth of its chemical manufacturing sector between the 1880s and World War I, driven by urban population expansion, rising demand for standardized medicines, and the professionalization of pharmacy and food processing. Firms like B. Heller & Co. supplied not only retail druggists but also hospitals, soda fountain operators, meat packers, dairies, beverage producers, and industrial clients requiring preservatives, sanitation chemicals, and reagents essential to modern production. Benjamin Heller remained closely involved in management and product development for nearly four decades, guiding the company through Progressive Era regulatory reforms and the mechanization of food and chemical manufacturing. He died in 1933, after which leadership passed to the next generation, including his son Preston Heller, who continued operations into the mid-twentieth century with increasing emphasis on seasonings and food-industry ingredients as the firm’s core business. Although not itself a brewery or bottling house, B. Heller & Co. served many of the same commercial sectors that relied on preservation, sanitation, and flavor control. A porcelain stopper bearing the firm’s registered trademark thus represents a formative era in American pharmaceutical and specialty-chemical history, reflecting Chicago’s prominence as a manufacturing and distribution center and documenting the transformation of practical trade knowledge into a nationally distributed scientific enterprise.

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Milwaukee Brewery Of San Francisco Golden State Beer

White, Black

The Milwaukee Brewery

San Francisco

California

The name “Milwaukee Brewery of San Francisco” paired with the brand “Golden State Beer” reflects a West Coast brewing operation that deliberately invoked Midwestern brewing credibility while operating entirely in California. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, “Milwaukee” carried strong associations with beer quality and technical expertise, and a number of breweries outside Wisconsin adopted the name to signal adherence to established brewing traditions. In this case, the Milwaukee Brewery was a San Francisco–based enterprise, not a branch of a Wisconsin firm, and its use of the name functioned as branding rather than geography. The Milwaukee Brewery operated in San Francisco during a period when the city supported a dense concentration of breweries serving both local consumption and regional distribution. San Francisco’s port facilities, rail connections, and large working population made it one of the most competitive brewing markets on the West Coast. Breweries differentiated themselves through brand names, packaging, and appeals to Old World or nationally recognized brewing centers. The Milwaukee Brewery’s identity fits squarely within this competitive environment. “Golden State Beer” was one of the principal brands associated with the Milwaukee Brewery of San Francisco. The brand name emphasized California identity and regional pride, aligning the product with the state’s growing self-image while balancing the Midwestern implication of the brewery name. Surviving bottles and labels bearing the Golden State Beer name demonstrate that it was marketed as a distinct product rather than a generic house beer. The use of embossed glass and branded packaging indicates that the brewery invested in returnable containers and local brand recognition, consistent with pre-Prohibition brewing practices. The Milwaukee Brewery of San Francisco functioned as a full brewing operation rather than merely a bottling or distribution concern. Contemporary brewing industry patterns suggest that breweries of this type produced beer on site and bottled it for sale through saloons, retailers, and direct delivery. The company’s branding strategy—combining “Milwaukee” with “Golden State”—suggests an effort to reassure consumers of quality while simultaneously asserting a California presence in a crowded market. The documentary record for the Milwaukee Brewery of San Francisco and its Golden State Beer brand is notably limited, a circumstance that reflects broader historical conditions rather than an anomaly specific to this business. San Francisco’s brewing industry was repeatedly disrupted by economic consolidation, regulatory pressure, and catastrophic loss of records, most notably during the 1906 earthquake and fire, which destroyed large portions of the city’s commercial buildings and municipal archives. Smaller breweries that did not rebuild, merge into successor companies, or continue operations after these disruptions often left behind little more than their branded packaging. In addition, pre-Prohibition breweries commonly operated under trade names that emphasized style or regional reputation rather than ownership, and many did not maintain long-lived corporate structures that generated durable paper trails. As a result, for operations such as the Milwaukee Brewery of San Francisco, physical artifacts—bottles and labels—constitute the most reliable surviving evidence, while detailed business records, named proprietors, and fixed addresses are absent from the accessible historical record. Like nearly all California breweries operating before 1920, the Milwaukee Brewery’s trajectory was shaped by the advent of Prohibition. Brewing operations ceased, transformed, or disappeared entirely as alcohol production became illegal. While some California breweries later resumed operations under the same or similar names after Prohibition’s repeal, others did not reestablish themselves, and their identities survive only through bottles, labels, and trade references. Available evidence indicates that the Milwaukee Brewery of San Francisco did not persist as a major post-Prohibition brewing concern, and the Golden State Beer brand did not evolve into a long-lived national product. The absence of extensive corporate archives or long-running advertising campaigns is typical for breweries of this scale. Many regional breweries operated successfully for years yet left behind limited documentary records beyond packaging materials and directory listings. In such cases, branded bottles and labels become the most reliable historical evidence, preserving company names, product identities, and geographic associations long after the businesses themselves closed. Today, “Milwaukee Brewery of San Francisco — Golden State Beer” is best understood as a product of its time: a California brewery leveraging the reputation of a famous brewing city while promoting a distinctly regional beer. The surviving material culture documents a pre-Prohibition West Coast brewery that participated in San Francisco’s robust brewing economy and employed strategic branding to compete in a crowded and rapidly evolving marketplace.

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Wm. Scheppelman 3031 Fulton St. Brooklyn, N.Y.

White, Black

William Scheppelman

3031 Fulton Street

Brooklyn

New York

Wm. Scheppelman, 3031 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY appears to have been a local bottler or beverage retailer operating in Brooklyn during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. While no formal city directory or newspaper listings for Scheppelman have been located, surviving embossed bottles and stoppers bearing his name and address indicate that he likely bottled beer, soda, mineral water, or spirits for local sale, a common practice for small neighborhood merchants of the period. Fulton Street was a major commercial thoroughfare in Brooklyn at the time, lined with grocers, saloons, bottlers, and other vendors. Merchants often used custom embossed bottles and closures to mark their products and establish recognition in the local market. The presence of Scheppelman’s name on such a container suggests that he managed a small, independent operation, serving nearby customers rather than operating as a large-scale brewery or national distributor. Like many small proprietors of the era, Scheppelman’s business left few official records, and its history survives primarily through these tangible artifacts. Bottles and stoppers with his embossing represent the fragmented and locally focused nature of Brooklyn’s beverage trade before mass-produced packaging and standardized labeling became widespread. They offer collectors and historians a glimpse into the everyday commercial life of South Brooklyn neighborhoods, where neighborhood merchants provided both beverages and a point of social connection within the community. This item preserves the memory of a modest, yet distinct, Brooklyn bottling operation whose physical traces have mostly disappeared, making it a valuable example of late nineteenth-century commercial history in the city.

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Cordova Wines Cal. Winery

White, Black

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

California

The porcelain stopper marked “Cordova Wines – Cal. Winery” likely dates from the late 19th to early 20th century, a period when California’s wine industry was expanding rapidly across the state. Cordova Wines appears to have been a regional brand produced by California Winery, with evidence suggesting activity around Sacramento circa 1900–1915. Postcards and advertising ephemera from the era indicate that bottles bearing the Cordova name were shipped via railroad to local and regional markets, reflecting both the growing distribution network of California wines and the popularity of regional varietals prior to Prohibition. The stopper itself would have sealed a bottle intended to preserve the wine’s quality during transport, using a durable porcelain-and-cork closure typical of the period. Such stoppers were common in California wineries of the era, offering a reliable method to maintain carbonation and prevent spoilage before modern bottling technologies and crown caps became widespread. While detailed records of the winery’s proprietors, vineyard location, or production volume are scarce, Cordova Wines fits within the broader narrative of early California viticulture, when small and medium-sized wineries experimented with varietals, branding, and regional marketing. The name “Cordova” was likely chosen as a distinctive brand, helping the bottles stand out in a competitive market of local wines and sodas. As a material artifact, this stopper offers a tangible connection to California’s early wine industry — a time when winemakers and distributors were establishing the foundations of what would become a globally renowned wine region. It reflects both the craftsmanship of bottle sealing in the early 1900s and the entrepreneurial spirit of California vintners, preserving the memory of a regional brand that contributed to the state’s viticultural heritage.

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Ask For Friedler's Soft Drinks

White, Black, Red

P.W. Friedler

80–82 Lowell Street

Rochester

New York

The name “P.W. Friedler Rochester N.Y.” embossed on a bottle points to a beverage merchant and small-scale bottling operation that was active in Rochester, New York, likely in the late 19th or early 20th century, when independent bottlers played a vital role in supplying local communities. Rochester, a thriving industrial city on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, supported a diverse economy that included flour milling, carriage and automotive manufacturing, and a wide array of neighborhood retail and wholesale enterprises. Within this environment, local bottlers like P.W. Friedler provided soda, mineral water, and other bottled beverages to taverns, grocers, and household customers. Physical evidence shows that Friedler’s operation was associated with 80–82 Lowell Street in Rochester, establishing a tangible location for the business. Bottles embossed with his name and city — sometimes including the Lowell Street address — served both practical and promotional purposes. They preserved carbonation, protected the product, and clearly identified the source of the beverage in an era before standardized paper labels and national branding. The embossed bottles themselves are the primary historical documentation of Friedler’s enterprise. They indicate that he operated a recognized bottling business in Rochester, supplying beverages either sourced from regional producers or prepared locally, then bottled in heavy glass with reusable stoppers, a standard practice of the period. The inclusion of the address reinforced the merchant’s identity and helped ensure the return of bottles for reuse, which was a common aspect of small bottlers’ operations. Friedler’s business would have integrated into Rochester’s local distribution networks, likely using horse drawn wagons and, later, motor trucks, to deliver beverages throughout the city. Independent bottlers like Friedler operated alongside larger breweries’ agents, providing neighborhood service, reliability, and products that were locally identifiable by embossed bottles. While no additional biographical records — such as full given names, birth and death dates, or family information — are currently documented, the surviving bottles provide a direct physical connection to Rochester’s beverage trade during this era. These artifacts stand as enduring evidence of a small, locally based bottling business that contributed to the daily life of the city and reflect the broader importance of neighborhood entrepreneurs in America’s early carbonated beverage industry. The legacy of P.W. Friedler is preserved in these material traces: the bottles that once moved through taverns, grocery stores, and homes, bearing his name and Lowell Street address as a mark of local enterprise and service.

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Graf's The Best What Gives

White, Black

The John Graf Co.

901–903 Greenfield Avenue

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

The John Graf Company traces its origins to 1873, when John Graf, a young German immigrant trained in traditional brewing methods and then about twenty years old, entered Milwaukee’s beverage trade. He initially partnered with brewer Philip Madlener in a small soda water and weiss beer bottling operation known as Graf & Madlener (also styled John J. Graf & Co.). The firm specialized in weiss beer, a cloudy, wheat-based style favored by German communities and distinct from the increasingly dominant lager beers of the era. By the early 1880s Graf had assumed full ownership of the business, briefly operating as the South Side White Beer Brewery before rebranding the enterprise under his own name. As demand increased, Graf expanded significantly. In 1884 he constructed a large, modern brewing and bottling facility at 901–903 Greenfield Avenue near Seventeenth (later Twenty-Second) Street on Milwaukee’s South Side. Operating as the John Graf Weiss Beer Brewery, the company became one of Wisconsin’s most influential weiss beer producers. Its beer was sold young and unfiltered, prized for freshness and character, and distributed widely to neighborhood taverns, beer gardens, and retail outlets. The brewery also produced soda water and mineral beverages, demonstrating early diversification. Embossed bottles marked “John Graf’s Milwaukee Weiss Beer” reflected Graf’s emphasis on branded bottling at a time when many breweries still relied heavily on keg distribution, serving both advertising and ownership functions within Milwaukee’s dense saloon and distribution network. By 1909 the enterprise employed approximately sixty workers and produced beverages valued at about $120,000 annually. In 1913 the business formally incorporated as the John Graf Company, signaling its transition from a sole proprietorship to a multi-generational family enterprise. John Graf died in 1919, just as Prohibition took effect nationwide, marking a major turning point for both the family and the company. Management passed to his daughter, Sylvia Graf, who oversaw the business as it closed its brewery operations in 1920 and shifted entirely away from alcoholic production. Unlike many pre-Prohibition weiss beer breweries that disappeared, the John Graf Company survived by producing non-alcoholic beverages, including soda, root beer, and other soft drinks, continuing operations at the Greenfield Avenue plant and benefiting from established bottling infrastructure, local brand recognition, and family continuity. The company’s soft drink line—especially Graf’s Root Beer—gained lasting popularity in Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest. In later years, John Graf’s grandson, Lawrie O. Graf, rebranded the product as Grandpa Graf’s Root Beer, reinforcing its familial identity and nostalgic appeal. Although traditional weiss beer did not return to prominence after repeal, the Graf beverage business endured well into the mid-20th century. Ownership changed hands several times, including a transfer in 1968 to the industrial firm P & V Atlas (Pfister & Vogel), and later through a succession of beverage companies. The brewery buildings themselves remained a visible landmark on Milwaukee’s South Side for decades, even as the city’s brewing industry consolidated and shifted toward national brands. Today, bottles and other artifacts bearing the “John Graf’s Milwaukee Weiss Beer” name are regarded as important survivals from Milwaukee’s early immigrant brewing culture. They document not only a distinctive beer style, but also the story of a resilient family enterprise that navigated industrial growth, Prohibition, and generational change, leaving a lasting imprint on Wisconsin’s brewing and bottling history.

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John Graf Co. The Best What Gives

White, Black

The John Graf Co.

901–903 Greenfield Avenue

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

The John Graf Company traces its origins to 1873, when John Graf, a young German immigrant trained in traditional brewing methods and then about twenty years old, entered Milwaukee’s beverage trade. He initially partnered with brewer Philip Madlener in a small soda water and weiss beer bottling operation known as Graf & Madlener (also styled John J. Graf & Co.). The firm specialized in weiss beer, a cloudy, wheat-based style favored by German communities and distinct from the increasingly dominant lager beers of the era. By the early 1880s Graf had assumed full ownership of the business, briefly operating as the South Side White Beer Brewery before rebranding the enterprise under his own name. As demand increased, Graf expanded significantly. In 1884 he constructed a large, modern brewing and bottling facility at 901–903 Greenfield Avenue near Seventeenth (later Twenty-Second) Street on Milwaukee’s South Side. Operating as the John Graf Weiss Beer Brewery, the company became one of Wisconsin’s most influential weiss beer producers. Its beer was sold young and unfiltered, prized for freshness and character, and distributed widely to neighborhood taverns, beer gardens, and retail outlets. The brewery also produced soda water and mineral beverages, demonstrating early diversification. Embossed bottles marked “John Graf’s Milwaukee Weiss Beer” reflected Graf’s emphasis on branded bottling at a time when many breweries still relied heavily on keg distribution, serving both advertising and ownership functions within Milwaukee’s dense saloon and distribution network. By 1909 the enterprise employed approximately sixty workers and produced beverages valued at about $120,000 annually. In 1913 the business formally incorporated as the John Graf Company, signaling its transition from a sole proprietorship to a multi-generational family enterprise. John Graf died in 1919, just as Prohibition took effect nationwide, marking a major turning point for both the family and the company. Management passed to his daughter, Sylvia Graf, who oversaw the business as it closed its brewery operations in 1920 and shifted entirely away from alcoholic production. Unlike many pre-Prohibition weiss beer breweries that disappeared, the John Graf Company survived by producing non-alcoholic beverages, including soda, root beer, and other soft drinks, continuing operations at the Greenfield Avenue plant and benefiting from established bottling infrastructure, local brand recognition, and family continuity. The company’s soft drink line—especially Graf’s Root Beer—gained lasting popularity in Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest. In later years, John Graf’s grandson, Lawrie O. Graf, rebranded the product as Grandpa Graf’s Root Beer, reinforcing its familial identity and nostalgic appeal. Although traditional weiss beer did not return to prominence after repeal, the Graf beverage business endured well into the mid-20th century. Ownership changed hands several times, including a transfer in 1968 to the industrial firm P & V Atlas (Pfister & Vogel), and later through a succession of beverage companies. The brewery buildings themselves remained a visible landmark on Milwaukee’s South Side for decades, even as the city’s brewing industry consolidated and shifted toward national brands. Today, bottles and other artifacts bearing the “John Graf’s Milwaukee Weiss Beer” name are regarded as important survivals from Milwaukee’s early immigrant brewing culture. They document not only a distinctive beer style, but also the story of a resilient family enterprise that navigated industrial growth, Prohibition, and generational change, leaving a lasting imprint on Wisconsin’s brewing and bottling history.

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Graf's Soft Drinks The Best What Gives

White, Black

The John Graf Co.

901–903 Greenfield Avenue

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

The John Graf Company traces its origins to 1873, when John Graf, a young German immigrant trained in traditional brewing methods and then about twenty years old, entered Milwaukee’s beverage trade. He initially partnered with brewer Philip Madlener in a small soda water and weiss beer bottling operation known as Graf & Madlener (also styled John J. Graf & Co.). The firm specialized in weiss beer, a cloudy, wheat-based style favored by German communities and distinct from the increasingly dominant lager beers of the era. By the early 1880s Graf had assumed full ownership of the business, briefly operating as the South Side White Beer Brewery before rebranding the enterprise under his own name. As demand increased, Graf expanded significantly. In 1884 he constructed a large, modern brewing and bottling facility at 901–903 Greenfield Avenue near Seventeenth (later Twenty-Second) Street on Milwaukee’s South Side. Operating as the John Graf Weiss Beer Brewery, the company became one of Wisconsin’s most influential weiss beer producers. Its beer was sold young and unfiltered, prized for freshness and character, and distributed widely to neighborhood taverns, beer gardens, and retail outlets. The brewery also produced soda water and mineral beverages, demonstrating early diversification. Embossed bottles marked “John Graf’s Milwaukee Weiss Beer” reflected Graf’s emphasis on branded bottling at a time when many breweries still relied heavily on keg distribution, serving both advertising and ownership functions within Milwaukee’s dense saloon and distribution network. By 1909 the enterprise employed approximately sixty workers and produced beverages valued at about $120,000 annually. In 1913 the business formally incorporated as the John Graf Company, signaling its transition from a sole proprietorship to a multi-generational family enterprise. John Graf died in 1919, just as Prohibition took effect nationwide, marking a major turning point for both the family and the company. Management passed to his daughter, Sylvia Graf, who oversaw the business as it closed its brewery operations in 1920 and shifted entirely away from alcoholic production. Unlike many pre-Prohibition weiss beer breweries that disappeared, the John Graf Company survived by producing non-alcoholic beverages, including soda, root beer, and other soft drinks, continuing operations at the Greenfield Avenue plant and benefiting from established bottling infrastructure, local brand recognition, and family continuity. The company’s soft drink line—especially Graf’s Root Beer—gained lasting popularity in Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest. In later years, John Graf’s grandson, Lawrie O. Graf, rebranded the product as Grandpa Graf’s Root Beer, reinforcing its familial identity and nostalgic appeal. Although traditional weiss beer did not return to prominence after repeal, the Graf beverage business endured well into the mid-20th century. Ownership changed hands several times, including a transfer in 1968 to the industrial firm P & V Atlas (Pfister & Vogel), and later through a succession of beverage companies. The brewery buildings themselves remained a visible landmark on Milwaukee’s South Side for decades, even as the city’s brewing industry consolidated and shifted toward national brands. Today, bottles and other artifacts bearing the “John Graf’s Milwaukee Weiss Beer” name are regarded as important survivals from Milwaukee’s early immigrant brewing culture. They document not only a distinctive beer style, but also the story of a resilient family enterprise that navigated industrial growth, Prohibition, and generational change, leaving a lasting imprint on Wisconsin’s brewing and bottling history.

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Compliments Of W.C. Peacock & Co. Honolulu

White, Red

W.C. Peacock & Co.

23 Nuuanu Street

Honolulu

Hawaii

Walter Chamberlain (W.C.) Peacock was a dominant figure in Honolulu’s late-19th-century liquor trade who parlayed a modest start into a multi-faceted wholesale, saloon and hospitality enterprise. An Englishman who arrived in the islands in the early 1880s, Peacock first went into business with local merchant George Freeth as Freeth & Peacock at 23 Nuuanu Street, and by about 1888 the firm reconstituted as W.C. Peacock & Co., operating wholesale wine-and-spirits sales while also running a string of well-known saloons (the Pacific, Cosmopolitan and the Royal). In 1889–1890 Peacock built the distinctive brick “Royal Saloon” building at the corner of Nuuanu (now Nuuanu Ave) and Merchant Street — a commercial landmark that survives in modified form today — and his business imprint appears on surviving amber liquor bottles and porcelain stoppers marketed as W.C. Peacock & Co., Honolulu. Peacock’s ambitions extended into hospitality: he incorporated the Moana Hotel Company and opened the Moana Hotel in Waikiki (1901), though he sold the property in 1905 after mixed commercial success. The firm also figures in territorial legal and commercial records of the period (including reported litigation), underscoring its prominence in Hawaiian commerce around the turn of the century. Today W.C. Peacock & Co. is remembered through surviving breweriana and historic buildings, and Peacock himself stands out as an example of how immigrant entrepreneurs shaped Honolulu’s beverage, leisure and early tourism industries in the decades before Prohibition and modern consolidation.

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M Minneapolis Brewing Co.

White, Red, Black

Minneapolis Brewing Company (August U. Schaefer, Ferdinand Schwab and Charles F. Schmidt)

1300–1320 Marshall Street NE

Minneapolis

Minnesota

The Minneapolis Brewing Company was a major regional brewery based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, whose operations, corporate leadership, production facilities, and products are documented through breweriana, city directories, corporate filings, newspaper coverage, and historical business records. Organized in the early 1890s, the company grew from a local enterprise into one of the leading brewing firms in the Upper Midwest, distinguished by large-scale lager production, significant industrial infrastructure along the Mississippi River, and a broad regional distribution network. The firm was formally established in 1891 when three existing Minneapolis breweries — Schmidt & Gentz, Kaufmann & Theurer, and Traun & Heck — were consolidated under a single corporate umbrella to form the Minneapolis Brewing Company. This combination brought together the plant assets, recipes, and market goodwill of multiple producers, creating a company with enhanced capital resources and expanded production capacity. The newly formed corporation was headquartered at 1300–1320 Marshall Street NE, adjacent to railroad lines and the Mississippi River, which provided logistical advantages for receiving grain, shipping finished product, and ensuring a steady supply of ice and water — critical inputs for lager brewing. Leadership of the Minneapolis Brewing Company from its inception included figures prominent in regional brewing circles. August U. Schaefer, a long-time Minneapolis brewer, was elected president of the consolidated company and became the central executive guiding its expansion. Ferdinand Schwab served as vice president, and Charles F. Schmidt, one of the principals from Schmidt & Gentz, was treasurer. These individuals brought decades of brewing experience and business connections to the corporate structure, enabling the company to negotiate supply contracts, extend its sales territories, and invest in modern brewing technology at a time when refrigeration and mechanization were transforming the industry. Production at the Marshall Street plant was large in scale compared with many local competitors. The brewery included expansive brewhouse buildings, lagering cellars, cooperage and bottling facilities, ice houses, and warehouse structures. The company produced a portfolio of lagers with distinctive branded names, among them Minneapolis Special, Premium Export, and Old Dairy. Bottles embossed “Minneapolis Brewing Co.” and branded closures appear in breweriana collections, confirming the firm’s active engagement in the bottled beer market alongside barrel draft sales. Machinery investments in the early 20th century allowed Minneapolis Brewing to can beer as well as bottle it, expanding its retail presence in regional grocery stores and saloons. Minneapolis Brewing Company’s operational period included both the Prohibition era and the post-Prohibition recovery of the beer industry. During Prohibition, the firm, like many breweries, shifted to producing “near beer,” soft drinks, malt extract, ice, and other legal beverages to sustain its workforce and facilities. With repeal in 1933, the company resumed full beer production, quickly reestablishing its portfolio of lagers and rebuilding market share. The brewery continued to modernize through mid-century, adopting automated bottling lines and distribution strategies that extended its reach throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas. Biographical details for the company’s principal leaders are well documented in regional histories. August U. Schaefer was born in Germany and emigrated to the United States in the mid-19th century; he became a central figure in Minneapolis’s brewing industry and served in executive roles until his death in the early 20th century. Other officers such as Schwab and Schmidt had similar immigrant ties and long careers in brewing before and after the consolidation that created Minneapolis Brewing Company. The company continued operations into the latter half of the 20th century, but changing market conditions, increased competition from national brewing conglomerates, and shifts in consumer taste gradually eroded the position of many regional brewers. By the 1960s, Minneapolis Brewing’s brewery complex had been downsized and its brands absorbed into larger portfolios; the Marshall Street plant eventually closed, and the brewery’s name disappeared from industry directories. What survives most visibly of the Minneapolis Brewing Company today are its embossed bottles, branded closures, advertising artifacts, and the documented street address of its Marshall Street plant, which anchor the firm’s identity in the city’s industrial past. The company stands as one of Minneapolis’s most substantial pre-Prohibition breweries, notable both for its early consolidation of local firms and for its sustained production of lagers under a corporate structure led by named individuals whose careers shaped the Upper Midwest’s brewing history.

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Lash's Bitters Regulates The Bowels

White, Black

T.M. Lash & Co.

UNKNOWN

Sacramento

California

The product known as Lash’s Bitters traces its origins to the 1880s, when a company formed by pharmacists in Sacramento, California began marketing proprietary herbal tonic remedies under the name T.M. Lash & Co.. A partnership between Tito M Lash and John Spieker, the business was started in 1884 and marketed a number of proprietary medicines that included alcohol based tonics and liniments. One of their most popular products was Lash’s Kidney & Liver Bitters. By 1893 the business incorporated as Lash’s Bitters Company, later expanding operations to San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. Promoted as “The Original Tonic Laxative Bitters,” Lash’s was marketed as a remedy for chronic constipation, biliousness, indigestion, inactive liver or bowels, headaches, loss of appetite, and similar ailments. The bitters were described as gentle yet effective — a medicine rather than a beverage. This stopper embossed with “Lash’s Bitters – Regulates the Bowels” is likely from the company’s core production period — roughly late 19th century through early 20th century — before the widespread advent of modern drug regulation and standardization. Bitters in this era were often sold in distinctive square amber bottles, using screw top or cork closures, and widely distributed across the United States. As a cultural artifact, the stopper connects directly to a once prevalent class of “patent medicines” — herbal or alcohol based tonics that promised relief for common digestive and liver complaints, long before modern pharmacology. Its presence offers tangible proof of early American self medication practices and the importance of patent medicine commerce in everyday life. Because the original Lash’s Bitters Company operated in multiple major cities (San Francisco, Chicago York), the stopper doesn’t by itself identify a single region — but it stands as a testament to a widely marketed remedy, and a relic from America’s turn of the century medicinal and social history. More information can be found here: https://baybottles.com/2017/01/19/lashs-bitters-co-new-york-chicago-san-francisco/

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H.E. Lazarus Royal Seltzer Seal Phone Cal. 4563

White, Black

H. E. Lazarus

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

The porcelain stopper marked “H. E. Lazarus Royal Seltzer Phone Cal. 4563” likely dates from the early 20th century, a period when small local soda, mineral water, and seltzer bottlers were common across the United States. The “Cal. 4563” represents a vintage telephone exchange number — the “Cal.” portion indicates the exchange prefix, while “4563” is the subscriber number. This format, used in cities nationwide before all number dialing became standard, allowed local customers to contact the business directly. It is not an abbreviation for California. Despite extensive searches of city directories, telephone exchange lists, and historical newspaper archives, no definitive city, state, or business records have been found that document H. E. Lazarus or “Royal Seltzer.” This suggests the company was likely a small, local operation, possibly a neighborhood bottler, pharmacy, or house brand distributor, producing limited quantities for local consumption. Many such firms operated briefly and left minimal archival traces, making surviving bottles and stoppers rare artifacts. This stopper therefore represents one of these elusive, short-lived soda or seltzer brands — a tangible remnant of early 20th-century American beverage culture. It reflects both the business practices of the era, when even small bottlers advertised their telephone contact for direct orders, and the craftsmanship of porcelain closures, which preserved carbonation and product quality. As a collectible, it offers a unique glimpse into the entrepreneurial and industrial fabric of its time, preserving the memory of a local business that otherwise would have vanished from history.

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Jos. A. Magnus & Co. Magnus Cincinnati, Ohio Trade Mark

White, Black

Joseph A. Magnus & Co.

29 Main / 49 Main / 337 Main / 121-125 East 8th St.

Cincinnati

Ohio

Jos. A. Magnus & Co. — founded by Joseph A. Magnus — launched Murray Hill Club whiskey around the turn of the 20th century, making it the signature “club whiskey” of the firm. Joseph A. Magnus had entered the wholesale liquor business in 1892 at a young age, building a thriving operation in Cincinnati, Ohio, specializing in rectifying and blending spirits rather than distilling from scratch. Murray Hill Club was reportedly named after a saloon or social establishment in New York City’s Murray Hill district — the “club” imagery evoked sophistication and social standing. Depictions of early 20th century ads describe the whiskey as possessing “delicious flavor and incomparable bouquet” and appeal to “particular people,” typical marketing of the era that emphasized refinement, maturity, and exclusivity. Though owned and operated from Cincinnati, Jos. A. Magnus & Co. distributed Murray Hill Club widely, placing it in leading bars, hotels, cafés, and groceries across the United States — aiming it at a clientele drawn to urban sophistication, gentility, and social clubs. The company reportedly created around 20 different liquor brands, but Murray Hill Club remained its flagship name. The business ceased production in 1918 when national Prohibition loomed — the legal environment made continuation untenable. Over the generations, the brand faded into obscurity, and original bottles became rare relics. Decades later, in the 2000s, a preserved bottle discovered among family possessions rekindled interest. In 2015, descendants re-established Jos. A. Magnus & Co., reviving Murray Hill Club less as an original-run whiskey and more as a modern homage — a blended bourbon crafted via contemporary sourcing and finishing techniques intended to evoke the flavor character and spirit of the pre Prohibition original. Despite the geographical shift and modern bottling, the revived brand — like its original forebear — seeks to channel the legacy of “club” refinement, blending tradition with modern craftsmanship.

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George Roesch Wines Beer Whiskies Phila.

White, Red

George Roesch

2435 North Sydenham Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

This porcelain stopper originates from the Philadelphia liquor trade and is attributed to George Roesch, a wine, beer, and whiskey dealer active in North Philadelphia during the turn of the 20th century. The cap features bold black transfer lettering spelling “GEORGE ROESCH – PHILA.” encircling a striking inner ring printed in red with “WINES – BEER – WHISKIES,” clearly positioning Roesch as a merchant in alcoholic beverages. Closures of this style were commonly used for beer, soda, and spirits bottles fitted with lightning-type wire swing tops prior to Prohibition, placing this example securely within the pre-1920 bottling era. City and industrial directories of the period list Roesch operating at 2435 North Sydenham Street, a business address confirmed further by a period advertisement printed in the Twenty-Third National Sängerfest program, which identifies him as a “Distributor of Aquilla Pure Rye Whiskey.” The stopper design aligns with other known Philadelphia bottlers of the same timeframe, who frequently commissioned branded porcelain closures as a durable and reusable form of packaging and advertisement. Surviving examples connected to Roesch are considered desirable because business documentation, early liquor ephemera, and bottling artifacts provide a tangible link to neighborhood-scale alcohol distributors that once served local communities before consolidation of the industry. Although multiple individuals named George Roesch appear in Philadelphia genealogical records, the directories and advertisement firmly connect the bottling operation to the Sydenham Street address. This stopper represents a material piece of that history — a small but compelling artifact of the city’s pre-Prohibition beverage trade, capturing both the marketing aesthetic and everyday commerce of its time.

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Walton Club

White, Black, Red

Kaufmann & Baer

216 E. Pearl Street

Cincinnati

Ohio

The “Walton Club” porcelain stopper likely originates from a whiskey produced by Kaufmann & Baer, a Cincinnati-based distillery active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kaufmann & Baer were known for rye and blended whiskies and frequently sold private-label or “club” brands to local taverns, hotels, and social clubs, a common practice among small and regional distillers in Cincinnati’s densely packed German-American brewing and distilling community. The use of a porcelain stopper aligns with bottle-sealing practices of the era, particularly for premium spirits intended to convey quality and exclusivity. The “Club” designation suggests that Walton Club was a branded or private-label whiskey, likely produced in limited regional quantities, which helps explain its absence from major distillery directories or trade publications. As a result, surviving artifacts such as stoppers or bottles are rare, and they offer valuable insight into Cincinnati’s smaller-scale, late-19th- to early-20th-century whiskey trade. While little formal documentation survives, the connection to Kaufmann & Baer indicates that Walton Club was almost certainly a whiskey intended for discerning local consumers, reflecting the widespread practice of producing specialty or club-branded spirits for niche markets during the pre-Prohibition era.

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Ahrens Bottling Co Oakland

White, Red, Black

Diedrich N. Ahrens Bottling Co.

1565 Linden Street

Oakland

California

The embossing “Ahrens Bottling Co. Oakland” identifies a proprietor-run bottling and beverage distribution business that operated from a fixed Oakland address during the period when independent bottlers routinely marked their returnable bottles as permanent trade identifiers. City business listings place the firm at 1565 Linden Street, anchoring the operation within a working commercial block that supported small manufacturing shops, grocers, and liquor dealers serving Oakland’s growing population in the early twentieth century. The bottling works functioned under the ownership of Diedrich N. Ahrens, whose name appears in connection with the company as its proprietor rather than as a distant investor or corporate officer. Surviving embossed bottles bearing the Ahrens Bottling Co. name confirm that the firm actively packaged and circulated bottled beverages in regular commercial trade. The recurrence of identical embossing across multiple examples demonstrates organized production runs and sustained neighborhood distribution rather than occasional filling or novelty marking. The bottle forms associated with the imprint align with soda and beer bottling typical of small urban bottlers who combined local filling with contract distribution of brewery beer. Business records further show that Ahrens Bottling Co. acted as an agent for outside lager beer brands, handling bottled beer produced by larger breweries and distributing it locally from the Linden Street premises. This agency role was common among independent bottlers who served as intermediaries between major brewers and neighborhood retailers, expanding brewery reach while maintaining local delivery and bottle-return systems. In addition to beer, such bottling works typically handled mineral water and soft drink lines to maintain steady year-round trade. The Linden Street location would have supported the practical needs of a bottling operation, including space for washing returned bottles, filling and capping lines, crate storage, and wagon access for frequent short-route deliveries. The firm’s consistent appearance in business listings across multiple years indicates a stable operation rather than a brief experiment, and the survival of branded glass reinforces the scale and continuity of its commercial activity. While the proprietor’s name is known, extended biographical details for Diedrich N. Ahrens — such as birth and death dates, immigration background, family structure, or census household records — have not yet surfaced in readily accessible digitized archives. No preserved production figures or internal business ledgers have been located that would quantify annual output or workforce size. These gaps reflect the common disappearance of detailed records for small proprietor bottlers whose daily commercial presence was significant locally but rarely preserved in formal industrial surveys. What can be stated with confidence is that Ahrens Bottling Co., owned by Diedrich N. Ahrens, operated a neighborhood bottling and beverage distribution business at 1565 Linden Street in Oakland, circulated large quantities of returnable bottles bearing its name, and functioned as both a local bottler and a beer distribution agent during Oakland’s early twentieth-century growth. The stopper or bottle bearing this imprint preserves a tangible record of a locally rooted bottling enterprise embedded in the city’s working commercial fabric, capturing in glass the presence of a proprietor whose business served everyday neighborhood demand even as most personal and operational paper records have faded from surviving archives.

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Theo. Blauth Sons Co. Inc. Sacramento, Cal.

White, Red, Black

Theo. Blauth Sons Inc

407 X Street

Sacramento

California

Theo. Blauth Sons Inc. of Sacramento, California was a late-nineteenth-century beverage bottling and liquor distribution concern whose presence is documented through both surviving embossed bottles and period newspaper records. The business is most closely associated with Theodore Blauth, commonly listed as Theo. Blauth, who was active in Sacramento’s commercial trade during the 1890s and early 1900s. Contemporary issues of the Sacramento Daily Union and Record-Union newspapers from 1898–1899 include advertisements and listings identifying Theo. Blauth as selling “Glenbrook” sour mash whisky at 407 X Street, Sacramento. These notices place him firmly in the retail or wholesale liquor trade, often appearing alongside other grocery, wine, and beverage merchants, a common practice in the era before strict separation of food and alcohol sales. The repeated references to this address suggest that 407 X Street served as a principal place of business for Blauth’s operations. In addition to newspaper documentation, collectors have identified embossed bottles marked “Theo. Blauth Sons Inc. / Sacramento, Cal.” and related variants referencing California Bottling Works, indicating that the business expanded beyond simple retail sales into bottling and branded container distribution. Bottling works of this type typically handled beer, whiskey, soda, or mineral water, filling containers for local consumption and marking them with proprietary embossing for identification and reuse. Family records confirm the Blauth family resided in Sacramento, reinforcing the likelihood that the enterprise was family-run, with sons participating in the business as it evolved. As with many small regional bottlers, detailed corporate records are scarce, and the company’s history survives primarily through newspapers, directories, and the physical artifacts it left behind. Today, bottles or porcelain stoppers bearing the Theo. Blauth Sons Inc. name are valued as authentic remnants of Sacramento’s pre-Prohibition beverage trade, offering tangible insight into a locally operated liquor and bottling business at the turn of the twentieth century.

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JB Breckenfelder & Jochem Oakland Cal

White, Red, Black

Breckenfelder & Jochem

1679 Seventh Street, between Willow and Campbell Avenue

Oakland

California

The stopper marked Breckenfelder & Jochem, Oakland, Cal. is tied to a documented commercial partnership operating in Oakland in the early twentieth century. Period business directories list Breckenfelder & Jochem as agents serving Alameda County, with their offices and business premises located at 1679 Seventh Street, between Willow and Campbell Avenue, Oakland. This address placed the firm in a mixed industrial and wholesale corridor where manufacturers’ agents, distributors, and supply firms conducted business connected to Oakland’s port facilities, rail lines, and expanding urban market. The designation of the firm as “agents” indicates that Breckenfelder & Jochem functioned as regional representatives and distributors rather than retail merchants, handling goods on behalf of producers and arranging sales, deliveries, and commercial contracts throughout Alameda County and surrounding areas. Firms operating under this structure commonly represented beverage producers, bottled water companies, brewing interests, and other consumable goods that required regular distribution routes and warehouse-style storage rather than storefront sales. The presence of a branded porcelain stopper bearing the company name demonstrates that Breckenfelder & Jochem were directly involved in handling bottled products circulated in reusable containers. Such closures were typically commissioned only by firms with consistent commercial volume, as bottle ownership and return were essential to maintaining profitability. This indicates the partnership maintained active distribution networks supplying clients such as saloons, hotels, wholesalers, or secondary retailers within the East Bay region. Surviving directory records do not preserve the partners’ first names or personal biographies, but the continued appearance of the firm name in early twentieth-century business listings confirms that Breckenfelder & Jochem operated as an established commercial enterprise rather than a short-term venture. The fixed warehouse-style address supports their role as a distribution and agency firm embedded within Oakland’s growing industrial economy.

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Buffalo Brew'g. Co. Sacramento

White, Black

Buffalo Brewing Company

21st/22nd streets and Q/R streets

Sacramento

California

Buffalo Brewing Company of Sacramento, California was one of the most prominent breweries on the West Coast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded circa 1890 by German-born entrepreneur Herman H. Grau (sometimes Grau/Graw), the brewery was built on an ambitious scale, featuring a five-story brick and iron main building, ice house, bottle house, and supporting structures. Situated on a tract bounded by 21st, 22nd, Q, and R Streets in Sacramento’s midtown industrial district, the brewery leveraged the rich agricultural output of the Sacramento Valley — hops and grains — along with Sierra-fed water and the region’s expanding rail and shipping networks to produce and distribute beer widely throughout California, the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, and even parts of Central and South America. By the late 1890s, Buffalo Brewing had become recognized as the largest brewery west of the Mississippi, producing lager, bock, winter, and specialty brews under the Buffalo name. In 1897, operations consolidated under the Buffalo Brewing Co. banner, absorbing interests from other local brewing families and including ties with Frank Ruhstaller, who served on its board. Like many American breweries, Buffalo Brewing was devastated by Prohibition. Starting in 1920, it attempted to adapt by producing soft drinks, near beer, and ice, but could not sustain its pre-war scale. After repeal in 1933, the brewery resumed production (1934–1942) but faced stiff competition from large national breweries and shifting market dynamics. By the late 1940s, operations wound down, and the brewery building was eventually demolished to make way for new development, including the headquarters of a major local newspaper. Today, Buffalo Brewing survives in historical records, surviving glass bottles, stoppers, advertising, and breweriana, serving as a tangible reminder of Sacramento’s once-bustling beer industry. Its legacy reflects the city’s frontier-era ambition, built on local agriculture, immigrant craftsmanship, and pioneering industrial spirit, and it remains a symbol of early California brewing and regional commercial enterprise.

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Buffalo Brew'g. Co. Sacramento Trade Mark

White, Red, Black

Buffalo Brewing Company

21st/22nd streets and Q/R streets

Sacramento

California

Buffalo Brewing Company of Sacramento, California was one of the most prominent breweries on the West Coast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Founded circa 1890 by German-born entrepreneur Herman H. Grau (sometimes Grau/Graw), the brewery was built on an ambitious scale, featuring a five-story brick and iron main building, ice house, bottle house, and supporting structures. Situated on a tract bounded by 21st, 22nd, Q, and R Streets in Sacramento’s midtown industrial district, the brewery leveraged the rich agricultural output of the Sacramento Valley — hops and grains — along with Sierra-fed water and the region’s expanding rail and shipping networks to produce and distribute beer widely throughout California, the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, and even parts of Central and South America. By the late 1890s, Buffalo Brewing had become recognized as the largest brewery west of the Mississippi, producing lager, bock, winter, and specialty brews under the Buffalo name. In 1897, operations consolidated under the Buffalo Brewing Co. banner, absorbing interests from other local brewing families and including ties with Frank Ruhstaller, who served on its board. Like many American breweries, Buffalo Brewing was devastated by Prohibition. Starting in 1920, it attempted to adapt by producing soft drinks, near beer, and ice, but could not sustain its pre-war scale. After repeal in 1933, the brewery resumed production (1934–1942) but faced stiff competition from large national breweries and shifting market dynamics. By the late 1940s, operations wound down, and the brewery building was eventually demolished to make way for new development, including the headquarters of a major local newspaper. Today, Buffalo Brewing survives in historical records, surviving glass bottles, stoppers, advertising, and breweriana, serving as a tangible reminder of Sacramento’s once-bustling beer industry. Its legacy reflects the city’s frontier-era ambition, built on local agriculture, immigrant craftsmanship, and pioneering industrial spirit, and it remains a symbol of early California brewing and regional commercial enterprise.

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California Bottling Co. San Francisco

White, Red

California Bottling Co.

1407–1417 Eddy Street; 1251–1265 Harrison Street

San Francisco

California

The embossing “California Bottling Co., San Francisco” preserves the corporate trade imprint of a formally organized San Francisco bottling enterprise active from the 1880s through at least 1908, specializing in the bottling and distribution of both lager beer and carbonated beverages and documented in period city directories, trade listings, and surviving breweriana. Historical references consistently place the company’s principal bottling works at 1407–1417 Eddy Street during the core operating years of the 1880s and 1890s, situating the plant within one of the city’s primary beverage-industrial corridors, with continued commercial activity into the early twentieth century reflected by operations associated with the Harrison Street block recorded variously as 1251–1265 Harrison Street and specifically around 1255 Harrison Street circa 1907–1908. Company officers named in directory transcriptions include Edward C. Kallien (president), A. Dniker (vice-president), Christian Gehret (manager and treasurer), and Frederick Gehret (secretary), identifying a structured management team, with Christian Gehret appearing most directly connected to day-to-day bottling operations in surviving business material. Contemporary trade notices list California Bottling Co. as sole bottlers for Niehard’s “Columbia” Beer and as sole agents for Manzanita Mineral Water, and the firm also functioned as a brewery-aligned bottling agent most prominently handling bulk lager from the John Wieland Brewery for bottling under its own imprint and redistribution to saloons, grocers, hotels, and household customers across San Francisco. Surviving export beer bottles, early soda and mineral-water formats, crown-top and blob-top styles, and porcelain swing stoppers embossed or printed with the company name demonstrate repeated proprietary glass production rather than the reuse of generic containers, placing the firm firmly within the late nineteenth-century returnable bottle economy and indicating investment in custom molds and marked closures for brand control and bottle return. Technological features of the bottles and closures place primary production from roughly the mid-1880s through the first decade of the 1900s, with multiple container styles confirming continuous output across many years and a distribution scale substantial enough to justify fixed industrial premises, while telephone listings of the era record local contact numbers tied to the Eddy Street address. Although complete production-volume figures, formal founding documentation, and detailed shareholder or owner biographies have not surfaced in readily accessible digitized records, the combination of multiple industrial addresses, named corporate officers, sole-agent beverage contracts, proprietary container forms, and sustained directory presence establishes California Bottling Co. as a significant San Francisco bottling and distribution concern spanning the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century.

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California Bottling Co. San Francisco

White, Red

California Bottling Co.

1407–1417 Eddy Street; 1251–1265 Harrison Street

San Francisco

California

The embossing “California Bottling Co., San Francisco” preserves the corporate trade imprint of a formally organized San Francisco bottling enterprise active from the 1880s through at least 1908, specializing in the bottling and distribution of both lager beer and carbonated beverages and documented in period city directories, trade listings, and surviving breweriana. Historical references consistently place the company’s principal bottling works at 1407–1417 Eddy Street during the core operating years of the 1880s and 1890s, situating the plant within one of the city’s primary beverage-industrial corridors, with continued commercial activity into the early twentieth century reflected by operations associated with the Harrison Street block recorded variously as 1251–1265 Harrison Street and specifically around 1255 Harrison Street circa 1907–1908. Company officers named in directory transcriptions include Edward C. Kallien (president), A. Dniker (vice-president), Christian Gehret (manager and treasurer), and Frederick Gehret (secretary), identifying a structured management team, with Christian Gehret appearing most directly connected to day-to-day bottling operations in surviving business material. Contemporary trade notices list California Bottling Co. as sole bottlers for Niehard’s “Columbia” Beer and as sole agents for Manzanita Mineral Water, and the firm also functioned as a brewery-aligned bottling agent most prominently handling bulk lager from the John Wieland Brewery for bottling under its own imprint and redistribution to saloons, grocers, hotels, and household customers across San Francisco. Surviving export beer bottles, early soda and mineral-water formats, crown-top and blob-top styles, and porcelain swing stoppers embossed or printed with the company name demonstrate repeated proprietary glass production rather than the reuse of generic containers, placing the firm firmly within the late nineteenth-century returnable bottle economy and indicating investment in custom molds and marked closures for brand control and bottle return. Technological features of the bottles and closures place primary production from roughly the mid-1880s through the first decade of the 1900s, with multiple container styles confirming continuous output across many years and a distribution scale substantial enough to justify fixed industrial premises, while telephone listings of the era record local contact numbers tied to the Eddy Street address. Although complete production-volume figures, formal founding documentation, and detailed shareholder or owner biographies have not surfaced in readily accessible digitized records, the combination of multiple industrial addresses, named corporate officers, sole-agent beverage contracts, proprietary container forms, and sustained directory presence establishes California Bottling Co. as a significant San Francisco bottling and distribution concern spanning the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century.

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California Bottling Works Sacramento, Cal.

White, Red, Black

California Bottling Works

UNKNOWN

Sacramento

California

California Bottling Works, Sacramento, California was a regional bottling operation active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, responsible for filling and distributing bottled beverages in the Sacramento area during a period when local bottlers played a central role in the beverage trade. Examples of bottles embossed with “California Bottling Works” and “Sacramento, Cal.” survive in collections today, most often in the form of aqua glass Hutchinson style soda bottles — a design widely used for soda water and other carbonated drinks before crown caps and machine made bottles became standard. Artifacts attributed to California Bottling Works frequently appear in antique bottle listings and archives, including objects catalogued by the Center for Sacramento History, indicating the company’s presence in the city’s commercial life. Some examples of these vessels also include embossing referencing Theo. Blauth (T. Blauth) Sons Co. at 407 K Street, suggesting that the bottling works either operated under multiple trade names or had partnerships with local beverage entrepreneurs. Physical characteristics of known California Bottling Works bottles — such as tooled tops and Hutchinson closures — place their manufacture roughly between the late 1890s and the 1910s, a transitional era when diverse soda and mineral water producers competed in California’s growing urban markets. The company’s imprint on bottles served both as functional identification for reuse and as branding in local distribution, reflecting a time when small bottlers supplied taverns, groceries, and soda fountains throughout Sacramento and beyond. Today, bottles bearing the California Bottling Works, Sacramento, Cal. name are valued by collectors as authentic remnants of early commercial bottling history in Sacramento, offering a direct connection to a pre Prohibition era of regional beverage production and trade.

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JFD J.F. Deininger South Vallejo

White, Black, Red

J.F. Deininger (Gold Edge Bottling Works)

Fourth Street (now Sonoma Boulevard) and Chestnut Street

Vallejo

California

The stopper embossed J.F. Deininger, South Vallejo is tied to a documented brewing and bottling operation active in the South Vallejo district during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Historical accounts of early Vallejo breweries identify J.F. Deininger as the operator of the Philadelphia Brewery, a locally known beer-producing facility that served the growing industrial and maritime community of Vallejo. The brewery stood near the intersection of Fourth Street, now Sonoma Boulevard, and Chestnut Street in South Vallejo, placing it within the city’s primary brewing corridor where several small regional breweries clustered during this period. Deininger also operated under the name Gold Edge Bottling Works, indicating that his enterprise included both beer production and the bottling of beverages for local distribution. This dual structure was common among smaller breweries that packaged beer for home consumption while continuing to supply draft beer to saloons and boarding houses. The presence of a branded porcelain stopper bearing Deininger’s name demonstrates that his business used returnable bottles circulated through regular delivery routes, a system requiring sufficient production volume and customer reach to justify custom-marked closures. The use of “South Vallejo” on the stopper reflects a specific neighborhood identity rather than a general city reference, emphasizing the localized nature of Deininger’s operation and its connection to that industrial section of Vallejo. South Vallejo at the time was closely tied to shipyard labor, rail transport, and port commerce, all of which supported steady demand for locally brewed beer and bottled beverages. While detailed biographical records for J.F. Deininger such as birth and death dates have not been preserved in easily accessible archives, his name appears consistently in historical references to Vallejo’s early brewing industry, confirming his role as an active beverage manufacturer rather than a short-term bottler or reseller. The survival of bottles and stoppers marked with his name remains the strongest physical evidence of his enterprise and its integration into the city’s commercial life. The stopper marked J.F. Deininger, South Vallejo therefore represents a documented local brewer and bottler whose operation formed part of Vallejo’s pre-Prohibition brewing landscape, tied to a known brewery site and a specific district within the city where early California beer production took root.

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El Dorado Brewing Co. Stockton, Cal

White, Black, Red

El Dorado Brewing Co.

617 North Stanislaus Street

Stockton

California

The embossed name “El Dorado Brewing Co., Stockton, Cal.” on a bottle stopper identifies one of California’s oldest and longest running breweries, a cornerstone of the San Joaquin Valley’s beer industry from the mid 19th century through the mid 20th century. Founded in 1853 by brothers Peter and Daniel Rothenbush, El Dorado Brewing Co. began during the early years of California statehood — a time when Stockton and nearby Gold Rush towns supported a lively demand for locally produced beer. It quickly became one of the region’s most recognized breweries, producing a distinctive steam beer that was popular throughout San Joaquin County and beyond. Early operations were centered near the intersection of Park, Stanislaus, American, and Oak Streets in Stockton. Although a fire in 1877 damaged portions of the original facility, the brewery was rebuilt in brick and continued production, becoming an enduring presence in the local industrial landscape. Over time the business evolved into a branded concern known as the El Dorado Brewing Company, with its products distributed widely in saloons, restaurants, and homes throughout the region’s rapidly growing agricultural and transport economy. In the early twentieth century, the brewery’s “Valley Brew” brand rose to prominence as a popular local beer, akin to how certain beers become regional staples today. According to historical memorabilia and ledger collections from the company, Valley Brew earned awards at major fairs of the era, including the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and the 1905 California State Fair, underscoring its quality and reputation. During Prohibition, the company adapted by producing “near beer” containing less than 0.5% alcohol, allowing it to survive when many competitors closed. After Prohibition, El Dorado Brewing Co. resumed full beer production and continued operations from a later site at 617 North Stanislaus Street until about 1955, when increasing competition from national breweries and broader industry consolidation forced its closure. Porcelain stoppers and embossed bottles from El Dorado Brewing Co. represent a tangible link to Stockton’s long brewing heritage, reflecting nearly a century of continuous beer production — from the Gold Rush, through industrial growth, Prohibition, and the mid 20th century — and standing as one of California’s most historically significant regional breweries.

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Enterprise Brew'g Co. San Francisco

White, Red, Black

The Enterprise Brewing Company

Mission District

San Francisco

California

This porcelain stopper marked “Enterprise Brew’g Co. San Francisco” comes from the Enterprise Brewing Company, one of San Francisco’s earliest commercial breweries, founded in 1873 in the city’s Mission District. The brewery was established during a period of robust beer production in the region and remained in operation for decades, becoming a recognized local producer of beer before national Prohibition shut it down in 1920. The Enterprise Brewing Company produced branded beer — most notably its Yosemite Lager — that was widely distributed in the San Francisco area and beyond. At its peak, the brewery was one of the larger producers in the city, issuing bottles and closures that bore the Enterprise name and logo; the presence of this porcelain stopper confirms that the firm used branded returnable packaging as part of its marketing and distribution strategy. While detailed individual proprietor biographies for the firm’s founders and early owners are not comprehensively recorded in surviving printed directories, Enterprise Brewing Co. is documented in brewery histories as a substantial presence in San Francisco’s beer industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The brewery survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, continuing production afterwards, which underscores its position among the city’s resilient industrial enterprises. Physical remnants — including embossed bottles, trays, signs, and closures like this stopper — have been unearthed in historic brewery sites and collected as evidence of the company’s long tenure. Enterprise Brewing Co. was known to have maintained facilities near what was once called Enterprise Alley, between 16th and 17th Streets and Folsom and Treat streets, anchoring it in the city’s industrial fabric. After closure in 1920 due to Prohibition, the original company name lay dormant for more than a century. In the early 2020s local brewers revived the historic Enterprise brand in a new context on Howard Street in San Francisco’s SoMa district, expressly honoring the legacy of the original brewery and its role in the city’s brewing history. This stopper, bearing the Enterprise Brewing Company name, therefore preserves the identity of a real and substantial San Francisco brewer that operated for nearly fifty years prior to Prohibition. It documents not only the brewery’s brand but its participation in the vibrant pre-Prohibition beer culture of a major American city, linking a specific name and place to a definable chapter in Pacific Coast brewing history.

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Fredericksburg Bottling Co. S.F.

White, Black, Red

Fredericksburg Bottling Company

1406 Polk Street; 1318 Scott Street; 1510–1512 Ellis Street

San Francisco

California

The embossing “Fredericksburg Bottling Co., S.F.” identifies a major San Francisco beer bottling and distribution enterprise that emerged from the late-nineteenth-century expansion of German-American lager brewing on the West Coast. The operation functioned as the packaged-beer arm tied to the long-established Fredericksburg Brewery, a prominent Northern California producer whose brands were widely consumed throughout the Bay Area during the period when breweries were transitioning from primarily draft sales to mass bottled distribution. Brewing activity developed in San Francisco’s South of Market industrial corridor, where large brick brewhouses, fermentation cellars, ice facilities, warehouses, and delivery yards clustered near the intersection of Second and Harrison Streets, occupying multiple adjoining properties between Second and Third Streets along Harrison Street. Bottling rooms operated within or adjacent to these brewery structures, allowing beer to be prepared for household use and regional shipment beyond local saloons. The business origins were closely linked to the Lang family of bottlers — Otto, Adolph, Leonhard, and August Lang — who had established themselves as leading San Francisco beverage packagers by the 1880s and by 1886 served as exclusive city agents and bottlers for Fredericksburg Brewery beer, handling multiple branded lagers for wholesale and retail markets. Early bottling works operated successively at 1406 Polk Street and 1318 Scott Street before consolidating around 1890 at a larger industrial plant near 1510–1512 Ellis Street. Following formal incorporation in November 1892 with capital of $100,000, the enterprise appeared in city directories under the Fredericksburg Bottling Company name, reflecting its emergence as a large-scale packaging concern rather than a small contract bottler. The Ellis Street works functioned as a substantial manufacturing site equipped for washing, filling, corking or patent-stopper sealing, storage, and wagon distribution, supporting continuous high-volume output. Otto Lang served as president, Adolph Lang as vice president, Leonhard Lang oversaw plant operations, and August J. Lang managed distribution, a family structure that allowed integrated control over both production and citywide delivery networks. The company bottled Fredericksburg Brewery products including Export Lager, Extra Pale, Private Stock, and specialty beers, supplying saloons, restaurants, hotels, and wholesale dealers throughout San Francisco and surrounding communities. Proprietary embossed bottles bearing the company name and shield-style monogram circulated in heavy returnable glass designed for repeated commercial use, indicating sustained industrial output rather than short-term local filling. The enterprise developed within the broader context of San Francisco’s German-influenced brewing industry, which expanded rapidly during the post–Gold Rush industrial era as immigrant brewers introduced continental lager methods that reshaped American beer consumption. Fredericksburg itself originated under the direction of Herman Schussler, a German-born engineer and industrial entrepreneur whose involvement reflected the technical sophistication behind many West Coast breweries, and by the 1890s the operation had evolved into a corporately managed concern investing heavily in mechanical refrigeration, expanded cellar capacity, and modern bottling equipment. The catastrophic earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed much of the South of Market brewing and bottling district, including Fredericksburg’s original plant. The company rebuilt rapidly on or near its former Harrison Street properties using newer fire-resistant industrial construction that increased efficiency and packaging capacity, allowing full production to resume within a few years. In the post-earthquake period the Lang family reorganized its bottling ventures, with August Lang emerging as the principal controlling figure and relocating expanded operations to a larger plant at 18th and Alabama Streets while maintaining established distribution networks across the city. Despite these changes, the Fredericksburg Bottling Company name continued to appear in business records into the late 1910s, indicating the ongoing corporate identity alongside the family’s other bottling enterprises. The brewery whose products formed the core of the bottling trade traced its roots to the 1870s and maintained strong San Francisco agency relationships until local prohibition in San Jose in 1918 curtailed production, foreshadowing the broader industry shutdown brought by national Prohibition in 1920, which ended brewing and affiliated bottling operations across California.

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Fredericksburg Bottling Co. S.F.

White, Black, Red

Fredericksburg Bottling Company

1406 Polk Street; 1318 Scott Street; 1510–1512 Ellis Street

San Francisco

California

The embossing “Fredericksburg Bottling Co., S.F.” identifies a major San Francisco beer bottling and distribution enterprise that emerged from the late-nineteenth-century expansion of German-American lager brewing on the West Coast. The operation functioned as the packaged-beer arm tied to the long-established Fredericksburg Brewery, a prominent Northern California producer whose brands were widely consumed throughout the Bay Area during the period when breweries were transitioning from primarily draft sales to mass bottled distribution. Brewing activity developed in San Francisco’s South of Market industrial corridor, where large brick brewhouses, fermentation cellars, ice facilities, warehouses, and delivery yards clustered near the intersection of Second and Harrison Streets, occupying multiple adjoining properties between Second and Third Streets along Harrison Street. Bottling rooms operated within or adjacent to these brewery structures, allowing beer to be prepared for household use and regional shipment beyond local saloons. The business origins were closely linked to the Lang family of bottlers — Otto, Adolph, Leonhard, and August Lang — who had established themselves as leading San Francisco beverage packagers by the 1880s and by 1886 served as exclusive city agents and bottlers for Fredericksburg Brewery beer, handling multiple branded lagers for wholesale and retail markets. Early bottling works operated successively at 1406 Polk Street and 1318 Scott Street before consolidating around 1890 at a larger industrial plant near 1510–1512 Ellis Street. Following formal incorporation in November 1892 with capital of $100,000, the enterprise appeared in city directories under the Fredericksburg Bottling Company name, reflecting its emergence as a large-scale packaging concern rather than a small contract bottler. The Ellis Street works functioned as a substantial manufacturing site equipped for washing, filling, corking or patent-stopper sealing, storage, and wagon distribution, supporting continuous high-volume output. Otto Lang served as president, Adolph Lang as vice president, Leonhard Lang oversaw plant operations, and August J. Lang managed distribution, a family structure that allowed integrated control over both production and citywide delivery networks. The company bottled Fredericksburg Brewery products including Export Lager, Extra Pale, Private Stock, and specialty beers, supplying saloons, restaurants, hotels, and wholesale dealers throughout San Francisco and surrounding communities. Proprietary embossed bottles bearing the company name and shield-style monogram circulated in heavy returnable glass designed for repeated commercial use, indicating sustained industrial output rather than short-term local filling. The enterprise developed within the broader context of San Francisco’s German-influenced brewing industry, which expanded rapidly during the post–Gold Rush industrial era as immigrant brewers introduced continental lager methods that reshaped American beer consumption. Fredericksburg itself originated under the direction of Herman Schussler, a German-born engineer and industrial entrepreneur whose involvement reflected the technical sophistication behind many West Coast breweries, and by the 1890s the operation had evolved into a corporately managed concern investing heavily in mechanical refrigeration, expanded cellar capacity, and modern bottling equipment. The catastrophic earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed much of the South of Market brewing and bottling district, including Fredericksburg’s original plant. The company rebuilt rapidly on or near its former Harrison Street properties using newer fire-resistant industrial construction that increased efficiency and packaging capacity, allowing full production to resume within a few years. In the post-earthquake period the Lang family reorganized its bottling ventures, with August Lang emerging as the principal controlling figure and relocating expanded operations to a larger plant at 18th and Alabama Streets while maintaining established distribution networks across the city. Despite these changes, the Fredericksburg Bottling Company name continued to appear in business records into the late 1910s, indicating the ongoing corporate identity alongside the family’s other bottling enterprises. The brewery whose products formed the core of the bottling trade traced its roots to the 1870s and maintained strong San Francisco agency relationships until local prohibition in San Jose in 1918 curtailed production, foreshadowing the broader industry shutdown brought by national Prohibition in 1920, which ended brewing and affiliated bottling operations across California.

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GBBC Grace Bros. Brewing Co. Santa Rosa, Cal.

White, Black, Red

Grace Bros. Brewing Co. (Peter and Joseph Grace)

118 Second Street

Santa Rosa

California

The stopper and bottles embossed Grace Bros. Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, Cal. are associated with a Sonoma County brewery founded and operated by brothers Peter Grace and Joseph Grace, Irish-born immigrants who established their brewing business in Santa Rosa in the mid-1880s. Peter Grace was born in Ireland in the early 1850s and immigrated to the United States as a young man, later followed by his brother Joseph. Both entered the brewing trade in California during a period when lager beer production was expanding rapidly throughout the state. The Grace Brothers brewery was constructed on a dedicated industrial site in Santa Rosa rather than operating as a storefront business, with brewhouse structures, fermentation cellars, storage facilities, and later bottling rooms designed for continuous commercial production. The brewery produced primarily lager beer, which had become the dominant beer style in California by the 1880s due to its longer shelf life and growing popularity among working-class consumers and agricultural laborers in the region. By the early 1890s the Grace Bros. Brewing Co. had become one of the principal beer producers in Sonoma County. Contemporary brewery registers and regional brewing summaries list the plant among established Northern California breweries of the period, with reported annual production reaching several thousand barrels per year during its peak operating years in the 1890s. While exact year-by-year barrelage figures are not consistently preserved for the brewery, its recorded output places it in the category of a mid-sized regional producer rather than a small neighborhood brew house. The firm expanded into bottled beer distribution as the bottled trade grew in importance across California in the late nineteenth century. The investment in embossed bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the Grace Bros. name demonstrates that bottled beer formed a regular and organized part of the company’s sales, circulating through saloons, grocers, and private customers across Santa Rosa and surrounding towns. Both Peter and Joseph Grace remained actively involved in brewery management into the early twentieth century. Following their deaths in the first years of the 1900s, the brewery continued briefly under family or associated management before declining as regulatory pressure increased on alcohol production. Like virtually all regional breweries, operations ceased with the arrival of Prohibition in 1920. Detailed personal family biographies beyond immigration background and business involvement have not survived in commonly accessible archives, and surviving brewery reports do not preserve complete annual production tables. What remains clearly documented is the founders’ identities, the brewery’s fixed Santa Rosa plant, its role as a significant regional lager producer, and its participation in the bottled beer trade at commercial scale.

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Hansen & Kahler Oakland, Cal.

White, Red, Black

(Peter?) Hansen & Kahler

Eighth and Webster Streets; Third and Cypress Streets

Oakland

California

The porcelain stopper marked “Hansen & Kahler, Oakland, Cal.” is associated with an early beverage distribution and bottling concern that operated in Oakland, California in the first decade of the twentieth century. Surviving business directory entries from around 1903–1907 list Hansen & Kahler as agents for bottled goods, including beer and mineral water, indicating the firm was part of the independent bottler/wholesaler network that supplied beverages to saloons, groceries, and retailers in the East Bay. Their listing shows them as agents for prominent products of the time, such as Pabst Brewing Co. (Milwaukee) beer and Bartlett Mineral Springs Co. water, as well as regional beer brands like Burnell’s Albion Ale and Porter and Ruhstaller’s Gilt Edge Bottle Steam Beer. Their business appears to have been located at the southeast corner of Eighth and Webster Streets in Oakland, a commercial district where wholesalers clustered to serve the city’s expanding population and transportation corridor. The firm was contemporary with a period in Oakland’s commercial history when independent agents like Hansen & Kahler served as key intermediaries between breweries and local markets. Beer produced in bulk by regional brewing concerns was shipped in kegs or barrels to local dealers, who bottled and distributed products under returnable bottle programs. Porcelain stoppers were widely used before the crown cap became standard around 1910 — they helped preserve carbonation and allowed labels or embossing to feature the bottler’s name prominently. Directory listings from 1906 specifically identify Hansen & Kahler as distributors of bottled goods with telephone contact and a move to a new location at Third and Cypress Streets, suggesting the business was sufficiently established to merit relocation and continued operation within the city’s commercial core. While personal biographical details about the principals behind Hansen & Kahler (including given names, backgrounds, and life dates) are not readily found in currently indexed online sources, the listing of a Peter Hansen in Oakland local surname indexes in proximity to the firm’s trade classification in 1906 suggests he may have been one of the partners behind the business name. Like many small independent beverage distributors of the era, Hansen & Kahler’s detailed records have not fully survived in online directories, but embossed bottles and stoppers bearing their name remain important artifacts. These physical items testify to their role in the regional beer and bottling trade during the early 1900s, a time when independent agents facilitated the distribution of both national brands and local favorites in California’s East Bay.

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JB Co Jackson Brewing Co. S.F.

White, Red, Black

Jackson Brewing Co. (William A. Fredericks)

Howard and Folsom; 1428 Mission Street; 319-351 11th Street; 1475–1489 Folsom Street

The embossing “Jackson Brewing Co. S.F.” ties the stopper to a long-running San Francisco brewing concern whose corporate identity, street addresses, ownership, and surviving plant remain among the city’s best-documented brewing artifacts. The brewery traces its origins to the mid-19th century when the operation began under partners Thomas E. Green and Jacob Lynn (c.1859). Ownership passed into the Fredericks family by the late 1860s, and the firm was commonly operated under William A. Fredericks and his successors for more than half a century. Under Fredericks stewardship the company relocated and expanded as brewing demand grew: early plant addresses include a First Street site between Howard and Folsom, and by the 1870s the works had moved into the South-of-Market neighborhood at 1428 Mission Street (near 10th–11th Streets). Seeking still greater capacity, the company acquired property at Folsom and 11th Streets in the first decade of the twentieth century and erected a purpose-built multi-building brewery complex (the familiar red-brick Jackson Brewery) on the blocks addressed in later records as 1475–1489 Folsom Street / the Airport Way/South Spokane Street industrial corridor. That complex — containing brewhouse, malt house, lagering cellars, bottling and storage buildings — was largely completed in the years around 1905–1906, rebuilt following earthquake and fire damage in 1906, and substantially reconstituted by about 1912 into the turn-of-the-century industrial ensemble that survives today as an architectural landmark. Throughout its operating life Jackson Brewing Company functioned as a full brewing and malting enterprise: it produced lager at scale, maintained malt-making facilities, housed extensive cold-storage and lagering rooms, and operated bottling lines that placed branded, returnable containers into San Francisco trade. Nineteenth-century records show the Mission Street plant as a modest employer in its early decades (directory and map evidence register dozens rather than hundreds of employees in the 1870s), while the later Folsom Street complex supported a much larger, multi-building industrial operation by the early 1900s. Management continuity within the Fredericks family is well documented: William A. Fredericks (and later W. A. Fredericks, Jr. and other family members) directed company affairs through the firm’s corporate transition and physical expansion, and the property remained in family hands through the First World War era. The company’s commercial life ended as a brewing concern with the onset of national Prohibition; operations producing alcoholic beer ceased around 1920, although the Fredericks family retained ownership of the property for many years thereafter. The brewery buildings subsequently passed through varied uses, and their architectural and industrial significance was formally recognized in the late 20th century when the complex was documented and listed as a historic district and local landmark. The stopper marked “Jackson Brewing Co. S.F.” thus connects directly to a continuously traceable corporate brewery: founded in the 1850s, expanded under Fredericks family ownership into large Mission/Folsom Street works, operated as an integrated brewing, malting and bottling plant through the early 20th century, and finally closed as an alcohol producer with Prohibition while leaving behind a substantial and well-preserved industrial footprint in San Francisco’s South-of-Market district.

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AW K Co A.W. Kenison Co. Auburn, Cal

White, Black, Red

Albert Wesley Kenison Co.

UNKNOWN

Auburn

California

The porcelain stopper marked “A.W. Kenison Co., Auburn, Cal.” is associated with a pre-Prohibition beverage wholesaler and bottling concern operating in Auburn, California, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The firm is best understood within the commercial context of Placer County, where Auburn served as a regional supply center for surrounding mining, railroad, and agricultural communities following the Gold Rush era. The company is most plausibly identified with Albert Wesley Kenison (born January 18, 1855, New Hampshire; died 1904, Auburn, California). Kenison relocated to California in 1876, settling in Placer County, where he married Mary McCormick in 1879. By the 1890s, Kenison had become established in local commerce, and evidence suggests long-standing involvement in beverage manufacturing and distribution. A related firm, Roll, Kenison & Co., was active as early as 1893, producing soda water, seltzer, cider, and similar beverages—indicating Kenison’s early participation in the regional soft drink and bottling trade. By the early 1900s, A.W. Kenison Co. was operating as a wholesale liquor dealer, a designation confirmed by surviving billheads dated approximately 1905. The firm distributed beer, liquor, soda, and mineral waters throughout Auburn and neighboring foothill communities. Like many inland California wholesalers of the period, the company likely acted as a regional agent for larger breweries, receiving bulk shipments and redistributing bottled product to saloons, hotels, and retailers. The use of porcelain bottle stoppers bearing the company name places Kenison’s bottling activity primarily in the 1890s through the early 1910s, prior to the widespread adoption of crown caps. These reusable closures were characteristic of localized bottling systems and allowed for bottle recovery while prominently advertising the merchant’s name. Albert Wesley Kenison’s death in 1904 likely marked a turning point for the firm, and its eventual disappearance reflects broader industry consolidation and the destabilizing effects of Prohibition. Today, porcelain stoppers and related breweriana remain the most tangible surviving evidence of A.W. Kenison Co. and its founder’s role in Auburn’s early beverage and liquor trade.

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K & M Kirchner & Mante Oakland, Cal.

White, Black

Kirchner & Mante (George Kirchner and Ferdinand Mante)

First and Jackson Streets

Oakland

California

The embossing “Kirchner & Mante, Oakland, Cal.” identifies a Bay Area beer-distribution and bottling agency operated at the turn of the twentieth century by George Kirchner and Ferdinand Mante, two Oakland businessmen who built a recognizable local trade identity through proprietary bottles and regional brewery representation. Surviving blob-top and slug-plate beer bottles bearing the Kirchner & Mante name confirm that the firm handled branded returnable glass in commercial volume, a practice typical of established beer agents supplying saloons and retailers rather than casual storefront sellers. City directory records place the firm’s depot at the busy commercial junction of First and Jackson Streets in downtown Oakland, a location well suited to wholesale beverage traffic and wagon distribution along the waterfront and railroad corridors. Kirchner & Mante functioned principally as beer agents and distributors, most notably serving as the Alameda County representatives for Rainier Beer, one of the Pacific Northwest’s expanding regional breweries. Their Oakland outlet acted as both a receiving depot and redistribution point, supplying bottled beer to neighborhood saloons, grocers, and dealers throughout the East Bay. The presence of embossed bottles carrying their firm name reflects a business model in which agents often maintained proprietary glass either for exclusive distribution brands or for local bottling and handling, reinforcing brand loyalty and ensuring bottle return within their delivery territory. George Kirchner appears consistently in Oakland directories in the early 1900s as a principal of Kirchner & Mante, with his residence recorded on Franklin Street in Oakland, establishing a stable local presence during the firm’s active years. Genealogical records consistent with the directory listings indicate he was born in 1862 and lived well into the mid-twentieth century, dying in 1945, suggesting a long business and community presence beyond the agency’s peak period. His career fits the profile of second-generation urban entrepreneurs who capitalized on the booming West Coast beverage trade during a time of rapid population growth and expanding rail distribution. Ferdinand Mante likewise appears in Oakland business directories as Kirchner’s partner, with residential listings on Harrison Street placing him within the same downtown commercial district that supported many wholesale and agency firms. Family records indicate Mante was born around 1858, making him a contemporary of Kirchner and similarly positioned to take advantage of Oakland’s late-nineteenth-century commercial expansion. Period social notices and community references show Mante active within Oakland’s German-American circles, a demographic that dominated much of California’s brewing, bottling, and beer-distribution trades at the time.

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L Aug. J. Lang Co. S.F. Cal.

White, Red, Black

August Joseph Lang Co.

18th and Alabama Streets

San Francisco

California

The embossed “Aug. J. Lang Co. S.F. Cal.” identifies one of San Francisco’s most notable bottling and brewing enterprises from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. August Joseph Lang was born on August 12, 1865, in Baden, Germany. He emigrated to San Francisco in 1882 at the age of 17, joining relatives already active in the city’s beverage trade. Drawing on his family’s background in hospitality and European brewing traditions, Lang quickly gained experience in bottling and distribution. By 1885, he partnered with his brothers under the name Lang Bros. Bottling Works, operating in San Francisco and bottling beer for local markets. The company primarily handled products from the Fredericksburg Brewery of San Jose, including Export Lager, Extra Pale, and Culmbacher beers. Bottles were typically sealed with porcelain or Hutchinson stoppers, durable closures that preserved carbonation while prominently displaying the Lang name for marketing and bottle recovery. In 1892, Lang helped incorporate the Fredericksburg Bottling Company, with himself as manager, formalizing operations and expanding distribution throughout Northern California. This period saw a steady increase in the variety of beers bottled and sold, along with carbonated soft drinks and mineral waters, which became an important secondary line of business. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed Lang’s facilities, along with much of the city’s industrial infrastructure. Undeterred, he purchased out his brothers and established August Lang & Co., constructing a new bottling works at 18th and Alabama Streets. Around 1908, the company introduced Tivoli Lager, its own branded beer, while continuing to bottle products for other regional breweries. By 1911, Lang expanded into brewing by acquiring and reorganizing the Red Lion Brewing Co., creating the August Lang Brewing Association. His sons, August Jr. and Rudolph, were brought into management, helping oversee production and operations. The brewery focused on lagers and specialty beers for the San Francisco market, strengthening Lang’s presence in the regional beverage industry. With the approach of Prohibition in 1919, Lang gradually shifted his business focus. By the mid 1910s, August Lang & Co. had diversified into real estate and insurance, founding Lang Realty & Co., which developed residential properties throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area. These ventures allowed the family to maintain financial stability while the brewing industry faced regulatory upheaval. August Joseph Lang lived a long life, passing away on December 16, 1955, at the age of 90. His legacy endures not only in the historic bottles and porcelain stoppers embossed with Aug. J. Lang Co., which remain prized by collectors, but also in his impact on San Francisco’s early brewing, bottling, and commercial development. The firm exemplifies the ingenuity of immigrant entrepreneurs who combined technical skill, business acumen, and adaptability to thrive in a dynamic and rapidly changing urban market.

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DWMcC D.W. McCarthy Stockton, Cal.

White, Black

D. W. McCarthy

127–129 East Channel Street

Stockton

California

This porcelain stopper, stamped “D.W. McCarthy / Stockton, Cal.,” belongs to a small class of marked bottle hardware used locally before crown caps became standard. Documentary evidence from Stockton city directories and contemporary newspapers places D. W. McCarthy in the city’s beverage trade in the early 1900s and gives a concrete business location: 127 (sometimes recorded as 127–129) East Channel Street, Stockton. Period notices identify McCarthy as the successor to an earlier agent and list him as an agent for regional brewers—carrying brands described as Wunder Lager and Willows Steam Beer—operating from that East Channel street address. The marked stopper therefore ties a personal name to a specific commercial place and role: a local bottling or agency business active in Stockton’s pre-Prohibition distribution network. In that era, agents and bottlers commonly commissioned distinctive stoppers and embossed bottles to brand product lines, control bottle returns, and advertise their trade; McCarthy’s name on this piece is consistent with that practice. The East Channel address situates his operation in the riverfront/wharf district of a growing Central Valley hub—an area well suited to the receipt and onward shipment of bottled beer and spirits. While surviving physical examples and directory listings firmly locate McCarthy’s business and trade activity, a full biographical dossier (personal dates, family details, formal corporate filings) has not been established from these items alone. What remains clear and tangible is this stopper’s role as a piece of commercial ephemera: it preserves the name and place of a turn-of-the-century Stockton proprietor who participated in the local bottling and brewery agency economy before Prohibition reshaped the industry.

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DWMcC D.W. McCarthy Stockton, Cal.

White, Black

D. W. McCarthy

127–129 East Channel Street

Stockton

California

This porcelain stopper, stamped “D.W. McCarthy / Stockton, Cal.,” belongs to a small class of marked bottle hardware used locally before crown caps became standard. Documentary evidence from Stockton city directories and contemporary newspapers places D. W. McCarthy in the city’s beverage trade in the early 1900s and gives a concrete business location: 127 (sometimes recorded as 127–129) East Channel Street, Stockton. Period notices identify McCarthy as the successor to an earlier agent and list him as an agent for regional brewers—carrying brands described as Wunder Lager and Willows Steam Beer—operating from that East Channel street address. The marked stopper therefore ties a personal name to a specific commercial place and role: a local bottling or agency business active in Stockton’s pre-Prohibition distribution network. In that era, agents and bottlers commonly commissioned distinctive stoppers and embossed bottles to brand product lines, control bottle returns, and advertise their trade; McCarthy’s name on this piece is consistent with that practice. The East Channel address situates his operation in the riverfront/wharf district of a growing Central Valley hub—an area well suited to the receipt and onward shipment of bottled beer and spirits. While surviving physical examples and directory listings firmly locate McCarthy’s business and trade activity, a full biographical dossier (personal dates, family details, formal corporate filings) has not been established from these items alone. What remains clear and tangible is this stopper’s role as a piece of commercial ephemera: it preserves the name and place of a turn-of-the-century Stockton proprietor who participated in the local bottling and brewery agency economy before Prohibition reshaped the industry.

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DWMcC D.W. McCarthy Stockton, Cal.

White, Black

D. W. McCarthy

127–129 East Channel Street

Stockton

California

This porcelain stopper, stamped “D.W. McCarthy / Stockton, Cal.,” belongs to a small class of marked bottle hardware used locally before crown caps became standard. Documentary evidence from Stockton city directories and contemporary newspapers places D. W. McCarthy in the city’s beverage trade in the early 1900s and gives a concrete business location: 127 (sometimes recorded as 127–129) East Channel Street, Stockton. Period notices identify McCarthy as the successor to an earlier agent and list him as an agent for regional brewers—carrying brands described as Wunder Lager and Willows Steam Beer—operating from that East Channel street address. The marked stopper therefore ties a personal name to a specific commercial place and role: a local bottling or agency business active in Stockton’s pre-Prohibition distribution network. In that era, agents and bottlers commonly commissioned distinctive stoppers and embossed bottles to brand product lines, control bottle returns, and advertise their trade; McCarthy’s name on this piece is consistent with that practice. The East Channel address situates his operation in the riverfront/wharf district of a growing Central Valley hub—an area well suited to the receipt and onward shipment of bottled beer and spirits. While surviving physical examples and directory listings firmly locate McCarthy’s business and trade activity, a full biographical dossier (personal dates, family details, formal corporate filings) has not been established from these items alone. What remains clear and tangible is this stopper’s role as a piece of commercial ephemera: it preserves the name and place of a turn-of-the-century Stockton proprietor who participated in the local bottling and brewery agency economy before Prohibition reshaped the industry.

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DWMcC D.W. McCarthy Stockton, Cal.

White, Red, Black

D. W. McCarthy

127–129 East Channel Street

Stockton

California

This porcelain stopper, stamped “D.W. McCarthy / Stockton, Cal.,” belongs to a small class of marked bottle hardware used locally before crown caps became standard. Documentary evidence from Stockton city directories and contemporary newspapers places D. W. McCarthy in the city’s beverage trade in the early 1900s and gives a concrete business location: 127 (sometimes recorded as 127–129) East Channel Street, Stockton. Period notices identify McCarthy as the successor to an earlier agent and list him as an agent for regional brewers—carrying brands described as Wunder Lager and Willows Steam Beer—operating from that East Channel street address. The marked stopper therefore ties a personal name to a specific commercial place and role: a local bottling or agency business active in Stockton’s pre-Prohibition distribution network. In that era, agents and bottlers commonly commissioned distinctive stoppers and embossed bottles to brand product lines, control bottle returns, and advertise their trade; McCarthy’s name on this piece is consistent with that practice. The East Channel address situates his operation in the riverfront/wharf district of a growing Central Valley hub—an area well suited to the receipt and onward shipment of bottled beer and spirits. While surviving physical examples and directory listings firmly locate McCarthy’s business and trade activity, a full biographical dossier (personal dates, family details, formal corporate filings) has not been established from these items alone. What remains clear and tangible is this stopper’s role as a piece of commercial ephemera: it preserves the name and place of a turn-of-the-century Stockton proprietor who participated in the local bottling and brewery agency economy before Prohibition reshaped the industry.

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TBD

DWMcC D.W. McCarthy Stockton, Cal.

White, Red, Black

D. W. McCarthy

127–129 East Channel Street

Stockton

California

This porcelain stopper, stamped “D.W. McCarthy / Stockton, Cal.,” belongs to a small class of marked bottle hardware used locally before crown caps became standard. Documentary evidence from Stockton city directories and contemporary newspapers places D. W. McCarthy in the city’s beverage trade in the early 1900s and gives a concrete business location: 127 (sometimes recorded as 127–129) East Channel Street, Stockton. Period notices identify McCarthy as the successor to an earlier agent and list him as an agent for regional brewers—carrying brands described as Wunder Lager and Willows Steam Beer—operating from that East Channel street address. The marked stopper therefore ties a personal name to a specific commercial place and role: a local bottling or agency business active in Stockton’s pre-Prohibition distribution network. In that era, agents and bottlers commonly commissioned distinctive stoppers and embossed bottles to brand product lines, control bottle returns, and advertise their trade; McCarthy’s name on this piece is consistent with that practice. The East Channel address situates his operation in the riverfront/wharf district of a growing Central Valley hub—an area well suited to the receipt and onward shipment of bottled beer and spirits. While surviving physical examples and directory listings firmly locate McCarthy’s business and trade activity, a full biographical dossier (personal dates, family details, formal corporate filings) has not been established from these items alone. What remains clear and tangible is this stopper’s role as a piece of commercial ephemera: it preserves the name and place of a turn-of-the-century Stockton proprietor who participated in the local bottling and brewery agency economy before Prohibition reshaped the industry.

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TBD

PM Peter Mugler Sisson, Cal.

White, Black, Red

Peter Mugler Brewery

UNKNOWN

Sisson

California

The inscription “Peter Mugler Sisson, Cal.” corresponds to a small independent brewery operated by Peter Mugler in the mountain town of Sisson, California — the community known today as Mount Shasta. During the late nineteenth century, Sisson functioned as a railroad stop and regional service hub in Siskiyou County, supporting hotels, saloons, and local manufacturing, including small-scale brewing operations that supplied beer to nearby towns and work camps. Verified business records place the Peter Mugler Brewery in operation from approximately 1890 through 1901. Throughout this period, Peter Mugler appears as the sole proprietor, with no documented partners or corporate successors tied to the enterprise. No evidence presently confirms family involvement in ownership or later continuation of the brewery under relatives’ names. When the brewery disappears from business listings after the turn of the century, the historical trail for the firm effectively ends. The business functioned strictly as a brewery, producing beer for local and regional consumption. Its existence is most clearly preserved through physical artifacts rather than extensive written advertising. Surviving embossed beer bottles provide direct confirmation of the operation and its branding. These bottles typically read “PETER MUGLER / BREWER / SISSON / CAL.”, establishing both the proprietor and the town of origin. Known examples appear in amber and aqua glass, in several standard late-nineteenth-century beer bottle forms including export-style quarts and smaller pony sizes. The presence of custom embossing indicates that Mugler commissioned proprietary molds, a common practice among independent brewers seeking to mark ownership and discourage bottle reuse by competitors. While specific beer names or branded product lines have not been preserved in available records, the bottles themselves confirm Mugler’s role as a local producer rather than a distributor or bottling agent for outside breweries. The scale of the operation remains undocumented; no production volumes, employee counts, or multi-location expansions are presently known. Based on the absence of large trade directory listings and the localized survival of bottles, the brewery appears to have operated as a modest regional concern serving the immediate Mount Shasta area. No verified street address for the brewery has yet surfaced in surviving directories or land records accessible to collectors and historians. Likewise, no confirmed newspaper advertisements or promotional signage have been firmly tied to the business. What remains concrete is the operating window, the proprietor’s identity, and the physical brewery output preserved through embossed glass. The stopper bearing Mugler’s name fits squarely within this material culture of late nineteenth-century brewing. Personalized stoppers were often paired with proprietary bottles for reuse within saloon networks or brewery-controlled distribution loops. Their survival today offers tangible evidence of Mugler’s brewery at work during Sisson’s early growth years before the town’s renaming to Mount Shasta in the 1920s.

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TBD

PM Peter Mugler Sisson, Cal.

White, Black, Red

Peter Mugler

UNKNOWN

Sisson

California

Peter Mugler operated a locally significant brewing and bottling business in Sisson (the town later renamed Mount Shasta), California, during the late nineteenth and very early twentieth centuries. Known in breweriana as P. Mugler or P. MUGLER, his name appears on a distinctive group of applied-top beer and seltzer bottles embossed “P. MUGLER / SISSON, CAL.”, many bearing Pacific Coast Glass Works base marks that link his product to West Coast industrial glass suppliers and confirm a branded, commercial-scale bottling operation rather than incidental local filling. Trade and brewery reference listings place the Peter Mugler Brewery in operation beginning about 1890 and closing around 1901, establishing an active period of roughly a decade during which Mugler produced beer and bottled beverages for the Sisson and broader Siskiyou County market. Contemporary records identify Mugler as proprietor rather than merely a distributor, and local histories consistently refer to him as engaged in the brewery business after settling in the area. Despite the survival of physical bottles and business-name references, a precise street address for Mugler’s brewery has not been preserved in the readily available digitized city directories or trade journals from the period. Like many small-town operations of the era, listings frequently identified businesses only by town name, and the most detailed location records appear to survive—if at all—in local deed books, newspapers, or fire insurance maps that have not been comprehensively digitized. What can be firmly documented is the continuity of Mugler’s commercial presence in Sisson throughout the 1890s and the financial success implied by his later investments. By 1902, Peter Mugler had accumulated sufficient capital to purchase the Clarendon Hotel in nearby Yreka for a substantial sum, indicating that his brewery and related enterprises had been profitable and that he had begun diversifying into regional real estate and hospitality ventures. This transaction places him among the more established business figures of northern California mountain towns at the turn of the century rather than among transient or marginal operators. Vital records and obituary notices report that Peter M. Mugler died in March 1912 following a surgical operation, his age given as sixty-seven, pointing to a birth around 1845. Local accounts describe him as an early settler in the Sisson area whose principal occupation for many years had been brewing and beverage production. While no complete company ledger or continuous corporate archive for the Mugler Brewery has survived, the combined evidence of embossed bottles, brewery listings, property transactions, and death notices establishes Peter Mugler as the owner-operator of a commercial brewery and bottling concern active from approximately 1890 through the opening years of the twentieth century, leaving behind one of the clearer material records of Sisson’s early beverage trade.

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TBD

National Bottling Co. S.F.

Red, White, Black

National Bottling Co.

337–339 Waller Street

San Francisco

California

The stopper marked “National Bottling Co., S.F.” originates from the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, a period when San Francisco supported a large and highly competitive bottling industry supplying beer, soda waters, mineral waters, and temperance beverages to a rapidly growing urban population. As bottled drinks became increasingly popular for home consumption and commercial resale, numerous firms adopted expansive names such as “National” to project scale, reliability, and broad distribution even when operations remained regional. The National Bottling Company operated within San Francisco’s industrial bottling corridor in the South of Market and adjacent warehouse districts, where beverage manufacturers clustered near rail spurs, freight depots, and major thoroughfares. Business directories from the turn of the century commonly place bottling firms along streets such as Folsom, Howard, Bryant, Harrison, and Second Street, areas dominated by light industry, cold storage, cooperages, and glass distributors. Within this broader zone, collector histories tied to embossed bottles and trade labels record that around 1899–1903 the National Bottling Co. operated out of 337–339 Waller Street in a north-side wholesale district before building a larger facility at 359–361 Waller Street by 1903, addresses preserved on surviving paper labels and packaging shown on collector sites. These street-level locations situate the firm squarely within the city’s bottling and distribution infrastructure. The firm’s plant would have consisted of washing rooms for returned bottles, carbonating and filling equipment, crate storage, and loading bays for horse-drawn wagons and later motor trucks, reflecting the standard layout of urban bottling works of the period. Bottling companies of this era were typically run by local beverage entrepreneurs rather than national corporations, often former saloon operators, soda fountain managers, or brewery workers who produced multiple drink lines under one roof, including soda waters, flavored tonics, ginger ales, mineral waters, and sometimes bottled beer under contract with breweries. Surviving commentary from label collectors indicates National Bottling Co. engaged in this typical bottling-house work, filling beer and soda under contract or under its own brand names, and persisted long enough to justify significant investment in expanded Waller Street facilities, underscoring its role as a locally anchored bottling and distribution house rather than a transient retail filler. Embossed and labeled bottles bearing the National Bottling Co. name appear frequently in breweriana listings and consistently carry San Francisco identifiers rather than generic or out-of-state markings, providing direct material confirmation of the firm’s city-based operations. The use of porcelain stoppers, standard for carbonated beverages prior to widespread crown-cap adoption, provided tight reusable seals while serving as permanent advertising and theft deterrence, a critical feature in an industry where returnable glass represented a major capital investment. By the early 1900s, San Francisco’s bottling trade had grown into a significant industrial sector employing hundreds across dozens of firms and supplying not only city customers but also surrounding Bay Area towns by rail and ferry. The industry’s growth was sharply disrupted by the 1906 earthquake and fire, which destroyed much of the South of Market manufacturing district and many bottling plants, after which numerous companies rebuilt with improved facilities designed for higher-volume production. Family business histories tied to the Lang brewing and bottling families further note that local entrepreneur Adolph Lang purchased the National Bottling Co. at the Waller Street address in 1899 and expanded operations into larger premises by 1903, illustrating the interconnected ownership networks common among immigrant-run bottling enterprises dominating San Francisco’s beverage trade at the turn of the century. These cross-owned works formed part of a broader pattern of multi-site bottling operations that shifted addresses and names as partnerships formed and dissolved around shared production and distribution networks. As public tastes evolved and regulatory oversight increased in the 1910s, bottlers moved increasingly away from medicinal tonics and mineral waters toward standardized soft drinks, while Prohibition in 1920 eliminated bottled beer production and forced many smaller firms to close or consolidate. A porcelain stopper bearing the inscription “National Bottling Co., S.F.” thus represents a dynamic era in San Francisco’s commercial beverage history, preserving the material footprint of a locally rooted bottling enterprise active from the late 1890s into the early 1900s and reflecting the industrial growth, branded reusable packaging, and shifting consumer habits that transformed American drinking culture in the decades before Prohibition.

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TBD

OB Co Oakland Bottling Co. Oakland, Cal.

White, Red, Black

Oakland Bottling Co.

1417–1421 Broadway

Oakland

California

The embossed porcelain stopper marked “Oakland Bottling Co., Oakland, Cal.” points to an independent beverage bottling and distribution firm that was active in Oakland, California in the early 20th century. Oakland’s rapid growth following the late 19th century made it a thriving market for local suppliers of beer, soda, mineral waters, and other bottled beverages. Like many regional bottlers of the time, the Oakland Bottling Co. would have played a role in packaging and selling products for local consumption and retail trade. According to a 1907 Oakland business directory, the Oakland Bottling Co. was listed among bottlers operating in the city, and it was located at 1417–1421 Broadway — placing it within one of Oakland’s commercial thoroughfares where distributors and wholesalers clustered. Independent bottling firms such as Oakland Bottling Co. typically received beer and carbonated beverages in bulk from producers and then bottled them under their own marks in heavy glass bottles with porcelain or Hutchinson stoppers — the latter two closure types being common before the widespread adoption of the crown cap around 1910. In addition to beer, these companies often handled soda water, mineral water, and soft drinks for local saloons, restaurants, and retail outlets, aiding distribution in an era when brand packaging was still localized rather than national. Oakland at the turn of the century had an active bottling scene, including firms like Wunder Bottling Co. and Valley Brew Bottling Works, alongside other beverage distributors, suggesting a competitive but robust market. Although detailed personal or corporate records for Oakland Bottling Co. have not been widely digitized, the physical evidence of embossed bottles and stoppers bearing the company name remains the strongest testimony to its operations. These artifacts represent Oakland’s early 20th century beverage economy — a period when local bottlers were vital intermediaries between producers and consumers in rapidly expanding West Coast cities.

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TBD

OB Co. Oakland Bottling Co. Oakland, Cal.

White, Red, Black

Oakland Bottling Co.

1417–1421 Broadway

Oakland

California

The embossed porcelain stopper marked “Oakland Bottling Co., Oakland, Cal.” points to an independent beverage bottling and distribution firm that was active in Oakland, California in the early 20th century. Oakland’s rapid growth following the late 19th century made it a thriving market for local suppliers of beer, soda, mineral waters, and other bottled beverages. Like many regional bottlers of the time, the Oakland Bottling Co. would have played a role in packaging and selling products for local consumption and retail trade. According to a 1907 Oakland business directory, the Oakland Bottling Co. was listed among bottlers operating in the city, and it was located at 1417–1421 Broadway — placing it within one of Oakland’s commercial thoroughfares where distributors and wholesalers clustered. Independent bottling firms such as Oakland Bottling Co. typically received beer and carbonated beverages in bulk from producers and then bottled them under their own marks in heavy glass bottles with porcelain or Hutchinson stoppers — the latter two closure types being common before the widespread adoption of the crown cap around 1910. In addition to beer, these companies often handled soda water, mineral water, and soft drinks for local saloons, restaurants, and retail outlets, aiding distribution in an era when brand packaging was still localized rather than national. Oakland at the turn of the century had an active bottling scene, including firms like Wunder Bottling Co. and Valley Brew Bottling Works, alongside other beverage distributors, suggesting a competitive but robust market. Although detailed personal or corporate records for Oakland Bottling Co. have not been widely digitized, the physical evidence of embossed bottles and stoppers bearing the company name remains the strongest testimony to its operations. These artifacts represent Oakland’s early 20th century beverage economy — a period when local bottlers were vital intermediaries between producers and consumers in rapidly expanding West Coast cities.

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TBD

OB Co. Oakland Bottling Co. Oakland, Cal.

White, Red, Black

Oakland Bottling Co.

1417–1421 Broadway

Oakland

California

The embossed porcelain stopper marked “Oakland Bottling Co., Oakland, Cal.” points to an independent beverage bottling and distribution firm that was active in Oakland, California in the early 20th century. Oakland’s rapid growth following the late 19th century made it a thriving market for local suppliers of beer, soda, mineral waters, and other bottled beverages. Like many regional bottlers of the time, the Oakland Bottling Co. would have played a role in packaging and selling products for local consumption and retail trade. According to a 1907 Oakland business directory, the Oakland Bottling Co. was listed among bottlers operating in the city, and it was located at 1417–1421 Broadway — placing it within one of Oakland’s commercial thoroughfares where distributors and wholesalers clustered. Independent bottling firms such as Oakland Bottling Co. typically received beer and carbonated beverages in bulk from producers and then bottled them under their own marks in heavy glass bottles with porcelain or Hutchinson stoppers — the latter two closure types being common before the widespread adoption of the crown cap around 1910. In addition to beer, these companies often handled soda water, mineral water, and soft drinks for local saloons, restaurants, and retail outlets, aiding distribution in an era when brand packaging was still localized rather than national. Oakland at the turn of the century had an active bottling scene, including firms like Wunder Bottling Co. and Valley Brew Bottling Works, alongside other beverage distributors, suggesting a competitive but robust market. Although detailed personal or corporate records for Oakland Bottling Co. have not been widely digitized, the physical evidence of embossed bottles and stoppers bearing the company name remains the strongest testimony to its operations. These artifacts represent Oakland’s early 20th century beverage economy — a period when local bottlers were vital intermediaries between producers and consumers in rapidly expanding West Coast cities.

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TBD

Oakland Natural Spring Water

White, Black

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

Oakland

California

The porcelain swing stopper inscribed “Oakland Natural Spring Water” identifies a locally branded spring-water bottling concern operating in or around Oakland, California during the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, before crown caps replaced porcelain closures in commercial beverage packaging. During this period, natural spring water was widely marketed as both a refreshing drink and a healthful tonic, and the East Bay region supported multiple spring and mineral water ventures drawing on sources in the Oakland Hills and nearby valleys. Bottlers commonly emphasized the natural origin of their water as a selling point, using proprietary embossed bottles and permanently marked porcelain stoppers to build brand recognition and control the returnable container system on which the industry depended. The use of a dedicated stopper bearing the Oakland Natural Spring Water name demonstrates that the enterprise operated at a scale sufficient to justify custom closures and repeated circulation of its bottles through local households, grocers, saloons, and delivery routes. Although specific proprietor names, street addresses, and corporate filings have not yet surfaced in readily accessible city directories or newspaper archives, the stopper itself provides direct physical evidence of a distinct spring-water brand tied to Oakland’s early beverage trade. Its style and manufacturing form place the operation squarely within the era when spring water bottlers flourished alongside soda works and beer bottlers, relying on durable glass packaging rather than disposable containers. The survival of this marked closure preserves the commercial identity of a now-vanished local water enterprise and reflects the broader boom in bottled natural waters that shaped urban beverage markets in California before modern soft-drink corporations and regulatory changes transformed the industry.

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TBD

Oakland Natural Spring Water

White, Black, Red

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

Oakland

California

The porcelain swing stopper inscribed “Oakland Natural Spring Water” identifies a locally branded spring-water bottling concern operating in or around Oakland, California during the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, before crown caps replaced porcelain closures in commercial beverage packaging. During this period, natural spring water was widely marketed as both a refreshing drink and a healthful tonic, and the East Bay region supported multiple spring and mineral water ventures drawing on sources in the Oakland Hills and nearby valleys. Bottlers commonly emphasized the natural origin of their water as a selling point, using proprietary embossed bottles and permanently marked porcelain stoppers to build brand recognition and control the returnable container system on which the industry depended. The use of a dedicated stopper bearing the Oakland Natural Spring Water name demonstrates that the enterprise operated at a scale sufficient to justify custom closures and repeated circulation of its bottles through local households, grocers, saloons, and delivery routes. Although specific proprietor names, street addresses, and corporate filings have not yet surfaced in readily accessible city directories or newspaper archives, the stopper itself provides direct physical evidence of a distinct spring-water brand tied to Oakland’s early beverage trade. Its style and manufacturing form place the operation squarely within the era when spring water bottlers flourished alongside soda works and beer bottlers, relying on durable glass packaging rather than disposable containers. The survival of this marked closure preserves the commercial identity of a now-vanished local water enterprise and reflects the broader boom in bottled natural waters that shaped urban beverage markets in California before modern soft-drink corporations and regulatory changes transformed the industry.

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TBD

Oakland Vernan Spring Water

White, Black

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

Oakland

California

The embossing “Oakland Vernan Spring Water” identifies a locally marketed natural spring-water product bottled and distributed in Oakland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period when urban consumers increasingly sought bottled mineral and spring waters for both perceived health benefits and everyday refreshment. Vernan Spring Water appears in breweriana and bottle-collector records on heavy blob-top and early machine-made bottles designed for repeated circulation, indicating a commercial bottling operation of sufficient scale to warrant proprietary embossed glass rather than generic containers. These bottle forms align with the era when spring-water companies commonly operated collection works at rural spring sources while maintaining urban bottling depots or distribution yards within city limits. Trade and collector references associate Vernan Spring with the East Bay water-bottling industry that flourished alongside soda and beer bottlers, serving hotels, boarding houses, restaurants, saloons, and private homes through wagon delivery routes. Such spring-water firms often advertised the purity and medicinal qualities of their sources and relied heavily on branded bottles as both marketing tools and returnable assets. The repeated appearance of Oakland Vernan Spring Water bottles in regional collections suggests the product circulated widely in the Oakland and greater Bay Area market rather than being confined to a single storefront outlet. While the physical bottles firmly establish the brand’s existence and commercial distribution, detailed documentary records naming a specific street-level bottling address, spring source location, or proprietor have not yet surfaced in readily accessible online directories and newspapers. As with many small spring-water enterprises of the era, operational details were often recorded only in local business directories, health department filings, or short newspaper advertisements that remain undigitized or behind archival paywalls. What can be stated with confidence from the surviving material culture is that Oakland Vernan Spring Water was a branded spring-water bottling concern active during the pre-Prohibition returnable-glass era, participating in the same neighborhood and wholesale distribution networks that supported the Bay Area’s soda and beer bottlers, and leaving its historical footprint primarily through the embossed bottles that carried its name into everyday Oakland life.

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TBD

R Raspiller Brewing Co. West Berkeley

White, Red

Raspiller Brewing Company

Pablo Avenue at the corner of Francisco Street

Berkeley

California

Raspiller Brewing Co., West Berkeley, California was a noteworthy regional brewery in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, representing one of the earliest commercial beer producers in the East Bay. The brewery was founded by Joseph Raspiller, a native of Lorraine, France, who learned brewing in his father’s brewery and gained international experience before coming to the United States in the early 1880s. After working as a brewing master for the Landregan Brothers in Berkeley, Raspiller established his own operation with the American Brewing Company in 1893. It was later incorporated as the Raspiller Brewing Company on April 11, 1902, with a substantial plant located on San Pablo Avenue at the corner of Francisco Street in West Berkeley. The brewery’s facilities were expansive, occupying a large lot and employing numerous workers; by 1903 it was producing approximately 11,000 barrels of beer annually. Raspiller Brewing offered a variety of beers, including American steam beer, German malt beers, Bohemian lager, porter, and other regional styles that reflected both the founder’s European training and local tastes. Despite operating in a region that increasingly embraced temperance — with parts of Berkeley adopting “dry” policies well before national Prohibition — Raspiller maintained production through the early 20th century. Around 1910, the brewery was absorbed into the Golden West Brewing Company, which continued operations in the East Bay into the mid-1910s. Artifacts such as bottles, stoppers, and embossed glass bearing the “Raspiller Brewing Co.” name serve as tangible remnants of this early West Coast brewing enterprise. They offer insight into a period when regional breweries flourished in local communities, using craftsmanship and immigrant brewing traditions to establish beer culture in California’s burgeoning urban centers.

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TBD

SV B Co Salinas Valley Bottling Co.

White, Red, Black

Salinas Valley Bottling Company

Salinas

California

This porcelain bottle stopper marked “Salinas Valley Bottling Co.” is associated with a regional bottling enterprise operating in or around Salinas, California, during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The stopper reflects the rise of locally organized bottling companies that served agricultural communities and nearby towns with bottled beverages such as soda water, mineral water, and other non-alcoholic drinks, and in some cases beer or near-beer products depending on local regulation and market demand. The Salinas Valley Bottling Company name suggests a geographically oriented business rather than a single-proprietor operation. Bottling firms using regional identifiers were common in California during this period, particularly in areas tied to agriculture and rail transport. Such companies often sourced water locally, carbonated and bottled it on site, and distributed finished bottles throughout the surrounding valley. Branding emphasized regional identity and purity rather than individual ownership, which explains the absence of a personal name on the stopper. Surviving bottle hardware attributed to Salinas Valley Bottling Co. establishes the company’s existence through physical evidence rather than extensive documentary records. Like many small to mid-scale bottlers of the era, the firm’s public footprint survives primarily through embossed bottles and stoppers rather than through widely reproduced advertising or corporate histories. This pattern is typical of bottling companies that served regional markets and operated without national brand ambitions. The use of a porcelain stopper places the company’s active period in the years before crown caps became dominant. Bottlers relying on reusable glass bottles invested in durable closures and marked them clearly to control bottle circulation and encourage return. Such systems required organized washing, refilling, and redistribution, indicating that the Salinas Valley Bottling Company functioned as a structured operation rather than as a casual or short-lived enterprise. At present, no specific street address for the Salinas Valley Bottling Company has been conclusively documented through readily available collector references or secondary summaries. This absence is not unusual for regional bottlers, particularly those whose operations predated standardized business directories in smaller California cities. Precise address and ownership details, if they survive, would most likely appear in local city directories, county business licenses, or contemporary newspaper notices rather than on bottle closures. Likewise, individual proprietors or officers of the company have not been securely identified through surviving bottle material alone. The company-style name suggests shared ownership, partnership, or incorporation, but the stopper does not provide sufficient information to assign control to a named individual. This aligns with a broader pattern in early California bottling history, where firms emphasized locality and product over personal branding. As an artifact, this stopper documents the presence of an organized bottling concern in California’s Salinas Valley during a formative period in the beverage industry. It reflects the transition from informal, local drink production to more systematized bottling operations that supplied growing populations and leveraged regional identity as a mark of quality. The stopper stands as durable evidence of a business whose legacy now survives primarily through the objects it placed into everyday use.

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TBD

Santa Clara County Bottling Co. San Jose

White, Red, Black

Santa Clara County Bottling Co.

UNKNOWN

San Jose

California

The porcelain stopper embossed “Santa Clara County Bottling Co. San Jose” belongs to a historic local bottling firm active in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While detailed corporate records for the company are limited, surviving breweriana—such as bottles, porcelain stoppers, and catalog listings—attest to its existence and role in the regional beverage trade. Santa Clara County Bottling Co. appears in antique bottle catalogs and auction records as a bottler based in San Jose, with examples of amber beer bottles and other beverage containers embossed with the company’s name. Some of these bottles are associated with regional beer brands such as Rainier Beer, suggesting that the firm may have acted as a local bottler or distributor for larger breweries. The company’s operations likely took place during the pre Prohibition era (circa 1880s–1910s), when independent bottlers were common. Before the universal adoption of crown caps around 1910, many bottlers used heavier glass bottles with porcelain stoppers—like the one marked with Santa Clara County Bottling Co.—for beer, soda, mineral water, and other beverages. These stoppers were durable and allowed for reuse in a returnable bottle system, while the embossing helped advertise the bottler’s name and locale. San Jose in this period was home to a variety of beverage producers and handlers. Earlier bottlers in the city, such as the San Jose Bottling Company, had worked with local breweries like Santa Clara Brewery and Fredericksburg Brewery before 1900, indicating a vibrant early bottling ecosystem in which the Santa Clara County Bottling Co. would have participated. Although specific business addresses and owner names for Santa Clara County Bottling Co. have not surfaced in widely available directories, the firm’s presence in multiple bottle collections reflects its role in the distribution and packaging of beer and possibly other drinks for the Santa Clara County market. Like many independent bottlers of the era, its detailed documentation may have been lost over time due to industrial consolidation, Prohibition, and the absence of surviving formal archives. Today, bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the Santa Clara County Bottling Co. name remain as rare artifacts of San Jose’s early beverage industry, illustrating the commerce of local bottlers in a region better known historically for fruit canning and later technological innovation.

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TBD

Santa Clara County Bottling Co. San Jose

White, Red, Black

Santa Clara County Bottling Co.

UNKNOWN

San Jose

California

The porcelain stopper embossed “Santa Clara County Bottling Co. San Jose” belongs to a historic local bottling firm active in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While detailed corporate records for the company are limited, surviving breweriana—such as bottles, porcelain stoppers, and catalog listings—attest to its existence and role in the regional beverage trade. Santa Clara County Bottling Co. appears in antique bottle catalogs and auction records as a bottler based in San Jose, with examples of amber beer bottles and other beverage containers embossed with the company’s name. Some of these bottles are associated with regional beer brands such as Rainier Beer, suggesting that the firm may have acted as a local bottler or distributor for larger breweries. The company’s operations likely took place during the pre Prohibition era (circa 1880s–1910s), when independent bottlers were common. Before the universal adoption of crown caps around 1910, many bottlers used heavier glass bottles with porcelain stoppers—like the one marked with Santa Clara County Bottling Co.—for beer, soda, mineral water, and other beverages. These stoppers were durable and allowed for reuse in a returnable bottle system, while the embossing helped advertise the bottler’s name and locale. San Jose in this period was home to a variety of beverage producers and handlers. Earlier bottlers in the city, such as the San Jose Bottling Company, had worked with local breweries like Santa Clara Brewery and Fredericksburg Brewery before 1900, indicating a vibrant early bottling ecosystem in which the Santa Clara County Bottling Co. would have participated. Although specific business addresses and owner names for Santa Clara County Bottling Co. have not surfaced in widely available directories, the firm’s presence in multiple bottle collections reflects its role in the distribution and packaging of beer and possibly other drinks for the Santa Clara County market. Like many independent bottlers of the era, its detailed documentation may have been lost over time due to industrial consolidation, Prohibition, and the absence of surviving formal archives. Today, bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the Santa Clara County Bottling Co. name remain as rare artifacts of San Jose’s early beverage industry, illustrating the commerce of local bottlers in a region better known historically for fruit canning and later technological innovation.

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TBD

C S & Co C. Schnerr & Co. Sacramento

White, Black, Red

C. Schnerr & Co.

UNKNOWN

Sacramento

California

The porcelain stopper embossed “C. Schnerr & Co., Sacramento, Cal.” represents a prominent independent bottling and beverage business active in Sacramento during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company functioned primarily as a bottling agent for regional breweries, including well-known producers in Northern California, packaging beer for distribution to saloons, grocery stores, and taverns throughout the area. By receiving bulk shipments from breweries and bottling them locally, C. Schnerr & Co. played a vital role in the regional beverage market, ensuring that local communities had access to fresh beer and other bottled drinks. In addition to beer, the company diversified its operations to include carbonated soft drinks, sarsaparilla, and mineral waters, a common strategy for bottlers of the era seeking multiple revenue streams. The firm produced a variety of returnable glass bottles, often sealed with porcelain or Hutchinson-style stoppers, which preserved carbonation while prominently displaying the company name to reinforce brand recognition and encourage bottle reuse. The business operated during a period when Sacramento’s commercial landscape supported numerous independent bottlers, many of whom acted as both local distributors and bottlers for larger regional breweries. Evidence suggests that the Schnerr family was deeply involved in these enterprises, maintaining soda works and bottling operations under names such as Capital Soda Works before consolidating under the C. Schnerr & Co. brand. Their location in Sacramento placed them at the heart of a growing urban market, where industrial, retail, and hospitality sectors all depended on reliable beverage distribution. Although precise biographical details about C. Schnerr remain limited, the firm’s enduring legacy is captured in the surviving bottles and porcelain stoppers embossed with the company name. These artifacts serve as tangible reminders of Sacramento’s pre-Prohibition beverage trade and the important role played by independent bottlers in supplying beer, soda, and mineral water to a thriving urban population. C. Schnerr & Co. exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit and commercial ingenuity that characterized California’s local bottling industry at the turn of the century.

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TBD

Sunset Bottling Co. S.F. Cal.

White, Black, Red

Sunset Bottling Co.

UNKNOWN

San Francisco

California

The porcelain stopper marked “Sunset Bottling Co. S.F. Cal” represents a lesser-documented but characteristic example of San Francisco’s independent bottling trade during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While no comprehensive corporate history of Sunset Bottling Co. has survived, the stopper itself firmly places the firm within the vibrant pre-Prohibition beverage industry that flourished in the city from roughly the 1880s through the 1910s. During this period, San Francisco supported dozens of small bottlers who operated independently of breweries. These firms typically purchased beer, soda, or mineral water in bulk and bottled it for local distribution. Their names were prominently displayed on heavy glass bottles and porcelain stoppers, serving both as advertising and as a means of reclaiming bottles for reuse. The use of a porcelain stopper strongly suggests an operation dating prior to the widespread adoption of crown caps, which became dominant after about 1910. The name “Sunset” aligns well with California marketing conventions of the era, evoking the West Coast landscape and climate rather than indicating a specific neighborhood or brand of beverage. Bottlers frequently selected such names to appeal to local pride and regional identity. Evidence from surviving bottles suggests Sunset Bottling Co. may have functioned primarily as a contract or distribution bottler rather than as a brewery itself, a common business model at the time. In this role, Sunset likely bottled beer or soft drinks produced by other manufacturers, placing its own name on the container rather than the producer. San Francisco’s bottling industry was highly competitive and often short-lived. Fires, earthquakes, consolidation, and Prohibition erased many small firms from the historical record, leaving embossed bottles and stoppers as their primary legacy. The 1906 earthquake, in particular, destroyed countless business records and facilities, contributing to the scarcity of documentation for companies like Sunset Bottling Co. Today, a stopper bearing the Sunset Bottling Co. name stands as a tangible artifact of San Francisco’s pre-Prohibition beverage economy—representing a small, local enterprise that once played a role in supplying the city with bottled beer or soda during a formative era of West Coast industrial and commercial growth.

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TBD

Ticoulet & Beshorman Sacramento, Cal.

Red, White, Black

Ticoulet & Beshorman

UNKNOWN

Sacramento

California

Ticoulet & Beshorman, Sacramento, California was a regional bottling and beer distribution concern active in the pre Prohibition era, most likely in the late 19th to early 20th century. Surviving bottles embossed with “Ticoulet & Beshorman” and “Sac. Cal.” attest to the company’s existence and operation in Sacramento, where it packaged beer and possibly other beverages in blob top and crown top bottles — typical containers before modern machine made bottles and standardized labeling became widespread. Collectors have documented examples of these bottles with raised text reading “TICOULET & BESHORMAN” in circular form, often paired with porcelain bottle caps and wire hardware that also carry the Sacramento imprint. The style and manufacturing cues on these bottles suggest they were produced for beer marketed locally and perhaps regionally, reflecting the era when independent bottlers branded their own containers to distinguish products in an increasingly competitive beverage market. Little is known from official business directories or surviving newspaper advertisements about the founders or the precise scope of Ticoulet & Beshorman’s operations. This lack of conventional records is common among small, independent bottlers of that period, whose businesses frequently left few archival traces beyond their packaging and trade containers. Nonetheless, the physical artifacts themselves — such as the embossed bottle or porcelain stopper — serve as direct evidence of the company’s presence in Sacramento’s commercial life during a formative period for California’s brewing and beverage industries. Today, items marked with Ticoulet & Beshorman are valued by antique bottle and breweriana collectors as tangible remnants of Sacramento’s early beverage trade, linking them to the city’s vibrant local commerce before Prohibition reshaped the industry.

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TBD

Geo. A. Ticoulet Sacramento, Cal.

White, Black, Red

Ticoulet & Beshorman

UNKNOWN

Sacramento

California

Ticoulet & Beshorman, Sacramento, California was a regional bottling and beer distribution concern active in the pre Prohibition era, most likely in the late 19th to early 20th century. Surviving bottles embossed with “Ticoulet & Beshorman” and “Sac. Cal.” attest to the company’s existence and operation in Sacramento, where it packaged beer and possibly other beverages in blob top and crown top bottles — typical containers before modern machine made bottles and standardized labeling became widespread. Collectors have documented examples of these bottles with raised text reading “TICOULET & BESHORMAN” in circular form, often paired with porcelain bottle caps and wire hardware that also carry the Sacramento imprint. The style and manufacturing cues on these bottles suggest they were produced for beer marketed locally and perhaps regionally, reflecting the era when independent bottlers branded their own containers to distinguish products in an increasingly competitive beverage market. Little is known from official business directories or surviving newspaper advertisements about the founders or the precise scope of Ticoulet & Beshorman’s operations. This lack of conventional records is common among small, independent bottlers of that period, whose businesses frequently left few archival traces beyond their packaging and trade containers. Nonetheless, the physical artifacts themselves — such as the embossed bottle or porcelain stopper — serve as direct evidence of the company’s presence in Sacramento’s commercial life during a formative period for California’s brewing and beverage industries. Today, items marked with Ticoulet & Beshorman are valued by antique bottle and breweriana collectors as tangible remnants of Sacramento’s early beverage trade, linking them to the city’s vibrant local commerce before Prohibition reshaped the industry.

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TBD

John Tons Stockton, Cal.

White, Red, Black

Rainier Bottling Works / John F. Tons & Sons

931 East Lafayette Street

Stockton

California

The embossing “John Tons – Stockton, Cal.” identifies a late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century beverage bottling and liquor-trade operation in Stockton, California, preserved today primarily through surviving beer bottles and a porcelain stopper bearing the Tons name. During this period, Stockton was a rapidly growing commercial center serving surrounding agricultural regions and benefitting from rail and river transportation, supporting numerous small independent bottlers who either brewed limited quantities themselves or bottled beer obtained from regional breweries for local sale. Operating under a proprietor’s personal name was typical for these ventures, which commonly supplied neighborhood saloons, boarding houses, and hotels. The clearest evidence of the Tons operation comes from hand-blown amber blob-top beer bottles embossed “John Tons – Stockton, CA,” along with a porcelain swing stopper bearing the Tons name. This bottle style was widely used from the 1880s through the early 1900s and predates the widespread adoption of the crown cap around 1905. Collector and breweriana examples show that Tons used proprietary branded containers rather than generic bottles, a hallmark of commercial bottling houses seeking repeat trade. A dated porcelain stopper marked 1895 firmly anchors the business in the mid-1890s and supports the conclusion that the operation was active at least during that decade and likely into the early twentieth century. Although most formal business documentation has not survived in readily accessible online form, a directory-style listing identifies a related enterprise as “Rainier Bottling Works, John F. Tons & Sons, agents,” located at 931 East Lafayette Street. This street-level address places the Tons business within Stockton’s industrial and warehouse corridor, heavily occupied by beverage works, wholesalers, and transport-linked trades around the turn of the century. The listing suggests that John F. Tons not only bottled under his own branded name but also served as a local agent or distributor for a larger regional bottling concern, a common arrangement among California liquor dealers who handled outside beer and mineral water brands alongside house products. The physical bottles themselves often carry glassmaker marks associated with Pacific Coast glass firms, aligning them with other California provincial brewery and liquor bottles of the same era and reinforcing that the Tons operation participated in the broader West Coast beverage market rather than functioning as a purely local curiosity. The repeated appearance of Tons-marked bottles in collector finds and auction records indicates production in meaningful volume over a span of years rather than a single short run. No confirmed brewery complex or formal corporate structure for John Tons has been identified, a pattern consistent with modest, locally focused bottling concerns that frequently disappeared as the industry consolidated and new bottling technologies emerged. Fragmentary genealogical notices further point to a Tons family presence in Stockton during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and suggest that a John Tons died in California in the early 1920s, with related family deaths recorded in Stockton a few years earlier, offering circumstantial confirmation of the proprietor’s local roots. Taken together, the embossed bottles, dated stopper, directory address, agency role, and repeated material evidence establish John Tons as a commercially active Stockton bottler and liquor-trade operator by the mid-1890s, functioning both under his own name and as a distributor for a larger concern during the peak years of California’s pre-Prohibition bottling industry.

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TBD

W John Tons Stockton, Cal

White, Red, Black

Rainier Bottling Works / John F. Tons & Sons

931 East Lafayette Street

Stockton

California

The embossing “John Tons – Stockton, Cal.” identifies a late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century beverage bottling and liquor-trade operation in Stockton, California, preserved today primarily through surviving beer bottles and a porcelain stopper bearing the Tons name. During this period, Stockton was a rapidly growing commercial center serving surrounding agricultural regions and benefitting from rail and river transportation, supporting numerous small independent bottlers who either brewed limited quantities themselves or bottled beer obtained from regional breweries for local sale. Operating under a proprietor’s personal name was typical for these ventures, which commonly supplied neighborhood saloons, boarding houses, and hotels. The clearest evidence of the Tons operation comes from hand-blown amber blob-top beer bottles embossed “John Tons – Stockton, CA,” along with a porcelain swing stopper bearing the Tons name. This bottle style was widely used from the 1880s through the early 1900s and predates the widespread adoption of the crown cap around 1905. Collector and breweriana examples show that Tons used proprietary branded containers rather than generic bottles, a hallmark of commercial bottling houses seeking repeat trade. A dated porcelain stopper marked 1895 firmly anchors the business in the mid-1890s and supports the conclusion that the operation was active at least during that decade and likely into the early twentieth century. Although most formal business documentation has not survived in readily accessible online form, a directory-style listing identifies a related enterprise as “Rainier Bottling Works, John F. Tons & Sons, agents,” located at 931 East Lafayette Street. This street-level address places the Tons business within Stockton’s industrial and warehouse corridor, heavily occupied by beverage works, wholesalers, and transport-linked trades around the turn of the century. The listing suggests that John F. Tons not only bottled under his own branded name but also served as a local agent or distributor for a larger regional bottling concern, a common arrangement among California liquor dealers who handled outside beer and mineral water brands alongside house products. The physical bottles themselves often carry glassmaker marks associated with Pacific Coast glass firms, aligning them with other California provincial brewery and liquor bottles of the same era and reinforcing that the Tons operation participated in the broader West Coast beverage market rather than functioning as a purely local curiosity. The repeated appearance of Tons-marked bottles in collector finds and auction records indicates production in meaningful volume over a span of years rather than a single short run. No confirmed brewery complex or formal corporate structure for John Tons has been identified, a pattern consistent with modest, locally focused bottling concerns that frequently disappeared as the industry consolidated and new bottling technologies emerged. Fragmentary genealogical notices further point to a Tons family presence in Stockton during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and suggest that a John Tons died in California in the early 1920s, with related family deaths recorded in Stockton a few years earlier, offering circumstantial confirmation of the proprietor’s local roots. Taken together, the embossed bottles, dated stopper, directory address, agency role, and repeated material evidence establish John Tons as a commercially active Stockton bottler and liquor-trade operator by the mid-1890s, functioning both under his own name and as a distributor for a larger concern during the peak years of California’s pre-Prohibition bottling industry.

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TBD

John Tons Stockton, Cal.

White, Red

Rainier Bottling Works / John F. Tons & Sons

931 East Lafayette Street

Stockton

California

The embossing “John Tons – Stockton, Cal.” identifies a late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century beverage bottling and liquor-trade operation in Stockton, California, preserved today primarily through surviving beer bottles and a porcelain stopper bearing the Tons name. During this period, Stockton was a rapidly growing commercial center serving surrounding agricultural regions and benefitting from rail and river transportation, supporting numerous small independent bottlers who either brewed limited quantities themselves or bottled beer obtained from regional breweries for local sale. Operating under a proprietor’s personal name was typical for these ventures, which commonly supplied neighborhood saloons, boarding houses, and hotels. The clearest evidence of the Tons operation comes from hand-blown amber blob-top beer bottles embossed “John Tons – Stockton, CA,” along with a porcelain swing stopper bearing the Tons name. This bottle style was widely used from the 1880s through the early 1900s and predates the widespread adoption of the crown cap around 1905. Collector and breweriana examples show that Tons used proprietary branded containers rather than generic bottles, a hallmark of commercial bottling houses seeking repeat trade. A dated porcelain stopper marked 1895 firmly anchors the business in the mid-1890s and supports the conclusion that the operation was active at least during that decade and likely into the early twentieth century. Although most formal business documentation has not survived in readily accessible online form, a directory-style listing identifies a related enterprise as “Rainier Bottling Works, John F. Tons & Sons, agents,” located at 931 East Lafayette Street. This street-level address places the Tons business within Stockton’s industrial and warehouse corridor, heavily occupied by beverage works, wholesalers, and transport-linked trades around the turn of the century. The listing suggests that John F. Tons not only bottled under his own branded name but also served as a local agent or distributor for a larger regional bottling concern, a common arrangement among California liquor dealers who handled outside beer and mineral water brands alongside house products. The physical bottles themselves often carry glassmaker marks associated with Pacific Coast glass firms, aligning them with other California provincial brewery and liquor bottles of the same era and reinforcing that the Tons operation participated in the broader West Coast beverage market rather than functioning as a purely local curiosity. The repeated appearance of Tons-marked bottles in collector finds and auction records indicates production in meaningful volume over a span of years rather than a single short run. No confirmed brewery complex or formal corporate structure for John Tons has been identified, a pattern consistent with modest, locally focused bottling concerns that frequently disappeared as the industry consolidated and new bottling technologies emerged. Fragmentary genealogical notices further point to a Tons family presence in Stockton during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and suggest that a John Tons died in California in the early 1920s, with related family deaths recorded in Stockton a few years earlier, offering circumstantial confirmation of the proprietor’s local roots. Taken together, the embossed bottles, dated stopper, directory address, agency role, and repeated material evidence establish John Tons as a commercially active Stockton bottler and liquor-trade operator by the mid-1890s, functioning both under his own name and as a distributor for a larger concern during the peak years of California’s pre-Prohibition bottling industry.

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TBD

UBM Co Union Brewing & Malting Co. S.F.

White, Red, Black

Union Brewing & Malting Co

18th and Florida Streets; 1030 West Broadway

San Francisco

California

The embossing “Union Brewing & Malting Co. S.F.” refers to a historic San Francisco beer producer that was a significant part of the city’s brewing industry in the decades leading up to Prohibition. The brewery is documented as operating under the Union Brewing & Malting Company name from about the start of the twentieth century until roughly 1916, producing its own branded beer — including Cascade Lager and other bottled products — and distributing them within San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area. The physical evidence of the company’s commercial identity survives in numerous embossed beer bottles carrying the Union Brewing & Malting Co. name, reflecting the firm’s participation in the returnable bottle system that was standard for beer distribution at the time. The company’s principal plant was located at the corner of 18th and Florida Streets in San Francisco, positioning it within a dense cluster of breweries and malting operations that made the city one of the major brewing centers on the West Coast in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Earlier Union Brewing operations are associated with Albert Koster, an early founder and operator whose brewery activities in San Francisco predated the formal Union Brewing & Malting Co. corporate name, indicating that the enterprise evolved from earlier nineteenth-century brewing ventures before reorganizing under its later title. In addition to the Florida Street plant, period photographic and property references also connect Union Brewing facilities to a West Broadway address in the early twentieth century, suggesting either auxiliary buildings, storage operations, or subsequent relocations typical of expanding industrial breweries. Contemporary industry mappings list the brewery alongside other prominent San Francisco houses, and accounts of the 1906 earthquake and fire note that the Union Brewing & Malting Co. plant escaped severe damage while supplying water to the stricken city — a notable distinction, as many other local breweries were destroyed or heavily damaged in the disaster. This physical location and its resilience in the face of urban catastrophe are among the clearest surviving records of the company’s presence on the ground in San Francisco’s evolving industrial landscape. Despite the company’s clear commercial footprint and the number of surviving bottles that bear its name, the historic record does not preserve a detailed roster of proprietors or corporate officers for the Union Brewing & Malting Co. in the standard directories and business filings that survive in accessible online archives. Brewery industry summaries and collector histories identify the firm as a corporate entity rather than a sole proprietorship, but they do not supply a comprehensive list of individual leaders whose names, birth and death dates, or biographical backgrounds are readily traceable. Beyond founder Albert Koster in the firm’s earlier phase, contemporary trade journals do identify personnel such as H. W. Noethig, who served as chief engineer of the brewery in the early twentieth century, reflecting the company’s organized industrial structure even as personal executive biographies remain scarce. There is evidence that the firm merged or annexed the Wunder Brewing Co. in 1909 as part of broader consolidation efforts among San Francisco breweries, and later participated in the formation of the California Brewing Association shortly before national Prohibition, indicating that Union Brewing & Malting Co. executives were active in industry-wide organizational efforts — but the specific personal identities attached to those actions are not preserved in available industrial summaries. Physical artifacts from the brewery — a variety of embossed bottles in amber and aqua glass with Union Brewing & Malting Co. legends — demonstrate both the company’s production and its marketing strategy. Many of these bottles were branded for Cascade Lager and other beer products, and appear in breweriana collections today with consistent embossing formats that tie them unmistakably to the firm’s corporate name and San Francisco location. The quantity of embossed variations suggests a robust bottling and distribution program. The brewery appears in San Francisco industrial overviews as active from about 1902 through 1916, spanning the period before and after the great earthquake and fire, and ceasing operation as an independent producer with the advent of statewide and then national restrictions on alcoholic brewing. The 1906 disaster, followed by competitive pressures and changing industry structures, shaped the fates of many Bay Area breweries; Union Brewing & Malting Co.’s inclusion in collaborative industry efforts in the 1910s points to its integration into the broader brewing community even as individual companies merged or reorganized. What can be stated with verifiable certainty from the surviving breweriana, contemporary trade references, and historical business summaries is that the Union Brewing & Malting Co. was a bona fide San Francisco brewery and malting company with a primary physical plant at 18th and Florida Streets, additional facilities tied to West Broadway, roots in earlier nineteenth-century brewing under Albert Koster, and organized industrial staffing reflected by named engineering personnel. It produced and bottled its own branded beers for local consumption and participated in major industry consolidations prior to national Prohibition. The absence of detailed proprietor biographies or complete leadership rosters underscores a common archival gap for corporate breweries of this period, where company identity is preserved through product artifacts and industrial listings rather than through surviving executive files or personal dossiers. Surviving bottles and closures remain the most direct tangible record of the company’s operations and market presence in San Francisco’s historic brewing economy.

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TBD

CJV Chas. J. Vath & Co. San Jose, Cal.

White, Black, Red

Charles J. Vath & Co.

1910 S. 4th St.

San Jose

California

The stopper marked Chas. J. Vath & Co., San Jose, Cal. is tied to a liquor and beverage wholesale business operated by Charles J. Vath in San Jose during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. City directories list Charles J. Vath as a liquor dealer and wholesaler active in San Jose for multiple years, indicating that his firm functioned as a regional distributor supplying saloons, restaurants, and retailers rather than as a single retail drinking establishment. The use of the “& Co.” designation reflects a common business structure of the period in which a principal proprietor operated with partners, investors, or senior employees while retaining the founder’s name as the public trade identity. Vath’s business operated from commercial properties in central San Jose, where liquor wholesalers and food distributors clustered near rail access and the city’s main commercial corridors to facilitate delivery throughout Santa Clara County. Surviving directory entries consistently associate his firm with downtown warehouse-style addresses rather than residential or corner retail locations, reinforcing the company’s role as a wholesale operation engaged in storage, bottling, and distribution. Charles J. Vath was part of a wave of German-American and Central European immigrants who entered the California liquor and beverage trade in the late nineteenth century, a sector in which many immigrants found economic opportunity through wholesale supply rather than direct retail saloon ownership. His listings show long-term involvement in the beverage business rather than short-lived entrepreneurship, suggesting that Chas. J. Vath & Co. maintained steady commercial relationships and established distribution routes within the region. The presence of a branded porcelain stopper indicates that Vath’s firm handled beverages in returnable glass bottles, a practice common among wholesalers who either bottled products in-house or contracted bottling of beer, mineral waters, and spirits for resale. Such closures were expensive and typically adopted by firms with sufficient volume to justify branded packaging, implying that Chas. J. Vath & Co. moved significant quantities of bottled beverages through the local market. Business listings show the firm continuing into the 1910s, after which references become sparse, coinciding with tightening regulation of alcohol distribution in California and the nationwide disruptions that culminated in Prohibition. Like many liquor wholesalers of the period, the company appears to have ceased operations or reorganized as legal alcohol trade collapsed in 1920. A stopper bearing Chas. J. Vath & Co., San Jose, Cal. therefore preserves the identity of a documented San Jose liquor wholesaler whose business formed part of the city’s early beverage distribution network. It reflects the role of immigrant-founded wholesale houses in supplying California communities with bottled beverages and illustrates the returnable container systems that dominated the pre-Prohibition alcohol trade.

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TBD

Wunder Beer P. Greenwald Stockton, Cal.

White, Red, Black

Wunder Bottling Works (Peter Greenwald)

127–129 East Channel Street

Stockton

California

This porcelain stopper, printed “Wunder Beer / P. Greenwald / Stockton, Cal.,” is a physical trace of a Stockton-area bottling concern active around the turn of the twentieth century. Surviving examples of both porcelain closures and embossed glass bearing the same legend—“WUNDER BOTTLING WORKS / P. GREENWALD / STOCKTON, CAL.”—establish that a person identified as P. Greenwald (recorded in specialist references as Peter Greenwald) operated under the Wunder Bottling Works name and placed marked bottles into local circulation. The stopper sits within a larger commercial network. Wunder Beer was a recognizable regional beer brand associated with West Coast brewing and bottling operations in the era before national Prohibition. Bottling works such as the Wunder operation in Stockton handled the practical tasks of filling, sealing, and dispatching beer to neighborhood saloons and grocers; they also rebottled or distributed product for larger breweries. The presence of Greenwald’s name on closures and on bottle embossing confirms his role as the named local bottler or agent responsible for Wunder Beer in Stockton during that period. Physical-object records and local trade listings document the Wunder Bottling Works as part of Stockton’s riverfront and wharf-side commercial fabric. Period business notices and fire-department lists connect the Wunder Bottling Works with East Channel Street (127–129 East Channel Street) in Stockton under various proprietors in the early 1900s; the same building or block appears repeatedly in contemporaneous local references to bottlers and liquor dealers. Bottles embossed with P. Greenwald’s name tie him into that established Stockton bottling footprint, indicating that his operation occupied the same kinds of neighborhood industrial addresses used by other bottlers and saloon suppliers of the day. What the material record most securely provides is trade identity and place: the stopper proves that P. (Peter) Greenwald put bottles into Stockton commerce under the Wunder Bottling Works imprint during the porcelain-stopper era. What it does not, by itself, supply are detailed personal facts: collector and auction records identify him by initials and the given name Peter in dealer notes, but there is little in the way of easily accessible civil-record biography (birth and death dates, residential history, or corporate filings) tied to Greenwald from the same public sources. Likewise, while the Wunder Bottling Works location on East Channel Street is documented for the period, surviving bottle material does not include an explicit street-number imprint linking Greenwald personally to a single storefront number; that finer-grain confirmation typically requires city directories, census entries, or municipal licensing records. In sum: the stopper is incontrovertible proof that a named Stockton bottling operator—P. (Peter) Greenwald—marketed Wunder Beer locally in the years around 1900–1905, and it places his trade within Stockton’s documented bottling district (notably the East Channel/wharf area used by several contemporaneous bottlers). The object preserves a commercial identity and a local place in the city’s pre-Prohibition beverage economy; fuller biographical particulars and precise street-number attribution can be obtained by consulting city directories, newspaper business notices, and municipal records from Stockton for the first decade of the twentieth century.

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TBD

Wunder Bottling Works Oakland, Cal.

Blue, White

Wunder Bottling Works

223 Eighth Street

Oakland

California

This porcelain stopper, stamped with the Wunder name and an Oakland imprint, is part of a clear material and documentary trail linking Wunder Beer to multiple Northern California bottling locales. Surviving embossed bottles and collector records show Wunder Bottling Works items attributed to Oakland; period newspaper advertising and trade notices place a Wunder bottling operation in Oakland at 223 Eighth Street, where the local bottling works was publicly advertised in the early 1900s. Those same bottle types and advertising also identify Wunder as a manufactured product of the Wunder brewing interest operating out of the San Francisco trade network, with local bottlers handling filling and distribution in regional markets. Concurrently, independent physical-object evidence and contemporary Stockton newspaper copy show Wunder Beer circulating in Stockton under a named local agent: P. Greenwald appears in a 1906 Stockton business notice as the Wunder agent for that city, and collector/auction examples document embossed Wunder bottles and stoppers carrying the legend “WUNDER BOTTLING WORKS / P. GREENWALD / STOCKTON, CAL.” Local commercial listings for Stockton further place Wunder-related bottling activity in Stockton’s waterfront bottling district, notably the 127–129 East Channel Street block, which functioned as the area where several bottlers and liquor merchants operated around the turn of the century. Taken together, these facts indicate a consistent pattern: Wunder Beer was a marketed brand handled through a regional network of bottling works and agents. Oakland and Stockton examples show the same brand imprint adapted to local bottlers’ names and addresses, demonstrating that the Wunder name was bottled and sold in both cities. This pattern matches common late-nineteenth/early-twentieth-century practice in which a brewing concern’s product was bottled locally by company plants or licensed bottlers and marketed through named regional agents. As an object, an Oakland-marked Wunder stopper therefore documents the brand’s local bottling presence in the East Bay while the matching Stockton-marked bottles and a contemporary Stockton business notice confirm that the same brand reached inland Central Valley markets through an identified agent. The surviving bottles and contemporary advertisements together provide strong evidence of a single Wunder brand distributed through multiple city bottling operations — whether run as company branches, license agreements, or independent agent arrangements — even though a single online corporate incorporation statement explicitly joining the Oakland and Stockton concerns was not located in the sources examined.

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TBD

W Wunder Bottling Co. San Francisco

White, Black, Red

Wunder Bottling Company

UNKNOWN

San Francisco

California

This porcelain bottle stopper marked “Wunder Bottling Co. / San Francisco” provides further material evidence of the Wunder Beer distribution network operating across Northern California in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Like the Oakland and Stockton Wunder stoppers, this example reflects a branded bottling operation using reusable bottles and porcelain closures during the pre-Prohibition era, when regional beer distribution commonly relied on city-based bottling works and named local agents. The San Francisco imprint situates Wunder’s operations within the Bay Area’s primary commercial and transportation hub. San Francisco functioned as the center of gravity for brewing, wholesaling, and brand management for much of Northern California’s beverage trade at the time. Bottling companies operating there frequently supplied beer both locally and to outlying markets via rail and water routes, making the city a logical anchor point for a regional brand such as Wunder. When viewed alongside the related stoppers and bottles marked “Wunder Bottling Works / Oakland, Cal.” and “Wunder Bottling Works / P. Greenwald / Stockton, Cal.”, the San Francisco stopper reinforces a consistent pattern: the Wunder name appears across multiple cities, adapted to local bottling works or agents while maintaining uniform brand identity. Physical bottle evidence, contemporary advertisements, and business notices collectively show Wunder Beer being bottled in Oakland, distributed inland through a named Stockton agent, and associated with San Francisco as a central bottling or organizational location. The use of the term “Bottling Co.” on the San Francisco stopper is significant. It suggests a formalized business entity operating under the Wunder name in the city, distinct from individual agents such as P. Greenwald in Stockton. This distinction mirrors common industry practice of the period, in which a primary bottling company or brewery supplied product and branding while local bottling works or agents handled secondary markets. The San Francisco inscription therefore supports the interpretation of Wunder as a coordinated regional brand rather than a collection of unrelated local uses of the same name. As with the Oakland and Stockton examples, the stopper itself does not list a street address or individual proprietor. However, its existence adds a crucial geographic link, showing that Wunder’s presence spanned the Bay Area and Central Valley through a multi-city bottling and distribution structure. Whether these operations were owned outright by a single corporation or operated through a combination of company plants and licensed bottlers cannot be conclusively resolved from bottle hardware alone, but the shared branding, contemporaneous documentation, and consistent naming conventions demonstrate that the entities were commercially related. Taken together, the San Francisco, Oakland, and Stockton Wunder stoppers form a coherent group that documents the reach of a single beer brand across Northern California before Prohibition. The San Francisco stopper, in particular, anchors the network at the region’s principal commercial center and strengthens the interpretation of Wunder Beer as a deliberately organized, multi-city enterprise whose legacy survives today through its marked bottles and porcelain closures.

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TBD

Wunder Bottling CO. San Francisco

White, Black

Wunder Bottling Company

UNKNOWN

San Francisco

California

This porcelain bottle stopper marked “Wunder Bottling Co. / San Francisco” provides further material evidence of the Wunder Beer distribution network operating across Northern California in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Like the Oakland and Stockton Wunder stoppers, this example reflects a branded bottling operation using reusable bottles and porcelain closures during the pre-Prohibition era, when regional beer distribution commonly relied on city-based bottling works and named local agents. The San Francisco imprint situates Wunder’s operations within the Bay Area’s primary commercial and transportation hub. San Francisco functioned as the center of gravity for brewing, wholesaling, and brand management for much of Northern California’s beverage trade at the time. Bottling companies operating there frequently supplied beer both locally and to outlying markets via rail and water routes, making the city a logical anchor point for a regional brand such as Wunder. When viewed alongside the related stoppers and bottles marked “Wunder Bottling Works / Oakland, Cal.” and “Wunder Bottling Works / P. Greenwald / Stockton, Cal.”, the San Francisco stopper reinforces a consistent pattern: the Wunder name appears across multiple cities, adapted to local bottling works or agents while maintaining uniform brand identity. Physical bottle evidence, contemporary advertisements, and business notices collectively show Wunder Beer being bottled in Oakland, distributed inland through a named Stockton agent, and associated with San Francisco as a central bottling or organizational location. The use of the term “Bottling Co.” on the San Francisco stopper is significant. It suggests a formalized business entity operating under the Wunder name in the city, distinct from individual agents such as P. Greenwald in Stockton. This distinction mirrors common industry practice of the period, in which a primary bottling company or brewery supplied product and branding while local bottling works or agents handled secondary markets. The San Francisco inscription therefore supports the interpretation of Wunder as a coordinated regional brand rather than a collection of unrelated local uses of the same name. As with the Oakland and Stockton examples, the stopper itself does not list a street address or individual proprietor. However, its existence adds a crucial geographic link, showing that Wunder’s presence spanned the Bay Area and Central Valley through a multi-city bottling and distribution structure. Whether these operations were owned outright by a single corporation or operated through a combination of company plants and licensed bottlers cannot be conclusively resolved from bottle hardware alone, but the shared branding, contemporaneous documentation, and consistent naming conventions demonstrate that the entities were commercially related. Taken together, the San Francisco, Oakland, and Stockton Wunder stoppers form a coherent group that documents the reach of a single beer brand across Northern California before Prohibition. The San Francisco stopper, in particular, anchors the network at the region’s principal commercial center and strengthens the interpretation of Wunder Beer as a deliberately organized, multi-city enterprise whose legacy survives today through its marked bottles and porcelain closures.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP38793SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

B.S.B. Co. Phone 1479 Cor Forest & 29th Ave. W. Denver, Col.

White, Red, Black

Boulder Springs Brewing Co. (Theodore L. H. Fribourg)

Forest & 29th Ave. W.

Denver

Colorado

The stopper embossed “B.S.B. Co. Phone 1479 Cor Forest & 29th Ave. W. Denver, Col.” ties directly to the Boulder Springs Brewing/Bottling concern’s Denver bottling and distribution plant. Business listings and local trade notices place a company operating under the Boulder Springs name at a street-corner plant serving as a city bottling depot; the corner of Forest and West 29th Avenue appears on trade closures as the company’s Denver contact point and the short telephone sequence confirms an organized commercial outlet rather than an informal neighborhood filler. Secondary directory listings also record a Boulder Springs Bottling office at 2535 15th Street, showing the enterprise used more than one city address for production, storage or business offices during its period of operation. The individual most clearly associated with the Boulder Springs bottling works in Denver is Theodore L. H. Fribourg. Period directory extracts list Fribourg as manager or proprietor of the Boulder Springs Bottling Co., with a recorded residence on Mary Street that matches city address entries for the Fribourg family. Contemporary newspaper notices referencing local deliveries and trade announcements reproduce the corner address and name format found on the porcelain closure, indicating that Theodore Fribourg acted as the company’s local operational head who handled city distribution, customer orders, and the bottling depot’s day-to-day affairs. Material culture corroborates the documentary traces: multiple collectible Hutch and blob-top bottles and a porcelain stopper bearing the B.S.B. abbreviation and the Forest & 29th corner have been documented in western Americana auction records and museum holdings, linking the embossed closure to actual packaged product distributed in Denver. These objects, together with directory and newspaper entries naming Fribourg, establish both a corporate imprint (Boulder Springs/B.S.B.) and a human operator responsible for the Denver facility. Gaps remain in the surviving record. No continuous corporate ledgers, incorporation paperwork for the Denver branch, or detailed production barrelage statements have been located in the accessible city abstracts; year-by-year directory coverage is intermittent online, and surviving notices concentrate on addresses, proprietor names, and short trade references rather than full business financials. Where physical breweriana and directory lines converge, however, the evidence supports a clear picture: Boulder Springs operated a company-managed Denver bottling and delivery plant at the corner of Forest and West 29th Avenue (and operated from an additional city address at 2535 15th Street), and Theodore L. H. Fribourg is consistently recorded as the manager/proprietor associated with that operation. The stopper in hand therefore documents a branded, company-organized distribution outlet tied to a named local operator rather than an anonymous or solely proprietor-run neighborhood filler.

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TBD

City Bottling Co. 1534 Platte St. Denver, Colo.

White, Black, Red

City Bottling Co. (George Finkbeiner)

1534-42 Platte Street

Denver

Colorado

The imprint “City Bottling Co., Denver, 1537 Platte St.” identifies a small, locally operated bottling business active in Denver during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The address places the company in the Platte River corridor northwest of downtown, an area that developed early as a mixed industrial and commercial district due to its proximity to rail lines, water access, and major transportation routes. By the turn of the century, Platte Street supported breweries, bottling works, warehouses, and light manufacturing operations that served Denver’s rapidly growing population. City Bottling Co. appears in Denver business records as an established bottling concern rather than a retail liquor outlet or saloon. The company name itself reflects a common convention of the period, emphasizing municipal service and local distribution rather than a proprietary brand identity. This naming pattern was frequently used by bottlers supplying soda water, mineral water, and other bottled beverages for household consumption, often using refillable glass bottles that circulated repeatedly through neighborhood trade. Surviving bottles, jugs, and etched glassware bearing the City Bottling Co. name provide direct physical evidence of the company’s operations. These artifacts demonstrate that the firm produced or filled its own containers and distributed beverages locally under its own imprint. The style of the glassware and containers corresponds with pre-Prohibition bottling practices, including reusable bottles and stoneware vessels intended for return and reuse. The presence of company-marked wares indicates an organized bottling operation rather than a purely wholesale distributor. Material evidence and period trade listings connect City Bottling Co. with George Finkbeiner, whose name appears on some surviving glassware alongside the company name and the Denver location. This association suggests that Finkbeiner served as proprietor or principal operator of the business during at least part of its documented existence. The use of an individual’s name in conjunction with the company name was typical of owner-operated bottling works in the era and reinforces the interpretation of City Bottling Co. as a locally controlled enterprise rather than a branch of a national concern. The building at 1537 Platte Street was part of a block that housed multiple beverage-related businesses over time. The location’s continued association with bottling and beverage production reflects the suitability of the site for such uses, including access to transportation and infrastructure necessary for distribution. While City Bottling Co. did not evolve into a large or long-lived corporation, its occupation of this address places it firmly within Denver’s early beverage industry landscape. City Bottling Co. does not appear to have been a brewery, nor is there evidence tying the business directly to distilling. Instead, the available record supports its identification as a bottling concern handling non-alcoholic beverages, mineral water, or possibly beer bottled from other local producers. This distinction is important, as many bottling companies of the period operated independently of breweries, purchasing product in bulk or producing soda water on site and distributing it under their own name. Later in the twentieth century, the same Platte Street address became associated with the Big Chief name, reflecting continued beverage use of the site after the City Bottling Co. era. “Big Chief” was a regional soft-drink bottling brand that operated in Denver and other western markets and is documented at 1537 Platte Street in subsequent years. The appearance of Big Chief at this address indicates continuity of function rather than continuity of ownership: the building remained suitable for bottling and distribution even as operators and brand identities changed. The reuse of the property by Big Chief aligns with broader patterns in which early local bottling plants were absorbed into, or replaced by, larger branded soft-drink operations as the beverage industry consolidated. Like many small bottlers, City Bottling Co. disappears from the record as the beverage industry consolidated and packaging technology changed. The decline of refillable bottle systems, combined with Prohibition and the rise of nationally branded beverages, reduced the viability of neighborhood bottling operations. By the early twentieth century, businesses of this scale were increasingly absorbed, renamed, or discontinued. Today, City Bottling Co. is known primarily through its marked bottles and glassware and through its association with a specific Denver address. These artifacts provide reliable documentation of the company’s name, location, and function, even in the absence of a surviving corporate archive. Together, they represent a tangible remnant of Denver’s pre-Prohibition bottling trade and the network of small enterprises that supplied everyday beverages to the city’s residents. In summary, “City Bottling Co., Denver, 1537 Platte St.” refers to a locally operated bottling business active in Denver’s Platte Street industrial corridor during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The company is documented through physical artifacts and address records, was associated with proprietor George Finkbeiner, and functioned as part of the city’s broader beverage distribution system prior to industry consolidation and regulatory change in Denver.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71232SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

City Bottling Co. Denver, Colo. 1534 Platte St.

White, Black, Red

City Bottling Co. (George Finkbeiner)

1534-42 Platte Street

Denver

Colorado

The imprint “City Bottling Co., Denver, 1537 Platte St.” identifies a small, locally operated bottling business active in Denver during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The address places the company in the Platte River corridor northwest of downtown, an area that developed early as a mixed industrial and commercial district due to its proximity to rail lines, water access, and major transportation routes. By the turn of the century, Platte Street supported breweries, bottling works, warehouses, and light manufacturing operations that served Denver’s rapidly growing population. City Bottling Co. appears in Denver business records as an established bottling concern rather than a retail liquor outlet or saloon. The company name itself reflects a common convention of the period, emphasizing municipal service and local distribution rather than a proprietary brand identity. This naming pattern was frequently used by bottlers supplying soda water, mineral water, and other bottled beverages for household consumption, often using refillable glass bottles that circulated repeatedly through neighborhood trade. Surviving bottles, jugs, and etched glassware bearing the City Bottling Co. name provide direct physical evidence of the company’s operations. These artifacts demonstrate that the firm produced or filled its own containers and distributed beverages locally under its own imprint. The style of the glassware and containers corresponds with pre-Prohibition bottling practices, including reusable bottles and stoneware vessels intended for return and reuse. The presence of company-marked wares indicates an organized bottling operation rather than a purely wholesale distributor. Material evidence and period trade listings connect City Bottling Co. with George Finkbeiner, whose name appears on some surviving glassware alongside the company name and the Denver location. This association suggests that Finkbeiner served as proprietor or principal operator of the business during at least part of its documented existence. The use of an individual’s name in conjunction with the company name was typical of owner-operated bottling works in the era and reinforces the interpretation of City Bottling Co. as a locally controlled enterprise rather than a branch of a national concern. The building at 1537 Platte Street was part of a block that housed multiple beverage-related businesses over time. The location’s continued association with bottling and beverage production reflects the suitability of the site for such uses, including access to transportation and infrastructure necessary for distribution. While City Bottling Co. did not evolve into a large or long-lived corporation, its occupation of this address places it firmly within Denver’s early beverage industry landscape. City Bottling Co. does not appear to have been a brewery, nor is there evidence tying the business directly to distilling. Instead, the available record supports its identification as a bottling concern handling non-alcoholic beverages, mineral water, or possibly beer bottled from other local producers. This distinction is important, as many bottling companies of the period operated independently of breweries, purchasing product in bulk or producing soda water on site and distributing it under their own name. Later in the twentieth century, the same Platte Street address became associated with the Big Chief name, reflecting continued beverage use of the site after the City Bottling Co. era. “Big Chief” was a regional soft-drink bottling brand that operated in Denver and other western markets and is documented at 1537 Platte Street in subsequent years. The appearance of Big Chief at this address indicates continuity of function rather than continuity of ownership: the building remained suitable for bottling and distribution even as operators and brand identities changed. The reuse of the property by Big Chief aligns with broader patterns in which early local bottling plants were absorbed into, or replaced by, larger branded soft-drink operations as the beverage industry consolidated. Like many small bottlers, City Bottling Co. disappears from the record as the beverage industry consolidated and packaging technology changed. The decline of refillable bottle systems, combined with Prohibition and the rise of nationally branded beverages, reduced the viability of neighborhood bottling operations. By the early twentieth century, businesses of this scale were increasingly absorbed, renamed, or discontinued. Today, City Bottling Co. is known primarily through its marked bottles and glassware and through its association with a specific Denver address. These artifacts provide reliable documentation of the company’s name, location, and function, even in the absence of a surviving corporate archive. Together, they represent a tangible remnant of Denver’s pre-Prohibition bottling trade and the network of small enterprises that supplied everyday beverages to the city’s residents. In summary, “City Bottling Co., Denver, 1537 Platte St.” refers to a locally operated bottling business active in Denver’s Platte Street industrial corridor during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The company is documented through physical artifacts and address records, was associated with proprietor George Finkbeiner, and functioned as part of the city’s broader beverage distribution system prior to industry consolidation and regulatory change in Denver.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP72088SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

City Bottling Co. 1534-42 Platte Street North Denver, Colo.

White, Black, Red

City Bottling Co. (George Finkbeiner)

1534-42 Platte Street

Denver

Colorado

The imprint “City Bottling Co., Denver, 1537 Platte St.” identifies a small, locally operated bottling business active in Denver during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The address places the company in the Platte River corridor northwest of downtown, an area that developed early as a mixed industrial and commercial district due to its proximity to rail lines, water access, and major transportation routes. By the turn of the century, Platte Street supported breweries, bottling works, warehouses, and light manufacturing operations that served Denver’s rapidly growing population. City Bottling Co. appears in Denver business records as an established bottling concern rather than a retail liquor outlet or saloon. The company name itself reflects a common convention of the period, emphasizing municipal service and local distribution rather than a proprietary brand identity. This naming pattern was frequently used by bottlers supplying soda water, mineral water, and other bottled beverages for household consumption, often using refillable glass bottles that circulated repeatedly through neighborhood trade. Surviving bottles, jugs, and etched glassware bearing the City Bottling Co. name provide direct physical evidence of the company’s operations. These artifacts demonstrate that the firm produced or filled its own containers and distributed beverages locally under its own imprint. The style of the glassware and containers corresponds with pre-Prohibition bottling practices, including reusable bottles and stoneware vessels intended for return and reuse. The presence of company-marked wares indicates an organized bottling operation rather than a purely wholesale distributor. Material evidence and period trade listings connect City Bottling Co. with George Finkbeiner, whose name appears on some surviving glassware alongside the company name and the Denver location. This association suggests that Finkbeiner served as proprietor or principal operator of the business during at least part of its documented existence. The use of an individual’s name in conjunction with the company name was typical of owner-operated bottling works in the era and reinforces the interpretation of City Bottling Co. as a locally controlled enterprise rather than a branch of a national concern. The building at 1537 Platte Street was part of a block that housed multiple beverage-related businesses over time. The location’s continued association with bottling and beverage production reflects the suitability of the site for such uses, including access to transportation and infrastructure necessary for distribution. While City Bottling Co. did not evolve into a large or long-lived corporation, its occupation of this address places it firmly within Denver’s early beverage industry landscape. City Bottling Co. does not appear to have been a brewery, nor is there evidence tying the business directly to distilling. Instead, the available record supports its identification as a bottling concern handling non-alcoholic beverages, mineral water, or possibly beer bottled from other local producers. This distinction is important, as many bottling companies of the period operated independently of breweries, purchasing product in bulk or producing soda water on site and distributing it under their own name. Later in the twentieth century, the same Platte Street address became associated with the Big Chief name, reflecting continued beverage use of the site after the City Bottling Co. era. “Big Chief” was a regional soft-drink bottling brand that operated in Denver and other western markets and is documented at 1537 Platte Street in subsequent years. The appearance of Big Chief at this address indicates continuity of function rather than continuity of ownership: the building remained suitable for bottling and distribution even as operators and brand identities changed. The reuse of the property by Big Chief aligns with broader patterns in which early local bottling plants were absorbed into, or replaced by, larger branded soft-drink operations as the beverage industry consolidated. Like many small bottlers, City Bottling Co. disappears from the record as the beverage industry consolidated and packaging technology changed. The decline of refillable bottle systems, combined with Prohibition and the rise of nationally branded beverages, reduced the viability of neighborhood bottling operations. By the early twentieth century, businesses of this scale were increasingly absorbed, renamed, or discontinued. Today, City Bottling Co. is known primarily through its marked bottles and glassware and through its association with a specific Denver address. These artifacts provide reliable documentation of the company’s name, location, and function, even in the absence of a surviving corporate archive. Together, they represent a tangible remnant of Denver’s pre-Prohibition bottling trade and the network of small enterprises that supplied everyday beverages to the city’s residents. In summary, “City Bottling Co., Denver, 1537 Platte St.” refers to a locally operated bottling business active in Denver’s Platte Street industrial corridor during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The company is documented through physical artifacts and address records, was associated with proprietor George Finkbeiner, and functioned as part of the city’s broader beverage distribution system prior to industry consolidation and regulatory change in Denver.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71248.jpeg'

TBD

City Bottling Co. Denver 1537 Platte St

White, Red, Black

City Bottling Co. (George Finkbeiner)

1534-42 Platte Street

Denver

Colorado

The imprint “City Bottling Co., Denver, 1537 Platte St.” identifies a small, locally operated bottling business active in Denver during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The address places the company in the Platte River corridor northwest of downtown, an area that developed early as a mixed industrial and commercial district due to its proximity to rail lines, water access, and major transportation routes. By the turn of the century, Platte Street supported breweries, bottling works, warehouses, and light manufacturing operations that served Denver’s rapidly growing population. City Bottling Co. appears in Denver business records as an established bottling concern rather than a retail liquor outlet or saloon. The company name itself reflects a common convention of the period, emphasizing municipal service and local distribution rather than a proprietary brand identity. This naming pattern was frequently used by bottlers supplying soda water, mineral water, and other bottled beverages for household consumption, often using refillable glass bottles that circulated repeatedly through neighborhood trade. Surviving bottles, jugs, and etched glassware bearing the City Bottling Co. name provide direct physical evidence of the company’s operations. These artifacts demonstrate that the firm produced or filled its own containers and distributed beverages locally under its own imprint. The style of the glassware and containers corresponds with pre-Prohibition bottling practices, including reusable bottles and stoneware vessels intended for return and reuse. The presence of company-marked wares indicates an organized bottling operation rather than a purely wholesale distributor. Material evidence and period trade listings connect City Bottling Co. with George Finkbeiner, whose name appears on some surviving glassware alongside the company name and the Denver location. This association suggests that Finkbeiner served as proprietor or principal operator of the business during at least part of its documented existence. The use of an individual’s name in conjunction with the company name was typical of owner-operated bottling works in the era and reinforces the interpretation of City Bottling Co. as a locally controlled enterprise rather than a branch of a national concern. The building at 1537 Platte Street was part of a block that housed multiple beverage-related businesses over time. The location’s continued association with bottling and beverage production reflects the suitability of the site for such uses, including access to transportation and infrastructure necessary for distribution. While City Bottling Co. did not evolve into a large or long-lived corporation, its occupation of this address places it firmly within Denver’s early beverage industry landscape. City Bottling Co. does not appear to have been a brewery, nor is there evidence tying the business directly to distilling. Instead, the available record supports its identification as a bottling concern handling non-alcoholic beverages, mineral water, or possibly beer bottled from other local producers. This distinction is important, as many bottling companies of the period operated independently of breweries, purchasing product in bulk or producing soda water on site and distributing it under their own name. Later in the twentieth century, the same Platte Street address became associated with the Big Chief name, reflecting continued beverage use of the site after the City Bottling Co. era. “Big Chief” was a regional soft-drink bottling brand that operated in Denver and other western markets and is documented at 1537 Platte Street in subsequent years. The appearance of Big Chief at this address indicates continuity of function rather than continuity of ownership: the building remained suitable for bottling and distribution even as operators and brand identities changed. The reuse of the property by Big Chief aligns with broader patterns in which early local bottling plants were absorbed into, or replaced by, larger branded soft-drink operations as the beverage industry consolidated. Like many small bottlers, City Bottling Co. disappears from the record as the beverage industry consolidated and packaging technology changed. The decline of refillable bottle systems, combined with Prohibition and the rise of nationally branded beverages, reduced the viability of neighborhood bottling operations. By the early twentieth century, businesses of this scale were increasingly absorbed, renamed, or discontinued. Today, City Bottling Co. is known primarily through its marked bottles and glassware and through its association with a specific Denver address. These artifacts provide reliable documentation of the company’s name, location, and function, even in the absence of a surviving corporate archive. Together, they represent a tangible remnant of Denver’s pre-Prohibition bottling trade and the network of small enterprises that supplied everyday beverages to the city’s residents. In summary, “City Bottling Co., Denver, 1537 Platte St.” refers to a locally operated bottling business active in Denver’s Platte Street industrial corridor during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The company is documented through physical artifacts and address records, was associated with proprietor George Finkbeiner, and functioned as part of the city’s broader beverage distribution system prior to industry consolidation and regulatory change in Denver.

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TBD

Deep Rock Artesian Water

White, Black

The Deep Rock Water Company

27th & Welton Street

Denver

Colorado

The Deep Rock Water Company traces its origins to 1896, when a Denver-area pharmacist named Stephen Kostitch drilled an 850 foot artesian well outside the city’s then water service area. The fresh, naturally flowing spring water proved popular with locals, and Kostitch soon closed his drugstore and launched Deep Rock Water to bottle and deliver “pure artesian water” by horse drawn carriage. In its early decades, Deep Rock tapped into rising demand for clean, palatable drinking water in a growing Denver. Over time, the company expanded beyond simple spring water bottles: it diversified product offerings to include filtered, spring, artesian, and distilled water, as well as home and office delivery services. By the early 21st century, Deep Rock had become a well established regional water supplier, proudly claiming a founding date of 1896 and serving Colorado (and later neighboring states) with water delivery, water cooler service, and private label bottling. In 2004 a private equity firm acquired Deep Rock, signaling new investment and repositioning, and in December 2011 most of its Colorado assets were purchased by DS Waters of America — integrating Deep Rock into a broader national bottled water network while preserving the brand identity. Even as the company modernized packaging, branding, and delivery logistics, Deep Rock has maintained continuity with its 19th century roots: the same artesian well, the same commitment to “fresh, great tasting water,” and the same Denver heritage. Today, Deep Rock is remembered as one of the oldest continuously operating water delivery and bottling companies in the Rocky Mountain region — a concrete link between Denver’s pioneer era need for clean water and the modern convenience of home/office water delivery. Its story underscores how, in a city where municipal water infrastructure lagged behind urban growth, entrepreneurial initiative and resourcefulness met a real community need — and built a business that lasted over a century.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71227.jpeg'

TBD

Deep Rock Artesian Water

White, Black

The Deep Rock Water Company

27th & Welton Street

Denver

Colorado

The Deep Rock Water Company traces its origins to 1896, when a Denver-area pharmacist named Stephen Kostitch drilled an 850 foot artesian well outside the city’s then water service area. The fresh, naturally flowing spring water proved popular with locals, and Kostitch soon closed his drugstore and launched Deep Rock Water to bottle and deliver “pure artesian water” by horse drawn carriage. In its early decades, Deep Rock tapped into rising demand for clean, palatable drinking water in a growing Denver. Over time, the company expanded beyond simple spring water bottles: it diversified product offerings to include filtered, spring, artesian, and distilled water, as well as home and office delivery services. By the early 21st century, Deep Rock had become a well established regional water supplier, proudly claiming a founding date of 1896 and serving Colorado (and later neighboring states) with water delivery, water cooler service, and private label bottling. In 2004 a private equity firm acquired Deep Rock, signaling new investment and repositioning, and in December 2011 most of its Colorado assets were purchased by DS Waters of America — integrating Deep Rock into a broader national bottled water network while preserving the brand identity. Even as the company modernized packaging, branding, and delivery logistics, Deep Rock has maintained continuity with its 19th century roots: the same artesian well, the same commitment to “fresh, great tasting water,” and the same Denver heritage. Today, Deep Rock is remembered as one of the oldest continuously operating water delivery and bottling companies in the Rocky Mountain region — a concrete link between Denver’s pioneer era need for clean water and the modern convenience of home/office water delivery. Its story underscores how, in a city where municipal water infrastructure lagged behind urban growth, entrepreneurial initiative and resourcefulness met a real community need — and built a business that lasted over a century.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP72108.jpeg'

TBD

EB Co Empire Bottling Co. Denver

White, Red, Black

Empire Bottling Company

1635–1637 Arapahoe Street; 2436 17th Street

Denver

Colorado

Empire Bottling Co. operated in Denver as a multi-function bottling and liquor concern during the early twentieth century, appearing consistently in city directories and surviving material culture from the pre-Prohibition era. The firm is documented at 1635–1637 Arapahoe Street, an address associated with its earlier commercial presence in Denver’s central warehouse and bottling district, and later at 2436 17th Street, Denver, Colorado, a location tied to manufacturing, bottling, and storage operations in the city’s northwest industrial corridor. The use of multiple addresses reflects a common pattern among Denver bottlers of the period, separating business offices and sales activity from production facilities. Unlike many contemporaneous bottling works that prominently identified an individual proprietor, Empire Bottling Co. consistently presented itself as a company-run enterprise. Advertisements, directories, and branded packaging emphasize the corporate name rather than a single owner, suggesting a partnership or corporate structure rather than a proprietor-branded operation. This organizational model aligns with the firm’s apparent scale and diversified business activities. Material evidence, including embossed bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the “Empire Bottling Co., Denver” legend, confirms the company’s role in bottling and distributing beverages for the local and regional market. Bottle forms associated with the firm correspond to styles in use during the 1910s and early 1920s, supporting a production span that bridges the late pre-Prohibition years and the transitional period that followed. In its later years, Empire Bottling Co. is documented as operating a broad beverage and liquor business. The company functioned as wholesale and retail dealers in imported and domestic wines and liquors, while continuing as manufacturers and bottlers of all kinds of carbonated beverages. In addition to soft drinks and spirits, the firm acted as bottlers of established beer brands, specifically identifying itself as bottlers of Tivoli beer and Muenchener beer, indicating participation in the distribution and packaging of recognized brewery products rather than operating as a brewery itself. This combination of liquor distribution, beer bottling, and carbonated beverage manufacture reflects the adaptive and diversified business model common among Denver bottlers as regulatory conditions and consumer demand evolved. Operational scale and commercial reach are further suggested by the firm’s maintained telephone service, listed as Telephone Main 1750, and by its continued identification with the 17th Street plant address during this later phase. Contemporary photographic evidence showing an active bottling interior associated with Empire Bottling Co. — with stacked wooden cases and industrial fixtures — reinforces its role as a functioning bottling and distribution enterprise rather than a nominal or short-lived concern. The porcelain stopper illustrated here is a surviving artifact of that operation: a durable, reusable component branded for circulation in a competitive beverage market. Together with documented addresses, diversified business descriptions, and branded packaging, it anchors Empire Bottling Co. firmly within Denver’s early-twentieth-century bottling, liquor, and beer distribution trade.

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TBD

Gilbreath Denver

White, Black, Red

Gilbreath & Son

UNKNOWN

Denver

Colorado

The name Gilbreath on a Denver embossing most commonly corresponds to a small independent bottling operation that once existed in Denver rather than a brewery. Surviving embossed bottles and stoppers marked “J. S. Gilbreath & Son, Denver, Colorado” attest to the presence of a family-named bottling concern in the city’s early beverage trade, with examples of both aqua colored and light aqua “Hutchinson” style bottles surfaced by collectors showing that mark, often with a star motif on the base, indicating private mold glass produced specifically for that firm. In that era Denver’s bottling trade included proprietors who bottled mineral water, soda or contract beer for neighborhood taverns, grocers, hotels, and drug stores. The structure “& Son” in the business name indicates a family or multi-generation operation rather than a large corporate brewer, and these firms typically advertised only through their bottles and closures rather than in large print advertising campaigns. The presence of a child in the business name implies that the proprietor — whose given name initial appears as J. S. (or occasionally seen in collector listings as L. Gilbreath) — was working with a son in the enterprise, a common pattern among independent bottlers whose shops combined retail sales with bottled product filling. City directories from late nineteenth and early twentieth century Denver list many small bottling works under proprietor names, though at present digitized directory abstracts for years in which Gilbreath would have appeared (roughly 1880s–1910s) are not fully accessible online; extant printed city directories from the period (1873–1923) are known to enumerate these businesses by name and occupation, indicating that further research in physical or microfilmed directories could yield full given names, street address, and precise years of operation. No substantial brewery production statistics, corporate filings, newspaper advertisements, or extended biographical articles have survived for the Gilbreath bottling concern, and there is no clear evidence tying the name to a large brewery in Denver’s historic beer industry. The collectible bottles themselves remain the primary documentary record that confirms J. S. Gilbreath & Son as a Denver-based bottling works active during the period when glass bottle embossing served as both branding and business documentation for local proprietors.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP72106.jpeg'

TBD

BB Imperial Bottling Works Denver, Colo

White, Black, Red

Imperial Bottling Works

UNKNOWN

Denver

Colorado

The stopper embossed Imperial Bottling Works, Denver, Colo. documents a Denver-area bottling concern that placed branded closures on returnable glass containers in the pre-Prohibition era. Surviving physical evidence in the form of bottles and stoppers bearing this name confirms the company’s existence, even though formal business directories and newspaper records from the period do not currently show a corresponding listing with address, proprietor names, or detailed trade classification. The marked containers that survive reflect a bottling enterprise active in Denver’s beverage trade when local bottlers supplied refillable bottles to saloons, restaurants, and retailers. Because no period business directory or newspaper advertisement for an Imperial Bottling Works in Denver has been located in the accessible archives searched here, the embossed artifacts themselves remain the primary documentary evidence that the firm operated in the Denver area. The presence of a branded closure with the company name indicates that Imperial Bottling Works handled sufficient commercial volume to invest in custom bottles, but details such as its street location, years of operation, ownership, and specific product lines are not preserved in the records currently available.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP72103.jpeg'

TBD

BB Imperial Bottling Works Denver, Colo

White, Blue, Red

Imperial Bottling Works

UNKNOWN

Denver

Colorado

The stopper embossed Imperial Bottling Works, Denver, Colo. documents a Denver-area bottling concern that placed branded closures on returnable glass containers in the pre-Prohibition era. Surviving physical evidence in the form of bottles and stoppers bearing this name confirms the company’s existence, even though formal business directories and newspaper records from the period do not currently show a corresponding listing with address, proprietor names, or detailed trade classification. The marked containers that survive reflect a bottling enterprise active in Denver’s beverage trade when local bottlers supplied refillable bottles to saloons, restaurants, and retailers. Because no period business directory or newspaper advertisement for an Imperial Bottling Works in Denver has been located in the accessible archives searched here, the embossed artifacts themselves remain the primary documentary evidence that the firm operated in the Denver area. The presence of a branded closure with the company name indicates that Imperial Bottling Works handled sufficient commercial volume to invest in custom bottles, but details such as its street location, years of operation, ownership, and specific product lines are not preserved in the records currently available.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP72086.jpeg'

TBD

Imperial Bottling Works Denver, Colo.

White, Red

Imperial Bottling Works

UNKNOWN

Denver

Colorado

The stopper embossed Imperial Bottling Works, Denver, Colo. documents a Denver-area bottling concern that placed branded closures on returnable glass containers in the pre-Prohibition era. Surviving physical evidence in the form of bottles and stoppers bearing this name confirms the company’s existence, even though formal business directories and newspaper records from the period do not currently show a corresponding listing with address, proprietor names, or detailed trade classification. The marked containers that survive reflect a bottling enterprise active in Denver’s beverage trade when local bottlers supplied refillable bottles to saloons, restaurants, and retailers. Because no period business directory or newspaper advertisement for an Imperial Bottling Works in Denver has been located in the accessible archives searched here, the embossed artifacts themselves remain the primary documentary evidence that the firm operated in the Denver area. The presence of a branded closure with the company name indicates that Imperial Bottling Works handled sufficient commercial volume to invest in custom bottles, but details such as its street location, years of operation, ownership, and specific product lines are not preserved in the records currently available.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71218.jpeg'

TBD

CA Lammers Bottling Co Denver The Ph. Zang Brewing Co.

White, Red, Black

C.A. Lammers Bottling Company

2300 Eigth Street

Denver

Colorado

The C. A. Lammers Bottling Company was a pivotal bottling enterprise in Denver, Colorado, active from roughly 1890 to 1916, and best remembered for its exclusive partnership with the Zang Brewery. Founded by C. A. Lammers around 1889–1890, the company was established to serve as Zang Brewery’s sole bottling agent, responsible for putting the brewery’s beers into bottles for regional distribution. This relationship allowed Zang Brewery, one of Denver’s largest and most respected breweries, to expand its reach beyond draft beer, supplying taverns, saloons, and retailers throughout the region. Operating from its historic address at 2300 Eighth Street, Denver, Lammers’s plant specialized in bottling lager and ale products, including Zang’s signature “Export Beer,” a lager aged for stability during shipment. The facility likely handled multiple tasks typical of independent bottlers of the era: washing and sterilizing bottles, filling and capping, and coordinating distribution. Though small in scale compared with the brewery itself, the bottling company was essential to Zang’s commercial success, ensuring product quality and consistency while maintaining the brewery’s brand identity in the growing Colorado market. The exclusive bottling arrangement meant that C. A. Lammers was not merely a peripheral business; it functioned as a direct operational arm of Zang Brewery’s commercial strategy. By centralizing bottling, Zang could focus on production and brewing innovation, leaving the labor-intensive packaging process to Lammers. This symbiosis exemplifies the close partnerships between breweries and independent bottlers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After approximately 26 years, the bottling company ceased operations around 1916, likely influenced by industrial consolidation, shifts in distribution, and the pre-Prohibition regulatory environment. Though the plant no longer exists, historical directories and collector references to C. A. Lammers Bottling Company bottles preserve its role as Zang Brewery’s exclusive bottler, reflecting an important chapter in Denver’s early brewing and beverage history.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP60105SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

The Ca. Lammers Bottling Co Denver The Ph. Zang Brewing Co.

White, Red, Black

C.A. Lammers Bottling Company

2300 Eigth Street

Denver

Colorado

The C. A. Lammers Bottling Company was a pivotal bottling enterprise in Denver, Colorado, active from roughly 1890 to 1916, and best remembered for its exclusive partnership with the Zang Brewery. Founded by C. A. Lammers around 1889–1890, the company was established to serve as Zang Brewery’s sole bottling agent, responsible for putting the brewery’s beers into bottles for regional distribution. This relationship allowed Zang Brewery, one of Denver’s largest and most respected breweries, to expand its reach beyond draft beer, supplying taverns, saloons, and retailers throughout the region. Operating from its historic address at 2300 Eighth Street, Denver, Lammers’s plant specialized in bottling lager and ale products, including Zang’s signature “Export Beer,” a lager aged for stability during shipment. The facility likely handled multiple tasks typical of independent bottlers of the era: washing and sterilizing bottles, filling and capping, and coordinating distribution. Though small in scale compared with the brewery itself, the bottling company was essential to Zang’s commercial success, ensuring product quality and consistency while maintaining the brewery’s brand identity in the growing Colorado market. The exclusive bottling arrangement meant that C. A. Lammers was not merely a peripheral business; it functioned as a direct operational arm of Zang Brewery’s commercial strategy. By centralizing bottling, Zang could focus on production and brewing innovation, leaving the labor-intensive packaging process to Lammers. This symbiosis exemplifies the close partnerships between breweries and independent bottlers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After approximately 26 years, the bottling company ceased operations around 1916, likely influenced by industrial consolidation, shifts in distribution, and the pre-Prohibition regulatory environment. Though the plant no longer exists, historical directories and collector references to C. A. Lammers Bottling Company bottles preserve its role as Zang Brewery’s exclusive bottler, reflecting an important chapter in Denver’s early brewing and beverage history.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71222SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

The C.A. Lammers Bottling Co. Denver The Ph. Zan Brewing Co.

Red, White, Black

C.A. Lammers Bottling Company

2300 Eigth Street

Denver

Colorado

The C. A. Lammers Bottling Company was a pivotal bottling enterprise in Denver, Colorado, active from roughly 1890 to 1916, and best remembered for its exclusive partnership with the Zang Brewery. Founded by C. A. Lammers around 1889–1890, the company was established to serve as Zang Brewery’s sole bottling agent, responsible for putting the brewery’s beers into bottles for regional distribution. This relationship allowed Zang Brewery, one of Denver’s largest and most respected breweries, to expand its reach beyond draft beer, supplying taverns, saloons, and retailers throughout the region. Operating from its historic address at 2300 Eighth Street, Denver, Lammers’s plant specialized in bottling lager and ale products, including Zang’s signature “Export Beer,” a lager aged for stability during shipment. The facility likely handled multiple tasks typical of independent bottlers of the era: washing and sterilizing bottles, filling and capping, and coordinating distribution. Though small in scale compared with the brewery itself, the bottling company was essential to Zang’s commercial success, ensuring product quality and consistency while maintaining the brewery’s brand identity in the growing Colorado market. The exclusive bottling arrangement meant that C. A. Lammers was not merely a peripheral business; it functioned as a direct operational arm of Zang Brewery’s commercial strategy. By centralizing bottling, Zang could focus on production and brewing innovation, leaving the labor-intensive packaging process to Lammers. This symbiosis exemplifies the close partnerships between breweries and independent bottlers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After approximately 26 years, the bottling company ceased operations around 1916, likely influenced by industrial consolidation, shifts in distribution, and the pre-Prohibition regulatory environment. Though the plant no longer exists, historical directories and collector references to C. A. Lammers Bottling Company bottles preserve its role as Zang Brewery’s exclusive bottler, reflecting an important chapter in Denver’s early brewing and beverage history.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71484SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

C.A. Lammers Bottling Co. Denver, Colo. The Ph. Zang Brewing Co.

Red, White, Black

C.A. Lammers Bottling Company

2300 Eigth Street

Denver

Colorado

The C. A. Lammers Bottling Company was a pivotal bottling enterprise in Denver, Colorado, active from roughly 1890 to 1916, and best remembered for its exclusive partnership with the Zang Brewery. Founded by C. A. Lammers around 1889–1890, the company was established to serve as Zang Brewery’s sole bottling agent, responsible for putting the brewery’s beers into bottles for regional distribution. This relationship allowed Zang Brewery, one of Denver’s largest and most respected breweries, to expand its reach beyond draft beer, supplying taverns, saloons, and retailers throughout the region. Operating from its historic address at 2300 Eighth Street, Denver, Lammers’s plant specialized in bottling lager and ale products, including Zang’s signature “Export Beer,” a lager aged for stability during shipment. The facility likely handled multiple tasks typical of independent bottlers of the era: washing and sterilizing bottles, filling and capping, and coordinating distribution. Though small in scale compared with the brewery itself, the bottling company was essential to Zang’s commercial success, ensuring product quality and consistency while maintaining the brewery’s brand identity in the growing Colorado market. The exclusive bottling arrangement meant that C. A. Lammers was not merely a peripheral business; it functioned as a direct operational arm of Zang Brewery’s commercial strategy. By centralizing bottling, Zang could focus on production and brewing innovation, leaving the labor-intensive packaging process to Lammers. This symbiosis exemplifies the close partnerships between breweries and independent bottlers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After approximately 26 years, the bottling company ceased operations around 1916, likely influenced by industrial consolidation, shifts in distribution, and the pre-Prohibition regulatory environment. Though the plant no longer exists, historical directories and collector references to C. A. Lammers Bottling Company bottles preserve its role as Zang Brewery’s exclusive bottler, reflecting an important chapter in Denver’s early brewing and beverage history.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71508SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

C.A. Lammers Bottl. Co. Denver, Colo. The Ph. Zang Brewing Co.

White, Black, Red

C.A. Lammers Bottling Company

2300 Eigth Street

Denver

Colorado

The C. A. Lammers Bottling Company was a pivotal bottling enterprise in Denver, Colorado, active from roughly 1890 to 1916, and best remembered for its exclusive partnership with the Zang Brewery. Founded by C. A. Lammers around 1889–1890, the company was established to serve as Zang Brewery’s sole bottling agent, responsible for putting the brewery’s beers into bottles for regional distribution. This relationship allowed Zang Brewery, one of Denver’s largest and most respected breweries, to expand its reach beyond draft beer, supplying taverns, saloons, and retailers throughout the region. Operating from its historic address at 2300 Eighth Street, Denver, Lammers’s plant specialized in bottling lager and ale products, including Zang’s signature “Export Beer,” a lager aged for stability during shipment. The facility likely handled multiple tasks typical of independent bottlers of the era: washing and sterilizing bottles, filling and capping, and coordinating distribution. Though small in scale compared with the brewery itself, the bottling company was essential to Zang’s commercial success, ensuring product quality and consistency while maintaining the brewery’s brand identity in the growing Colorado market. The exclusive bottling arrangement meant that C. A. Lammers was not merely a peripheral business; it functioned as a direct operational arm of Zang Brewery’s commercial strategy. By centralizing bottling, Zang could focus on production and brewing innovation, leaving the labor-intensive packaging process to Lammers. This symbiosis exemplifies the close partnerships between breweries and independent bottlers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After approximately 26 years, the bottling company ceased operations around 1916, likely influenced by industrial consolidation, shifts in distribution, and the pre-Prohibition regulatory environment. Though the plant no longer exists, historical directories and collector references to C. A. Lammers Bottling Company bottles preserve its role as Zang Brewery’s exclusive bottler, reflecting an important chapter in Denver’s early brewing and beverage history.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71225SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

C.A. Lammers Bottling Co. Denver, Colo. The Ph. Zang Brewing Co.

White, Black, Red

C.A. Lammers Bottling Company

2300 Eigth Street

Denver

Colorado

The C. A. Lammers Bottling Company was a pivotal bottling enterprise in Denver, Colorado, active from roughly 1890 to 1916, and best remembered for its exclusive partnership with the Zang Brewery. Founded by C. A. Lammers around 1889–1890, the company was established to serve as Zang Brewery’s sole bottling agent, responsible for putting the brewery’s beers into bottles for regional distribution. This relationship allowed Zang Brewery, one of Denver’s largest and most respected breweries, to expand its reach beyond draft beer, supplying taverns, saloons, and retailers throughout the region. Operating from its historic address at 2300 Eighth Street, Denver, Lammers’s plant specialized in bottling lager and ale products, including Zang’s signature “Export Beer,” a lager aged for stability during shipment. The facility likely handled multiple tasks typical of independent bottlers of the era: washing and sterilizing bottles, filling and capping, and coordinating distribution. Though small in scale compared with the brewery itself, the bottling company was essential to Zang’s commercial success, ensuring product quality and consistency while maintaining the brewery’s brand identity in the growing Colorado market. The exclusive bottling arrangement meant that C. A. Lammers was not merely a peripheral business; it functioned as a direct operational arm of Zang Brewery’s commercial strategy. By centralizing bottling, Zang could focus on production and brewing innovation, leaving the labor-intensive packaging process to Lammers. This symbiosis exemplifies the close partnerships between breweries and independent bottlers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. After approximately 26 years, the bottling company ceased operations around 1916, likely influenced by industrial consolidation, shifts in distribution, and the pre-Prohibition regulatory environment. Though the plant no longer exists, historical directories and collector references to C. A. Lammers Bottling Company bottles preserve its role as Zang Brewery’s exclusive bottler, reflecting an important chapter in Denver’s early brewing and beverage history.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71506SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

McVicar Bottling Works J.W. Hay, Prop. Denver, Colo.

White, Black

McVicar Bottling Works, J. W. Hay

Arapahoe Street

Denver

Colorado

The imprint “McVicar Bottling Works, J. W. Hay, Prop., Denver, Colo.” documents a locally operated bottling concern active in Denver during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The wording of the imprint itself provides unusually strong internal evidence: it identifies a business name, explicitly names a proprietor, and situates the operation in Denver. In the context of early bottling enterprises, this level of detail strongly indicates an owner-operated concern rather than a loosely attributed trade name. McVicar Bottling Works functioned as a bottling operation rather than a brewery or distillery. The use of the term “Bottling Works” reflects period terminology commonly applied to businesses that bottled soda water, mineral water, ginger ale, flavored soft drinks, and sometimes beer obtained from local or regional breweries. In Denver, such operations proliferated as the city expanded rapidly in the late nineteenth century, supplying beverages to households, saloons, restaurants, and hotels through refillable bottle systems. The inclusion of “J. W. Hay, Prop.” identifies J. W. Hay as the proprietor of the McVicar Bottling Works at the time the marked object was produced. This phrasing was standard in the period and signified legal ownership or operational control rather than mere management. While fuller biographical details for Hay have not been widely preserved in readily accessible sources, the explicit proprietorship designation on the imprint itself constitutes primary evidence that Hay was directly responsible for the business during its operating period. In addition, contemporary Denver newspaper advertisements from the early 1910s further clarify the operation of McVicar Bottling Works. Ads dating from roughly 1910 to 1914 promote the firm as a Denver bottler of beer and repeatedly identify J. T. Turner as proprietor, using language such as “Buy Your Bottled Beers from McVicar Bottling Works — J. T. Turner, Prop.” These notices place the business on Arapahoe Street in Denver, often accompanied by telephone numbers, confirming an active commercial presence in the city during this period. The consistency of Turner’s name and the Arapahoe Street location in dated press advertising indicates a documented phase of operation under Turner’s proprietorship, distinct from other attributions associated with the McVicar name. The name “McVicar” likely reflects either a founder, an earlier owner, or an established trade name retained for commercial recognition. It was common for bottling works to continue operating under a known business name even after changes in ownership, particularly when bottles, crates, and other equipment already bore that name. The coexistence of a legacy business name with a named proprietor fits known patterns in the bottling trade and does not imply multiple simultaneous owners. Denver’s bottling industry at the turn of the century was characterized by small to mid-sized operations clustered near transportation routes and population centers. Bottlers relied on reusable glass bottles embossed or marked with business names to ensure their return. Surviving objects bearing the McVicar Bottling Works name confirm that the company participated in this system and invested in proprietary containers, a sign of an established and functioning operation rather than a transient venture. The absence of a street address on the imprint is not unusual. Many Denver bottlers omitted addresses on containers when serving a well-defined local market, relying instead on delivery routes and direct trade relationships. City directories of the period often listed bottlers by name and occupation rather than by brand, which contributes to the fragmentary nature of the surviving documentary record for firms like McVicar Bottling Works. Like many small bottlers, McVicar Bottling Works appears to have operated during a period of rapid change in the beverage industry. The rise of crown caps, increased regulation, consolidation of bottling operations, and the disruptions caused by Prohibition reshaped Denver’s beverage trade. Independent bottlers without brewery backing often disappeared, merged, or shifted business models. In many cases, physical artifacts provide the clearest surviving evidence that such businesses existed at all. No evidence indicates that McVicar Bottling Works developed into a large or long-lived corporate entity. Instead, it represents the type of locally rooted bottling operation that formed the backbone of everyday beverage distribution in Denver before national brands and franchised bottlers came to dominate the market. The explicit naming of J. W. Hay as proprietor anchors the business in individual ownership and reinforces its character as a neighborhood-scale enterprise. The imprint therefore preserves three critical facts: the existence of the McVicar Bottling Works as a Denver bottling concern; the role of J. W. Hay as its proprietor; and the company’s participation in Denver’s pre-Prohibition beverage economy. While additional archival details may yet surface through deeper directory or newspaper research, the object itself stands as reliable documentation of a real business operating within the commercial fabric of Denver during the formative years of its bottling industry.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP72087.jpeg'

TBD

Neef's

White, Black

Neef Brothers Brewing Company

12th Avenue and Quivas Street

Denver

Colorado

The story of Neef’s begins with two German immigrant brothers, Frederick Neef and Max Neef, who settled in Denver around 1872–1873. Initially they ran a wholesale liquor and retail saloon business downtown, and by 1880 had a storefront on 15th Street operating under “Frederick Neef & Bro.” as a wholesale liquor dealer. In 1891 the Neef brothers purchased the old Western Brewery and rebranded it the Neef Brothers Brewery. The new plant — located at the corner of 12th Avenue and Quivas Street (in the Lincoln Park area) — quickly became a major brewing facility. Its four story brick complex included a bottling house, ice machines, and reportedly had a capacity for up to about 75,000 barrels per year, supported by rail access and local water resources (notably from nearby Lake Archer). Neef’s produced a variety of beers under names such as Gold Belt Beer, “The Bohemian Girl,” and most notably “Weiner Märzen,” which was advertised as “The Beer that will make Colorado Famous.” The brewery gained substantial reach, distributing across Colorado and to neighboring states — a reflection of how immigrant founded breweries helped shape regional beer culture in the American West. However, the rise of temperance sentiment and eventual statewide prohibition in Colorado proved disastrous. When prohibition laws took effect (Colorado went dry in 1914), Neef’s tried to stay afloat with a “near-beer” product called “Snappy,” but the pivot failed to generate enough demand. The brewery ceased full operations and officially closed by 1917. Despite its closure, Neef Brothers Brewery left a significant imprint on Denver’s urban and cultural landscape. The former owner’s residence — the Frederick W. Neef House (built 1886) on Grove Street — remains extant and recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, surviving bottles (beer and malt tonic), old advertising, and local history of Neef’s serve as tangible links to a once thriving Colorado brewery — a testament to the region’s immigrant brewery heritage, early industrial ambition, and the profound disruption caused by Prohibition.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP72104.jpeg'

TBD

NB B Co. Neef Bros Brewing Co. Denver, Colo.

White, Blue, Red

Neef Brothers Brewing Company

12th Avenue and Quivas Street

Denver

Colorado

The story of Neef’s begins with two German immigrant brothers, Frederick Neef and Max Neef, who settled in Denver around 1872–1873. Initially they ran a wholesale liquor and retail saloon business downtown, and by 1880 had a storefront on 15th Street operating under “Frederick Neef & Bro.” as a wholesale liquor dealer. In 1891 the Neef brothers purchased the old Western Brewery and rebranded it the Neef Brothers Brewery. The new plant — located at the corner of 12th Avenue and Quivas Street (in the Lincoln Park area) — quickly became a major brewing facility. Its four story brick complex included a bottling house, ice machines, and reportedly had a capacity for up to about 75,000 barrels per year, supported by rail access and local water resources (notably from nearby Lake Archer). Neef’s produced a variety of beers under names such as Gold Belt Beer, “The Bohemian Girl,” and most notably “Weiner Märzen,” which was advertised as “The Beer that will make Colorado Famous.” The brewery gained substantial reach, distributing across Colorado and to neighboring states — a reflection of how immigrant founded breweries helped shape regional beer culture in the American West. However, the rise of temperance sentiment and eventual statewide prohibition in Colorado proved disastrous. When prohibition laws took effect (Colorado went dry in 1914), Neef’s tried to stay afloat with a “near-beer” product called “Snappy,” but the pivot failed to generate enough demand. The brewery ceased full operations and officially closed by 1917. Despite its closure, Neef Brothers Brewery left a significant imprint on Denver’s urban and cultural landscape. The former owner’s residence — the Frederick W. Neef House (built 1886) on Grove Street — remains extant and recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, surviving bottles (beer and malt tonic), old advertising, and local history of Neef’s serve as tangible links to a once thriving Colorado brewery — a testament to the region’s immigrant brewery heritage, early industrial ambition, and the profound disruption caused by Prohibition.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71212SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

The Neef Bros. Brewing Co. Denver, Colo. NB 802

White, Blue, Red

Neef Brothers Brewing Company

12th Avenue and Quivas Street

Denver

Colorado

The story of Neef’s begins with two German immigrant brothers, Frederick Neef and Max Neef, who settled in Denver around 1872–1873. Initially they ran a wholesale liquor and retail saloon business downtown, and by 1880 had a storefront on 15th Street operating under “Frederick Neef & Bro.” as a wholesale liquor dealer. In 1891 the Neef brothers purchased the old Western Brewery and rebranded it the Neef Brothers Brewery. The new plant — located at the corner of 12th Avenue and Quivas Street (in the Lincoln Park area) — quickly became a major brewing facility. Its four story brick complex included a bottling house, ice machines, and reportedly had a capacity for up to about 75,000 barrels per year, supported by rail access and local water resources (notably from nearby Lake Archer). Neef’s produced a variety of beers under names such as Gold Belt Beer, “The Bohemian Girl,” and most notably “Weiner Märzen,” which was advertised as “The Beer that will make Colorado Famous.” The brewery gained substantial reach, distributing across Colorado and to neighboring states — a reflection of how immigrant founded breweries helped shape regional beer culture in the American West. However, the rise of temperance sentiment and eventual statewide prohibition in Colorado proved disastrous. When prohibition laws took effect (Colorado went dry in 1914), Neef’s tried to stay afloat with a “near-beer” product called “Snappy,” but the pivot failed to generate enough demand. The brewery ceased full operations and officially closed by 1917. Despite its closure, Neef Brothers Brewery left a significant imprint on Denver’s urban and cultural landscape. The former owner’s residence — the Frederick W. Neef House (built 1886) on Grove Street — remains extant and recognized on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, surviving bottles (beer and malt tonic), old advertising, and local history of Neef’s serve as tangible links to a once thriving Colorado brewery — a testament to the region’s immigrant brewery heritage, early industrial ambition, and the profound disruption caused by Prohibition.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71502SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

The Silverton Brewery Chas. Fischer Silverton, Colo.

White, Black

Charles Fischer

Bank of Mineral Creek at the base of Sultan Mountain

Silverton

Colorado

Charles (often styled “Chas.”) Fischer was a prominent entrepreneur in Silverton, Colorado whose business activities left a lasting mark on the town’s commercial and social landscape during the late 19th century. Fischer was among the early pioneers in what became a thriving local brewing scene in the rugged mining towns of southwestern Colorado, where miners, railroad workers, and settlers fueled robust demand for beer and other refreshments. He is widely credited with establishing what became known as The Silverton Brewery under his ownership and name from about 1884 through 1902, during which time the brewery produced beer for local consumption and distribution in the surrounding mining communities. The brewery was operated from a stone building along the bank of Mineral Creek at the base of Sultan Mountain, a setting typical of the frontier economy where locally made beer complemented saloon life and everyday social activity for residents and visitors alike. Fischer’s influence extended beyond the brewery itself. In 1896 he built the Teller House at 1250 Greene Street in Silverton, a substantial brick and timber hotel that catered to travelers, tourists, and town residents. The building also housed two saloons, reinforcing Fischer’s integration of hospitality with beverage service in an era when visitors to Silverton required both lodging and social gathering spaces. The hotel later became a historic landmark and stands today as a restored Victorian era boutique hotel reflecting its original design and purpose. Fischer’s engagement in both brewing and hospitality reflects how entrepreneurial figures in late 19th century mining towns often diversified their investments. Brewing provided a stable commercial base because beer was a dependable consumer product among miners and urban residents alike. The investment in a fine hotel like the Teller House demonstrated a broader vision that encompassed the comfort and lifestyle needs of Silverton’s growing, and increasingly mobile, population. Although precise birth and death dates for Charles Fischer are not currently documented in widely accessible online sources, his business legacy and built environment endure in the historic fabric of Silverton. Breweriana embossed with his name, including bottles and porcelain stoppers from The Silverton Brewery, remain sought after artifacts among collectors and historians alike. They testify not only to Fischer’s direct involvement in local industry, but also to the vibrant commercial culture of Colorado’s frontier mining communities in the decades before Prohibition reshaped the American brewing landscape.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71483SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

The Silverton Brewery Chas. Fischer Silverton, Colo.

White, Black

The Silverton Brewery

Mineral Creek / 1250 Greene Street

Silverton

Colorado

In the early days of Silverton’s mining boom, a succession of small breweries served the local population. According to historic brewery records, the Silverton Brewery changed hands several times after its founding around 1880. In 1884 control passed to Chas. Fischer, under whose name the “Silverton Brewery” operated for roughly two decades. Fischer relocated the brewery to town, reportedly into a sturdy stone building on Mineral Creek at the lower end of Silverton — the same site used earlier when the brewery was originally based in nearby Howardsville. Later, Fischer erected a prominent brick and masonry building on Greene Street: in 1896 he built the Teller House Hotel (at 1250 Greene Street), which combined a hotel with saloon facilities — a common pattern for miners, travelers, and town residents seeking lodging and beer after a hard day’s work. During Fischer’s tenure, the Silverton Brewery helped anchor local social life — supplying beer to saloons, miners, and visitors — embedding itself in the everyday rhythms of a bustling mining town community. However, as mines eventually declined and Prohibition-era pressures rose, the brewery changed hands several more times and underwent reorganization. Though the original building’s fate is uncertain, its physical legacy survives: the Teller House endures (now a historic inn), and Greene Street remains a preserved corridor of Victorian-era mining-town architecture — a reminder of how businesses like Fischer’s shaped Silverton’s boom-era identity.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP73110SIDEBYSIDE.jpg'

TBD

CF The Silverton Brewery Chas. Fischer Silverton, Colo

White, Black

Charles Fischer

Bank of Mineral Creek at the base of Sultan Mountain

Silverton

Colorado

Charles (often styled “Chas.”) Fischer was a prominent entrepreneur in Silverton, Colorado whose business activities left a lasting mark on the town’s commercial and social landscape during the late 19th century. Fischer was among the early pioneers in what became a thriving local brewing scene in the rugged mining towns of southwestern Colorado, where miners, railroad workers, and settlers fueled robust demand for beer and other refreshments. He is widely credited with establishing what became known as The Silverton Brewery under his ownership and name from about 1884 through 1902, during which time the brewery produced beer for local consumption and distribution in the surrounding mining communities. The brewery was operated from a stone building along the bank of Mineral Creek at the base of Sultan Mountain, a setting typical of the frontier economy where locally made beer complemented saloon life and everyday social activity for residents and visitors alike. Fischer’s influence extended beyond the brewery itself. In 1896 he built the Teller House at 1250 Greene Street in Silverton, a substantial brick and timber hotel that catered to travelers, tourists, and town residents. The building also housed two saloons, reinforcing Fischer’s integration of hospitality with beverage service in an era when visitors to Silverton required both lodging and social gathering spaces. The hotel later became a historic landmark and stands today as a restored Victorian era boutique hotel reflecting its original design and purpose. Fischer’s engagement in both brewing and hospitality reflects how entrepreneurial figures in late 19th century mining towns often diversified their investments. Brewing provided a stable commercial base because beer was a dependable consumer product among miners and urban residents alike. The investment in a fine hotel like the Teller House demonstrated a broader vision that encompassed the comfort and lifestyle needs of Silverton’s growing, and increasingly mobile, population. Although precise birth and death dates for Charles Fischer are not currently documented in widely accessible online sources, his business legacy and built environment endure in the historic fabric of Silverton. Breweriana embossed with his name, including bottles and porcelain stoppers from The Silverton Brewery, remain sought after artifacts among collectors and historians alike. They testify not only to Fischer’s direct involvement in local industry, but also to the vibrant commercial culture of Colorado’s frontier mining communities in the decades before Prohibition reshaped the American brewing landscape.

'BOTTLECAPS/IMAGES_LARGE/BOTTLECAP71215.jpeg'

TBD

MM M. McPhelemy Danbury, Conn.

White, Black

UNKNOWN

“McPhelemy Block,” at the intersection of White Street and Main Street

Danbury

Connecticut

M. McPhelemy was a prominent liquor & bottling business operator in Danbury, Connecticut, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. According to local history sources, McPhelemy ran a wholesale wine, beer, and liquor distribution concern, and bottles embossed “M. McPHELEMY / DANBURY, CONN.” — including both beer and soda (or seltzer) bottles — are actively collected today. The historic “McPhelemy Block,” at the intersection of White Street and Main Street in Danbury, is often cited as the center of his operations, and suggests the business had a fixed building rather than a transient storefront. From what is documented and recovered in recent digs and bottle collecting circles, McPhelemy offered a variety of beverages — likely including beer, possibly mineral water or soda, and general liquor — distributed wholesale and through saloons or retail outlets. The survival of both bottles and a porcelain (or blob top) stopper bearing his name testifies to his active use of period typical glass bottle technology for mass market beverage distribution. Despite his apparent prominence locally, detailed archival records remain sparse. I did not locate consistent public business licensing entries, trade advertisements in digitized newspapers, or comprehensive directories that give a full business timeline. Much of what is “known” derives from surviving bottles, local history writing, and modern collector or archaeological recoveries. That said, McPhelemy clearly represents one of the more successful and visible independent bottlers / liquor wholesalers in Danbury during the pre Prohibition era — a reminder of the many regional producers whose material culture survives even when formal corporate documentation does not.

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McP Est. M. McPhelemy Danbury, Conn.

White, Black

UNKNOWN

“McPhelemy Block,” at the intersection of White Street and Main Street

Danbury

Connecticut

M. McPhelemy was a prominent liquor & bottling business operator in Danbury, Connecticut, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. According to local history sources, McPhelemy ran a wholesale wine, beer, and liquor distribution concern, and bottles embossed “M. McPHELEMY / DANBURY, CONN.” — including both beer and soda (or seltzer) bottles — are actively collected today. The historic “McPhelemy Block,” at the intersection of White Street and Main Street in Danbury, is often cited as the center of his operations, and suggests the business had a fixed building rather than a transient storefront. From what is documented and recovered in recent digs and bottle collecting circles, McPhelemy offered a variety of beverages — likely including beer, possibly mineral water or soda, and general liquor — distributed wholesale and through saloons or retail outlets. The survival of both bottles and a porcelain (or blob top) stopper bearing his name testifies to his active use of period typical glass bottle technology for mass market beverage distribution. Despite his apparent prominence locally, detailed archival records remain sparse. I did not locate consistent public business licensing entries, trade advertisements in digitized newspapers, or comprehensive directories that give a full business timeline. Much of what is “known” derives from surviving bottles, local history writing, and modern collector or archaeological recoveries. That said, McPhelemy clearly represents one of the more successful and visible independent bottlers / liquor wholesalers in Danbury during the pre Prohibition era — a reminder of the many regional producers whose material culture survives even when formal corporate documentation does not.

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McP Est. M. McPhelemy Danbury, Conn.

White, Black

UNKNOWN

“McPhelemy Block,” at the intersection of White Street and Main Street

Danbury

Connecticut

M. McPhelemy was a prominent liquor & bottling business operator in Danbury, Connecticut, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. According to local history sources, McPhelemy ran a wholesale wine, beer, and liquor distribution concern, and bottles embossed “M. McPHELEMY / DANBURY, CONN.” — including both beer and soda (or seltzer) bottles — are actively collected today. The historic “McPhelemy Block,” at the intersection of White Street and Main Street in Danbury, is often cited as the center of his operations, and suggests the business had a fixed building rather than a transient storefront. From what is documented and recovered in recent digs and bottle collecting circles, McPhelemy offered a variety of beverages — likely including beer, possibly mineral water or soda, and general liquor — distributed wholesale and through saloons or retail outlets. The survival of both bottles and a porcelain (or blob top) stopper bearing his name testifies to his active use of period typical glass bottle technology for mass market beverage distribution. Despite his apparent prominence locally, detailed archival records remain sparse. I did not locate consistent public business licensing entries, trade advertisements in digitized newspapers, or comprehensive directories that give a full business timeline. Much of what is “known” derives from surviving bottles, local history writing, and modern collector or archaeological recoveries. That said, McPhelemy clearly represents one of the more successful and visible independent bottlers / liquor wholesalers in Danbury during the pre Prohibition era — a reminder of the many regional producers whose material culture survives even when formal corporate documentation does not.

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Foord (Foard) Bottling Works Wil. Del.

White, Black, Red

Foord (or Foard) Bottling Works

213 West Sixth Street

Wilmington

Delaware

The embossed “Foord (or Foard) Bottling Works, Wilm., Del.” reflects a locally owned bottling concern that operated in Wilmington, Delaware, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries — a period when independent bottlers served as vital links in the beverage economy of smaller American cities. Historical listings place Foord Bottling Works at 213 West Sixth Street, Wilmington, a location associated with the firm from approximately 1899 through 1920, during which time it acted as an agent for P. Ballantine & Stoeckle. Like many bottlers of the era, Foord/Foard Bottling Works purchased carbonated beverages, beer, and mineral waters in bulk from regional producers — and in some cases may have prepared beverages locally — before packaging them in heavy glass bottles sealed with porcelain or other early closures. Embossed names such as Foord or Foard served both a practical and promotional purpose: identifying ownership to ensure bottle return and reuse, while simultaneously advertising the merchant responsible for preparation and distribution. The variation in spelling seen on surviving examples likely reflects alternate spellings used in business records, embossing dies, or changes in the firm’s name over time rather than separate enterprises. Regardless of spelling, the company was part of Wilmington’s robust, locally oriented bottled beverage trade. The city’s rapid growth in the late 1800s — fueled by railroads, manufacturing, and its strategic position between Philadelphia and Baltimore — supported strong demand for bottled beer, soda, mineral water, and later soft drinks. Independent bottlers like Foord/Foard Bottling Works met this demand by supplying saloons, hotels, groceries, and private households throughout Wilmington and its surrounding communities. The business likely handled a range of products popular at the time. In addition to beer, which often arrived in barrels and was bottled on site for retail sale, bottlers commonly produced or distributed sarsaparilla, ginger ale, soda water, and other carbonated beverages. Acting as agents for larger breweries such as Ballantine & Stoeckle allowed firms like Foord/Foard to combine regional brands with trusted local distribution, appealing to neighborhood buyers. The use of embossed bottles and porcelain stoppers was typical before crown caps became the industry standard in the 1910s, and these surviving bottles provide some of the clearest physical evidence of the company’s operations. Little is currently documented about the personal biography of the proprietor or proprietors behind Foord/Foard Bottling Works, including given names or family relationships. However, business listings, agency relationships, and embossed bottles confirm that the firm operated actively at 213 West Sixth Street for a significant period prior to Prohibition. Today, these bottles remain valuable historical artifacts — tangible links to a time when local bottlers played a central role in supplying everyday refreshments, before national brands and modern packaging reshaped the beverage industry.

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D Dubuque Brewing & Malting Co. Dubuque, IA. Trade Mark

White, Black, Red

The Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company

3000 Jackson Street

Dubuque

Iowa

The Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company was formed in 1892 as part of a consolidation of several older Dubuque breweries — including the former  Heeb Brewery, the Iowa Brewery, the Western Brewery and the Northern Brewery. The merger was driven in part by restrictive laws (the “Clark law” and related statutes) which had made the sale of brewery interests difficult. By combining the assets and operations of multiple small breweries, the new company sought to centralize production and survive in a changing regulatory environment. Under its new name — initially the “Dubuque Malting Company,” later becoming Dubuque Brewing & Malting — the firm constructed a massive, modern brewery complex at the intersection of 30th and Jackson Streets (later “3000 Jackson Street”). Construction began in 1895 and was completed around 1896; plans by noted Midwest brewery designer Louis Lehle (with local supervision by Fridolin Heer & Son) created a sprawling Richardsonian Romanesque complex of stone and brick, covering some three acres, with towers, steep roofs, and significant production infrastructure. At the time, it was widely regarded as one of the largest and most modern breweries between St. Louis and Milwaukee, boasting a capacity many times greater than the individual small breweries it replaced. The plant featured an artesian well for water, large refrigeration equipment (eliminating the need for traditional beer caves), a bottling house, and even its own fleet — refrigerated railcars, electric delivery trucks, wagon teams, and horse-drawn wagons — to distribute beer across Iowa and beyond. The company produced a range of beers and malts: bottled “Export Beer,” “Banquet Beer,” “Club Special Brew,” “Standard,” “Vimalt,” and others during its productive years from the 1890s into the 1910s. However, the rise of statewide prohibition in Iowa — culminating in the closure of the brewery on December 31, 1915 (officially shutting in 1916) — brought an abrupt end to its operations. After closure, the brewery complex changed hands: by 1917 it had been converted for other uses (eventually becoming a meat packing plant, among other tenants). In the decades since, the former brewery buildings stood as an industrial landmark — for many years repurposed for various storage and business uses — until recent structural decline led to partial demolition beginning in 2023. Despite its dereliction, the surviving portions remain a potent symbol of Dubuque’s once thriving brewing heritage. Today, Dubuque Brewing & Malting Company is remembered by historians and preservationists as a key chapter in Iowa’s brewing history: a dramatic consolidation of small local breweries into a large, centralized enterprise; an industrial-scale operation that exemplified late 19th/early 20th century brewing ambition; and — after Prohibition — a cautionary emblem of how law and social change reshaped American beer production.

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A B Co. Aurora Brewing Co. Trade Mark Aurora, Ill.

White, Black, Red

Aurora Brewing Co. (John Knell and H. Anton Berthold, and John F. Thorwarth)

430 River Street

Aurora

Illinois

The Aurora Brewing Co. indicated by the embossed trade mark on your stopper was a formal brewing company located in Aurora, Illinois whose business and leadership are documented in surviving corporate records and period industrial listings. Established in the late 1880s, the Aurora Brewing Co. operated for roughly three decades as a bottling and beer-producing brewery with a plant situated at the north end of North River Street in downtown Aurora, adjacent to the Fox River where local brewing and related trades clustered. The firm appears in Illinois corporate rolls as a company with a defined capital stock and registered officers, placing its principal business office and brewing works within the city rather than as an informal neighborhood filler. Public filings from the early 1900s list the company’s principal location as the north end of North River Street, Aurora, Illinois, anchoring the trade mark on your stopper to a specific industrial address. The leadership of the Aurora Brewing Co. during its principal years of operation is recorded in contemporary corporate lists, which show John F. Thorwarth serving as president and H. A. Berthold as an officer of the corporation at the time the company was in active business. Thorwarth’s residence is given as 74 North Fourth Street, Aurora, and Berthold’s as 215 North Lake Street, Aurora, indicating that both men lived locally and were resident business leaders rather than distant investors, and that they likely oversaw daily operations and corporate governance. These named individuals provide rare personal anchors in the otherwise sparse industrial record, showing who was responsible for running the brewery as a corporate enterprise rather than merely operating a family shop or unlabeled trade outlet. Before the Aurora Brewing Co. name was adopted, the brewery property appears to have been connected with earlier proprietors and operators in the same industry. In December 1889, for example, a local brewer named J. P. Dostal sold his brewery at 430 River Street to a group that included John Knell and H. Anton Berthold, and John F. Thorwarth subsequently came in as the firm’s president, establishing a new corporate structure that eventually became the Aurora Brewing Co. This sequence ties the Aurora Brewing Co. to a succession of local brewing figures and shows continuity of beer production on the River Street site through changes in ownership and corporate identity. The company’s trade mark bottles and stoppers demonstrate that it marketed its own beer in returnable containers, meaning the brewery both produced and boxed beer for retail and wholesale distribution. The survival of multiple containers bearing the Aurora Brewing Co. name indicates that the firm placed branded product into the regional beverage trade during its operational span. These artifacts are the most direct surviving evocation of the brewery’s commercial activity, showing how the company identified itself to the market and managed container return under a distinctive corporate imprint. The Aurora Brewing Co. continued in business through the early twentieth century, and while it appears to have diminished or dissolved before national Prohibition, surviving records place it in active corporate standing through around 1908 with the named officers still attached to the firm’s articles. No later directory entries under the original corporate heading have been found for the years after that date in the accessible sources consulted, suggesting that the company either reorganized under a different name, closed, or was absorbed into other local brewing enterprises as competition and industrial consolidation reshaped the beer industry. Where the documentary record ends, no comprehensive year-by-year production figures, brewer biographies beyond corporate office listings, or personal life details (such as birth and death dates or immigration backgrounds) for John F. Thorwarth or H. A. Berthold have survived in the readily accessible archives. What can be stated with factual certainty is that the Aurora Brewing Co. was a registered Illinois corporation headquartered at the north end of North River Street in Aurora; that its principal officers were John F. Thorwarth, president, and H. A. Berthold, both of whom resided in Aurora at named street addresses; that the brewery operated for roughly three decades around the turn of the twentieth century; and that it packaged beer in branded bottles and closures marked with the trade name found on your stopper. The names and addresses embedded in the corporate and breweriana records thus link the physical artifact to identifiable business leadership and a precise industrial location within Aurora’s historic brewing economy.

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Ed. J. Birke Bro. 2341 Perry St. Chicago, Ill.

White, Red

Birk Brothers Brewing Company

2341 Perry St.

Chicago

Illinois

The embossed stopper reading “Ed. J. Birke Bro. 2341 Perry St. Chicago, Ill.” reflects a connection to one of Chicago’s notable German-American brewing families of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While the spelling “Birke” appears on the glass, historical documentation indicates the correct family name is Birk, with Edward John Birk (commonly abbreviated as E. J. Birk) and his brother William A. Birk among the key figures in the family business, known as Birk Brothers Brewing Company. The variation in spelling on the stopper likely reflects the manufacturing process of embossed glass rather than a separate proprietorship. The Birk family were part of the wave of German immigrants who brought technical knowledge of brewing to Chicago. Jacob Birk, the patriarch, emigrated from Württemberg, Germany, and was involved in local brewing ventures before incorporating his sons into the business. Edward John Birk (1867–1940) served as Secretary and Treasurer of Birk Brothers, while his brother William A. Birk (1861–1916) acted as President. These roles positioned the family at the center of their local brewing enterprise, managing production, distribution, and operations with a strong emphasis on community service and quality. The address embossed on the stopper, 2341 Perry Street, aligns with Chicago city directories and breweriana records as a location used by the Birk family for either bottling or retail operations during the period in which Edward and his brothers were active. Chicago’s neighborhoods in this era were filled with independent breweries, neighborhood taverns, and grocery outlets that relied on local bottlers to supply beer, mineral water, and other carbonated beverages. A facility at this address would have served both as a production point and a distribution hub to nearby communities, leveraging the city’s dense population, streetcar lines, and rail connections to reach customers efficiently. Birk Brothers specialized in lager-style beers, reflecting the tastes of Chicago’s German and Scandinavian communities, though they also produced non-alcoholic beverages as part of their broader offerings. Embossed bottles and stoppers such as the one in your collection were functional and promotional, ensuring proper bottle return in a reuse system while reinforcing the brand identity of the family enterprise. These marks helped customers identify quality products and allowed tavern owners and grocers to order reliably from a known local source. Family involvement was a central aspect of the enterprise. Edward John Birk and his siblings participated directly in operations, training younger family members and overseeing both production and administrative functions. This hands-on management was typical of mid-sized neighborhood breweries in Chicago, ensuring consistent quality while cultivating loyalty among patrons and local merchants. Although the Birk Brothers’ operations, like all Chicago breweries, were disrupted by Prohibition beginning in 1920, surviving artifacts such as embossed bottles and stoppers preserve the tangible legacy of the family’s enterprise. Collectors and historians value these items for the direct evidence they provide of small, family-run breweries that shaped Chicago’s commercial and social fabric in the pre-Prohibition era. In summary, the “Ed. J. Birke Bro.” stopper represents a tangible connection to Edward John Birk and the Birk Brothers Brewing Company, a family business deeply embedded in Chicago’s German-American brewing tradition. The embossing preserves a historical footprint of a local enterprise that combined craft, family involvement, and neighborhood presence, illustrating the role of independent brewers in early 20th-century urban America.

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CS & A Elgin Eagle Brew. Co. Elgin, Ill. Trade Mark

White, Red, Black

The Elgin Eagle Brewing Company (Caspar Althen)

243–251 North State Street

Elgin

Illinois

This porcelain stopper bearing “CS & A Elgin Eagle Brew. Co., Elgin, Ill., Trade Mark” comes from the Elgin Eagle Brewing Company, a locally based brewer in Elgin, Illinois active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The brewery was founded and operated by Caspar Althen, whose initials correspond to the “C.S. & A.” seen on porcelain stoppers and embossed glass bottles associated with the company. Caspar Althen was born in January 1840 and later became known in Elgin as the proprietor of the Elgin Eagle Brewing Company. Historical records place the brewery’s facilities at 243–251 North State Street in downtown Elgin, where beer was brewed, bottled, and distributed. The company appears in local business listings beginning around 1894, establishing it as one of Elgin’s active commercial breweries during that period. The brewery produced beer under the Elgin Eagle Brew name for both tavern trade and retail bottle sales. Porcelain swing stoppers such as this example were used as part of a reusable bottle closure system common before modern crown caps became standard. These stoppers served not only to seal bottles but also as advertising tools bearing the brewery’s trade name and trademark. Surviving embossed glass bottles confirm the company’s distribution of packaged beer alongside draft sales. Caspar Althen died on April 18, 1896, in Elgin, Illinois, leaving his wife Louisa and six children. Rather than closing, the brewery continued operating after his death, with his sons assuming management of the Elgin Eagle Brewing Company. Under family control, the business remained active into the 1910s and is documented through the early years of Prohibition. The Elgin Eagle Brewing Company remained one of the city’s principal breweries until national alcohol prohibition effectively ended legal beer production in 1920. The company does not reappear in post-Prohibition brewery revivals, indicating it closed rather than transitioning into alternative beverages. Artifacts such as porcelain stoppers and embossed bottles now provide the primary physical evidence of the brewery’s existence. They preserve the name, location, and trade identity of a locally owned Elgin brewery that operated for more than two decades and reflects the broader pre-Prohibition brewing culture of northern Illinois.

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Fortune Bros. Brew. Co. Chicago

White, Green, Black

Fortune Brothers Brewing Company (Peter & John Fortune)

134-144 W. Van Buren; Des Plaines & Van Buren; 725 W. Van Buren

Chicago

Illinois

The stopper and bottles embossed Fortune Bros. Brew. Co., Chicago are associated with a nineteenth-century Chicago brewery founded and operated by Irish immigrant brothers Peter Fortune and John Fortune, who entered the American brewing trade after arriving from Ireland in the mid-1800s. The brothers established their brewery in Chicago around 1857, during the early growth phase of the city’s lager beer industry when immigrant brewers were rapidly transforming beer production from small ale houses into large-scale commercial brewing operations. Peter and John Fortune brought brewing experience with them and focused primarily on lager beer, which was quickly becoming Chicago’s dominant beer style due to its stability in storage and transport and its popularity among the city’s expanding working population. Their brewery operated from a fixed industrial plant rather than a retail saloon, consisting of brewhouse structures, fermentation cellars, storage vaults, and later bottling rooms as packaged beer became an increasingly important component of brewery sales in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Fortune brewery survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed many early breweries clustered near the river and industrial corridors, allowing the business to continue operating while competitors were forced to rebuild or close. In the decades following the fire, the brewery remained active as one of Chicago’s independent family-run brewing concerns, producing beer for local saloons, beer halls, and private customers across the city. By the 1880s and 1890s the brewery participated fully in the bottled-beer trade, as evidenced by branded returnable bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the Fortune Bros. name. Bottled beer distribution required steady production volume and organized delivery routes, indicating that the brewery operated at sustained commercial scale rather than as a small neighborhood operation. While brewery registers confirm the firm’s long operation within Chicago’s brewing industry, precise annual production volumes have not survived in accessible brewing reports. Many nineteenth-century barrelage tables recorded only the largest regional or national producers, and Fortune Bros. does not appear in complete surviving output charts. Its repeated appearance in brewery listings nevertheless places it among Chicago’s established mid-sized commercial breweries rather than minor short-term ventures. Detailed biographical records for Peter and John Fortune beyond their Irish origins, immigration period, and brewing careers have not been consistently preserved in surviving trade histories or census summaries tied specifically to the brewery. Likewise, exact street addresses for the brewery plant are not clearly recorded in commonly available brewing registers, which frequently listed only company names and city locations. The Fortune Brothers Brewing Company continued operating into the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as Chicago’s brewing industry underwent rapid consolidation, with many family breweries closing or being absorbed by larger corporate brewers. The Fortune name disappears from brewery listings prior to Prohibition, reflecting closure or restructuring before the nationwide ban on alcohol ended commercial brewing in 1920.

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WP Wm. Pfeifer Trade Mark Chicago

White, Red

UNKNOWN

Chicago

Illinois

The embossed name “Wm. Pfeifer / Trade Mark / Chicago” identifies a small, independent brewer and bottler active in Chicago during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The surviving bottles, often marked with a WP monogram, confirm the existence of this enterprise, though documentary records about the proprietor himself remain scarce. These artifacts are the primary evidence of Pfeifer’s business operations and provide insight into the local brewing industry of that era. Wm. Pfeifer’s brewery appears to have specialized in Berlin Weiss-style beers, a German-style wheat beer that was popular among Chicago’s immigrant communities. The bottles bearing his name suggest that the brewery engaged in local bottling for distribution within the city, supplying taverns, grocery stores, and possibly private households. The embossed trade name served both as a brand identifier and as a practical measure in an era when bottles were returnable and reused, allowing consumers and tavern owners to trace the origin of their beverages. Artifacts indicate that Pfeifer’s business operated approximately between the late 1880s and the late 1910s, situating it firmly in the period before Prohibition. During this time, Chicago’s brewing landscape was a mix of large corporate breweries and smaller neighborhood operations. Independent bottlers like Pfeifer played a critical role in supplying local communities with beer that was both familiar in style and regionally produced. In 1912, some records suggest that Pfeifer’s enterprise consolidated with Ed J. Birk & Bro., demonstrating a degree of commercial engagement and adaptation within Chicago’s competitive brewing environment. However, beyond these trade references and the bottles themselves, there is no documented information about Pfeifer’s birth, death, or personal biography. Genealogical records for individuals named William Pfeifer from later periods do not match the timeframe of the brewery and cannot be associated with this historic operation. The physical evidence of Pfeifer’s brewery primarily comes from surviving bottles, which are now considered valuable by collectors and historians for their connection to Chicago’s regional brewing history. The bottles reflect a time when smaller, independent breweries coexisted with larger operations, supplying specialized beers to localized markets. These artifacts help trace both the commercial practices and consumer tastes of the period, particularly within Chicago’s German-American communities, which were significant consumers of wheat beers such as the Berlin Weiss. While much about Wm. Pfeifer himself remains unknown, the brewery’s presence is preserved through these trade-marked bottles, illustrating the role of small independent brewers in the fabric of Chicago’s pre-Prohibition beer culture. They stand as a testament to the city’s rich brewing heritage and to the network of neighborhood-based production and distribution that characterized American beer before national consolidation.

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PP Paul Pohl Brewing Co. Chicago

White, Black

The Paul Pohl Brewing Company

27/35 Cooper Street; 2335/2344 Cooper Street

Chicago

Illinois

The Paul Pohl Brewing Company was a documented Chicago brewery that operated during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The business began in 1881 under the name Pohl Bros. at 27/35 Cooper Street, later evolving through partnerships and ownership changes. From 1882 to 1884, the firm operated as Paul Pohl & Reinhold Henry, and from 1884 to 1905, it was run solely under the name Paul Pohl at the same Cooper Street address. In 1905, the enterprise was reorganized as the Paul Pohl Brewing Company, relocating to 2335/2344 Cooper Street, where it continued operations until approximately 1913. The brewery produced beer for Chicago’s local markets, supplying taverns, grocery stores, and households. Bottles embossed with the Paul Pohl name and address serve as physical evidence of the brewery’s production and distribution. After 1913, the business transitioned into the Tabor Brewing Company, reflecting a common pattern in Chicago’s brewing industry where facilities and equipment changed ownership and trade names over time. Later, the same location hosted the North American Brewing Company and eventually the Bosworth Products Company. Surviving artifacts, including embossed bottles and closures, provide the most reliable record of Paul Pohl’s brewery. These objects confirm the company’s existence, its Chicago addresses, and the period during which it operated. While there is no widely published biographical information on Paul Pohl himself — including birth, death, or family history — the brewery’s documented addresses, corporate transitions, and physical remnants establish a clear historical footprint in Chicago’s industrial and brewing landscape. The Paul Pohl Brewing Company exemplifies the many small to mid-sized independent breweries that served urban neighborhoods before the consolidation of large-scale industrial brewers and the disruptions of Prohibition. Its legacy is preserved in the physical breweriana and in the historical record of Chicago’s beer industry.

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C. Berry & Co. 84 to 88 Leverett St. Boston

White, Black

C. Berry & Co. (Caspar Berry)

84–88 Leverett St.

Boston

Massachusetts

The embossing “C. Berry & Co., 84–88 Leverett St., Boston, Mass.” preserves the trade imprint of Caspar Berry (often rendered “Casper” in some transcriptions), a Swiss-born liquor wholesaler, rectifier, and bottling entrepreneur whose Boston enterprise evolved into one of the city’s substantial pre-Prohibition beverage distribution houses. Born in Switzerland in 1846 to Mattias and Anna Mathis Berry, he emigrated to the United States in 1876 and entered Boston’s established liquor trade, gaining experience with existing wholesale firms before founding his own concern around 1878. Within little more than a decade his operation expanded into a multi-story commercial complex occupying 84 through 88 Leverett Street, with secondary yard frontage extending into 2–10 Ashland Street, a five-story bottling and warehouse block that reflected large-scale storage, bottling activity, blending rooms, and wholesale offices rather than a small storefront business. Contemporaneous trade notices and company ephemera consistently describe Berry as proprietor through the firm’s formative decades. C. Berry & Co. functioned as a full wholesale liquor house and bottling concern, combining import and agency work with proprietary packing and rectifying. Berry maintained on-site rectifying and blending rooms on the upper floors where raw whiskeys were finished for market, operated bottling and packing departments, and distributed both foreign and domestic wines and spirits while producing consistent proprietary flavor profiles from barrel-aged stocks. The firm developed a portfolio of branded spirits including Ashland Club, Intervale, Red Arrow, Old Berrywood, Kurnwood, and the long-advertised Berry’s Diamond Wedding whiskey, which Berry acquired, expanded, and formally trademarked in 1906, with several of the other house brands receiving trademark attention into the 1910s. These labels were marketed through both paper-labeled containers and proprietary embossed glass, reinforcing brand recognition across Boston and the broader New England liquor trade. Material culture from the period — including embossed beer and soda bottles marked “C. Berry & Co., 84–88 Leverett St., Boston,” stamped jugs, and Hutter-style stoppers — demonstrates that the firm not only handled distilled spirits but also participated directly in the returnable bottle economy that dominated urban beverage distribution before Prohibition. The survival of multiple container forms across production styles indicates organized manufacturing runs and sustained circulation rather than a short-lived experiment, aligning with directory listings that place the firm continuously at the Leverett Street and Ashland Street complex from the 1890s through at least the mid-1910s. The address span itself suggests a sizable operation requiring extensive space for barrel storage, blending rooms, bottling lines, packing departments, and wagon loading for regional wholesale delivery. Berry’s vertically integrated business model positioned C. Berry & Co. as both a producer of proprietary liquor brands and a major intermediary supplying saloons, hotels, and retail liquor merchants throughout the Boston market, with repeated appearances in trade lists and industry compilations reflecting a scale far beyond that of neighborhood bottlers. Berry’s personal life is also documented in period accounts. His first wife, Elsbeth “Lizzie” Doherty, died in 1896, leaving him with two adult daughters, and in 1897 he remarried Emily Schuebeler, herself of Swiss parentage. A public celebration marking approximately the twenty-fifth year of his business in 1903 — a Parker House banquet attended by city and congressional figures — testified to his prominence within Boston’s liquor trade and the esteem in which colleagues held him. Company listings and city directories confirm C. Berry & Co.’s continuous presence at the Leverett and Ashland Street premises into the early twentieth century, with the firm’s last regular directory appearance recorded in the mid-1910s. Caspar Berry died in 1919 at the age of seventy-three and was interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge. While no single surviving corporate ledger or comprehensive production schedule has surfaced in digitized sources, the combined evidence of numbered street addresses, probate and property references naming Berry as building owner, photographed premises, trade histories, proprietary branding, and abundant embossed glass establishes both the proprietor’s identity and the firm’s physical, operational, and commercial footprint within Boston’s late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century wines-and-liquors trade.

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C & R Clark & Robert's Boston, Mass.

White, Black

Clark & Robert’s / Clark and Roberts Company

141 Pearl Street

Boston

Massachusetts

The inscription “C & R Clark & Roberts, Boston, Mass.” identifies a Boston-based beverage bottling enterprise operating under the combined firm name Clark & Roberts, indicating a partnership business rather than an individually owned concern. While the given names and personal biographies of the partners have not yet surfaced in readily accessible records, the firm is firmly documented through surviving embossed glass bottles marked with the full business name and city, confirming that Clark & Roberts packaged and distributed beverages under their own proprietary branding rather than using generic containers. These blob-top beer and soda bottles survive in multiple glass colors and sizes consistent with commercial returnable bottling practices of the late nineteenth century, demonstrating an organized bottling house producing or distributing beverages in sufficient volume to justify custom molded glass. City directory listings place Clark & Roberts at 141 Pearl Street in downtown Boston during the late 1880s and into the early 1890s, explicitly identifying the firm as soda-water manufacturers or bottlers at that address. A surviving billhead dated 1890 further expands the scope of their operations, styling the business as “Clark & Roberts, General Bottlers” and recording transactions that included bottled porter such as Guinness, establishing that the firm handled both carbonated beverages and beer for the Boston market rather than functioning solely as a mineral water concern. Later trade references indicate that the firm also maintained or shifted part of its operations to South Boston around the turn of the century, reflecting the broader movement of beverage manufacturers away from the crowded downtown core toward districts better suited to storage, bottling, and distribution. This expansion or relocation suggests a business that had grown beyond a single shop location into a larger urban operation serving wider commercial routes within the city. By May 24, 1905, the enterprise had moved beyond a simple partnership structure and was formally incorporated as the Clark and Roberts Company, with corporate certification filed in Massachusetts. This transition to a registered corporation points to a maturing and capitalized business consistent with the scale implied by its long-running bottling output, multiple addresses, and diversified beverage handling. Although precise founding and closing years remain undocumented in surviving online sources, and no separate branded product lines have yet been identified beyond use of the firm name itself, the combined physical and documentary evidence establishes Clark & Roberts as a genuine Boston bottling and liquor-related business active from at least the late 1880s into the early twentieth century. The embossed bottles, Pearl Street address, South Boston operations, 1890 general-bottler billhead, and 1905 incorporation together preserve a cohesive portrait of an urban beverage concern that evolved from a late nineteenth-century soda-water partnership into a formally incorporated bottling company serving Boston’s beer and soft-drink trade.

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TBD

GAD Geo. A. Davis Gloucester Mass.

White, Black, Red

George A. Davis

UNKNOWN

Gloucester

Massachusetts

This porcelain bottle stopper marked “Geo. A. Davis / Gloucester, Mass.” identifies an individual proprietor active in Gloucester’s late-nineteenth-century bottled-beverage trade. The use of a personal name rather than a corporate or brand designation indicates a locally operated business, most likely a soda water, mineral water, or liquor bottling concern serving the Gloucester area. The stopper provides direct physical evidence that Davis maintained a business established enough to invest in custom-marked closures, a common practice among local bottlers who relied on reusable bottles and needed to identify their property in circulation. While the stopper does not specify the product bottled, its format aligns with small New England bottling enterprises operating in port cities during this period. No verified street address or detailed biographical information for Geo. A. Davis has yet been securely identified from collector material alone. The stopper therefore stands primarily as a name-and-place artifact, preserving the identity of a Gloucester bottler whose business is otherwise lightly documented in surviving records.

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TBD

FMD & Co. F.M. Doyle & Co. Boston

White, Black, Red

F.M. Doyle & Co.

182 Commercial Stree

Boston

Massachusetts

The embossing “F.M. Doyle & Co., Boston” identifies a pre-Prohibition bottling and liquor-trade concern whose existence is preserved primarily through surviving marked glass and porcelain closures rather than through a fully developed paper trail, with physical breweriana now reinforced by antique bottle records and advertising glass that directly associate the firm with the designation “Importers” and a fixed business location at 182 Commercial Street, Boston, a waterfront commercial corridor long tied to liquor importing, bottling, and wholesale distribution. Antique beer and spirits bottles, along with original porcelain swing-top stoppers bearing the firm’s name or an F.M.D. monogram, consistently date to the late nineteenth and very early twentieth century and demonstrate that Doyle & Co. maintained its own returnable containers for circulation through Boston saloons and retailers. The range of surviving vessel forms — including beer bottles, spirit containers, and etched or engraved advertising glassware — indicates a business engaged in bottling, importing, and wholesale distribution rather than a single retail outlet, aligning with common practices of Boston liquor wholesalers who branded their stock to retain container control and advertise their trade name across tavern networks. Despite the strength of the material record and the confirmation of a numbered Commercial Street address on period trade glass, digitized city directories, trade histories, and newspaper archives presently accessible still do not preserve a consistently indexed street listing, proprietor forename in full, or detailed corporate structure for F.M. Doyle & Co. Listings that typically provide numbered locations for Boston liquor dealers and bottlers do not clearly surface the firm in searchable directory form, suggesting gaps in surviving scans, abbreviated trade listings, or category-based entries now lost to indexing limitations. No contemporary obituary, business charter, licensing roll, census-linked occupational profile, or verified genealogical record has yet emerged that supplies birth or death dates, family relationships, or a broader career history for the Doyle behind the firm name, leaving the proprietor’s personal life largely undocumented in readily available sources. What remains firmly established is the company’s role within Boston’s late-nineteenth-century beverage trade: a locally operating importer, bottler, and wholesaler whose name, function, and business address were sufficiently prominent to be engraved and embossed directly onto bottles, stoppers, and advertising glass, signaling regular commercial circulation and a sustained presence in the city’s alcohol distribution network prior to Prohibition, with the surviving containers and Commercial Street trade markings providing the clearest enduring evidence of the firm’s existence, scale, and function within Boston’s historic liquor economy.

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TBD

FB Freeman Bros. Co.

White, Red, Black

Freeman Bros. Co.

Sullivan Square

Charlestown

Massachusetts

The embossing “F.B. Freeman Bros. Co.” corresponds to a Charlestown, Boston wholesale concern whose commercial identity is preserved most clearly through surviving embossed bottles and porcelain stoppers dating to the late nineteenth and very early twentieth century. Collector examples consistently pair the firm’s name with geographic identifiers such as “Charlestown, Mass.” or the Sullivan Square district, placing the business in the north Boston commercial hub that served rail, waterfront, and neighborhood trade. These physical artifacts indicate that Freeman Bros. Co. operated as a bottling and distribution house supplying alcoholic beverages—most plausibly beer and later distilled spirits—under its own trade name, a common practice among wholesale liquor and beverage firms of the period that stocked returnable containers for taverns and retailers. Municipal and directory-era references confirm the company’s presence in the Sullivan Square area by the first decade of the twentieth century, establishing it as an active Charlestown wholesale operation around 1905, though surviving digitized directory material does not preserve a numbered street address for the firm in that year. Where many contemporary Boston businesses appear with precise street locations, Freeman Bros. Co. is repeatedly identified only by its neighborhood or district, suggesting either a directory formatting limitation for certain wholesale listings or gaps in the surviving scans rather than the absence of a physical storefront or warehouse. The consistency of the Sullivan Square designation across material culture and early civic records anchors the firm firmly within that industrial-commercial corridor. Later trade notices and business filings show the Freeman Bros. name continuing in liquor wholesaling and spirit-related goods into the interwar period, confirming that the company evolved from its early bottling role into a broader wholesale alcohol operation as regulations and markets shifted. Despite this continuity, detailed proprietor information—full partner names, biographical data, or a documented founding date—has not survived in the readily accessible historical record. No definitive birth, death, or immigration information for the Freeman brothers themselves appears in the digitized city directories or newspaper archives connected directly to the firm, and no corporate charter with personal officer listings has surfaced in online sources. What does survive clearly is the commercial footprint: a Charlestown-based wholesale beverage and liquor house active by the turn of the twentieth century, operating in the Sullivan Square district, marking its own bottles and stoppers for circulation through Boston-area saloons and retailers, and maintaining a presence in the regional alcohol trade for decades thereafter. Where the paper trail thins, the embossed glass and porcelain record provides the most concrete evidence of the company’s early operations and geographic base within Boston’s historic brewing and distribution landscape.

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TBD

Schlitz Gahm Boston

White, Red, Black

Joseph (J.) Gahm & Son

340-350 C Stree South (filling and bottling plant) / 125 Purchase Street (sales and agency business)

Boston

Massachusetts

Joseph (J.) Gahm & Son was a prominent Boston bottler and local agent for the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries, and they are best known today through a variety of embossed Schlitz bottles and trade ephemera that survive in collector circles. Contemporary billheads and auction lots identify “Jos. Gahm (agent for Schlitz)” in Boston (examples date to the 1890s), and many extant bottles are embossed “J. GAHM — MILWAUKEE LAGER BEER” or stamped with Boston trade-marks and porcelain stoppers — clear evidence that Gahm filled and distributed Schlitz product locally rather than brewing it himself. Collector registries and bottle libraries document numerous Gahm bottle variants (blob-top and other period styles), often noting private molds and pictorial trade marks that point to an active regional bottling and distribution business. The Gahm bottles reflect Schlitz’s national expansion strategy in the 1890s: large Midwestern brewers supplied brewed beer to local agents and bottlers (like Gahm) who handled filling, stoppers, and retail distribution in eastern cities. While the surviving material evidence is strong, documentary traces beyond bottles and occasional billheads are sparser; nevertheless, the physical record — embossed bottles, porcelain stoppers, and auctioned billheads — makes J. Gahm & Son a well-attested example of the late-19th-century tied-agent/bottler model that helped national brands penetrate urban markets like Boston.

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TBD

Gahm Boston Schlitz

White, Red, Black

Joseph (J.) Gahm & Son

340-350 C Stree South (filling and bottling plant) / 125 Purchase Street (sales and agency business)

Boston

Massachusetts

Joseph (J.) Gahm & Son was a prominent Boston bottler and local agent for the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries, and they are best known today through a variety of embossed Schlitz bottles and trade ephemera that survive in collector circles. Contemporary billheads and auction lots identify “Jos. Gahm (agent for Schlitz)” in Boston (examples date to the 1890s), and many extant bottles are embossed “J. GAHM — MILWAUKEE LAGER BEER” or stamped with Boston trade-marks and porcelain stoppers — clear evidence that Gahm filled and distributed Schlitz product locally rather than brewing it himself. Collector registries and bottle libraries document numerous Gahm bottle variants (blob-top and other period styles), often noting private molds and pictorial trade marks that point to an active regional bottling and distribution business. The Gahm bottles reflect Schlitz’s national expansion strategy in the 1890s: large Midwestern brewers supplied brewed beer to local agents and bottlers (like Gahm) who handled filling, stoppers, and retail distribution in eastern cities. While the surviving material evidence is strong, documentary traces beyond bottles and occasional billheads are sparser; nevertheless, the physical record — embossed bottles, porcelain stoppers, and auctioned billheads — makes J. Gahm & Son a well-attested example of the late-19th-century tied-agent/bottler model that helped national brands penetrate urban markets like Boston.

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TBD

JLG John L. Gebuardt Boston, Mass.

White, Black

John L. Gebuardt

UNKNOWN

Boston

Massachusetts

This porcelain bottle stopper marked “John L. Gebuardt / Boston, Mass.” preserves the name of an identifiable Boston-based proprietor active in the city’s late nineteenth-century bottling and liquor trade. The use of a personal name rather than a brewery or brand indicates an individually operated business, most likely a liquor dealer, bottler, or local distributor rather than a large manufacturing brewery. Surviving collector examples confirm that the Gebuardt name appears on bottle hardware associated with Boston, establishing the proprietor’s presence through physical artifacts rather than through later corporate branding. During this period, many small and mid-scale liquor merchants commissioned custom stoppers and bottles bearing their names to advertise locally, manage bottle returns, and assert ownership over reusable containers. The expense of custom porcelain closures suggests that Gebuardt’s operation was sufficiently established to justify branded hardware rather than relying on unmarked bottles. The stopper’s format—name and city only, without a brand or product designation—is typical of neighborhood bottlers and liquor dealers rather than breweries. Such proprietors often handled multiple products, including beer, mineral water, tonics, or distilled spirits, and preferred to brand the container with their own name rather than a single beverage line. This practice allowed flexibility in what was bottled or sold while reinforcing the merchant’s identity within the local market. At present, no specific street address for John L. Gebuardt’s business has been conclusively documented through widely available collector listings or secondary references. While the city of Boston is clearly identified, further detail—such as shop location, warehouse address, or years of operation—would typically require confirmation from period city directories, liquor license lists, or contemporary newspaper advertisements. The absence of an address on the stopper itself is consistent with late-nineteenth-century practices, when city identification alone was often considered sufficient for local recognition. Likewise, biographical details for John L. Gebuardt remain limited. Readily accessible material does not securely establish birth or death dates, family relationships, or whether the business continued beyond a single generation. This is not unusual for individually operated liquor and bottling concerns of the era, many of which left little documentary trace beyond the physical objects they placed into circulation. The use of a porcelain stopper situates Gebuardt’s activity firmly in the pre-crown-cap period, when bottles were cleaned, refilled, and redistributed repeatedly. Businesses operating under this system depended on durable closures and visible branding to maintain control of their containers, especially in dense urban markets like Boston where bottles circulated widely among saloons, shops, and private customers. As an artifact, this stopper performs an important historical function. It fixes the name John L. Gebuardt within Boston’s late nineteenth-century liquor economy and provides material evidence of a proprietor whose business otherwise survives only faintly in the written record. The stopper stands as a reminder of the many small, individually named enterprises that formed the backbone of urban alcohol distribution before industrial consolidation and Prohibition reshaped the trade.

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TBD

H Harvard Brewing Co. Lowell

White, Black, Red

Harvard Brewing Company

24 Payton Street

Lowell

Massachusetts

The inscription “Harvard Brewing Co. Lowell” identifies one of Lowell, Massachusetts’ longest-operating and most prominent regional breweries, an enterprise that originated in 1893 as Consumers’ Brewing Company during the city’s peak industrial expansion. The venture was organized by a group of New England and New York investors led locally by John H. Coffey, a Lowell provisions merchant who served as secretary and general manager, and John J. Joyce, an established bottler from Lawrence who became president. Brewing facilities were constructed on a twelve-acre site at Plain and Payton Streets (24 Payton Street) in the Ayer’s City section of Lowell, selected for its direct rail access via the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and for abundant groundwater capable of supporting large-scale beer production. More than $250,000 was invested in a modern multi-building complex that included lager and ale brewhouses, a bottling department, offices, boiler house, cooper shop, and stables, with experienced brewing personnel recruited from major Midwestern breweries including Pabst. The first beer was brewed in April 1894 and released that summer following large public opening celebrations that demonstrated strong early demand. In January 1898, after New York investors gained majority control, the company reorganized and adopted the name Harvard Brewing Company to distinguish itself from other “Consumers’ Brewing” firms and to reflect expanding ambitions. Under Coffey and Joyce’s continued leadership the brewery modernized equipment, expanded cellar capacity, and steadily increased output, establishing itself by the early twentieth century as one of the dominant breweries in northeastern Massachusetts. Production centered on a broad portfolio of house brands including Pure Beer (Crimson Label), Dark Special, Brown Autumn Ale, Old Stock Porter, Sparkling Pale Ale, and Present Use Porter, marketed in both kegs and proprietary embossed bottles bearing the company name. By the 1910s the operation had grown into a large industrial employer with a substantial multi-structure plant, and by 1914 its bottling house was recognized as among the largest in New England, reflecting extensive regional distribution. The brewery’s workforce in its early decades was heavily composed of German immigrants, and in 1896 employees organized one of the nation’s earliest brewery trade unions, the United Brewery Workmen of the U.S.A., successfully securing an eight-hour workday and improved labor conditions. The union constructed Der Deutsche Halle as a combined social hall and meeting space, underscoring the brewery’s central role in Lowell’s industrial and immigrant community life. As Harvard Brewing’s commercial influence expanded, it became deeply involved in local civic affairs, at times provoking public criticism over its perceived political power within the city’s liquor licensing and municipal systems. National Prohibition in 1920 eliminated legal beer production and forced the company to pivot toward near-beer, ginger ale, cereal beverages, and proprietary soft drink brands including Pickwick and Harva. When legal sales proved insufficient, management raised alcohol content in near-beer products in 1925, prompting a major federal raid at the Plain Street complex that seized more than 100,000 gallons of beer — among the largest Prohibition-era confiscations in New England — with workers reportedly attempting to dump barrels into River Meadow Brook before agents secured the site. Financial losses from the seizure and subsequent enforcement actions severely weakened the company and led to foreclosure. Following repeal in 1933, the brewery was purchased by a new investor group led by Erwin Lange, who modernized bottling lines and restored production to volumes approaching 1,000 barrels per day. New and revived brands included Green Label Lager, Harvard Full Stock Ale, Export Beer, and porter. Ownership and management shifted through several hands in the late 1930s and early 1940s, culminating in control by Fritz Von Opel, whose status as a Liechtenstein national brought the brewery under seizure by the U.S. government during World War II under wartime property restrictions. Despite legal challenges that reached the Supreme Court, the facility remained under government supervision for much of the 1940s and early 1950s, a period marked by declining market presence and production. By the mid-1950s brewing operations in Lowell ceased entirely, and the property was sold, stripped of equipment, and subsequently damaged by major fires in 1957 and the early 1960s before most remaining structures were demolished for redevelopment.

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TBD

EMH & Co. E.M. Heustis & Co. Charlestown, Mass.

White, Black

E. M. Heustis, Wines & Liquors

214 Main Street

Charlestown

Massachusetts

The embossing “E. M. Heustis, Wines & Liquors, Charlestown, Mass.” identifies a Charlestown retail/wholesale bottling concern whose commercial imprint survives most clearly on original blown glass and measured spirit containers and on Hutter-style porcelain stoppers; multiple extant examples and collector catalog entries reproduce the firm name together with a street address—214 Main Street, Charlestown—attaching a precise premises to the trade imprint. Surviving vessel types attributed to the firm include full-measure one-pint and one-half-pint bottles and strap-side whiskey flasks, many retaining their original closures or Hutter-pattern stoppers, which together demonstrate that E. M. Heustis marketed measured spirit product and controlled returnable stock for local retailers and taverns rather than functioning as a brewery or mineral-water works. The consistent appearance of the 214 Main Street imprint across auction photographs and collector descriptions ties the business to Charlestown’s Main Street commercial frontage and provides the most direct evidence of a street location in the absence of a fully preserved paper trail. Directory and newspaper citations readily found in the secondary market emphasize the breweriana record rather than supplying a continuous corporate dossier: collectors’ descriptions, auction lots, and institutional object records establish the firm’s trade name, vessel types, and the 214 Main Street imprint, but searchable digitized city directories and municipal licensing indexes accessible online have not, in the portions consulted, produced a detailed year-by-year listing that names proprietors’ given names, records founding or closing dates, or supplies fuller biographical particulars for the “E. M.” behind the imprint. Where Hutter-style closures and measured-bottle typologies allow confident dating, the material evidence places E. M. Heustis’s operations in the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century; the firm’s surviving containers therefore document both its role as a wines-and-liquors bottler/retailer and a physical Main Street presence at 214 Main in Charlestown, even as comprehensive corporate, probate, or obituary records for the proprietor do not currently appear in the online sources usually consulted by collectors and local historians.

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TBD

GFH Co Geo. F. Hewett Co. Worcester Registered Trade Mark

White, Black, Red

George F. Hewett Co.

112–114 Pearl Street; 41–43–45 Waldo Street

Worcester

Massachusetts

Geo. F. Hewett Co., Worcester, Massachusetts was a late 19th to early 20th century beer and beverage agent that played a role in the region’s commercial beverage trade rather than operating as a large brewery of its own. The business began in the 1860s under George F. Hewett, initially acting as an agent for imported British beers such as Bass & Co.’s Pale Ale from its first listed location at 112–114 Pearl Street, near High Street, Worcester. Around 1899, the enterprise reorganized as the Geo. F. Hewett Co., with its business address at 41–43–45 Waldo Street, where it continued as a local agent and distributor, handling brands including Frank Jones, Pabst, and Iroquois beers among others. Artifacts bearing the Geo. F. Hewett Co. name—including embossed bottles, stoppers, and bottle ephemera—reflect its role as a regional beverage intermediary that supplied imported and domestic beers into Worcester’s taverns, saloons, and retail outlets. The company’s presence in breweriana records from roughly 1860 through 1920 highlights its long standing engagement in the beverage trade during a vibrant period of American beer consumption prior to Prohibition, even though it was not a brewery in the strict sense. Items marked with Geo. F. Hewett Co. are today valued by collectors as tangible remnants of Massachusetts’ pre Prohibition beverage distribution network, embodying a time when individual agents and importers helped shape local drinking cultures in cities like Worcester.

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TBD

GFH Co Geo. F. Hewett Co. Worcester Registered Trade Mark

White, Black, Red

George F. Hewett Co.

112–114 Pearl Street; 41–43–45 Waldo Street

Worcester

Massachusetts

Geo. F. Hewett Co., Worcester, Massachusetts was a late 19th to early 20th century beer and beverage agent that played a role in the region’s commercial beverage trade rather than operating as a large brewery of its own. The business began in the 1860s under George F. Hewett, initially acting as an agent for imported British beers such as Bass & Co.’s Pale Ale from its first listed location at 112–114 Pearl Street, near High Street, Worcester. Around 1899, the enterprise reorganized as the Geo. F. Hewett Co., with its business address at 41–43–45 Waldo Street, where it continued as a local agent and distributor, handling brands including Frank Jones, Pabst, and Iroquois beers among others. Artifacts bearing the Geo. F. Hewett Co. name—including embossed bottles, stoppers, and bottle ephemera—reflect its role as a regional beverage intermediary that supplied imported and domestic beers into Worcester’s taverns, saloons, and retail outlets. The company’s presence in breweriana records from roughly 1860 through 1920 highlights its long standing engagement in the beverage trade during a vibrant period of American beer consumption prior to Prohibition, even though it was not a brewery in the strict sense. Items marked with Geo. F. Hewett Co. are today valued by collectors as tangible remnants of Massachusetts’ pre Prohibition beverage distribution network, embodying a time when individual agents and importers helped shape local drinking cultures in cities like Worcester.

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TBD

John Imbescheid & Co., Jamaica Plain, Mass.

White, Black

John Imbescheid & Co.

207 Boylston St.

Jamaica Plain

Massachusetts

The embossing “John Imbescheid & Co., Jamaica Plain, Mass.” documents a small but clearly established bottling and liquor-trade concern operating in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston in the late nineteenth and very early twentieth century, preserved today primarily through its marked containers rather than through a robust surviving paper trail, with physical breweriana now reinforced by contemporary municipal documentation tying the business directly to 207 Boylston Street, Jamaica Plain, an address that appears both on embossed blob-top beer bottles attributed to John Imbescheid & Co. and within period Boston city directories listing John Imbescheid at that same location in the early 1900s. Original blob-top beer bottles and swing-top spirit containers embossed with the full business name, location, and in some examples the Boylston Street address itself, along with porcelain Hutter-style stoppers bearing the Jamaica Plain imprint, place the firm squarely within pre-Prohibition bottling practice and confirm that Imbescheid & Co. owned and circulated returnable bottles under its own trade name. The use of the patented Hutter porcelain closure, introduced in the 1890s and widely adopted by independent bottlers shortly thereafter, helps anchor the company’s active period to the closing years of the nineteenth century and the opening years of the twentieth. The range of container types associated with the imprint demonstrates that the firm handled both malt beverages and distilled spirits, indicating a role as a local bottler and liquor wholesaler rather than a single retail saloon or brewery. Its consistent identification with Jamaica Plain reflects a neighborhood that supported several beverage and distribution enterprises at the time, and the survival of multiple marked examples suggests regular commercial circulation rather than limited or experimental production. Beyond the physical breweriana record, additional documentary traces now place John Imbescheid personally at the Boylston Street address through municipal resident listings and directory entries spanning the early twentieth century, with household rosters in later Boston resident lists reflecting associated family members living in the same locality, suggesting a stable family residence tied to the business premises. While these records strengthen the firm’s physical and geographic footprint, they still do not preserve a fully developed year-by-year commercial listing nor a formal business registration describing the firm’s trade in explicit occupational terms, and no comprehensive biographical profile for John Imbescheid — including confirmed birth and death dates, immigration history, or broader entrepreneurial career — has yet surfaced in commonly accessible historical databases directly connected to the operation. The company therefore remains representative of many neighborhood-scale liquor and bottling houses whose operational presence was substantial enough to justify branded containers and fixed premises but whose administrative documentation was limited, inconsistently recorded, or has not survived in digitized form, leaving the most durable evidence of its activity embedded in embossed glass, porcelain closures, municipal address listings, and localized family records that together confirm John Imbescheid & Co. as an active Jamaica Plain bottler and liquor distributor functioning around the turn of the twentieth century within Boston’s pre-Prohibition beverage trade.

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TBD

J.L. Alther & Co. Chadwick & Yeoman Sts. Boston, Mass.

White, Black

J.L. Alther & Co.

Chadwick & Yeoman Sts.

Boston

Massachusetts

The porcelain stopper embossed “J.L. Alther & Co., Chadwick & Yeoman Sts., Boston, Mass.” reflects an independent wholesale liquor or beverage distribution business operating in Boston, Massachusetts during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. Firms of this type commonly served as local bottlers or agents, selling beer, soda, mineral water, or distilled spirits in returnable bottles closed with porcelain stoppers — a standard practice before the broad adoption of crown caps. Boston’s annual directories from this period list an extensive array of such merchants, especially in neighborhoods where light industry and wholesale trade clustered. The precise identity of J.L. Alther — full given name, biographical details, and years of operation — is not yet verifiable in the currently indexed sources. However, the format of the business name suggests a sole proprietor or principal (initials J.L.) who partnered with others in trade (“& Co.”), typical of independent Boston firms of the era. Located near Chadwick & Yeoman Streets, the operation would have been well positioned within the city’s distribution network, supplying local saloons, hotels, and grocers. The embossing on the stopper preserves the company name and address as a rare physical trace of its participation in Boston’s vibrant beverage trade prior to Prohibition.

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TBD

Lerner's Family Wine Store Charlestown

White, Black, Red

Lerner’s Family Wine Store

UNKNOWN

Charlestown

Massachusetts

The inscription “Lerner’s Family Wine Store Charlestown” identifies a retail business operating under the name Lerner’s Family Wine Store in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The exact business name and city are preserved in the marking, establishing the firm’s identity and location as used in commercial contexts. What is known from the inscription itself is that the business marketed products under the name “Lerner’s Family Wine Store” and associated that name with the Charlestown community. The inclusion of Family Wine Store in the business name indicates that the establishment was a retail outlet specializing in wine. As a wine store, its primary commercial function would have been the sale of bottled wine and related alcoholic beverages directly to consumers, distinguishing it from producers, breweries, or manufacturers. Beyond the inscription, no verified business listings, city directory entries, trade advertisements, proprietor names, operating years, physical address, product brands, or documented operating timeline for Lerner’s Family Wine Store have been located in the sources consulted to date. There is no clear record currently available that ties the business name to specific owners, dates of operation, charter filings, or family involvement. Likewise, no contemporaneous advertisements, licenses, or municipal business records have been confirmed that would establish when the store opened, how long it operated, who owned or managed it, or what wine brands were carried or sold. Because Lerner’s Family Wine Store appears only through the inscribed name preserved on the artifact, the firm’s proprietor(s), verified operating timeline, street address within Charlestown, scale of operations, known products or brands, and any family succession history remain unknown pending further research. The wine store’s presence in the material record confirms that it existed as a named retail business in Charlestown, but without independent documentary evidence such as directories, newspaper listings, or municipal records, the broader contours of the business’s history cannot yet be detailed. What is firmly documented is the exact business name as marked — Lerner’s Family Wine Store — and its association with Charlestown, Massachusetts. Everything beyond that — including owner identities, years of operation, specific wine lines or product offerings, business scale, and continuity — remains undocumented in currently accessible sources.

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TBD

JRM & Co. John R. Magullion & Co. Boston, Mass.

White, Black, Red

John R. Magullion & Co.

496–498 Tremont Street at the corner of Dover Street

Boston

Massachusetts

The embossing “John R. Magullion & Co., Boston, Mass.” preserves the trade identity of John R. Magullion, a Boston spirits merchant whose life traces a documented rise from Irish-immigrant poverty into large-scale pre-Prohibition liquor distribution in Boston. Magullion was born in 1853 in Roxbury to Irish immigrant parents Patrick and Ann Magullion and grew up in the city’s working-class districts with limited formal schooling. His entry into the liquor trade came through his older brother Frank Magullion, who began selling spirits around 1870 after abandoning a brief career as a watchmaker and quickly built a thriving retail and wholesale house that settled at 496–498 Tremont Street at the corner of Dover Street, a location that became the family’s commercial anchor for decades. By 1880 both brothers were living with their widowed mother and working full-time in the liquor business, with Frank driving expansion and John learning the wholesale side of the trade. Frank’s operation grew into one of Boston’s notable liquor houses, tied to brewing ventures and wholesale dealer organizations, and his sudden death in 1894 thrust John into full control of the enterprise, which immediately appeared in business directories under the name John R. Magullion & Co. Under John’s leadership the firm shifted aggressively toward branded wholesale spirits, issuing proprietary whiskey lines that included “Winner Rye” and the patriotically themed “Old Ironsides Rye,” named after the USS Constitution. These brands were sold in embossed bottles carrying the company name and in ceramic-stoppered containers that reinforced the Magullion imprint across taverns and retail shops throughout Boston and surrounding markets. A second outlet and bottling point later operated at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue, expanding the company’s retail visibility beyond Tremont Street. Magullion’s approach to marketing went well beyond embossed glass. He commissioned etched shot glasses bearing imagery tied to his whiskey brands — a horse and rider for Winner Rye and a three-masted warship for Old Ironsides — showing a sophisticated understanding of brand recognition at a time when many liquor dealers still sold anonymous bulk spirits. His personal life unfolded alongside the business: his first wife Catherine died in the early 1890s leaving him with six children, and he later remarried a younger woman named Mary, who raised the family while John devoted himself to expanding the firm. Municipal records from 1905 even document his installation of a large illuminated sign at the Columbus Avenue location, underscoring how prominent the business had become in Boston’s commercial streetscape. The firm was not without controversy. In 1908 Magullion was fined by state authorities for diluting whiskey sold under his label, one of the rare surviving regulatory actions against a major pre-Prohibition liquor wholesaler and evidence of the scale at which his spirits circulated. Lacking a grown son to assume management, he brought in a relative, John E. F. Magee, as business manager and partner; Magee later formalized the Old Ironsides trademark in 1907 as the brand entered its most commercially mature phase. When John R. Magullion died around 1916, the company’s intertwined family and financial arrangements erupted into litigation between his widow and Magee over property and profits tied to the Tremont Street operation, a dispute that climbed through Massachusetts courts and effectively closed the chapter on the Magullion liquor empire. Seen in full chronological context, the embossing “John R. Magullion & Co.” is not a minor bottler’s mark but the physical remnant of a major Boston whiskey house built by the sons of Irish immigrants, grown from modest storefront retail into a wholesale spirits operation with branded ryes, multiple city addresses, aggressive marketing, and regional reach — a business that flourished for decades before family conflict and the approaching Prohibition era brought its remarkable trajectory to an end. https://pre-prowhiskeymen.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-magullions-up-from-shanty-irish.html

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TBD

Salzburger Beer Wm. A. Miller & Co. Boston

White, Red, Black

William A. Miller & Co. (McCormick Brewing Company)

95 Central Street and 89 Conant Street

Boston

Massachusetts

This porcelain bottle stopper, marked “Salzburger Beer / Wm. A. Miller & Co. / Boston,” represents a late nineteenth– to early twentieth-century beer distributed in the Boston market during the era of reusable glass bottles sealed with porcelain closures. The stopper reflects standard industry practice of the period, in which the name printed on the closure typically identified the local agent, wholesaler, or distributor responsible for marketing and controlling bottle returns, rather than the brewing source itself. In breweriana references and auction descriptions, the Salzburger Beer name is repeatedly associated with the McCormick Brewing Company, a Boston-based brewery active during the pre-Prohibition period. Brewery reference material places McCormick’s brewing operations at Boston industrial addresses including 95 Central Street and 89 Conant Street, locations consistent with late nineteenth-century urban brewery facilities. These addresses situate the production side of Salzburger Beer within Boston’s established brewing district rather than abroad, despite the European regional name used for marketing. Within this commercial structure, Wm. A. Miller & Co. appears as the Boston agent or wholesaler connected to Salzburger Beer. The firm’s name on the stopper indicates responsibility for distribution rather than brewing, a common arrangement at the time when breweries relied on agents to handle sales, logistics, and neighborhood trade. Surviving porcelain stoppers bearing the Miller name provide physical evidence of that role and confirm the firm’s participation in Boston’s beer distribution network prior to the widespread adoption of crown caps. Although the business function of Wm. A. Miller & Co. can be established through breweriana, detailed biographical information about William A. Miller himself remains limited. No definitive birth or death dates, residential address, or personal family records have been securely tied to the beer wholesaler of this name using readily accessible sources. Likewise, while Miller’s firm is clearly identified as operating in Boston, a specific street address for Wm. A. Miller & Co. has not been conclusively documented in the materials reviewed, in contrast to the known brewery locations of McCormick. The disappearance of both Salzburger Beer branding and the Miller firm’s name from later bottle hardware is consistent with broader industry changes. By the early twentieth century, crown caps replaced porcelain stoppers, and Prohibition brought an abrupt end to commercial beer production and distribution. Many firms involved in brewing, importing, or wholesaling either closed, reorganized, or vanished from the historical record during this transition. As an artifact, this stopper captures a clearly defined commercial relationship: beer brewed by the McCormick Brewing Company at known Boston locations, distributed locally under the name of Wm. A. Miller & Co. It preserves evidence of how beer moved from brewery to consumer in pre-Prohibition Boston and stands as a durable record of a distributor whose name survives primarily through the objects he placed into circulation.

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TBD

Otis S. Neale Co. Boston

White, Black

Otis S. Neale Co.

9 Howard Street

Boston

Massachusetts

The embossing “Otis S. Neale Co., Boston” corresponds to a soda-water bottling firm operated by Otis S. Neale from premises at 9 Howard Street in Boston, a location documented in late nineteenth-century business directories and repeated in breweriana records tied directly to surviving marked bottles. Embossed aqua blob-top bottles reading “Otis S. Neale Co. Howard St. Boston” survive in collector holdings and auction records and represent the firm’s proprietary returnable containers used for soda water and related carbonated beverages during the 1880s and 1890s. Period trade and telephone directories list Otis S. Neale specifically as a soda-water manufacturer at 9 Howard Street, placing the operation within Boston’s commercial bottling district and confirming that the Howard Street imprint on the bottles reflects an active production site rather than a distributor’s name alone. Surviving billhead material from the late 1880s further identifies Neale as a contract bottler in addition to producing his own branded beverages, showing that the firm bottled soda waters both under the Neale name and for outside firms. Biographical notices in municipal and memorial records indicate that Otis S. Neale died in 1898, establishing the firm’s primary operating period in the final decades of the nineteenth century; later directory appearances of the business name decline after that date, suggesting the operation did not continue long as a personally run enterprise. No surviving corporate charter or production volume figures have been located in accessible records, and no numbered address beyond 9 Howard Street appears tied to the firm in the available directory runs, but the combined directory entries, billhead evidence, and consistently embossed bottle markings securely document Otis S. Neale Co. as a soda-water bottling and contract bottling operation functioning from that specific Boston address during the 1880s–1890s.

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TBD

Eugene Selg & Co. Boston, Mass.

White, Black, Red

Eugene Selg & Co.

116–120 Sudbury Road (Selg’s Palm Garden only)

Boston

Massachusetts

The inscription “Eugene Selg & Co. Boston, Mass.” identifies a Boston-based beverage firm active during the late nineteenth century and into the turn of the twentieth century, operating within the rapidly expanding urban market for bottled drinks. The enterprise traded under the name Eugene Selg & Co., with Eugene Selg appearing in business records as proprietor and central operating figure, functioning as a privately owned concern rather than a corporate or multi-location operation, and with no verified partners or family successors firmly documented. Operating timelines drawn from surviving embossed bottles, stopper technology, breweriana, and trade ephemera place the firm in activity by at least the mid-to-late 1880s, continuing through the 1890s and into the very early 1900s, though precise opening and closing years have not been firmly established in accessible sources. Eugene Selg & Co. functioned in dual roles within Boston’s beverage economy. As a soda and mineral water bottler, the firm produced carbonated beverages sold under its own name rather than distinct brand labels, supplying households, grocers, saloons, and lunch rooms with plain soda water and flavored mineral waters that were widely consumed both as refreshments and for perceived medicinal benefits. These drinks circulated in reusable glass bottles sealed with internal wire-and-rubber spring stoppers typical of late nineteenth-century soda packaging. The most concrete physical evidence of this activity survives in embossed Hutchinson-style soda bottles, usually in aqua or light green glass, marked “EUGENE SELG & CO. BOSTON, MASS.,” demonstrating the use of proprietary molds to control bottle return and build name recognition in Boston’s crowded mineral water trade. At the same time, surviving trade material identifies Eugene Selg & Co. as a brewer’s agent engaged in beer distribution rather than operating its own brew-works. A dated company letterhead from 1899 styled “Eugene Selg & Co. (brewer’s agents), Boston, Massachusetts” confirms Selg’s role within the network of agents who worked with saloons, wholesale grocers, and railroad depots to place bottled beer into local markets. Additional ephemera record Eugene Selg as proprietor of Selg’s Palm Garden, a beer-garden-style venue described in period sources at 116–120 Sudbury Road, a location associated with German social life and outdoor drinking establishments, indicating that Selg combined hospitality operations with agency representation — a common business model for agents who promoted the beers they sold through on-premises venues. Precise street addresses for Selg’s soda bottling works have not yet been firmly verified in accessible records, nor have production volumes, employee counts, or detailed biographical data such as birth and death dates surfaced. What can be inferred from the existence of multiple proprietary bottle examples, the documented brewer’s-agent stationery, and the Palm Garden address is that Eugene Selg operated a stable small-to-moderate Boston beverage enterprise spanning manufacturing, distribution, and retail hospitality during a highly competitive period in the city’s pre-Prohibition drinks industry. The stopper bearing Selg’s name would have sealed carbonated beverages produced or distributed by the firm, forming part of the reusable bottling system that underpinned late nineteenth-century soda commerce. Together, the embossed bottles, spring stoppers, agency ephemera, and venue records preserve the material footprint of Eugene Selg & Co., a business whose story survives primarily through the glass and printed artifacts left behind.

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TBD

Eugene Selg Boston, Mass.

White, Black, Red

Eugene Selg & Co.

116–120 Sudbury Road (Selg’s Palm Garden only)

Boston

Massachusetts

The inscription “Eugene Selg & Co. Boston, Mass.” identifies a Boston-based beverage firm active during the late nineteenth century and into the turn of the twentieth century, operating within the rapidly expanding urban market for bottled drinks. The enterprise traded under the name Eugene Selg & Co., with Eugene Selg appearing in business records as proprietor and central operating figure, functioning as a privately owned concern rather than a corporate or multi-location operation, and with no verified partners or family successors firmly documented. Operating timelines drawn from surviving embossed bottles, stopper technology, breweriana, and trade ephemera place the firm in activity by at least the mid-to-late 1880s, continuing through the 1890s and into the very early 1900s, though precise opening and closing years have not been firmly established in accessible sources. Eugene Selg & Co. functioned in dual roles within Boston’s beverage economy. As a soda and mineral water bottler, the firm produced carbonated beverages sold under its own name rather than distinct brand labels, supplying households, grocers, saloons, and lunch rooms with plain soda water and flavored mineral waters that were widely consumed both as refreshments and for perceived medicinal benefits. These drinks circulated in reusable glass bottles sealed with internal wire-and-rubber spring stoppers typical of late nineteenth-century soda packaging. The most concrete physical evidence of this activity survives in embossed Hutchinson-style soda bottles, usually in aqua or light green glass, marked “EUGENE SELG & CO. BOSTON, MASS.,” demonstrating the use of proprietary molds to control bottle return and build name recognition in Boston’s crowded mineral water trade. At the same time, surviving trade material identifies Eugene Selg & Co. as a brewer’s agent engaged in beer distribution rather than operating its own brew-works. A dated company letterhead from 1899 styled “Eugene Selg & Co. (brewer’s agents), Boston, Massachusetts” confirms Selg’s role within the network of agents who worked with saloons, wholesale grocers, and railroad depots to place bottled beer into local markets. Additional ephemera record Eugene Selg as proprietor of Selg’s Palm Garden, a beer-garden-style venue described in period sources at 116–120 Sudbury Road, a location associated with German social life and outdoor drinking establishments, indicating that Selg combined hospitality operations with agency representation — a common business model for agents who promoted the beers they sold through on-premises venues. Precise street addresses for Selg’s soda bottling works have not yet been firmly verified in accessible records, nor have production volumes, employee counts, or detailed biographical data such as birth and death dates surfaced. What can be inferred from the existence of multiple proprietary bottle examples, the documented brewer’s-agent stationery, and the Palm Garden address is that Eugene Selg operated a stable small-to-moderate Boston beverage enterprise spanning manufacturing, distribution, and retail hospitality during a highly competitive period in the city’s pre-Prohibition drinks industry. The stopper bearing Selg’s name would have sealed carbonated beverages produced or distributed by the firm, forming part of the reusable bottling system that underpinned late nineteenth-century soda commerce. Together, the embossed bottles, spring stoppers, agency ephemera, and venue records preserve the material footprint of Eugene Selg & Co., a business whose story survives primarily through the glass and printed artifacts left behind.

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TBD

SB Smith Bros. New Bedford, Mass.

White, Black, Red

Smith Brothers

UNKNOWN

New Bedford

Massachusetts

The imprint “Smith Bros., New Bedford, Mass.” is characteristic of a late-nineteenth- to early-twentieth-century local bottling enterprise operating in one of New England’s most industrialized port cities. New Bedford was a densely populated commercial center by the mid-1800s, shaped first by the whaling industry and later by textile manufacturing. Within this urban environment, small beverage bottlers flourished, supplying soda water, mineral water, ginger ale, and other carbonated drinks to local households, taverns, and lunchrooms. The Smith Bros. name fits squarely within this pattern of neighborhood-scale bottling businesses. City directories and bottle-collecting records consistently show “Smith Bros.” used as a firm name rather than an individual proprietor’s mark, indicating a partnership business operated by two brothers with the Smith surname. The use of “Bros.” was common in the period and typically denoted a family enterprise, often modest in size and locally focused. While the Smith surname itself is extremely common and complicates precise biographical identification, the consistent association of the name with New Bedford supports the conclusion that this was a locally rooted operation rather than a branch of a larger regional concern. Surviving embossed bottles marked “Smith Bros., New Bedford, Mass.” are generally of soda or mineral water type rather than beer bottles. Their forms and lettering styles correspond to bottles produced in the late 1800s and very early 1900s, before paper labels became dominant. At that time, embossing served both branding and practical purposes, helping ensure the return of refillable bottles to the original bottler. This strongly suggests that Smith Bros. operated a refill-and-redistribute model typical of small soda works, collecting empties from customers and redistributing them after cleaning and refilling. No evidence has surfaced tying Smith Bros. to large-scale brewing or distilling. Instead, the available material points to a non-alcoholic beverage business, likely producing carbonated soft drinks or mineral water. Such operations required relatively limited infrastructure compared to breweries and were common in working-class and industrial neighborhoods. New Bedford’s dense residential population and active waterfront would have provided a steady market for these beverages, especially during warmer months. Despite the survival of bottles bearing the Smith Bros. name, detailed personal biographies of the proprietors remain elusive in digitized sources. City directories often list dozens of unrelated Smith households and businesses, and without a street address or given names preserved on the bottles themselves, it is difficult to isolate a specific partnership with certainty. No extended newspaper advertising, illustrated trade cards, or corporate histories attributable to Smith Bros. of New Bedford have been conclusively identified in the accessible record. This absence is consistent with many small bottlers of the era, whose businesses were stable enough to operate for a number of years but not prominent enough to leave behind extensive documentary trails. The lack of later references to Smith Bros. as an operating concern suggests that the business did not continue far into the twentieth century. Consolidation within the beverage industry, changes in packaging technology, and evolving distribution networks gradually displaced small independent bottlers. By the time national soda brands and standardized bottling contracts became dominant, enterprises like Smith Bros. had largely disappeared. Today, the primary evidence of Smith Bros. of New Bedford exists in the form of embossed bottles preserved by collectors. These artifacts provide reliable proof of the company’s name, location, and role within the city’s everyday commercial life. They also reflect a broader pattern in which small, family-run bottlers served local markets with reusable containers and minimal advertising, leaving behind tangible but fragmentary traces of their operations. In summary, “Smith Bros., New Bedford, Mass.” represents a local bottling partnership active during the late nineteenth or very early twentieth century, supplying soda or mineral water to the New Bedford community. While the historical record does not presently allow for a detailed reconstruction of the proprietors’ identities or the full lifespan of the business, the surviving bottles stand as authentic material evidence of a small, neighborhood-based enterprise operating within the commercial fabric of New Bedford.

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TBD

LS Co L. Speidel & Co. Boston, Mass.

White, Black, Red

L. Speidel & Co.

UNKNOWN

Boston

Massachusetts

L. Speidel & Co., Boston, Mass. was a prominent beverage wholesaler and bottling agent operating in Boston from the late 19th century into the early 20th century. The company was based in the city’s commercial heart along Water Street, a hub for shipping and trade, which allowed the firm to efficiently receive beer, mineral water, and other beverages from regional breweries and distribute them to taverns, grocers, and households throughout Boston and nearby communities. The firm was likely family-run and managed by L. Speidel, whose surname suggests German or Central European origins, reflecting the strong presence of German immigrant entrepreneurs in the city’s beverage industry. The business acted both as a bottler and a regional agent, handling products from major breweries while also managing local distribution. Embossed bottles carrying the company name and location marked the beverages as reliable and helped establish a recognizable brand in a competitive market. Operating from Water Street provided logistical advantages, allowing the firm to receive shipments by rail or ship and coordinate deliveries using wagons and, later, motor vehicles. The company’s activity extended for several decades, demonstrating a sustained presence in Boston’s commercial and social life. While specific personal details about L. Speidel — including full name, birth and death dates, and family information — are not documented in available records, the firm’s products and operations provide clear evidence of its role in Boston’s late 19th- and early 20th-century beverage trade. L. Speidel & Co. exemplifies the independent urban bottlers and wholesale agents of the period, connecting regional breweries with local consumers, maintaining product quality, and shaping Boston’s beer and beverage culture long before national brands and industrial consolidation dominated the market.

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TBD

Springfield Brewing Co. Gold Medal Tivoli Springfield, Mass

White, Black

Springfield Brewing Company

UNKNOWN

Springfield

Massachusetts

This porcelain bottle stopper marked “Springfield Brewing Co. / Gold Medal Tivoli / Springfield, Mass.” dates to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, when beer was commonly bottled in reusable glass containers sealed with porcelain closures. The stopper identifies both the producing brewery and a branded beer, reflecting standard practice among established regional breweries prior to the adoption of crown caps. The Springfield Brewing Company operated as a corporate brewing concern rather than as a sole proprietorship identified with a single named individual. Like many urban breweries of the period, it functioned under a company name that masked a group of owners, partners, or shareholders rather than advertising a founder or family surname. As a result, individual proprietors are not named on bottle hardware, and surviving breweriana emphasizes the corporate identity instead. “Tivoli” was one of the brewery’s branded beers. The Tivoli name fits a widespread nineteenth-century naming convention in which breweries adopted European or leisure-oriented terms to suggest refinement and Old World brewing traditions. The addition of “Gold Medal” indicates that the beer was marketed as an award-winning product, a claim commonly used by breweries that participated in industrial expositions or regional fairs. While the specific exhibition is not identified on the stopper, the wording aligns with contemporary brewery advertising practices. The stopper confirms that Tivoli beer was brewed and bottled in Springfield, Massachusetts, distinguishing it from beers handled by outside agents or wholesalers. However, a specific street address for the Springfield Brewing Company during the Tivoli period has not been conclusively established through readily available secondary sources. As with many pre-Prohibition breweries, detailed address and ownership records are typically found in city directories, brewery licensing files, and local newspapers rather than on bottle closures. No definitive biographical information for an individual proprietor of the Springfield Brewing Company associated specifically with the Tivoli brand has been securely identified. This absence reflects the broader structure of the brewing industry at the time: by the late nineteenth century, many breweries operated as incorporated or partnership-based enterprises, and their physical products emphasized brand and company identity rather than personal ownership. With the spread of crown caps in the early twentieth century and the onset of Prohibition in 1920, the Springfield Brewing Company’s branded bottle hardware disappeared from circulation. Like many regional breweries, the company did not survive Prohibition in its original form, and its material legacy now exists primarily through artifacts such as this stopper. As an object, this stopper documents Springfield’s local brewing industry and preserves the identity of a corporate brewery and branded beer rather than an individual proprietor. It reflects a mature phase of American brewing, when company names and trademarks had largely replaced personal names as the public face of beer production.

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TBD

HS & Co. H. Swartz & Co. Boston, Mass.

White, Black, Red

H. Swartz & Co.

78–82 Leverett St.

Boston

Massachusetts

The embossing “H. Swartz & Co., Boston, Mass.” belongs to a Boston wholesale bottling and liquor concern centered on Leverett Street in the mid-to-late nineteenth century and continuing into the early twentieth century. Period bottles and porcelain stoppers carried the firm’s name and—on many surviving examples—the explicit address block 78–82 Leverett St., a fact corroborated across multiple breweriana auction descriptions and directory extracts; the physical record includes blown blob-top beer and soda bottles, strap-side whiskey flasks, cork-top pint bottles, and original porcelain swing-top stoppers all stamped or stenciled with the Leverett Street imprint. The variety of container types and trade stencils shows that H. Swartz & Co. operated as more than a retail saloon label: it functioned as a local bottler and distributor handling both malt and distilled products for Boston’s back bar and retail trades. Directory evidence places the firm in Boston city listings around the turn of the century, and the Leverett Street address appears repeatedly in collector and institutional cataloguing of extant bottles; museum and private-collection records that describe glassware embossed “H. Swartz & Co., Leverett St., Boston” place some vessel forms as early as the late nineteenth century while other labeled items are documented into the 1910s. Trade artifacts also record the company’s involvement with branded spirits identified in period labeling and advertising — examples survive carrying brand names such as Swartz’s XXX whiskey — and several catalog entries note the firm acted in a trade capacity as an agent for out-of-town breweries (for example, listings describe H. Swartz & Co. as agents for Lemp), confirming its role in wholesaling and third-party distribution as well as in packaging under its own imprint. Although the material and directory trail is strong for place and function, biographical particulars for the individual(s) behind the firm are scarce in the digitized record: surviving Boston directories and trade notices most commonly render the firm name in initial form (“H. Swartz” or “H. S. Swartz”) without accompanying proprietor forenames, and no readily accessible corporate charter or comprehensive personal obituary has been located that ties a full personal name, immigration detail, or life-dates to the business. Likewise, while container typologies and stamped marks allow confident dating of H. Swartz & Co.’s operations to the late 1800s and into the early 1900s, a formal founding year and detailed year-by-year ownership roster do not survive in the sources routinely used by bottle collectors and online directory transcriptions. What endures most tangibly is the firm’s commercial footprint: H. Swartz & Co. marked its own bottles and stoppers and maintained premises at 78–82 Leverett Street in Boston’s industrial/wholesale quarter, operating as a bottler, liquor wholesaler and distributor whose embossed glass and porcelain relics continue to anchor the company in the Boston beverage trade of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

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TBD

Chesapeake Brewing Co.

White, Red, Black

Chesapeake Brewing Co.

2208/2210 Harford Road

Baltimore

Maryland

The name “Chesapeake Brewing Co.” refers to a historic brewery that operated in Baltimore, Maryland at 2208/2210 Harford Road during the early 20th century. Active roughly from 1900 until around 1920, the company produced beer for local sale and distribution throughout Baltimore and surrounding counties. Surviving embossed bottles from the brewery, often in amber or aqua glass and featuring champagne style or export shapes, serve as physical evidence of its operations and market presence. During this period, Baltimore’s brewing industry was vibrant and competitive, influenced heavily by German beer styles and supported by a growing urban population. Independent breweries like Chesapeake Brewing Co. supplied taverns, saloons, and retail outlets, and their embossed bottles allowed customers to identify the brand before standardized labeling and national distribution networks became the norm. The brewery’s operations likely ceased with the onset of Prohibition around 1920, which forced the closure of many regional producers. Bottles embossed with Chesapeake Brewing Co. remain collectible artifacts, offering a tangible link to Baltimore’s pre Prohibition brewing heritage and illustrating the role of local, independent breweries in supplying beer to urban communities before the consolidation of the national brewing industry. While modern craft breweries in Maryland have occasionally adopted the Chesapeake name, these are separate enterprises and should not be confused with the historic Baltimore brewer represented by early 20th-century embossed bottles.

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TBD

D & Bro. W.H. Dunn & Bro. Hagerstown, MD.

White, Black

W.H. Dunn & Bro.

UNKNOWN

Hagerstown

Maryland

The presence of W.H. Dunn & Bro. on an embossed bottle from Hagerstown, Maryland is confirmed by documented examples of late 19th century beer or beverage bottles carrying that name and city. These bottles — typically heavy glass with early closures such as blob tops — were produced during a time when local merchants, bottlers, or wholesale dealers stamped their names and locations directly on containers as a way to identify the source of the product and facilitate reuse of bottles. Although no detailed business listing for W.H. Dunn & Bro. currently appears in readily searchable city directories, newspapers, or liquor tax records online, the embossed bottle itself serves as primary physical evidence of the firm’s commercial activity. The style of the bottle and closure suggests the business operated in the pre–Prohibition era, likely in the 1880s through the early 1910s, a period when regional bottlers and distributors were common in growing American cities like Hagerstown. In that era, local beverage merchants often acted as agents for regional breweries or handled a mixture of beer, mineral water, and carbonated soft drinks. Hagerstown’s location on major rail lines and its status as a transportation and industrial center made it a logical base for such an operation. Merchants could receive beer in bulk from larger producers, bottle it locally, and distribute it to taverns, grocers, and residents in western Maryland and neighboring Pennsylvania. The “& Bro.” suffix in the business name indicates that W.H. Dunn likely worked in partnership with a brother, a common naming convention for family run commercial enterprises of the period. While specific personal information — such as full given names, birth/death dates, or home addresses — for W.H. Dunn and his brother is not currently documented in available online sources, the embossed bottles attributed to the firm are direct physical confirmation that the company existed and was engaged in beverage bottling or distribution in Hagerstown. Because early regional beverage businesses are often poorly represented in digitized directories and newspapers, the bottles themselves are the best existing evidence of W.H. Dunn & Bro.’s trade. They reflect a time before mass market packaging and nationwide brands dominated the industry, when local merchants played a central role in getting beer and other bottled drinks into the hands of consumers.

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TBD

Phillips Br. Balto. Md.

White, Red, Black

Phillips Bros. Champion Bottling Works

609–611 S. Caroline St.

Baltimore

Maryland

The embossing “Phillips Bros. Champion Bottling Works, Balt. Md.” and the recurring crate imprint “609–611 S. Caroline St., Baltimore” tie a distinctly marketed bottling concern to a defined South Baltimore address and to a family-run business that moved well beyond cottage-level production. Collector examples — embossed glass, porcelain Hutter lightning stoppers printed with the company’s pugilistic trademark, and surviving wooden crates — consistently reproduce the Caroline Street address, and a close reading of breweriana and local-object scholarship identifies the company as the Phillips Brothers: Levin W. Phillips and Howard S. Phillips who launched the firm, later joined by Henry Lake Phillips and John D. Phillips as the enterprise expanded. Period trade reporting and later collector histories date the firm’s active commercial life from the 1890s through at least the 1920s and into the mid-1930s in its bottling guise, by which time the company was best known for ginger-ale, sarsaparilla and a range of flavored soft drinks marketed under the Champion brand rather than as alcoholic beer. Unlike many neighborhood fillers, Phillips Brothers invested in mechanized production: contemporary descriptions preserved in trade literature note a modern filling line — including Shields six-head rotary filling machines and automated bottle-washing apparatus — that raised daily output to thousands of dozens of bottles and transformed the works into a high-volume soda producer. The firm’s advertising imagery — two boxers in mid-spar with the slogan “A Knockout for Thirst” — was applied across paper labels, crates and printed stoppers to create a memorable trademark that collectors still recognize. The porcelain closure stamps themselves bear Hutter patent references (the common lightning-closure patent dates appear on stopper bottoms), confirming the company’s use of then-modern sealing technology. Documentary traces in city directories and full-text newspapers are patchy in freely accessible online copies, but physical artifacts and institutional collections (museums, auction records, private collections) provide robust, repeated confirmation of the Caroline Street works and of the Phillips family’s role. While modern obituary and detailed biographical notices for the founding brothers are not prominent in the open digital newspaper indexes I checked, trade journals and local object histories record the brothers’ names and the firm’s central place in Baltimore’s bottling community, and municipal trademark and patent references show the Champion trademark and product registrations maintained the company’s market position across decades. The material record — embossed bottles, labeled crates, printed stoppers, and trade descriptions of scale and equipment — therefore preserves Phillips Bros. as a large, mechanized Baltimore bottling concern operating from 609–611 S. Caroline Street that specialized in non-alcoholic maltless beverages and built a recognizable regional brand through distinctive packaging and efficient production methods.

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TBD

A Anheuser Busch Brewing Ass'n St. Paul Branch

White, Black, Red

Anheuser-Busch, Inc. (R.H. Seng - St. Paul Branch Manager)

12-14 Pike Street

Saint Paul

Minnesota

The embossing “Anheuser-Busch Brewing Ass’n — St. Paul Branch” identifies a regional distribution operation that formed part of the nationwide corporate network built by the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association as it transformed from a St. Louis brewery into the first truly national beer producer in the United States. The parent brewery originated in 1852 as the Bavarian Brewery on St. Louis’s south side and was reorganized after its 1860 purchase by German immigrant businessman Eberhard Anheuser, who brought his son-in-law Adolphus Busch into the firm in 1864. Under Busch’s leadership the brewery was rebuilt into a massive industrial complex centered on Lynch Street in St. Louis, incorporating brewhouses, ice plants, malt houses, fermentation cellars, cooper shops, bottling halls, and direct railroad connections that allowed beer to be shipped efficiently across the country. The company formally adopted the corporate name Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association in 1879, the same period in which Busch introduced Budweiser and began aggressively expanding production and distribution. Rather than relying solely on independent wholesalers, Anheuser-Busch established company-run branch depots in major regional markets to control storage, marketing, bottle return, and resale. These branch houses functioned as corporate extensions of the St. Louis brewery, receiving rail shipments of bottled and kegged beer, maintaining cold storage, managing empties, and supplying saloons, hotels, restaurants, clubs, and retail dealers throughout their territories. Saint Paul emerged as a strategic Upper Midwest distribution center serving Minnesota and surrounding areas, and the St. Paul Branch (12-14 Pike Street, with R.H. Seng as the branch manager) represented Anheuser-Busch’s formal commercial presence in the Twin Cities market during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The branch system played a central role in Anheuser-Busch’s rapid rise in production scale. By the 1880s the company was already producing hundreds of thousands of barrels annually, and by the early 1900s output had reached into the millions of barrels, making it the largest brewery in the nation. Bottled beer was a cornerstone of this expansion, supported by Busch’s early adoption of pasteurization, mechanized bottling lines, and refrigerated railcars that allowed beer to travel long distances without spoilage. Branch houses such as the St. Paul facility ensured that beer arrived fresh, was redistributed efficiently, and remained under company branding and quality control. The use of corporate branch identification on bottles and packaging reflects this tightly organized system. Embossed branch designations helped route empties back to the proper depot, reinforced Anheuser-Busch’s corporate identity in local markets, and distinguished its products from the thousands of small regional breweries still operating at the time. In addition to beer, branch facilities also handled specialty products promoted by the company, including bottled malt beverages and nutritional malt extracts that were widely marketed in the years leading up to Prohibition. The St. Paul Branch did not function as an independent brewery; all brewing remained centralized at the vast St. Louis works. Instead, the branch operated as a warehousing, bottling-support, and sales center embedded directly within Anheuser-Busch’s corporate structure, staffed by company personnel and integrated into its national logistics network. Similar branches existed in numerous cities across the country, forming one of the most sophisticated beverage distribution systems in the pre-Prohibition era. Leadership of the entire enterprise remained in the hands of Adolphus Busch until his death in 1913, after which control passed to his sons, continuing the family’s management of the company. By the time national Prohibition arrived in 1920, Anheuser-Busch had become a symbol of American industrial brewing, with branch depots like the St. Paul operation anchoring its reach into virtually every major market in the country. The St. Paul Branch designation preserved on embossed glass therefore represents more than a local outlet; it reflects the corporate infrastructure that allowed a single St. Louis brewery to dominate national beer distribution through centralized production, mechanized bottling, refrigerated transport, and company-run regional depots that reshaped how beer was sold and consumed across the United States.

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B The C. Birkhofer Brewing Co. Minneapolis, Minn.

White, Red

The C. Birkhofer Brewing Co.

211 14th Avenue South at the corner of 2nd Street

Minneapolis

Minnesota

The porcelain stopper marked “The C. Birkhofer Brewing Co. • Minneapolis, Minn.” is a physical artifact tied to a historic brewery that operated in Minneapolis around the turn of the 20th century. These stoppers — and bottles bearing the same embossing — are among the strongest surviving evidence of the brewery’s existence and trade identity. The C. Birkhofer Brewing Co. appears in breweriana records and period business listings as an independent brewery active in Minneapolis from approximately 1895 until about 1907. Historical trade references establish the brewery’s address as 211 14th Avenue South at the corner of 2nd Street in Minneapolis, identifying the site where beer was produced, bottled, or otherwise branded for market distribution. In the context of Chicago area or New York brewing, Minneapolis was home to a number of local and regional breweries during this era. Birkhofer was among them, supplying beer to neighborhood taverns, grocers, and consumers in Minneapolis and surrounding communities. The embossed name and address on your stopper would have served both functional and branding purposes: sealing the bottle reliably before the widespread use of crown caps and clearly identifying the brewery of origin to facilitate bottle return for refill and to reinforce brand recognition in a competitive local market. Around 1908, the brewery formally reorganized and changed its corporate identity to the Purity Brewing Company. Documentation from breweriana sources indicates that the same site and facilities continued under the Purity name into the years leading up to national Prohibition (which began in 1920). Purity Brewing later operated from expanded premises, including a second facility at 605 15th Avenue South, but those developments post date the period when your Birkhofer marked stopper was produced. Artifacts such as your stopper remain valuable not because they tell a detailed personal biography of an individual brewer, but because they provide concrete evidence of a specific business entity, place, and time. The existence of a marked closure with a street address makes the connection between physical object and business location explicit — a rare and useful linkage for historical research and collecting. No primary source currently provides personal biographical details (birthplace, dates of birth or death, family involvement) for the individual associated with the Birkhofer name. What can be affirmed by historical evidence is that a brewery operating under the name C. Birkhofer once existed at 211 14th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minn., was active in the local beer trade in the late 1890s and early 1900s, and later became part of the brewery reorganization that produced the Purity Brewing Company brand.

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Y Yoerg Brew'g. Co.

White, Black

Anthony Yoerg Brewing Company

UNKNOWN

Saint Paul

Minnesota

Yoerg Brew’g Co. refers to the Anthony Yoerg Brewing Company, recognized as the first commercial brewery in Minnesota, founded in 1848 in Saint Paul by Anthony Yoerg (1816–1896), a Bavarian immigrant who introduced traditional lager brewing to the Upper Midwest. Yoerg’s early operations were initially located near downtown Saint Paul, but by the 1870s, the company had expanded to a dedicated brewery complex on the west side of the Mississippi River, built into the sandstone bluffs. These natural caves provided ideal conditions for cold fermentation and storage, a hallmark of Bavarian-style lagers. The brewery became a regional landmark, producing tens of thousands of barrels annually and establishing the Yoerg family as central figures in Saint Paul’s brewing industry. Anthony Yoerg remained actively involved in the brewery until his death in 1896. Leadership then passed to his sons, and later to his grandson, Alfred Yoerg, marking three generations of family management. The Yoerg family maintained both business and community influence, with Anthony’s historic residence at 215 Isabel Street West, Saint Paul, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, serving as a tangible link to the family’s personal and professional life. The brewery continued operating successfully into the early 20th century, using the natural caves for lagering and producing beer for the growing Midwest market. During Prohibition (1920–1933), Yoerg Brewing adapted by producing non-alcoholic beverages, ensuring the company’s survival. After repeal, it resumed beer production until 1952, when a flood and the passing of the last managing family members led to the brewery’s closure. The original West Side brewery complex was eventually destroyed by fire and demolition, leaving only historical traces of its operations. Artifacts embossed “Yoerg Brew’g Co.” — including bottles, stoppers, and other breweriana — represent the company’s legacy and are highly prized by collectors. They provide a tangible connection to Minnesota’s earliest commercial brewing history, the Yoerg family’s multi-generational enterprise, and the industrial and cultural development of Saint Paul. These items reflect a time when regional breweries were deeply integrated into their communities, producing locally brewed beer using traditional methods before the rise of national brands and modern production standards.

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Anheuser-Busch Brewing Assn. St. Louis, MO. Trade Mark

White, Black, Red

Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

1200 Lynch Street

St. Louis

Missouri

The embossing “Anheuser-Busch Brewing Assn., St. Louis, Mo.” identifies the corporate name adopted in 1879 by what had already become one of the largest and most technologically advanced breweries in the United States, a firm rooted in the St. Louis brewing district along the Mississippi River and centered on the massive brewery complex at 1200 Lynch Street. The enterprise began in 1852 when German immigrant brewer George Schneider opened the Bavarian Brewery on the south side of St. Louis; the struggling plant was purchased in 1860 by Eberhard Anheuser, a German-born soap manufacturer and businessman born in 1806, who reorganized the operation and brought in his son-in-law Adolphus Busch as a partner in 1864. Busch, born in Kastel, Germany, on July 10, 1839, had immigrated to the United States in 1857 after commercial training in Europe and quickly proved to be the driving force behind the brewery’s modernization, expansion, and national marketing strategy. By the late 1860s and early 1870s, the Anheuser-Busch brewery had transformed the original Bavarian Brewery site into a sprawling industrial complex of brewhouses, ice plants, malt houses, fermentation cellars, cooper shops, bottling halls, and rail spurs, allowing direct shipment of beer across the country. The firm formally incorporated as the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association in 1879, a move that coincided with the launch and aggressive promotion of its flagship brand Budweiser, introduced in 1876 as a Bohemian-style lager designed to appeal to a broad American market. Unlike many regional breweries that remained tied to keg distribution, Busch invested heavily in refrigerated railcars, pasteurization technology, and large-scale bottling operations, enabling beer to be shipped long distances without spoilage and establishing Anheuser-Busch as one of the first truly national brewing companies. City and corporate records throughout the late nineteenth century consistently list the main brewery and bottling works at the Lynch Street address, where the plant expanded block by block into one of the largest brewing facilities in the world. By the 1880s the brewery was producing hundreds of thousands of barrels annually, and by the turn of the twentieth century output had risen into the millions of barrels, making Anheuser-Busch the largest brewer in the United States. The company maintained branch depots and bottling houses in major cities to support regional distribution while centralizing brewing at St. Louis, a vertically integrated model that included in-house bottle manufacturing, ice production, and rail transport subsidiaries. Adolphus Busch’s leadership reshaped American beer marketing. He pioneered national advertising campaigns, trademark protection, uniform branded bottles and labels, and large promotional giveaways, establishing Budweiser and other Anheuser-Busch brands as household names. The use of corporate trade-marked glass and bottling department embossing reflects this emphasis on brand control and proprietary packaging, which ensured bottle return, reinforced product identity, and distinguished Anheuser-Busch beer from the thousands of smaller local brewers operating across the country. Eberhard Anheuser died in 1880, leaving Adolphus Busch as the dominant controlling force of the company. Under Busch’s management, Anheuser-Busch expanded continuously, weathered economic downturns, and absorbed or outcompeted many regional breweries through sheer scale and distribution reach. Busch himself became one of the wealthiest industrialists in America, involved in railroads, real estate, and manufacturing alongside brewing. He remained president of the company until his death on October 10, 1913, after which control passed to his sons, continuing the Busch family’s leadership of the firm for generations. By the eve of Prohibition, Anheuser-Busch stood as the symbol of industrialized American brewing, producing multiple national brands, employing thousands of workers in St. Louis, and operating one of the most complex beverage manufacturing systems in the world. The corporate name “Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association” preserved on trade-marked bottles and promotional glass represents the period when the company evolved from a regional German-American brewery into a dominant national producer through technological innovation, centralized production, aggressive branding, and massive bottling capacity anchored at its Lynch Street brewery in St. Louis.

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Anheuser-Busch Brewing Ass'n St. Louis, Mo. Trade Mark

White, Black, Red

Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

1200 Lynch Street

St. Louis

Missouri

The embossing “Anheuser-Busch Brewing Assn., St. Louis, Mo.” identifies the corporate name adopted in 1879 by what had already become one of the largest and most technologically advanced breweries in the United States, a firm rooted in the St. Louis brewing district along the Mississippi River and centered on the massive brewery complex at 1200 Lynch Street. The enterprise began in 1852 when German immigrant brewer George Schneider opened the Bavarian Brewery on the south side of St. Louis; the struggling plant was purchased in 1860 by Eberhard Anheuser, a German-born soap manufacturer and businessman born in 1806, who reorganized the operation and brought in his son-in-law Adolphus Busch as a partner in 1864. Busch, born in Kastel, Germany, on July 10, 1839, had immigrated to the United States in 1857 after commercial training in Europe and quickly proved to be the driving force behind the brewery’s modernization, expansion, and national marketing strategy. By the late 1860s and early 1870s, the Anheuser-Busch brewery had transformed the original Bavarian Brewery site into a sprawling industrial complex of brewhouses, ice plants, malt houses, fermentation cellars, cooper shops, bottling halls, and rail spurs, allowing direct shipment of beer across the country. The firm formally incorporated as the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association in 1879, a move that coincided with the launch and aggressive promotion of its flagship brand Budweiser, introduced in 1876 as a Bohemian-style lager designed to appeal to a broad American market. Unlike many regional breweries that remained tied to keg distribution, Busch invested heavily in refrigerated railcars, pasteurization technology, and large-scale bottling operations, enabling beer to be shipped long distances without spoilage and establishing Anheuser-Busch as one of the first truly national brewing companies. City and corporate records throughout the late nineteenth century consistently list the main brewery and bottling works at the Lynch Street address, where the plant expanded block by block into one of the largest brewing facilities in the world. By the 1880s the brewery was producing hundreds of thousands of barrels annually, and by the turn of the twentieth century output had risen into the millions of barrels, making Anheuser-Busch the largest brewer in the United States. The company maintained branch depots and bottling houses in major cities to support regional distribution while centralizing brewing at St. Louis, a vertically integrated model that included in-house bottle manufacturing, ice production, and rail transport subsidiaries. Adolphus Busch’s leadership reshaped American beer marketing. He pioneered national advertising campaigns, trademark protection, uniform branded bottles and labels, and large promotional giveaways, establishing Budweiser and other Anheuser-Busch brands as household names. The use of corporate trade-marked glass and bottling department embossing reflects this emphasis on brand control and proprietary packaging, which ensured bottle return, reinforced product identity, and distinguished Anheuser-Busch beer from the thousands of smaller local brewers operating across the country. Eberhard Anheuser died in 1880, leaving Adolphus Busch as the dominant controlling force of the company. Under Busch’s management, Anheuser-Busch expanded continuously, weathered economic downturns, and absorbed or outcompeted many regional breweries through sheer scale and distribution reach. Busch himself became one of the wealthiest industrialists in America, involved in railroads, real estate, and manufacturing alongside brewing. He remained president of the company until his death on October 10, 1913, after which control passed to his sons, continuing the Busch family’s leadership of the firm for generations. By the eve of Prohibition, Anheuser-Busch stood as the symbol of industrialized American brewing, producing multiple national brands, employing thousands of workers in St. Louis, and operating one of the most complex beverage manufacturing systems in the world. The corporate name “Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association” preserved on trade-marked bottles and promotional glass represents the period when the company evolved from a regional German-American brewery into a dominant national producer through technological innovation, centralized production, aggressive branding, and massive bottling capacity anchored at its Lynch Street brewery in St. Louis.

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St. Louis Weiss Beer Brewing Co. St. Louis, MO.

White, Black

St. Louis Weiss Beer Brewing Co.

3107–3113 North 11th Street

St. Louis

Missouri

The inscription “St. Louis Weiss Beer Brewing Co. St. Louis, MO.” identifies a specialty brewing operation that produced and bottled weiss beer from a dedicated industrial site in the northern section of St. Louis. Historical business listings and surviving breweriana consistently place the brewery at 3107–3113 North 11th Street, a multi-lot property large enough to support brewing, storage, and a bottling department. The use of multiple street numbers reflects a plant that extended across adjoining buildings rather than a single storefront operation, confirming that this was a full brewing works rather than a neighborhood bottler. Municipal and industrial records show the St. Louis Weiss Beer Brewing Co. operating under that name beginning in the late 1880s and continuing into the first years of the twentieth century, with the last consistent appearances occurring around 1906. Prior to the adoption of the St. Louis Weiss Beer Brewing Co. name, the same North 11th Street property had housed a weiss beer producer known as the Great Western Weiss Beer Company, indicating continuity of specialty white-beer production at the site even as corporate identity changed. This suggests that brewing infrastructure remained in use through successive ownership or reorganizations rather than being newly constructed for the later company. The brewery specialized in weiss or white beer — a lighter, wheat-influenced style distinct from the lagers that dominated most St. Louis production — and actively marketed bottled product. Embossed bottles and proprietary closures bearing the St. Louis Weiss Beer Brewing Co. name survive in collector holdings, demonstrating that the company placed packaged beer into commercial circulation rather than relying solely on draft trade. The presence of branded closures reflects an organized return-bottle system and a distribution network serving taverns, grocers, and households within the city and nearby districts. Despite the clear documentation of the brewery’s location, product type, and years of operation, surviving records do not preserve the names of individual owners, partners, or corporate officers associated with the St. Louis Weiss Beer Brewing Co. Accessible city directories and industrial summaries list the brewery as an operating entity but do not attach personal proprietor names to the business heading. Newspaper archives likewise have not produced definitive leadership identifications tied specifically to this company, and no corporate charter files or executive rosters have survived in the readily available historical record. Biographical information — including birth and death dates, immigration backgrounds, or prior brewing careers — for those who controlled or managed the brewery has therefore not been preserved in existing accessible sources. This absence is not unusual for smaller specialty breweries whose internal records were lost through closures, reorganizations, or redevelopment of industrial districts in the early twentieth century. Production volumes for the St. Louis Weiss Beer Brewing Co. likewise do not survive in municipal manufacturing reports or trade journals that remain available today. While the size of the North 11th Street plant and the extent of bottled trade indicate a substantial local operation, no annual barrel figures or output statistics have been located that would quantify the brewery’s scale in comparison to larger St. Louis producers. What can be firmly established is that the St. Louis Weiss Beer Brewing Co. functioned as a dedicated weiss beer producer from at least the late 1880s into the early 1900s, operating from a multi-building plant at 3107–3113 North 11th Street, continuing a sequence of white-beer brewing previously conducted at the same address, and actively distributing branded bottled beer into the St. Louis market. Where directory entries, industrial listings, and physical breweriana end, the historical record for the individuals behind the company no longer survives, leaving the brewery’s name and address as the most enduring identifiers of this specialty St. Louis beer producer.

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Wittemann Rost & Co.

White, Black

Wittemann Rost & Co. (John Wittemann Sr. and Otto Rost)

311 North Main Street; 307 Morgan Street; 211–213 Anna Street; 1809 or 1825 Arsenal

St. Louis

Missouri

The porcelain stopper embossed “Wittemann Rost & Co.” preserves the name of a St. Louis partnership whose development can be traced step by step from immigrant craftsmanship to the city’s dominant weiss-beer brewery in St. Louis. The narrative begins with John Wittemann Sr., born in Vadens, Germany, who immigrated to the United States as a young man and built his early career in St. Louis as a shoe manufacturer before any involvement in brewing. His future son-in-law, Otto Rost, followed a different path: born in Berlin in 1844 and educated in the German Realschule system, Rost emigrated to the United States after military service, spent time in Texas, and returned to St. Louis in 1877, where he entered the shoe and leather findings trade rather than brewing. Family and business converged when Rost married Elizabeth Wittemann, daughter of John Wittemann Sr., and the two men formed Wittemann Rost & Co., first operating in shoe manufacturing with documented business locations that shifted from 311 North Main Street to 307 Morgan Street and ultimately to 211–213 Anna Street as the partnership evolved. By the mid-1880s the firm had begun redirecting its commercial energy toward beer, opening a small import operation at the Anna Street address that specialized in Berliner Weissbier, a focus captured in German-language advertising and reflected materially by porcelain stoppers and beer bottles bearing the Wittemann Rost & Co. name in weiss-style forms. Rost’s interest quickly moved beyond importation: after experimenting with brewing at home, he traveled to Germany in 1887 to study traditional weiss-beer production techniques, returning to St. Louis to establish what newspapers later identified as the city’s first dedicated weiss-beer brewing plant at the corner of Arsenal Street and Lemp Avenue, recorded as 1809 or 1825 Arsenal. What had begun as a family shoe business thus transformed into a manufacturing brewery, formalized when the Wittemann-Rost Brewing Company received articles of incorporation with capital stock of $50,000, listing John Wittemann Sr., Otto Rost, and John Wittemann Jr. as incorporators and bringing a second generation directly into the enterprise. The brewery expanded rapidly and became the largest weiss-beer producer in St. Louis prior to its closure in 1908, while the families themselves lived side by side in adjoining homes at 3020 and 3018 Lemp Avenue, embedding domestic life directly within the brewery’s orbit. Contemporary obituary coverage provides unusually rich biographical detail. Otto Rost was credited in his lifetime as the man who introduced weiss-beer brewing to St. Louis, having combined German technical study with American entrepreneurship; he remained head of the Wittemann-Rost Brewing Company until illness forced his retirement in early 1908, suffered a stroke, and died in 1909 at age sixty-four at his Lemp Avenue residence. His surviving children were recorded as Othelia Rost, Otto Rost Jr., and Mrs. Charles A. Dorsel, anchoring the business within a growing German-American family network. John Wittemann Sr., whose career arc carried him from shoe manufacturing into large-scale brewing, served as vice-president of the incorporated brewery and was routinely identified in newspapers simply as a brewer by profession, reflecting how fully the firm had reshaped his identity. He died in 1906 at age seventy-eight at his Lemp Avenue home from kidney disease. His obituary further situates the family within St. Louis’s brewing lineage, noting that one brother, John Wittemann of St. Louis, was the senior member of Wittemann Rost & Co. and a leading manufacturer of weiss beer in the United States, while additional relatives included Mrs. C. Wingenter, Mrs. Joseph Schaab, Miss Barbara Wittemann, and Fred Wittemann of Washington, Iowa, illustrating how the enterprise stood within a broad web of kinship across the Midwest. John Wittemann Sr.’s widow, Anna Wittemann, survived him along with five grown children, reinforcing the multi-generational character of the family behind the brewery. In Rost’s final years the business was consolidated with other regional weiss-beer interests to form the Missouri Weiss Beer Brewing Company, and the original Wittemann-Rost plant was subsequently sold to the Loose Leaf Manufacturing Company, marking the end of the firm’s independent operation. Viewed chronologically, the stopper bearing “Wittemann Rost & Co.” represents far more than a bottling imprint: it is a tangible artifact of a business that progressed from immigrant shoe makers to specialty beer importers, then to pioneering weiss-beer brewers whose operation dominated its niche in St. Louis, all while intertwining family marriages, evolving street addresses, European technical study, corporate incorporation, and a richly documented family legacy preserved in contemporary obituary records.

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N K Kessler's Brewery Helena, Mont. Trade Mark

White, Red, Black

Nicholas K. Kessler

UNKNOWN

Helena

Montana

N. K. Kessler’s Brewery of Helena, Montana was a regional brewing enterprise active during the late nineteenth century, a period when Montana’s mining towns supported numerous local breweries supplying beer to a rapidly growing population. The brewery was operated by Nicholas K. Kessler, an immigrant entrepreneur who established brewing operations in Helena as the city developed into one of the territory’s most important commercial and political centers. Helena’s prosperity during the gold-rush era created strong demand for locally brewed beer, and breweries such as Kessler’s played a central role in supplying saloons, hotels, and boarding houses. Like many frontier-era breweries, Kessler’s operation was likely modest in scale but locally significant, producing lager-style beers using regional water sources and ingredients transported via expanding rail connections. Surviving bottles and closures embossed with “N. K. Kessler’s Brewery, Helena, Mont.” provide the clearest evidence of the business’s existence and branding. Such embossing was typical before standardized labeling, serving both as advertising and as a means to identify returnable bottles in local circulation. The use of the proprietor’s full name and city reflects the personalized nature of brewing businesses in Montana during this period. Little detailed corporate documentation survives for Kessler’s brewery, which is consistent with many small Western breweries that operated for relatively short periods or were absorbed as competition increased. Changes in transportation, consolidation within the brewing industry, and the growing influence of temperance movements likely contributed to the brewery’s eventual disappearance prior to or during the Prohibition era. Today, artifacts bearing the N. K. Kessler’s Brewery name are valued by collectors as tangible remnants of Montana’s early brewing history, offering insight into Helena’s frontier-era commercial life and the local enterprises that supported it during a formative period in the American West.

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C.E. Boynton 16 Bow St Portsmouth, N.H.

White, Red

C. E. Boynton Mineral Water and Bottling Works

16 Bow St.

Portsmouth

New Hampshire

Charles E. Boynton of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was a prominent 19th-century entrepreneur who operated a bottling and mineral water business on Bow Street. Known as “C. E. Boynton Mineral Water and Bottling Works,” his enterprise specialized in producing soda water, tonic beer, ale, and other bottled beverages. At the time, Boynton’s business was described as the largest manufacturer of soda and temperance beverages in the state, illustrating both the popularity of non-alcoholic drinks and the growing industrialization of local bottling operations. Historical records indicate that Boynton’s business was active at least from the early 1880s through the 1890s. Portsmouth city listings from 1881 mention him under “small beer,” while surviving bottles embossed with “C.E. Boynton – 16 Bow St Portsmouth NH” provide physical evidence of his operation and its branding. His works represent a significant component of Portsmouth’s commercial history, highlighting the role of local bottlers in supplying both temperance beverages and traditional ales to the community before modern mass production. Boynton’s enterprise reflects a unique intersection of entrepreneurship, local industry, and daily life in 19th-century New England. By combining temperance drinks with more conventional alcoholic beverages, he served a diverse clientele and helped shape the local beverage market. Today, his surviving bottles and archival mentions continue to offer a tangible glimpse into the city’s industrial past and the enduring legacy of small-scale manufacturing in regional commerce.

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P. Harrington Sons Manchester, N.H.

White, Red, Black

P. Harrington Sons

17–29 Lake Avenue

Manchester

New Hampshire

This porcelain stopper marked “P. Harrington Sons Manchester, N.H.” comes from a long-running bottling and liquor distribution firm that operated in Manchester, New Hampshire, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. P. Harrington Sons is documented as an importer, wholesaler, and bottler of wines and liquors, mineral water, and beer products from about 1891 through 1918, making it one of the more sustained commercial bottling concerns in the city’s vibrant beverage trade. The company maintained its business at 17–29 Lake Avenue in Manchester, where it acted as a local outlet for both proprietary products and as a distributor for larger regional brands. Among the beverages associated with P. Harrington Sons were house brands such as Amoskeag and Benedict Old Maryland, which were sold in branded bottles and circulated locally. In addition to its own products, the firm engaged in bottling and distributing ales, porters, and lagers produced by other breweries, including Portsmouth Brewing Company offerings, reflecting a diverse commercial portfolio beyond a single product line. Extant bottles and closures marked with the P. Harrington Sons name attest to the firm’s active participation in Manchester’s bottle economy prior to Prohibition. Surviving examples include tall export-style bottles from the early 1900s, and clear glass bottles dated as late as 1913, showing that the company maintained its branded packaging into the second decade of the twentieth century. The use of porcelain stoppers and embossed bottle markings was typical of the period’s returnable packaging practices, where closures served both as seals and as advertising devices. Manchester in this era supported dozens of bottlers, liquor dealers, and beverage distributors that catered to a growing urban population and the surrounding mill towns. P. Harrington Sons was among these, combining importation, bottling, and wholesale distribution under a family firm identity. Its lengthy documented span — from the early 1890s through 1918 — reflects its ability to adapt within a competitive market before national Prohibition and the consolidation of beverage bottling reshaped local enterprises. This stopper, therefore, preserves the identity of a named bottling business with a fixed address, a multi-product portfolio, and decades of operation in Manchester’s pre-Prohibition beverage trade. The object stands as material evidence of a firm that served its community with branded bottled beverages and participated fully in the city’s rich bottling history.

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RS Robert Schneider Manchester, N.H.

White, Red

Robert Schneider

UNKNOWN

Manchester

New Hampshire

This porcelain stopper marked “Robert Schneider Manchester, N.H.” is directly associated with a documented late-nineteenth-century bottling and liquor enterprise operated by Robert Schneider in Manchester, New Hampshire. Schneider is recorded in period business listings as a bottler and liquor dealer active in Manchester during the 1890s into the early 1900s, placing his operation firmly within the city’s pre-Prohibition beverage economy. Schneider conducted business from addresses on Canal Street and nearby central Manchester commercial blocks, an area that housed many of the city’s bottlers, wholesalers, and beverage merchants who served the growing mill workforce and surrounding communities. Like other neighborhood bottlers of the era, Schneider issued returnable bottles sealed with porcelain swing stoppers and embossed containers bearing his name and city, ensuring both product identification and bottle return for reuse. Surviving bottles and stoppers marked with Robert Schneider’s imprint confirm that his operation engaged in regular commercial bottling rather than limited retail trade. These containers are stylistically consistent with beverage packaging used in the 1890s–early 1900s, when wire-bail closures and proprietary embossing dominated the bottle market prior to the widespread adoption of crown caps. Manchester at this time supported dozens of beverage dealers who distributed beer, soda, mineral water, and liquor products to saloons, groceries, and private customers. Schneider’s documented presence among these businesses places him within the city’s dense network of independent bottlers that supplied everyday drink consumption before Prohibition reshaped the industry. Regarding personal biography, surviving published records identify Robert Schneider primarily through his business activity; detailed family histories, obituary narratives, and multi-generation succession have not yet surfaced in readily available directories or brewery histories. What remains firmly established is his role as a named proprietor whose branded bottles and closures circulated widely enough to survive into the present. This stopper therefore preserves the identity of a real Manchester bottler and liquor dealer operating during the city’s industrial peak. It provides tangible evidence of Robert Schneider’s participation in New Hampshire’s pre-Prohibition beverage trade and reflects the era when small proprietors stamped their names directly onto the containers that carried their products into everyday life.

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Frank Jones Ales Portsmouth

Red, Blue, White

Frank Jones Brewing Company

121 Bow Street

Portsmouth

New Hampshire

This porcelain bottle stopper bears the name of Frank Jones (born September 15, 1832, in Barrington, New Hampshire; died October 2, 1902, in Portsmouth), who rose from modest beginnings to become one of the most influential brewers in 19th-century America. After moving to Portsmouth as a teenager, Jones founded and expanded the Frank Jones Brewing Company, transforming it into one of the nation’s largest ale producers by the late 1800s, with documented output reaching approximately 150,000 barrels annually by 1882 and peaking near 250,000 barrels in subsequent years. The brewery operated from a large multi-building complex in downtown Portsmouth, concentrated in the Bow Street, Islington Street, and Brewery Lane area, where associated wash houses, warehouses, and production buildings once dominated the city’s industrial landscape; at least one surviving warehouse structure is commonly identified at 121 Bow Street. Beyond brewing, Jones was a major civic and political figure, serving as Mayor of Portsmouth from 1868 to 1869 and later as a United States Congressman from 1875 to 1879, while also investing heavily in hotels, railroads, and resort development, including prominent involvement with the Rockingham Hotel and Wentworth-by-the-Sea. Stoppers, bottles, and labels marked “Frank Jones Ale — Portsmouth” remain highly collectible today, representing tangible remnants of a nationally recognized brewing empire whose name became synonymous with Portsmouth’s late-19th-century industrial and commercial prominence.

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AB Co Anchor Bottling Co. Atlantic City, N.J.

White, Black, Red

Anchor Bottling Co

UNKNOWN

Atlantic City

New Jersey

The porcelain stopper embossed “Anchor Bottling Co., Atlantic City, N.J.” confirms the existence of an independent beverage bottling firm operating in Atlantic City during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, prior to the widespread replacement of porcelain closures by disposable crown caps. These stoppers formed part of a returnable bottle system common to the era, in which closures were permanently marked with the company name to identify ownership, deter loss, and allow repeated refilling. Collector and breweriana material consistently shows blob-top and slugplate bottles along with porcelain stoppers carrying the Anchor Bottling Company name and a molded anchor emblem that functioned as the firm’s trade mark, with container styles typical of pre-Prohibition soda and beer bottling practices. The repeated appearance of these proprietary containers across independent collections and auction records indicates a commercially active operation rather than a short-lived or purely experimental venture. The anchor motif and sustained use of branded glass demonstrate that the company invested in custom packaging, a hallmark of established regional bottlers supplying hotels, saloons, boardwalk vendors, and neighborhood trade in a resort city whose population and beverage demand surged seasonally. The heavy soda and beer bottles designed for return and reuse align with the business model of bottling houses that produced soft drinks, beer, and often mineral waters for both wholesale and retail distribution within Atlantic City’s expanding hospitality economy. Despite the strength of this material evidence, no verified business addresses, proprietor names, incorporation records, or contemporary newspaper advertisements for Anchor Bottling Co. have yet surfaced in readily accessible online sources. City directories, liquor-license notices, and Sanborn fire-insurance maps — which normally preserve such information for small bottlers — remain largely in local library collections or subscription archives not yet digitized in connection with the firm. As a result, the company’s internal structure, ownership, and precise years of operation remain undocumented. What can be stated with certainty is that Anchor Bottling Co. maintained enough commercial activity to justify proprietary embossed bottles and porcelain stoppers requiring ongoing circulation between bottler and customers, reflecting an established enterprise rather than a temporary filler. The stopper’s manufacturing style places its use broadly within the late 1800s through the early 1910s, after which crown caps rapidly displaced porcelain closures across the industry. Today, the Anchor Bottling Co. stopper and associated bottles stand as the primary surviving record of a now-vanished Atlantic City bottler that participated in the region’s early resort-era beverage trade. Until additional directory entries or newspaper documentation emerges to supply a precise address and responsible individuals, these branded containers remain the clearest evidence of the firm’s existence, scale, and role in Atlantic City’s pre-Prohibition commercial beverage networks.

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BS Boiling Spring Bottling Co. East Rutherford, N.J.

White, Black, Red

Boiling Spring Bottling Co.

UNKNOWN

East Rutherford

New Jersey

The stopper embossed Boiling Spring Bottling Co., East Rutherford, N.J. identifies a named bottling concern operating in East Rutherford during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, a period when many beverage firms adopted spring-based branding to emphasize purity and natural water sources. The company name indicates that its products were likely drawn from or marketed as originating from a local spring known as “Boiling Spring,” a descriptive term commonly used in the era for naturally active or heavily carbonated water sources that were considered desirable for mineral water and soda production. East Rutherford at the time was a developing industrial and residential community closely tied to rail transportation and nearby manufacturing centers in Bergen County and Hudson County. Bottling works in towns like East Rutherford typically served both local neighborhoods and surrounding communities, distributing mineral waters, soda waters, ginger beverages, and sometimes beer using returnable glass bottles sealed with branded closures. The presence of a custom porcelain or glass stopper bearing the company name shows that Boiling Spring Bottling Co. operated at a scale sufficient to justify permanent marked packaging, which was essential for maintaining bottle ownership and recognition in competitive local markets. Firms using spring-based names frequently built their identity around the perceived healthfulness and freshness of their water source, a major selling point in the late nineteenth century when bottled mineral water was consumed both as a refreshment and as a therapeutic product. Such bottlers often combined natural spring water with flavored carbonated drinks to maintain steady business year-round. Unlike some larger bottling works whose proprietors, street addresses, and years of operation survive clearly in city directories and newspaper advertisements, no preserved business listings or biographical records have yet been located that further identify the owners or facilities of Boiling Spring Bottling Co. beyond the company name and town shown on the stopper. As with many small regional bottlers, the physical containers themselves remain the principal surviving evidence of the firm’s commercial activity. The imprint Boiling Spring Bottling Co., East Rutherford, N.J. therefore reflects a locally rooted mineral water and beverage operation that participated in the widespread spring-water bottling trade of pre-Prohibition New Jersey, anchored to East Rutherford through its branded returnable containers and spring-based identity.

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David Boyle Co. Mineral Waters Paterson, N.J.

White, Black, Red

David Boyle Co.

65 & 67 Washington Street

Paterson

New Jersey

The stopper embossed David Boyle Co. Mineral Waters, Paterson, N.J. identifies a documented bottler and beverages firm that operated from a known commercial address in Paterson, New Jersey, around the turn of the twentieth century. Surviving bottles and stoppers show the company’s location as 65 & 67 Washington Street, Paterson, indicating that the business occupied adjacent commercial storefronts or warehouse spaces on that central city street. Bottles from this firm dating to circa 1904 bear the full address and company name, demonstrating that David Boyle Co. marked returnable containers for distribution in the region under its own imprint. Directory and trade source listings from the period also describe the company in the broader beverage trade, offering mineral waters and allied soda products from its Washington Street address while maintaining additional branch service points in nearby New Jersey communities. An obituary published in 1919 for David Boyle, retired mineral water manufacturer, confirms that he was active in the local beverage business and that the firm was significant enough for his death notice to describe his trade. The combination of the marked street address on collectible bottles and the historical acknowledgment of Boyle’s manufacturing role ties the company both to a specific Paterson location and to a named proprietor whose lifetime involvement in the industry framed the business’s presence in the city’s commercial life. Because detailed corporate records, original advertising, and comprehensive production data have not survived or been located in accessible historic archives, the physical evidence of embossed bottles and the Washington Street address remain the principal documentary sources for the company’s activity. The object itself thus serves as a direct, material record of a once-active mineral water firm operating under a known name and address in pre-Prohibition Paterson, preserving the business identity in a way that no longer exists in surviving textual records.

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B A.B. Brickner Newton, N.J.

White, Red, Black

Andrew B. Brickner / Brickner’s Steam Bottling Works

Spring Street

Newton

New Jersey

The porcelain stoppers and bottles embossed “A. B. Brickner, Newton, N.J.” preserve the trade imprint of Andrew B. Brickner, whose enterprise developed into a fully mechanized beverage manufacturing and distribution operation on Spring Street in Newton beginning in the mid-1870s. Brickner established what became known as Brickner’s Steam Bottling Works around 1875 in Newton’s downtown commercial district, selecting a Spring Street site near the Moran Street intersection well suited to industrial production and wagon distribution routes. He equipped the plant with steam-powered machinery that allowed large-scale washing, carbonating, and filling at a time when many bottlers still relied on hand labor, and contemporary descriptions praised the works for superior processes in cleaning and filling bottles, emphasizing sanitation as a key selling point in an era when purity increasingly influenced beverage choice. The Spring Street facility functioned as both manufacturing plant and regional distribution hub. Wagons from the works supplied hotels, saloons, retailers, and private households throughout Sussex County and neighboring Warren County, embedding Brickner’s operation into the everyday commercial life of northern New Jersey. Promotional material and local accounts document a broad in-house product line that included mineral waters, soda water, ginger ale, lemon soda, cream soda, birch beer, sarsaparilla, seltzer, and nerve-food tonics, with advertisements explicitly inviting customers and fairgoers to tour the bottling works and sample beverages, reflecting both confidence in production quality and the plant’s role as a local industrial showpiece. Alongside soft drink manufacturing, Brickner expanded the operation into large-scale beer bottling and wholesale distribution. Business histories and advertising identify him as a regional agent and bottler for major brewery brands including Pabst Milwaukee lager as well as beers from Krueger and Flegenspan, transforming the Newton works into both a beverage factory and a countywide beer distribution center. Lager, ale, and porter were promoted as among the best in the market and made available across local hotels and saloons, with Brickner’s wagons extending trade not only across Sussex County but into neighboring parts of northern New Jersey and nearby New York markets. Surviving champagne-style beer bottles, early soda containers, and porcelain stoppers bearing Brickner’s name demonstrate how extensively his trade imprint circulated across both carbonated soft drinks and bottled beer. Local accounts portray Brickner as an energetic and progressive operator whose steam-powered works emphasized cleanliness, efficiency, and technical skill, with particular praise for beverages such as ginger ale and birch beer that earned first-premium awards at regional fairs including the Waverly Fair. The diversity of products — mineral waters for health use, flavored sodas for refreshment, tonics marketed for vitality, and multiple beer styles for commercial trade — illustrates how Brickner positioned the business to serve every layer of local beverage consumption from medicinal to recreational. Although the operational record of Brickner’s Steam Bottling Works is unusually rich in technical and commercial detail, surviving digitized civic sources have not yet produced a complete personal biography for Andrew B. Brickner with confirmed birth and death dates or obituary narratives, despite his prominence in Newton’s business life suggesting such records likely survive in local newspaper or county archive collections. What the combined material culture, promotional literature, and historical business documentation clearly establish is that from roughly 1875 through the turn of the twentieth century Brickner’s Steam Bottling Works functioned as a steam-powered beverage manufacturing plant and wholesale distribution center on Spring Street in Newton, producing an extensive range of soft drinks and tonics while simultaneously acting as a regional bottling and sales agent for major beer brands, with the embossed bottles and porcelain stoppers serving as enduring physical evidence of one of Sussex County’s most significant pre-Prohibition beverage enterprises.

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S. Costa Paterson, N.J.

White, Black

S. Costa

UNKNOWN

Paterson

New Jersey

The inscription “S. Costa Paterson, N.J.” almost certainly refers to S. Costa, a commercial bottler or liquor-related business recorded in Paterson, New Jersey, rather than to one of the city’s better-documented breweries. Paterson in the late 19th and early 20th centuries supported numerous small bottlers, soda works, temperance drink manufacturers and liquor wholesalers in addition to larger breweries such as the Hinchliffe Brewing and Malting Company and the Paterson Consolidated Brewing Company that dominated local beer production at that time. Antique bottle auction records and breweriana listings from Paterson show a variety of local proprietors and companies whose names were embossed on bottles, including Costa & Candelone among other smaller firms specializing in carbonated beverages, mineral waters, seltzers, beer and related products. In those trade contexts the name “Costa” appears paired with other local bottlers, which strongly suggests that S. Costa was the named proprietor or partner of a small bottling works or distributor operating in Paterson’s beverage trade during the period when bottle embossing with owner names was common. City directories and street listings from that era typically enumerated such firms under drink and soda bottlers, wholesale liquor dealers and mineral water works; those records frequently used initials to abbreviate given names of proprietors, meaning S. Costa likely stands for a first name beginning with S (such as Samuel, Salvatore, Stephen, etc.) followed by the family surname Costa. Paterson’s industrial directories also record numerous immigrant-run beverage businesses in the late 19th century, and the Costa name fits within this pattern of Italian and other European immigrant entrepreneurs who ran small bottling and soda works alongside larger breweries. Because the historical documentation for very small proprietors like S. Costa is sparse in standard brewery histories and consolidated brewery records, and because embossed bottles and trade pieces are one of the few surviving physical records, the presence of “S. Costa Paterson, N.J.” on a bottle or stopper identifies a local bottling concern that manufactured or distributed bottled beverages under that name in Paterson, New Jersey, during the heyday of individually marked bottles. Additional specifics such as street address, years of operation and the proprietor’s full given name have not yet been found in surviving digitized city directories or newspaper archives; this absence reflects the common archival gap for smaller bottling entrepreneurs whose businesses left fewer formal records than larger breweries did.

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Benj. H. Crate's Bottling Works Red Bank, N.J.

White, Red

Benjamin H. Crate

Monmouth Street / Bridge Avenue

Red Bank

New Jersey

Benjamin H. Crate’s Bottling Works was a small but well-attested neighborhood soda and bottling concern in Red Bank, New Jersey, that left its mark chiefly through surviving embossed bottles and local memory. Benjamin Crate built a beverage business in Red Bank in the late-19th / early-20th century that combined a soda-bottling factory with retail — the shop later remembered as “Crate’s” and depicted in local art and historical recollections as having signage on Monmouth Street (later associated with Bridge Avenue). Collector and auction records regularly turn up aqua and clear glass bottles embossed “BENJ. H. CRATE” or “BENJ H. CRATE & CO. — RED BANK, N.J.” with crown-top and blob-top forms dated in seller catalogs to the 1910s–1920s, confirming the company’s material presence in the town’s commercial life. Local archival notes show the bottling works remained active into the 1910s and that the bottling business was sold by 1917, an event reported in contemporary local notices and summarized in county exhibition materials documenting Prohibition-era commerce. Beyond bottles and storefront memory, Crate’s operation exemplifies the many small, family-run soda and bottling enterprises that serviced New Jersey towns before industry consolidation and Prohibition reshaped the market; today Crate bottles and the liquor-store sign (preserved in local imagery) are the principal surviving traces of a once-familiar Red Bank business.

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HGD Co. H.G. Degenring & Co. Red Bank, N.J.

White, Black, Red

Henry Gunther Degenring & Co.

16 West Front Street

Red Bank

New Jersey

The embossed name “H.G. Degenring & Co., Red Bank, N.J.” identifies a locally owned beverage business that operated in Red Bank, New Jersey, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The firm was owned by Henry Gunther Degenring, who conducted operations from 16 West Front Street, a location that also housed connections to the Germania Hotel, reflecting the intertwined nature of hospitality and beverage trade in small-town commercial life. H.G. Degenring & Co. functioned as a bottler and distributor of soft drinks, mineral waters, and beer, supplying neighborhood taverns, grocery stores, hotels, and private households. The business carried regional beers such as George Ehret’s and Pabst, alongside carbonated beverages and mineral waters, typical of independent bottlers of the era. Surviving bottles embossed with the Degenring name and Red Bank address illustrate both the practical function of returnable glass bottles and the marketing value of identifying a trusted local merchant. Henry Degenring was also an active civic figure, serving as a borough councilman, demonstrating his prominence in the community. His business relied on personal delivery networks, initially using horse-drawn wagons and later motor vehicles, to maintain strong relationships with regular customers and ensure timely service. H.G. Degenring & Co. operated for more than five decades, adapting to market changes as national beverage brands emerged. Henry Gunther Degenring died in 1958, marking the end of a career that had significant local impact. The company’s operations exemplified the role of independent bottlers who blended production, distribution, and personal service. Beer was typically received in bulk from larger regional breweries and bottled locally under the Degenring mark, while sodas and mineral waters were produced or packaged on-site to meet neighborhood demand. Today, embossed bottles from H.G. Degenring & Co. serve as tangible historical artifacts, documenting the work of a merchant who provided beverages directly to his community, participated in local governance, and exemplified the personalized commerce that characterized Red Bank’s economic and social life before national consolidation and Prohibition reshaped the industry.

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Wm. M. Dilmore 339 Kaighn Ave. Camden, N.J.

White, Black

William M. Dilmore

339 Kaighn Ave.

Camden

New Jersey

Wm M. Dilmore was listed in early 20th century Camden histories and bottle collector registries as a bottler / liquor business operator based at 339 Kaighn Avenue. That address, on Kaighn Avenue in Camden, appears in local directories of the time as the base for the Dilmore enterprise. Camden’s own “Bottlers & Beer Distributors” history notes that Dilmore’s bottle cap (or bottle) originates from around 1906 — placing his operation in the era when small-scale bottling and soft drink / liquor distribution firms proliferated in the city. According to street history documentation, the 339 Kaighn Avenue building was tied to the Dilmore family: contemporaneous records show that a George S. Dilmore (likely a relative) ran a saloon at the same address, suggesting that the family was involved in both on premises alcohol retail as well as bottled beverage distribution. In a Camden neighborhood context that included a mix of saloons, small shops, and modest bottling works — including wholesalers and soft drink producers — Wm. M. Dilmore appears to represent one of the small, local bottling/ liquor distribution firms of the early 1900s. While not a large brewery, such operators filled a niche in urban beverage supply, serving local customers, taverns, and retail outlets. Because of the limited documentation — mainly the address listing and a surviving bottle cap — Dilmore is faint in the historical record, but his presence helps illustrate how the beverage trade in Camden was structured around many small, family run, neighborhood scale operations rather than a few large producers. Although there is little evidence of his business beyond a few surviving bottles and directory mentions, Wm. M. Dilmore’s story underscores the fragmented, community based nature of early 20th century bottling and liquor distribution in Camden, and offers a tangible link for collectors and social historians to the city’s lesser-known beverage enterprises. https://dvrbs.camdenhistory.com/camden-streets/camdennj-streets-kaighnavenue.htm

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E Wm. H. Earl Newton, N.J.

White, Red, Black

William H. Earl

Spring Street

Newton

New Jersey

Wm. H. Earl was the proprietor of a hotel and café in Newton, N.J., beginning in the 1890s. According to collector historian accounts, William Earl operated a 26 room hotel (on Spring Street in Newton) from approximately 1897 until his death in 1925, and during that period he also bottled and sold beer, soft drinks, and perhaps mineral or soda waters to serve his patrons. The primary evidence for his bottling enterprise comes from surviving antique bottles embossed with “WM. H. EARL / NEWTON, N.J.” — including amber and aqua glass beer or soda bottles exhibiting blob top or early “picnic” style finishes typical of the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Some of the bottles have also been found with porcelain stoppers, indicating that Earl’s output included early era beer or soda water packaged in bottle formats common before widespread crown cap use. Because of the wide variety of bottle finishes, glass colors, and embossing styles, collectors consider Wm. H. Earl bottles a fairly extensive “type set”—reflecting that the business likely operated over several decades and adapted to changing glass manufacture and bottling practices. Despite the tangible bottle record, there is no easily located city directory or business register listing (publicly available) that spells out a formal “Wm. H. Earl Bottling Co.” — suggesting the bottling operation may have been small, informal, or run as an adjunct to the hotel/café rather than a large scale commercial brewery.

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EB Co. Eastern Bottling Co. Plainfield, N.J.

White, Black, Red

Hinchliffe Brewing and Malting Company

63 Governor Street

Paterson

New Jersey

The Hinchliffe Brewery in Paterson, New Jersey was not a modern brewery operating today but rather a historic beer-producing enterprise from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Known formally as the Hinchliffe Brewing and Malting Company, it was one of the city’s most significant brewing operations during the pre-Prohibition era. The brewery’s roots go back to the mid-19th century. Its founder, John Hinchliffe, was an immigrant from Yorkshire, England who established what was initially known as the Eagle Brewery in Paterson around 1861. Over the following decades the business evolved through partnerships — including Shaw, Hinchliffe & Penrose — before being reorganized in 1890 by John’s three sons, John Jr., William, and James Hinchliffe, as the Hinchliffe Brewing and Malting Company. At its peak the brewery was a remarkably large, modern facility for its time. It included a five-story brew house constructed of brick and iron, extensive cold storage, and an integrated malt house — all designed to support significant beer production and distribution throughout the region. The company thrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s, producing thousands of barrels annually and contributing to Paterson’s reputation as a hub of brewing activity. However, with the passage of Prohibition in 1920, the Hinchliffe brewery — like many others — was forced to cease alcoholic beer production and ultimately closed in that era. The physical brewery complex stood at 63 Governor Street, Paterson, NJ, but much of it was lost over time. A devastating fire in 1997 destroyed large portions of the site, leaving only some of the cold storage and malt buildings intact. Today, the remains are recognized for their historic and architectural significance.

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CH Chas. Hohlweg Paulsboro, N.J.

White, Red

Charles Hohlweg / Karl F. Hohlweg

UNKNOWN

Paulsboro

New Jersey

The embossing “Chas. Hohlweg Paulsboro, N.J.” identifies a proprietor-named beverage bottling and liquor concern that operated in the Gloucester County river town during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when independent dealers routinely marked their own returnable bottles and stoppers to advertise their business and control glass circulation. Surviving blob-top beer bottles and Hutch-style soda bottles bearing the Hohlweg name confirm that product was actively bottled or distributed under this imprint as part of routine commercial trade rather than appearing as a decorative or isolated marking. The recurrence of identical embossing across multiple examples demonstrates organized production runs and sustained neighborhood business activity. Beyond the material evidence preserved in glass, the Hohlweg name can be placed firmly within Paulsboro’s local community during the same period. Charles Hohlweg appears in municipal and civic references as a long-time resident engaged in town life, indicating that the bottling operation was rooted locally rather than operated by a transient proprietor. Genealogical records further tie the family to Paulsboro into the 1910s, including documentation of a Hohlweg household with children born in the borough, showing that the family maintained a stable presence in the community while the bottling business was in operation. This continuity supports the conclusion that the enterprise functioned over a meaningful span of years rather than as a short-lived venture. Additional breweriana bearing the Hohlweg surname — including bottle variants using the name Karl or K.F. Hohlweg — suggests that more than one family member participated in the beverage trade, pointing to a small family-run bottling concern rather than a single individual working alone. Such family operations were common in river and industrial towns like Paulsboro, where liquor sales, beer distribution, and soda bottling often operated side by side from modest premises serving both workers and local households. While the business’s commercial presence and family continuity are now established, no surviving digitized city directory or newspaper business notice has yet produced a definitive street address for the Hohlweg operation. Likewise, extended biographical particulars for Charles Hohlweg — including exact birth and death dates, immigration background, or a complete census household transcription tied specifically to the bottling works — have not surfaced in readily accessible online archives. These gaps reflect the typical disappearance of small-town trade records rather than an absence of real commercial activity. What can be stated with confidence is that a Hohlweg family-operated beverage bottling and liquor concern functioned in Paulsboro, New Jersey; that Charles Hohlweg was a locally established resident associated with that trade during the 1890–1915 period; that returnable bottles marked with the Hohlweg name circulated in steady neighborhood commerce; and that additional family members likely participated in the operation. The stopper marked “Chas. Hohlweg Paulsboro, N.J.” therefore preserves in glass the identity of a locally rooted family bottling business embedded in Paulsboro’s river-industrial community, capturing a tangible record of commercial life even as much of the paper trail of daily operations and personal history has faded from surviving archives.

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A. Kamerling Clinton St. Paterson, N.J.

White, Black

A. Kamerling

99 Clinton Street

Paterson

New Jersey

The stopper embossed A. Kamerling, Clinton St., Paterson, N.J. identifies a named Paterson bottler recorded in period material culture and local business listings. City-directory evidence places A. Kamerling at 99 Clinton Street in Paterson during the 1890s and into the first decade of the twentieth century (directory listings run through roughly 1892–1909 for that address), linking the name on the closure to a specific street location in the city’s commercial quarter. Surviving mouth-blown bottles attributed to A. Kamerling are cataloged by collectors as blob-top and early soda/beer bottle forms, and period newspaper trade notices describe Kamerling in terms consistent with a local bottler of lager beer and allied carbonated beverages, establishing that the business handled brewed product in marked returnable containers. The Clinton Street address places the firm within a dense urban block where bottlers, soda makers, and small wholesalers were commonly located, giving practical access to rail and road distribution routes used to supply Paterson retailers, saloons, and neighborhood grocers. The embossed containers that survive show the firm invested in marked bottles—sometimes bearing the town name and the Clinton Street imprint—indicating ongoing local circulation and a need to reclaim returnable glass through a branded system rather than single-use packaging. No comprehensive corporate archive tied to A. Kamerling has been located in the consulted directories and collector records beyond the street listing and the extant bottles themselves; the proprietor’s full given name, personal biographical dates, and detailed production accounts do not appear in the accessible indexes. What remains documentary and verifiable is the firm name, the street address at 99 Clinton Street, Paterson, the approximate period of operation in the 1890s–1909 window, and the physical evidence of marked blob-top and similar bottles indicating involvement in bottling lager and carbonated beverages for local distribution.

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PHS P. Harrington Sons Manchester, N.H.

White, Red

P. Harrington & Sons

17-29 Lake Avenue

Manchester

New Hampshire

The embossing “P. Harrington Sons Manchester, N.H.” represents a family-run bottling and beverage business that operated in Manchester during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the time, Manchester, known for its booming industrial base, supported a lively market for locally bottled wines, liquors, and mineral waters. P. Harrington & Sons was among the independent merchants who supplied these beverages to saloons, hotels, and retail customers throughout the city and surrounding communities. The company appears to have begun as P. Harrington in the early 1900s, later transitioning to P. Harrington & Sons as family members became involved in the business. This multi-generational approach allowed the firm to maintain continuity and a reliable reputation in the local beverage trade. The firm likely bottled a variety of products, including beer and carbonated soft drinks, using heavy glass bottles sealed with porcelain or blob-top stoppers. These closures were both practical and promotional, preserving carbonation while prominently displaying the Harrington name. P. Harrington & Sons was characteristic of the era’s small bottlers, who acted as intermediaries between regional breweries and local consumers. The business relied on personal relationships and city-wide delivery routes to distribute beverages efficiently, ensuring that taverns, hotels, and grocers received fresh products regularly. The embossed bottles served as a mark of quality and trust, reinforcing the firm’s presence in a competitive marketplace. Operations continued steadily through the 1910s, until the onset of Prohibition in 1920 reshaped the beverage industry and forced many local bottlers to either pivot to non-alcoholic products or close entirely. While the exact details of the family’s personal history are limited, surviving bottles and stoppers bearing the P. Harrington & Sons name provide a tangible link to Manchester’s early 20th-century beverage economy. These artifacts capture the essential role of independent, family-run bottlers in supplying locally produced drinks before the rise of national brands and standardized packaging.

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J.W. Kirchkoff Bottler Bridgeton, N.J.

White, Black

J. W. Kirchkoff

UNKNOWN

Bridgeton

New Jersey

The imprint “J. W. Kirchkoff, Bottler, Bridgeton, N.J.” identifies a proprietor-operated bottling business active in Bridgeton during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The use of the term “Bottler” as the primary descriptor reflects period practice and indicates a business focused on filling and distributing beverages locally rather than brewing or distilling on an industrial scale. Such enterprises were common in southern New Jersey towns, supplying soda water and other carbonated drinks to nearby households, stores, and taverns. Bridgeton served as a regional commercial center for Cumberland County, with glassmaking, food processing, and light manufacturing supporting a steady demand for bottled beverages. Within this environment, small bottlers like J. W. Kirchkoff operated neighborhood-scale works that relied on reusable glass containers. Bottles were typically embossed with the proprietor’s name and town to identify ownership and encourage their return, a practical necessity before disposable packaging became widespread. The imprint format is revealing. The inclusion of the proprietor’s initials and surname, paired with the town name but without a street address, aligns with a locally recognized business serving a defined market. In communities like Bridgeton, a bottler’s reputation and delivery routes often made full address information unnecessary on containers. This contrasts with larger urban bottlers, who more frequently included detailed addresses to distinguish themselves among competitors. The designation “Bottler” suggests that Kirchkoff’s operation likely handled non-alcoholic beverages such as soda water, mineral water, ginger ale, and flavored soft drinks. Some bottlers in similar New Jersey towns also bottled beer obtained from regional breweries, but there is no evidence tying Kirchkoff directly to brewing or distilling. The imprint supports identification as a beverage bottler rather than a retailer or saloonkeeper. Written records for small bottlers of this type are often limited. Many appeared briefly in city directories or tax listings and left little documentary trace once the business closed or ownership changed. In such cases, the physical imprint on bottles or stoppers provides the most reliable surviving evidence of the enterprise. The presence of the town name “Bridgeton, N.J.” firmly anchors the business geographically, even in the absence of further biographical detail for J. W. Kirchkoff. The style and wording of the imprint are consistent with pre-Prohibition bottling practices, when independent bottlers played a vital role in local beverage distribution. As the beverage industry consolidated and packaging shifted toward standardized crown caps and nationally branded products, many small bottlers disappeared. Their names survive primarily through embossed containers that document a period when even modest towns supported multiple independent beverage operations. The imprint “J. W. Kirchkoff, Bottler, Bridgeton, N.J.” thus preserves the identity of a local bottling concern serving the Bridgeton area and reflects the everyday commercial infrastructure of southern New Jersey’s beverage trade during the pre-Prohibition era in Bridgeton.

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Lembeck & Betz Jersey City, N.J.

White, Black

Louis Lembeck and Charles Betz

Communipaw Avenue near Caven Point

Jersey City

New Jersey

The inscription “Lembeck & Betz Jersey City, N.J.” corresponds to one of New Jersey’s most prominent nineteenth-century brewing partnerships, a firm that evolved from a small immigrant operation into a major industrial lager brewery serving the New York metropolitan market. The business was founded in the late 1860s by Louis Lembeck and Charles Betz, both German-born brewers who had trained in European brewing methods before establishing commercial operations in Hudson County. Early city directory listings place the partners operating along Communipaw Avenue in Jersey City, an area that quickly became a dense brewery corridor due to rail access, ice availability, and proximity to New York beer demand. By the early 1870s the firm was consistently listed as Lembeck & Betz, brewers, and expanded rapidly with the construction of substantial brick brewery buildings, fermentation cellars, ice houses, cooper shops, and bottling facilities. The main brewery complex developed along Communipaw Avenue near Caven Point, with later records also referencing connected storage and shipping structures as production increased. The scale of the plant placed Lembeck & Betz among the leading lager producers in New Jersey by the 1880s. Louis Lembeck, born in Germany in the 1830s, served as the senior operating brewer and business head, while Charles Betz functioned as co-proprietor and production partner during the company’s early expansion years. Betz later withdrew from active ownership, after which Lembeck continued the enterprise under variations of the Lembeck name while retaining the well-known Lembeck & Betz branding for a period. Lembeck remained a major industrial figure in Jersey City brewing for decades and was frequently identified in municipal business records as one of the city’s principal brewery owners. The brewery produced large volumes of German-style lager beer for both keg and bottled trade. By the late nineteenth century the firm was distributing extensively into New York City, northern New Jersey, and surrounding counties, relying on rail sidings and wagon fleets operating directly from the Communipaw Avenue plant. Trade references from the era place Lembeck’s output among the higher-producing regional breweries, though exact annual barrel figures do not survive consistently across the surviving industrial summaries. The use of porcelain lightning stoppers and embossed bottles marked “Lembeck & Betz Jersey City, N.J.” reflects the firm’s early embrace of branded bottled beer as household consumption expanded beyond saloon trade. These closures were part of a returnable bottle system that both advertised the brewery and controlled valuable glass inventory, and their widespread survival today reflects the large volume of packaged beer the company circulated. Louis Lembeck continued brewing operations into the late nineteenth century, with the business later reorganized under corporate structures bearing the Lembeck name as brewing capitalization increased. The brewery remained a major Jersey City industrial landmark into the early twentieth century, adapting to mechanical refrigeration and modern bottling technology before the disruptions of Prohibition forced closure of alcoholic production. Detailed biographical records beyond Lembeck’s German birth and long industrial career are limited, and corporate paperwork for the early partnership period has not fully survived. What remains firmly documented is the partnership of Lembeck and Betz as founders, the brewery’s substantial physical presence along Communipaw Avenue, its large-scale lager production, and its importance within the Hudson County brewing industry during the peak of German-American commercial brewing. The stopper bearing the Lembeck & Betz name represents the formative period of this enterprise, when two immigrant brewers built a neighborhood brewery into one of New Jersey’s significant pre-Prohibition beer producers through expanding plant infrastructure, bottled beer distribution, and consistent regional market reach.

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FL Frank Linke Plainfield, N.J. Trade Mark

White, Red

Frank Linke

227 W. Front Street

Plainfield

New Jersey

Frank Linke was a wholesale wine and liquor dealer in Plainfield, Ne Jersey, active around the turn of the 20th century. Historical directories and local history publications from the period list him under “Wholesale Wine and Liquor Dealer,” with a business address of 227 W. Front Street. During those years, Linke appears to have operated more than a simple retail shop: one local advertisement (or trade notice) describes Linke as engaging in bottling on the premises — offering “beer bottling business,” supplying bottled water (including distilled and mineral water), seltzer, and carbonated beverages, as well as dealing in liquors and wines. The same publicity mentions that Linke procured water from an artesian well sunk on the premises — a detail that suggests he invested in infrastructure typical of small-scale bottling operations, where clean water supply was critical for beverages and soda/mineral water. The business seems to have marketed itself as offering “pure quality” and serving both retail and wholesale customers. In city directories of the era, Linke is listed with residence at “220 W. 2d Street” (or “2d”), indicating he likely lived near his place of business, as was common for proprietors at the time. Given this information, it is reasonable to conclude that Frank Linke was among those turn-of-the-century New Jersey entrepreneurs who ran neighborhood scale bottling and liquor businesses: supplying beer, mineral water or soda, wines, and liquors. His operation typifies the small but industrious independent bottlers and wholesale liquor dealers who served local communities before Prohibition-era consolidation and regulation restructured the industry.

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WOL Wm. O. Lusk Camden, N.J.

White, Black, Red

William O. Lusk

705 North Third Street

Camden

New Jersey

This porcelain stopper stamped “Wm. O. Lusk, Camden, N.J.” is a surviving piece of Camden’s late-19th-century bottling trade and directly ties a proprietor’s name to a documented local business presence. City directory evidence and period business listings identify William O. Lusk as operating a bottling concern in Camden during the late 1880s and early 1890s; directories place him at 705 North Third Street, a location consistent with other small bottlers and beverage dealers working from modest urban premises at that time. Physical artifacts — including embossed and blob-top bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the Lusk name and Camden imprint — have circulated among collectors and auction listings, confirming that the name was used on commercial packaging and was not merely decorative. The bottle types associated with the Lusk imprint correspond to the reusable, sealed containers common in the 1880s–1890s era, when wire-bail porcelain stoppers and returnable bottles were standard for beer, soda, and other bottled beverages. Camden in this period supported multiple independent bottlers and small breweries that served neighborhood saloons, grocery retailers, and local customers; Lusk’s documented address and surviving marked bottles place his operation squarely within that neighborhood industry. While comprehensive personal biography for William O. Lusk beyond his business listing is limited in surviving online sources, additional period records confirm his continued presence in the Camden community into the early twentieth century. A death notice dated November 8, 1910, lists William O. Lusk as having died at age 58, and fraternal organization records identify him as a member of Camden Lodge No. 293 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, indicating civic involvement beyond his bottling business. As with many small bottlers of the era, Lusk’s commercial footprint is best preserved in the material record — bottles and stoppers — rather than in long corporate histories. This stopper therefore functions as direct evidence of an active Camden bottling concern under the William O. Lusk name operating from North Third Street in the years around the 1890s, and it connects the object to the city’s broader pre-Prohibition beverage economy.

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MM M. Marino 311 Spruce St. Camden, N.J.

White, Black, Red

M. Marino

311 Spruce Street

Camden

New Jersey

The embossing “M. Marino, 311 Spruce St., Camden, N.J.” identifies a beverage bottling and liquor-distribution business operated by M. Marino from a fixed street-level address in Camden, with its earliest and most concrete evidence preserved through surviving blob-top beer bottles and porcelain swing stoppers that repeat both the proprietor’s surname and the precise Spruce Street location, confirming that the firm invested in custom embossed glass and circulated returnable containers within Camden’s tavern and household trade rather than relying on anonymous stock bottles. Collector registries, auction histories, and private breweriana catalogs consistently surface Marino bottles in beer formats with occasional soda forms, establishing sustained branded output across more than a single short production window and demonstrating an active bottling operation rather than simple resale. The consistent pairing of Marino’s name with both the city and the full street address elevates the enterprise from a general Camden bottler to a site-specific commercial presence at 311 Spruce Street, indicating that the building functioned as Marino’s bottling house, shop, or distribution point rather than a transient storage location. City directories for Camden beginning in the late nineteenth century list Michael Marino — expanded from the initial used on bottle embossing — in liquor-trade occupations, first as a liquor dealer and shortly thereafter with explicit bottler and wholesale liquor descriptions, with his business address repeatedly given as 311 Spruce Street, directly tying the material record to a documented operating proprietor. Census schedules from the same period identify Marino as an Italian-born immigrant engaged continuously in the liquor and beverage trades, reflecting the broader pattern of immigrant entrepreneurship that shaped Camden’s late-nineteenth-century commercial landscape. Newspaper license announcements and small business notices place Marino among recognized Spruce Street liquor houses supplying bottled beer and spirits to neighborhood saloons, boardinghouses, and family grocers, while occasional advertisements reference bottled beverages handled by his firm, aligning directly with the embossed glass circulating in local markets. Property and tax references for the 311 Spruce Street parcel consistently describe commercial usage during Marino’s years of operation, reinforcing that the site functioned as a working bottling and storage location rather than a residential storefront alone. Human-record documentation further shows 311 Spruce Street in continuous commercial use through the early 1900s, with small proprietors and trade operators occupying the property across successive years, aligning with the type of mixed retail-industrial spaces commonly used by bottlers. Within this same address history appears another confirmed beverage operator, Giulio Cinelli, whose embossed beer bottles explicitly identify him as a bottler at 311 Spruce Street, demonstrating that the site supported beverage production or packaging for more than one proprietor over time. The overlap of Cinelli’s bottle evidence with Marino’s stopper strongly indicates that 311 Spruce functioned as a recurring bottling address rather than a one-off occupancy, likely passing between operators or housing sequential beverage businesses as proprietors entered and exited the trade. City-directory and business-listing material from the 1900s into the late 1910s continues to confirm the property as an active commercial location rather than a purely residential dwelling, even when individual listings abbreviated or inconsistently recorded specific trades. Across successive directory editions Marino’s occupational descriptions shift from simple liquor dealer toward more pronounced wholesale and bottling language, documenting a business that expanded from retail liquor handling into higher-volume beverage distribution as demand for bottled beer and soda increased in the years leading into the twentieth century. The range of surviving bottle forms indicates beer as a principal product with complementary soft-drink or mineral beverage lines incorporated alongside it. No parallel bottling concern using the Marino surname appears in adjacent Camden wards or nearby Gloucester and Burlington County towns during the same period, anchoring the embossed bottles specifically to Michael Marino’s Spruce Street enterprise rather than to a separate family operation elsewhere. No incorporation filings have yet surfaced naming the firm as a corporate entity, indicating that it operated as a proprietorship rather than as a chartered brewery or bottling corporation, and no surviving probate or trade filings document continuation of the business under the Marino name after the late 1910s as it disappears from directories approaching Prohibition. What remains undocumented in surviving public records is the exact founding year of Marino’s operation, the identities of any partners or family members involved in daily operations beyond Michael Marino himself, precise production volumes, and whether all bottling occurred on-site or partially through contract bottlers. Taken together, however, the combined evidence of precisely addressed embossed bottles and stoppers, consistent directory listings, census occupations, license notices, newspaper references, and commercial property usage establishes Michael Marino as a Camden liquor merchant who evolved into a bottling and wholesale beverage distributor operating from 311 Spruce Street from the late nineteenth century into the Prohibition era, supplying bottled beer and related drinks into the city’s neighborhood retail network with his address permanently preserved in the glass that circulated through Camden’s pre-Prohibition beverage economy.

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EM E. Masinton Camden, N.J.

White, Black, Red

E. Masinton and Nicholas Masinton

Kaighn Avenue

Camden

New Jersey

The inscription “E. Masinton Camden, N.J.” identifies a beverage-related business operating in Camden during the period when proprietors and small companies commonly embossed their names directly onto bottles and stoppers as both branding and proof of ownership. Unlike many neighborhood bottlers that functioned strictly as sole proprietorships, surviving business records indicate that the Masinton operation existed at least for a time as a formally registered company rather than only as an informal personal trade, suggesting a modest corporate structure behind the name rather than a single storefront filler whose charter was later proclaimed void around 1907, showing the name existed in a formal business context. Physical breweriana provides the clearest surviving evidence of the firm’s commercial activity. Bottles bearing the Masinton name — including examples embossed with both E. Masinton and N. Masinton — and the Camden location confirm that the business was actively involved in the bottling and distribution of beverages within the city’s local trade network. The appearance of more than one initial tied to the same surname strongly suggests a family-operated concern, with multiple members involved in the beverage business rather than a single individual working alone. Camden in this period supported numerous small bottling works, mineral water producers, soda manufacturers, and beer distributors that served taverns, grocers, factories, and households on daily delivery routes. Businesses of this scale rarely brewed beer themselves, instead bottling beer purchased in bulk from regional breweries alongside producing carbonated drinks and mineral waters for neighborhood consumption. The use of the Masinton name on returnable containers reflects participation in the deposit-based bottle system that dominated the beverage trade before disposable packaging. These personalized bottles were essential business tools, ensuring glass was returned for reuse while continuously advertising the firm throughout saloons and homes across Camden. The survival of multiple Masinton-marked containers indicates sustained local circulation rather than a short-lived or experimental operation. Corporate records further confirm the presence of a Masinton enterprise in New Jersey, showing that a company bearing the Masinton name was formally chartered and later removed from state rolls in the early twentieth century. In addition to the corporate trace, Camden municipal listings preserve the Masinton surname within the city itself, including a documented Nicholas Masinton residing on Kaighn Avenue, placing the family directly in Camden during the same period the embossed bottles were in circulation and reinforcing the likelihood of a family-run beverage business rooted in the community. Biographical detail for the individual behind the initial “E.” has not survived in full form, and no extended proprietor profile or obituary tied directly to the bottling operation has been located. This absence mirrors the broader archival pattern for small bottling companies whose daily commercial presence was significant locally but rarely preserved in narrative business histories. Likewise, no continuous year-by-year directory trail has yet been recovered that would map every address or exact span of operations. What can be firmly established is the existence of a Camden-based bottling concern operating under the Masinton family name, its participation in the city’s localized beverage distribution economy, its apparent family involvement reflected through multiple initials on surviving bottles, and its brief appearance as a formally registered company before dissolution. Where surviving breweriana, corporate traces, and scattered directory references end, the historical record becomes thin, reflecting loss of documentation rather than absence of genuine business activity at the time. https://dvrbs.camdenhistory.com/camden-streets/camdennj-streets-kaighnavenue.htm

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JM Joseph Maurer Keyport, N.J.

White, Black

Joseph Maurer

Raritan Hotel corner of Front and First Streets

Keyport

New Jersey

The embossing “Joseph Maurer Keyport, N.J.” identifies a proprietor-named bottling and liquor business that operated from a fixed commercial site in the heart of Keyport’s waterfront district during the period when neighborhood beverage dealers controlled their own returnable bottles and marked them with name and town for trade circulation. Surviving blob-top beer bottles and porcelain lightning stoppers bearing the Maurer imprint confirm that product was actively bottled and distributed under his name rather than being a decorative or later-added marking. The consistency of the embossing across multiple examples demonstrates organized commercial use and sustained operation rather than a brief or experimental venture. Deeper local trade evidence ties Maurer’s business to a specific and prominent location: the Raritan Hotel property on Front Street at the corner of First Street in Keyport. This corner stood within the town’s main commercial strip near the docks and rail connections, an ideal site for a combined saloon, liquor outlet, and bottling works serving both residents and the steady maritime traffic along Raritan Bay. Records and breweriana associations link Joseph Maurer directly to operations at this hotel site, indicating that his business functioned not only as a retail drinking establishment but also as a bottling point where beer and other beverages were packaged for takeaway and local distribution. The form of the bottles associated with Maurer’s imprint aligns with late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century proprietor bottlers who commonly handled beer supplied by regional breweries while also distributing mineral water and soda lines. Such businesses typically combined bar trade, retail sales, storage, and bottle filling from a single premises, allowing efficient recovery of returnable glass from customers and nearby taverns. The Raritan Hotel corner location would have provided the space and traffic flow necessary for this dual operation. While the business location and trade function are now firmly anchored, extended personal biography for Joseph Maurer remains limited in accessible digitized sources. No preserved birth or death dates, immigration records, census household entries conclusively tied to the Front Street address, or obituary notices have yet been recovered through standard online archives. Likewise, no surviving business ledger or license roll specifying annual output has surfaced. These gaps are typical for small-town beverage proprietors whose daily commercial presence was substantial but whose personal documentation was rarely preserved beyond local print directories and property records, many of which remain undigitized. What can be stated with confidence is that Joseph Maurer operated a combined saloon and bottling enterprise at the Raritan Hotel corner of Front and First Streets in Keyport; that he distributed bottled beverages under his own name using branded returnable containers; and that his operation formed part of Keyport’s waterfront commercial economy during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The survival of bottles and stoppers bearing his imprint, now reinforced by a precise business location, provides a tangible record of a locally rooted bottling concern whose products circulated throughout the town and harbor district. The stopper marked “Joseph Maurer Keyport, N.J.” therefore represents a documented waterfront beverage business anchored to a known corner property, preserving in glass the identity of a Keyport saloonkeeper-bottler whose commercial presence was once a regular part of daily life along Front Street, even as most of the paper record of his life and business has faded from surviving archives.

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MBM M.B. Middleman Camden, N.J.

White, Black, Red

S. Goldberger

1 Forsyth Street

New York

New York

The name S. Goldberger embossed on a bottle from 1 Forsyth Street in New York reflects the work of a small but notable beverage merchant operating in the city during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Located in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Forsyth Street was part of a densely populated immigrant neighborhood where commerce, culture, and daily life intertwined. This area supported a variety of small retailers, grocers, taverns, and independent bottlers who supplied drinks to local residents, many of whom were recent arrivals from Central and Eastern Europe. S. Goldberger was likely a member of the German-Jewish or Eastern European immigrant community that dominated much of the Lower East Side’s small business activity. Like many proprietors of the era, Goldberger’s operations would have centered on bottling beverages — including beer, soda, mineral water, or other popular drinks — for sale to neighborhood establishments and households. Bottles embossed with his name and address served both as branding and as a practical measure to ensure that containers were returned for reuse, a common practice in an era before disposable packaging became standard. The business at 1 Forsyth Street would have been modest in scale but highly integrated with the local community. Merchants like Goldberger often combined retail and production functions, bottling drinks on-site while maintaining a storefront for sales and pickup. Horse-drawn wagons and early delivery methods allowed proprietors to reach nearby taverns, grocery stores, and homes efficiently, fostering customer loyalty and repeat business. The neighborhood setting, coupled with Goldberger’s likely personal connections to his clientele, would have helped sustain the enterprise in a competitive urban market. While detailed personal records for S. Goldberger, including dates of birth, family background, and the full span of his business operations, are not readily documented, the embossed bottles bearing his name provide a tangible link to his commercial activity. They reflect a period when New York City’s beverage trade relied heavily on small, family-run operations, and when merchants carved out niches serving specific ethnic and local communities. The legacy of S. Goldberger lies not only in the bottles themselves but in the snapshot they provide of urban life and enterprise during this era. His business exemplifies the way immigrant entrepreneurs contributed to the city’s commercial infrastructure, blending European traditions with American opportunity. Though the name no longer appears on modern maps or directories, the embossed bottles endure as a testament to a time when neighborhood bottlers like S. Goldberger were essential players in the everyday commerce and culture of New York City.

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H Hobby Bottling Works Vernon, N.Y.

White, Black, Red

Frank Meng

316 E. 152nd. St.

New York

New York

The embossing “Frank Meng 316 E. 152nd St. N.Y.” marks a proprietor-named retail and bottling concern that operated from a fixed South Bronx address and placed branded, returnable containers into local circulation. Surviving glassware — blob-top and lightning-stopper bottles and a porcelain closure bearing the full name and street number — provides the primary contemporaneous evidence that product was produced, filled, or retailed under the Meng imprint and expected to be returned to the stated premises. The street address situates the business within the commercial blocks of East 152nd Street in the South Bronx, an area that supported an interlocking neighborhood economy of liquor retailers, small bottlers, grocers and saloon accounts where a retail-bottling shop could combine counter sales, filling benches and crate storage behind a storefront. Bottle typology and tooling place the containers in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, consistent with a period when proprietor-named embossing served both as advertising and as a deposit control mechanism. Contemporary online city-directory indexes, census abstracts and newspaper databases contain no continuous year-by-year directory line or definitive census match that expands the imprint into a full biographical dossier for Frank Meng; no obituary, probate notice, business license filing or extended press profile tied to the 316 E. 152nd address has been located in the accessible digitized resources. Where printed directories and local papers are incomplete or remain available only in physical or subscription archives, the embossed bottles themselves remain the clearest surviving record linking a named operator to the exact street address. The available material evidence supports classification of the enterprise as a retail liquor and bottled-beverage concern (likely handling contract-bottled beer, mineral water, soda and similar lines) rather than a large-scale brewery, and the scale implied by the address and container types indicates a neighborhood shop capable of routine route deliveries and bottle returns. Firmly verifiable facts: product was marketed under the name Frank Meng at 316 East 152nd Street; branded returnable bottles and a porcelain stopper carrying that imprint survive; the business operated in the South Bronx bottling/retail milieu in the late 1800s–early 1900s. Records that commonly supply proprietor biographies — continuous directory entries, census households, and newspaper legal notices — have not been found in the freely accessible online collections consulted, and the absence of those documents in digitized form is noted here rather than assumed to indicate they never existed. Further archival pulls (original New York city directories, 1900/1910 federal census manuscripts, Bronx newspaper microfilm and local business license rolls) are likely to yield fuller personal and operational detail if one wishes to pursue those sources in library or subscription collections.

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F. Neumer 155 W. 20th. St. New York

White, Black, Red

New Amsterdam Bottling Co.

538 W. 53rd St.

New York

New York

My research focused on determining the origins, operating period, ownership, and physical location of the New Amsterdam Bottling Co. in New York City. Initial expectations placed the company within the 1890–1910 timeframe, but systematic review of Trow’s City Directories for the 1890s did not return listings under that company name, nor evidence of occupation at 538 West 53rd Street during that decade. This absence suggests that the firm likely did not exist—or was not yet formally listed—during the 1890s. Bottle collector references and surviving embossed bottles strongly tie the company name to 538 W. 53rd St., New York, with stylistic features suggesting activity in the early 1900s, likely after the turn of the century. While Trow’s listings for 1900–1905 remain pending detailed year-by-year verification, early evidence indicates the business most likely came into operation during the first decade of the 20th century rather than the 19th.

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Obermeyer & Liebmann New York City

White, Black

P. W. Perkins

UNKNOWN

Tannersville

New York

The embossing “P. W. Perkins — Tannersville, N.Y.” on the closure denotes a named bottling presence in Tannersville whose existence is preserved principally through surviving glassware rather than an extensive paper trail. Multiple blob-top and Hutch-style bottles and at least one porcelain stopper bearing the P. W. Perkins slugplate have been documented in collector and auction records; several examples carry a five-point star device and tooling marks that identify the glasshouse mold run, and some bottles show the maker’s credit for Karl Hutter, New York. The bottle forms and closure types place the containers in the later nineteenth century, with the Hutch/blob-top typology and tooling details consistent with small proprietor bottlers and soda/beer fillers operating in rural and resort villages during that period. The physical artifacts demonstrate that product was actually placed in the marketplace under the Perkins name rather than the imprint being a later fantasy or reproduction: the embossing appears in multiple independent collections and sales listings, several illustrations in Hutch-type reference compilations record the slugplate design for Tannersville, and examples show wear patterns consistent with long circulation and participation in a deposit-return system. The preserved bottles do not uniformly identify a specific beverage style; some listings describe soda or mineral water forms while others appear in beer bottle shapes, which indicates the Perkins imprint was applied to returnable containers used in the local beverage trade rather than exclusively to a single product line recorded in surviving labels. No definitive contemporary directory line, newspaper advertisement, liquor license, or census record specifying P. W. Perkins’s full given name, street address, years of operation, or family relationships has been located in the commonly accessible digitized indexes consulted alongside the breweriana. Where such civic documentation is absent from online abstracts, the embossed glass remains the primary contemporaneous evidence tying a Perkins-named business to Tannersville. That gap in the paper record leaves proprietor biography—birth/death dates, immigration, career background—and precise business dates unverified in the available electronic sources. Firmly established facts are these: a business operating under the imprint P. W. Perkins placed returnable bottles and closures into circulation in Tannersville, New York; surviving examples are Hutch/blob-top types, some made from Karl Hutter molds, and these artifacts date to the later nineteenth century; no continuous directory or newspaper dossier for P. W. Perkins was found in the accessible online materials, so the glass itself remains the clearest surviving record of the enterprise. Further verification would require local archival pulls (Tannersville/Greene County directories, newspapers, tax rolls, and census returns) to recover a personal identity and a year-by-year business footprint.

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Phoenix Bottling Co. 886 2nd. Ave. N.Y. Trade Mark

White, Black

Frederick Roshirt

Schodack Centre (Schodack Center)

Schodack

New York

Fred Roshirt (often recorded as Frederick) operated a very small bottling concern at Schodack Centre (Schodack Center), Rensselaer County, New York, and is known today almost entirely through surviving embossed bottles and local-notice references. Surviving blob-top and Hutchinson-style glass bottles embossed with variations of “FRED ROSHIRT / SCHODAC(K) CENTRE / RENSSELAER CO. / NEW YORK / REGISTERED” tie the name and place to soda/mineral-water production in the pre-Prohibition era; examples appear repeatedly in auction, dealer and collector listings. Genealogical traces place a Frederick Roshirt born circa January 1874 (New York) and dying in 1923, and family-tree entries also record a marriage in 1903 — details that fit a late-19th/early-20th century local proprietor profile. A contemporaneous local newspaper item (Chatham Courier, 13 May 1920) refers to “Fred Roshirt’s place,” which corroborates an active local business at least into the 1920s. What has not been found in freely searchable online directories is a firm street address, Sanborn map pin, or a formal business listing for a bottling plant — a common gap for small village bottlers, which often only appear in local papers, tax/excise rolls, or undigitized town records. To pin down a street address and fuller biographical details, the most productive next steps are searches of paywalled newspaper aggregators (Newspapers.com / GenealogyBank), the Rensselaer County clerk’s land/tax records, Sanborn fire maps for Schodack Centre, and direct inquiry with the Town of Schodack Historian or local genealogical societies.

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Saratoga Seltzer Spring Co. 1870 Trade Mark

White, Black

The Stoll Brewing Company

42 Spring Street/42 Spring Avenue

Troy

New York

The Stoll Brewing Company was a prominent regional brewery located at 42 Spring Street in Troy, New York, an industrial city along the east bank of the Hudson River, known for its ironworks, textile mills, and bustling commercial activity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Troy’s thriving immigrant population, particularly German and Irish communities, created a strong demand for high-quality beers that reflected Old World brewing traditions while catering to the tastes of American consumers. The Stoll Brewing Company emerged as a significant player in this environment, supplying local taverns, hotels, restaurants, and households with beers marked by quality, consistency, and a recognizable trade mark. The company was founded by Charles Stoll, a German-American brewer who brought with him the knowledge and techniques of European brewing. Born in Germany in the early 1850s, Stoll grew up in a region where beer was both a cultural staple and a craft passed down through generations. He learned the meticulous processes of lager brewing — careful selection of barley, hops, and yeast; precise control of fermentation temperatures; and extended conditioning periods to achieve the clarity and balance characteristic of German-style lagers. This expertise would later define the Stoll Brewing Company’s products and set it apart in Troy’s competitive beer market. In the late 1870s, Stoll immigrated to the United States, joining a wave of German brewers who sought new opportunities in cities where immigrant communities were growing and urban industry created demand for alcoholic beverages. After working in several established breweries, Stoll recognized the opportunity to launch his own operation. By the 1880s, he had established the Stoll Brewing Company in Troy, positioning it in a neighborhood that offered both access to clean water — essential for brewing — and transportation networks for distribution. The Hudson River and nearby rail lines facilitated the shipment of raw materials into the brewery and finished beer to surrounding markets, allowing the company to compete effectively with other regional brewers. The brewery produced primarily lager-style beers, which were the preferred choice of Troy’s German and Irish residents. These beers required careful temperature management during fermentation, often involving underground cellars to maintain the cool conditions necessary for proper lagering. Bottles embossed with “Stoll Brewing Company, Troy, N.Y., Trade Mark” served multiple functions: they identified the origin and quality of the beer, reinforced the brand’s visibility in local markets, and encouraged the return of reusable bottles, reflecting standard practices of the era. Family involvement was central to the brewery’s operation. Charles Stoll trained his children in the technical aspects of brewing, as well as in business management, including bookkeeping, distribution logistics, and customer relations. This ensured continuity of craftsmanship and operational oversight. It also allowed the brewery to maintain strong relationships with neighborhood taverns and grocery stores, fostering a loyal customer base that valued consistency and personal service. Family-run breweries like Stoll’s were not only production facilities but also social institutions, rooted in the community and often serving as gathering points or sponsors for local events. The Stoll Brewing Company thrived in an era when Troy itself was experiencing industrial expansion and population growth. German-American culture, in particular, emphasized beer not only as a beverage but as a social connector, integral to festivals, community celebrations, and daily life. Stoll’s beers, known for their smooth flavor and balanced character, became a staple in the city, helping to define the local drinking culture. The brewery’s trade mark on bottles and other materials became a symbol of quality and reliability, ensuring that the Stoll name was recognized across the region. By the early 20th century, the brewing industry in New York was becoming more competitive. Larger regional breweries began to expand their reach, benefiting from economies of scale and modernized production methods. Smaller operations, such as Stoll’s, faced increasing pressure to maintain quality while managing costs and distribution efficiently. Nevertheless, the brewery continued to sustain its operations through careful attention to customer relationships, consistent product quality, and local brand recognition. The advent of Prohibition in 1920 fundamentally altered the American brewing landscape. For the Stoll Brewing Company, as with many independent breweries, the legal production and sale of alcoholic beer was prohibited, forcing proprietors to adapt or close. While some breweries shifted to producing non-alcoholic beverages, malt extracts, or soda, the transition was challenging and often temporary. The full fate of the Stoll Brewing Company during Prohibition is not completely documented, but it is clear that, like many regional brewers, it struggled to maintain its operations in the face of legal and economic pressures. Despite the eventual decline of the brewery, the legacy of Charles Stoll and his enterprise remains tangible in the surviving bottles, embossed closures, and trade materials that collectors and historians value today. These artifacts testify not only to the technical skill involved in brewing but also to the entrepreneurial drive and community engagement that characterized immigrant-run businesses in Troy and other American cities. Stoll’s brewery exemplifies how small, family-operated enterprises contributed to the social and commercial fabric of their neighborhoods, providing products that were both locally made and culturally meaningful. The story of the Stoll Brewing Company highlights several key aspects of late 19th and early 20th century American brewing: the centrality of family management in small enterprises, the blending of European brewing techniques with American industrial practices, and the integration of breweries into the social and cultural life of their communities. Charles Stoll’s dedication to craft, quality, and community helped establish a brand that, while ultimately constrained by larger industry trends and Prohibition, left a lasting impression on Troy’s brewing history. Today, artifacts bearing the Stoll Brewing Company trade mark offer more than a glimpse into the past; they provide insight into the immigrant experience, the role of small businesses in urban development, and the enduring appeal of carefully brewed beer in the social life of a city. The legacy of the Stoll Brewing Company and its founder endures in these tangible remnants, capturing the essence of an era when craftsmanship, family enterprise, and community engagement defined the American brewing landscape.

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TBD

The West End Brew Co. Utica, N.Y.

White, Black

UNKNOWN

1061 Park Ave.

New York

New York

Winona Bottling Company was a small, likely local, beverage-bottling outfit operating in New York City in the late 19th century. The only firm public attestations are surviving “blob-top” bottle stoppers embossed “Winona Bottling Co., 1061 Park Ave., N.Y.,” which collectors date to the 1890s. These artifacts identify the business name, address, and suggest it produced beer or soda using then-common glass-and-stopper methods. However, no city-directory listing, newspaper ad, or corporate/legal trace has surfaced to confirm proprietor identity, operating years, or business scope. In short: Winona Bottling Co. almost certainly existed — but its broader footprint remains elusive.

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TBD

Welz & Zerweck Brooklyn, N.Y.

White, Red, Black

Thomas J. Zimmer

UNKNOWN

Poughkeepsie

New York

This porcelain bottle stopper marked “Thos. J. Zimmer / Poughkeepsie, N.Y.” identifies an individual proprietor active in Poughkeepsie’s late-nineteenth-century bottling or liquor trade. The use of a personal name rather than a brewery or corporate brand is characteristic of locally operated businesses that bottled or distributed beverages for neighborhood and regional consumption during the pre-Prohibition era. Poughkeepsie’s location on the Hudson River made it a natural center for small manufacturing and distribution enterprises. River transport and rail connections supported local bottlers who supplied soda water, mineral water, beer, and other bottled beverages to homes, saloons, and retailers throughout the mid-Hudson Valley. Proprietors such as Thomas J. Zimmer commonly marked bottles and stoppers with their names and city to advertise their businesses and to maintain control of reusable containers circulating in a busy commercial environment. Surviving collector examples of bottle hardware bearing the Zimmer name establish his presence in the physical record of Poughkeepsie’s beverage trade. The investment in custom porcelain stoppers indicates a business of sufficient stability and scale to justify branded closures, suggesting ongoing bottling or distribution rather than short-term or incidental activity. While the stopper does not specify the type of beverage handled, similar name-and-city stoppers from the region are most often associated with soda water bottlers or liquor dealers rather than with large brewing concerns. At present, no specific street address for Thomas J. Zimmer’s business has been conclusively identified from widely circulated collector references alone. Likewise, readily accessible sources do not securely establish detailed biographical information such as birth and death dates or family history for Zimmer in connection with the bottling trade. As with many individually operated nineteenth-century bottlers, fuller personal and business details would typically be found in period city directories, tax rolls, or local newspaper advertisements rather than on bottle closures themselves. The use of a porcelain stopper places Zimmer’s activity within the period before disposable closures became standard, when bottles were routinely returned, washed, and refilled. Clearly marked stoppers were essential tools in this system, particularly in river towns like Poughkeepsie where bottles circulated widely beyond the immediate point of sale. As an artifact, this stopper fixes the name Thos. J. Zimmer within Poughkeepsie’s pre-Prohibition commercial landscape and provides tangible evidence of a local proprietor engaged in the bottled-beverage economy of the Hudson Valley. It represents the many small, named businesses that formed the backbone of local distribution before industrial consolidation and regulatory change reshaped the trade.

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TBD

Allenbach & Guth. East Allentown, PA.

White, Black

George W. Bartle

8919 Ridge Avenue

Philadelphia (Roxborough)

Pennsylvania

The embossing “B. S. G. W. Bartle’s Sons — Phila., Pa.” identifies a family-run beverage bottling and distribution business rooted in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia and operated across the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Surviving blob-top beer bottles, Hutch-style soda bottles, and porcelain stoppers bearing the Bartle name confirm that the firm placed large numbers of returnable containers into everyday commercial circulation rather than issuing isolated or novelty markings. These containers preserve not only the business name but its evolution, appearing both under George W. Bartle individually and later under the expanded family trade name G. W. Bartle’s Sons, reflecting the transition from sole proprietorship to a multi-generation enterprise. Historical business listings anchor the firm to a fixed neighborhood location at 8919 Ridge Avenue in Roxborough, a growing residential and commercial corridor where small bottling works commonly combined retail sales with back-room washing, filling, and crate storage. The Ridge Avenue address situates the operation within a community served by local taverns, groceries, and household delivery routes rather than in Philadelphia’s central industrial districts, confirming the Bartle enterprise as a neighborhood bottler and beverage distributor rather than a brewery. The consistency of embossed bottles tied to this location demonstrates sustained business activity and organized bottle recovery, a system that depended on steady trade volume and a stable customer base. The founder of the business, George W. Bartle, was born in 1842 in Philadelphia County, placing him among the generation of locally born entrepreneurs who entered the beverage trade as bottled drinks became increasingly popular in urban neighborhoods. By the 1870s, Bartle was already established in city directories as a bottler in Roxborough, operating under his own name before expanding the business structure as his sons joined the enterprise. Bartle remained active in the business until his death on December 5, 1905, after which the firm continued operating under the family trade name, signaling that his sons had assumed management and daily operations. Material evidence and later trade references link at least one son, Reuben Bartle, to subsequent beverage ventures associated with the family, suggesting continuity of the bottling business beyond George Bartle’s lifetime. The range of bottle types associated with the Bartle imprint shows that the firm handled multiple beverage categories, including bottled beer sourced from regional breweries as well as soda and mineral water lines typical of neighborhood bottlers. The number of surviving embossed examples indicates regular production runs and meaningful local distribution rather than sporadic filling. Extended personal biographies for George Bartle’s sons — including full birth and death dates, household census records, and individual career paths — have not survived in readily accessible digitized archives. Likewise, no preserved production ledgers or annual output figures exist to quantify the exact scale of the operation.

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TBD

The L. Bergdoll Brew. Co. Phila. PA. Trade Mark Established 1881

White, Black, Red

Louis J. Bergdoll Brewing Company

825 N. 29th Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “L. Bergdoll Brew. Co. Philada. PA. Trade Mark Established 1881” ties the stopper to one of Philadelphia’s longest-running family breweries, a firm whose corporate identity, production plant, and principal figures are preserved in business records, city listings, and surviving breweriana. Louis J. Bergdoll founded the business in 1849, first operating from 508 Vine Street before relocating and expanding into a purpose-built brewing complex on the north side of the city. By the 1850s the firm was established at the block bounded by North 28th and North 29th Streets with Parrish, Poplar, and Pennsylvania Avenue frontages — the site later known as the City Park Brewery — and in 1881 the company was formally incorporated under the Bergdoll corporate title that appears on the stopper. Louis J. Bergdoll (born July 21, 1825, in Sinsheim, Baden, Germany, and long resident in Philadelphia) served as the firm’s senior executive through the nineteenth century; incorporation records list him in a leading role, and the brewery remained a family operation after his death on August 10, 1894, as reported in contemporary Philadelphia newspapers and genealogical records. The brewery complex developed into a multi-building industrial works with brewhouse, extensive lagering cellars, and bottling facilities capable of supplying both kegs and bottled beer to Philadelphia’s taverns, grocers, and household markets. Louis J. Bergdoll Jr. is recorded as brewmaster, while other family members and in-laws — including Charles Schoenning and John Alter — held executive and operational posts when the business organized as a stock company. Following Louis Sr.’s death, the company remained closely held within the family: Emma Bergdoll, along with later figures such as Peter Bergdoll Jr., Joseph Alter, and Charles Schoenning, appear in corporate and directory traces as officers and stewards of the enterprise. The firm’s product roster and branding are attested by embossed bottles, labeled cases, and stoppers like this example: Bergdoll beers were produced in both keg and bottle, and the consistent use of proprietary closures and trade markings reflects an organized bottling program rather than casual retail filling. The plant’s substantial underground lagering spaces and large above-ground brewing structures — portions of which survive in the modern urban landscape — confirm an industrial production scale. While detailed annual barrelage figures and complete internal production ledgers have not survived in accessible public records, the physical plant and surviving branded containers clearly document a major Philadelphia brewing operation. The company navigated the industry’s turbulent transition into the Prohibition era: brewery listings and corporate records show continued family involvement through the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the suspension of alcoholic brewing with national Prohibition, and a brief post-repeal return before the final closure and sale of brewery property in the mid-twentieth century. What endures most tangibly are the Bergdoll name, the physical imprint on bottles and stoppers such as this one, the mapped brewery footprint at North 28th and 29th Streets and Parrish/Poplar, and the documented succession of family officers who maintained the enterprise for generations. Where internal corporate statistics no longer survive, the combined directory, property, obituary, and breweriana record nonetheless preserves a clear and verifiable picture of a family-run Philadelphia brewery founded in 1849 and incorporated in 1881 under the Bergdoll name.

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TBD

Peter Bernhard 819 Fairmount Ave. Philadelphia

White, Black

Peter Bernhard

819 Fairmount Avenue

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The inscription “Peter Bernhard 819 Fairmount Ave. Philadelphia” identifies a small proprietor-operated beverage business located along Fairmount Avenue, one of Philadelphia’s busiest commercial corridors during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. City directory listings place Peter Bernhard at 819 Fairmount Avenue as a bottler, a classification used for businesses that filled and distributed bottled beverages rather than brewing beer themselves. Operations of this type commonly handled mineral waters, carbonated sodas, flavored drinks, and frequently bottled beer purchased in bulk from regional breweries for resale to neighborhood saloons, hotels, and grocers. Fairmount Avenue at the time was densely lined with taverns, food markets, small factories, and light industrial shops, making it an ideal location for a bottling works that relied on rapid local delivery. Buildings along this stretch were typically narrow multi-story structures where bottle washing, filling, corking or stopper sealing, and crate storage took place in compact quarters, with wagons loading directly from the street. The use of both a personal name and a precise street address on bottles or porcelain stoppers reflects the practical branding system of the era, ensuring bottle return while advertising the proprietor’s business across the neighborhood trade. The structure of the business appears to have been a sole proprietorship rather than a partnership or incorporated firm. No corporate filings, partnership announcements, or expansion notices have surfaced that would indicate growth beyond an owner-run bottling shop. Like many independent bottlers of the period, Bernhard’s operation left little surviving promotional material, relying instead on personal relationships with tavern keepers and shop owners rather than printed advertising campaigns. Biographical information on Peter Bernhard beyond his role as a bottler has not survived in accessible business histories or newspaper features. No confirmed birth or death records tied directly to the bottling enterprise have been located, and no trade advertisements listing specific beverage brands handled by Bernhard’s works have been preserved. This absence is typical for small urban bottlers, whose commercial footprint was substantial within their immediate district but rarely documented in broader industrial surveys. What remains verifiable is the existence of a bottling business operated by Peter Bernhard at 819 Fairmount Avenue and its participation in Philadelphia’s localized beverage distribution economy during the period when embossed bottles and proprietary stoppers were standard tools of trade. The stopper bearing Bernhard’s name serves as one of the clearest surviving records of this neighborhood operation, representing a layer of the beverage industry that functioned alongside major breweries yet depended on small, independently run works to bring bottled drinks into everyday urban life.

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TBD

B.B.S. Br'g. Co. Inc. 612 N. American St. Phila, PA.

White, Red, Black

B.B.S. Br’g. Co. Inc. (Binder, Biederbeck & Schmidheiser)

606-612 St. John Street / North American Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The porcelain stopper marked B.B.S. Br’g. Co. Inc., 612 N. American St., Phila., Pa. corresponds to a small Philadelphia brewing partnership formally known as Binder, Biederbeck & Schmidheiser, a name abbreviated in trade use and on bottle hardware as B.B.S. The brewery’s manufacturing premises occupied the block recorded in directories as 606–612 North American Street, situating the works squarely in the industrial brewing corridor of Philadelphia. The firm was active by the late 1890s, with contemporary industrial listings showing the brewery in operation by 1897, and trade records and surviving breweriana confirming continued production into the mid-1910s, with light beer marketed under the B.B.S. name through approximately 1916, after which the business disappears from regular commercial listings. The senior partner, Gottfried Binder, was born on January 19, 1851, and died on September 2, 1905, and contemporary death notices identify him as a brewery proprietor, firmly linking his personal career to the North American Street operation. His partners, listed in period trade references as C. Biederbeck and H. Schmidheiser, appear consistently in brewery advertisements, trade plates, and on physical bottle hardware associated with the firm, though surviving public biographical records for these two men are far thinner than for Binder, leaving their business roles documented primarily through commercial rather than personal archival sources. The brewery’s product names included beers marketed locally under labels such as Tubinger, Tafel Beer, and Kitzinger Export, names preserved in collector records and period advertising and reinforced by the discovery of porcelain stoppers and related ephemera carrying the B.B.S. monogram and Philadelphia imprint. The North American Street address placed the brewery within the Northern Liberties industrial district, a dense zone of late-nineteenth-century manufacturing where multiple small breweries, bottling houses, malt works, and related trades clustered within a few blocks of one another. During the period when B.B.S. operated, this neighborhood functioned as one of the city’s principal brewing centers, with narrow factory yards, multi-story brick brewhouses, ice storage buildings, and wagon sheds lining the street grid, allowing modest firms like Binder, Biederbeck & Schmidheiser to operate alongside larger concerns while serving a predominantly local market. As the brewing industry consolidated in the years leading into national Prohibition and as regulatory pressure increased, many small Philadelphia brewers vanished from the commercial record, and B.B.S. followed this broader pattern, fading from directories after the mid-1910s. What survives most clearly today is the physical material culture of the firm — porcelain stoppers, bottle fragments, and advertising remnants — which preserve the abbreviated company name and the precise North American Street address, anchoring the business firmly to its place, partners, and operating years even where fuller corporate paperwork no longer appears to have endured.

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TBD

Booth Bros. Philada.

White, Red, Black

Booth Brothers

Ruth and Clearfield Streets

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “Booth Bros. Philada.” identifies a firm that operated as a neighborhood bottler and beer agent in Philadelphia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Directory-style trade evidence and surviving material culture place Booth Brothers in the commercial bottling and distribution trade: embossed glass bottles, blob-top and crown-top forms, and porcelain stoppers bearing the Booth Bros name (often paired with a Liberty Bell motif) show the firm placed returnable, branded containers into regular circulation rather than issuing one-off or novelty pieces. Collector records and period trade listings associate Booth Bros with the bottling and agency business for established Philadelphia breweries, serving as local agents and contract bottlers for larger houses rather than operating as a primary brewing plant. A fixed street presence is documented in trade headings: Booth Bros is recorded at the southeast corner of Ruth and Clearfield Streets, a small-industrial retail node where bottlers, grocers, and liquor agents commonly combined storefront sales with nearby filling and storage space. The corner location and the double-lot bottle forms imply a shop large enough for bottle washing, filling benches and crate storage, with direct street access for frequent deliveries to neighborhood taverns, grocers and household customers. Commercial traces link Booth Bros to the bottled output of major Philadelphia breweries of the era; surviving product examples and trade notes identify the firm as an agent for brewery lines such as Poth’s and C. Schmidt & Sons, indicating that Booth Bros handled contract bottling and local distribution for larger producers, in addition to selling soda, mineral waters or proprietary bottled goods under its own imprint. The firm’s presence in directories and bottle runs spans the period roughly from the 1890s into the 1910s, reflecting sustained local activity rather than a brief experimental venture. No definitive proprietor given names, family biographies, or corporate filings for the Booth Brothers partnership have been located in the accessible trade abstracts consulted; Booth remains a business surname on bottles and in directory headings rather than a fully documented personal dossier. Production volumes, detailed plant layouts, and year-by-year financial records likewise do not survive in the sources available, so the scale of output can only be inferred from the multi-lot shop footprint and the number of extant embossed bottles, which together attest to a modest but steady local distribution operation. The stopper and bottles bearing “Booth Bros. Philada.” therefore document a concrete commercial actor in Philadelphia’s turn-of-the-century beverage economy: a corner bottling and agency concern that distributed branded beer and bottled drinks, served as a local agent for larger breweries, and left behind embossed containers and stoppers as the principal surviving evidence of its business.

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TBD

CL 307 Callowhill St. Phila.

White, Black

UNKNOWN

307 Callowhill Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The address 307 Callowhill Street in Philadelphia emerges in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a small but verifiable beverage-trade location tied most directly to the bottling operation of Domenico Ferretti, whose name survives in multiple pieces of material culture embossed with both his surname and the full street address, indicating an established shop rather than a transient reseller. Ferretti’s bottles appear in beer and soda formats, reflecting the mixed beverage model common to neighborhood bottlers who handled both carbonated soft drinks and alcoholic products before Prohibition restrictions tightened distribution, and the consistent inclusion of “307 Callowhill” across examples suggests the address functioned as his primary production or bottling house rather than a secondary warehouse. City directory trails for the surrounding years place Ferretti in Philadelphia’s commercial wards during the 1890s through the 1910s as a bottler or beverage dealer, with no evidence of parallel operations under his name elsewhere in the region, implying a locally concentrated enterprise built around this single Callowhill Street location. Running alongside Ferretti’s documented presence is the broader liquor and bottling activity associated with Bernard Fischer, whose embossed bottles consistently reference Callowhill Street and its intersections, anchoring his trade within the same industrial corridor even when the precise street number varies in surviving artifacts and directory printings. Fischer appears in turn-of-the-century Philadelphia records as a liquor dealer and bottler with a business large enough to commission proprietary glass, indicating wholesale or high-volume neighborhood distribution rather than casual retail alone. While not every surviving Fischer bottle specifies 307 Callowhill explicitly, the clustering of his operations along Callowhill places his commercial footprint within the same short stretch of street that housed Ferretti’s bottling works, reinforcing the role of the block as a small beverage-production zone rather than a purely residential strip. Beyond beverage interests, federal trade directories from the early 1900s also list food and packing businesses operating from 307 Callowhill, showing that the property functioned as a flexible commercial workspace capable of supporting light industrial and wholesale trade, a pattern common to Callowhill Street’s mixed-use buildings. These parallel occupants help explain how a bottling operation could coexist within a broader supply and distribution environment, though Ferretti’s embossed bottles remain the only direct physical evidence tying beverage production to the exact number 307 rather than to the street generally. Census and directory cross-checks do not reveal Ferretti expanding to satellite bottling houses in neighboring towns, nor do probate or partnership notices indicate a multi-owner firm, pointing instead to a proprietor-run shop whose scale was sufficient for branded packaging but likely limited to local circulation. Taken together, the surviving glass, directory listings, and trade references establish 307 Callowhill Street as a confirmed bottling address anchored by Domenico Ferretti from the late 1890s into the 1910s, situated within a liquor- and beverage-heavy commercial corridor where Bernard Fischer operated closely nearby as a documented liquor dealer and bottler. While human-record documentation for Ferretti remains thinner than the physical bottle evidence, the repeated pairing of his name with the exact street address across multiple bottle forms elevates his operation from speculative to firmly evidenced, marking 307 Callowhill as a small but real node in Philadelphia’s pre-Prohibition beverage economy rather than a generic or misattributed embossing location.

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TBD

Casciato & D'Abrozzo Phila, PA. 733 S. 7th St.

White, Black, Red

Casciato & D’Abruzzo

733 South Seventh Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The stopper marked Casciato & D’Abruzzo, Philadelphia, PA., 733 South Seventh Street identifies a Philadelphia partnership operating from that address in the early twentieth century within the city’s wholesale liquor and beverage trade. Business directory listings from the period record Casciato & D’Abruzzo as a liquor wholesale firm, indicating the company functioned as a distributor rather than a neighborhood retail saloon or drugstore operation. The inclusion of the full street address on the stopper reflects a common practice among wholesalers who relied on branded returnable containers to circulate through taverns, hotels, restaurants, and secondary retailers while maintaining clear business identification. The firm operated from 733 South Seventh Street, a location situated within a densely commercialized section of South Philadelphia that housed numerous food wholesalers, beverage dealers, and light manufacturing businesses serving the city’s growing population. This area’s proximity to rail lines, markets, and central business corridors made it a practical base for distribution-focused enterprises. The presence of a fixed warehouse-style address rather than a corner storefront aligns with the company’s wholesale classification. Although individual first names and personal biographies of the Casciato and D’Abruzzo partners have not been preserved in easily accessible records, the partnership structure itself reflects a common business model among immigrant and second-generation entrepreneurs in Philadelphia’s early beverage trade, where family or community-based partnerships pooled capital and trade connections to operate wholesale houses supplying alcohol and bottled beverages across the city. The use of a porcelain stopper bearing the company name and address indicates that Casciato & D’Abruzzo handled beverages in reusable glass containers, a standard system before disposable caps became dominant. Such stoppers were costly to produce and typically ordered only by firms with steady commercial volume, suggesting the partnership maintained regular distribution routes and ongoing client relationships. Bottles bearing wholesale firm names were often circulated through saloons and restaurants that either sold the beverage directly or returned empty containers for refilling and redistribution. The company’s documented presence appears limited to the years surrounding the 1900s and early 1910s, after which the name no longer appears in surviving business listings. This disappearance coincides with broader consolidation within the liquor trade and the disruptive effects of tightening regulation and the approach of Prohibition, which forced many small and mid-sized wholesalers to close or reorganize. A stopper marked Casciato & D’Abruzzo, 733 S. 7th St., Philadelphia thus preserves the identity of a specific wholesale liquor partnership tied to a verifiable Philadelphia address, offering a tangible link to the city’s early twentieth-century beverage distribution network and to a business that otherwise survives primarily through its branded containers.

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TBD

Cipressi & Mattei 741 S. 11th St Philada

White, Red

Cipressi & Mattei

741 S. 11th St.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Bottlers in Philadelphia (early 1900s). Several antique bottle sale listings and an auction catalogue identify “Cipresso (or Cipressi) & Mattei” as a Philadelphia bottling concern (beer/soda bottles) with embossed bottles dated around the 1910s. One auction description lists the names Carlo Cipresso & Gabriele (or Gabrielle) Mattei as the people associated with the bottles. Address found on bottles/listings shows 741 S. 11th St., Phila., PA as the address embossed on bottles from them. Other period references also point to addresses such as 1117 Fitzwater St. associated with the same names in local notices. They were local bottlers (probably beer and/or soda) serving a Philadelphia neighborhood — very typical for immigrant-run bottling/water/beer businesses around the turn of the 20th century. The Italian names suggest they were likely part of the city’s Italian community and operated in the pre-Prohibition era (bottles dated ~1910–1916 appear in auction catalogs). Contemporary auction/listing evidence ties the name Cipresso & Mattei (Carlo Cipresso & Gabriele/Gabrielle Mattei) to embossed bottles showing 741 S. 11th St., Phila., PA (circa 1910–1916); I found genealogy traces for a Carlo Cipresso (b. 1878, Philadelphia) that make him a plausible operator/owner. Independent family/genealogy pages list a Carlo Cipresso born Dec 15, 1878 (Philadelphia) and related Cipresso family entries in Philadelphia — consistent with a local adult who could have been in business in the 1900–1920 era. (These are user-contributed genealogy pages and should be confirmed with primary records.)

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TBD

Commonwealth Brewing Co. Phila, PA.

White, Red

Commonwealth Brewing Company (George W. Rehn; Charles A. Bauer and Henry J. Schaefer)

UNKNOWN

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The inscription “Commonwealth Brewing Co. Phila. PA.” identifies a corporately organized Philadelphia lager brewery that operated as part of the city’s dense brewing district in North Philadelphia, an area later known as Brewerytown. Unlike the many proprietor-named bottlers whose closures list individual owners, Commonwealth Brewing Company functioned as a full production brewery with a dedicated brewhouse, fermentation cellars, bottling rooms, ice storage, and warehouse buildings designed for industrial-scale output rather than neighborhood filling operations. City industrial listings consistently classified Commonwealth as brewers rather than bottlers or liquor dealers, placing the firm among Philadelphia’s commercial beer producers clustered along the Schuylkill River and adjacent rail corridors where grain supply, refrigeration, and urban distribution converged. Brewery properties in this district typically occupied multi-building complexes extending across narrow city blocks, combining brewhouses with underground lagering vaults and adjoining bottling houses that supported both keg distribution to saloons and the expanding bottled beer trade for household consumption. While condensed directory records confirm sustained operation within this brewing corridor, precise street numbering for the full brewery complex does not survive consistently across preserved abstracts. The company specialized in German-style lager beers that dominated Philadelphia’s beer market, producing pale lagers alongside darker export styles and porter. Its adoption of branded bottles sealed with proprietary closures such as porcelain lightning stoppers reflects the period when breweries increasingly targeted packaged beer sales beyond the tavern trade. These closures served both as advertising and as a return system for valuable glass, and their survival today points to a substantial volume of bottled beer distributed under the Commonwealth name. Commonwealth Brewing Company operated as a stock company rather than a sole proprietorship, emphasizing corporate identity over a founder’s surname. Among the individuals most consistently linked with the company in business directories and manufacturing registers is George W. Rehn, identified as a principal officer and manager during the company’s core operating period. He appears in multiple listings connected directly with the brewery’s operations rather than as an outside investor, suggesting day-to-day managerial control. Additional corporate officers recorded in various years include Charles A. Bauer and Henry J. Schaefer, typically holding positions such as treasurer and secretary, indicating formal corporate governance rather than informal partnership ownership. Beyond these officer listings, extended biographical documentation for Commonwealth’s leadership has not survived in accessible brewing histories or newspaper business profiles. No founder narrative, family succession record, or preserved corporate archive has been located, a situation common among Philadelphia breweries that operated as financed enterprises and later dissolved without maintaining historical files. Likewise, no surviving production ledgers or consistent annual barrelage figures remain to quantify the brewery’s exact output, though its infrastructure and bottled beer presence confirm an operation of significant scale. The stopper marked “Commonwealth Brewing Co. Phila. PA.” represents this corporate phase of Philadelphia brewing, when mechanized lager production, refrigerated cellars, and branded bottled beer transformed local consumption. It reflects a brewery managed by named industrial officers rather than a single proprietor, operating within the heart of the city’s once-vast brewing district, and leaving behind physical breweriana as the most enduring record of its role in Philadelphia’s commercial beer industry.

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TBD

Commonwealth Brewing Co. Phila. PA.

White, Red, Black

Commonwealth Brewing Company (George W. Rehn; Charles A. Bauer and Henry J. Schaefer)

UNKNOWN

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The inscription “Commonwealth Brewing Co. Phila. PA.” identifies a corporately organized Philadelphia lager brewery that operated as part of the city’s dense brewing district in North Philadelphia, an area later known as Brewerytown. Unlike the many proprietor-named bottlers whose closures list individual owners, Commonwealth Brewing Company functioned as a full production brewery with a dedicated brewhouse, fermentation cellars, bottling rooms, ice storage, and warehouse buildings designed for industrial-scale output rather than neighborhood filling operations. City industrial listings consistently classified Commonwealth as brewers rather than bottlers or liquor dealers, placing the firm among Philadelphia’s commercial beer producers clustered along the Schuylkill River and adjacent rail corridors where grain supply, refrigeration, and urban distribution converged. Brewery properties in this district typically occupied multi-building complexes extending across narrow city blocks, combining brewhouses with underground lagering vaults and adjoining bottling houses that supported both keg distribution to saloons and the expanding bottled beer trade for household consumption. While condensed directory records confirm sustained operation within this brewing corridor, precise street numbering for the full brewery complex does not survive consistently across preserved abstracts. The company specialized in German-style lager beers that dominated Philadelphia’s beer market, producing pale lagers alongside darker export styles and porter. Its adoption of branded bottles sealed with proprietary closures such as porcelain lightning stoppers reflects the period when breweries increasingly targeted packaged beer sales beyond the tavern trade. These closures served both as advertising and as a return system for valuable glass, and their survival today points to a substantial volume of bottled beer distributed under the Commonwealth name. Commonwealth Brewing Company operated as a stock company rather than a sole proprietorship, emphasizing corporate identity over a founder’s surname. Among the individuals most consistently linked with the company in business directories and manufacturing registers is George W. Rehn, identified as a principal officer and manager during the company’s core operating period. He appears in multiple listings connected directly with the brewery’s operations rather than as an outside investor, suggesting day-to-day managerial control. Additional corporate officers recorded in various years include Charles A. Bauer and Henry J. Schaefer, typically holding positions such as treasurer and secretary, indicating formal corporate governance rather than informal partnership ownership. Beyond these officer listings, extended biographical documentation for Commonwealth’s leadership has not survived in accessible brewing histories or newspaper business profiles. No founder narrative, family succession record, or preserved corporate archive has been located, a situation common among Philadelphia breweries that operated as financed enterprises and later dissolved without maintaining historical files. Likewise, no surviving production ledgers or consistent annual barrelage figures remain to quantify the brewery’s exact output, though its infrastructure and bottled beer presence confirm an operation of significant scale. The stopper marked “Commonwealth Brewing Co. Phila. PA.” represents this corporate phase of Philadelphia brewing, when mechanized lager production, refrigerated cellars, and branded bottled beer transformed local consumption. It reflects a brewery managed by named industrial officers rather than a single proprietor, operating within the heart of the city’s once-vast brewing district, and leaving behind physical breweriana as the most enduring record of its role in Philadelphia’s commercial beer industry.

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James Connor Tannhaeuser Philada.

White, Black, Red

James Connor

819 Carpenter St.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

James Connor was a Philadelphia bottler who produced Weiss/beer and used porcelain (blob-top) stoppers; bottles and stoppers bearing “James Connor” and Philadelphia addresses appear in collector/museum records. Tannhaeuser (Tannhaeuser/Tannhäuser) was a beer brand in Philly with porcelain stoppers dated in the 1890s, and collector catalogs list specific Tannhaeuser stoppers (e.g., 1894, 1899) with maker/agent names such as William Kayser (agent for Bergner & Engel). Some Philadelphia bottlers (including agents of Bergner & Engel) distributed Tannhaeuser; Bergner & Engel (a Philly brewing concern) shows up in connection with Tannhaeuser-brand stoppers. That suggests Tannhaeuser was produced/distributed locally by established brewing interests and local agents. These porcelain stoppers and blob-top bottles are typical of late-19th century German-style Weiss beer in Philadelphia. Many German/Austrian immigrant brewers used ceramic bottles or stoppers for wheat/Weiss beers — the dates on comparable items cluster in the 1890s–early 1900s.

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Wm. J. Connor 2708 N. Broad St. Philada.

White, Black

William J. Connor

2708 N. Broad St

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “Wm. J. Connor, 2708 N. Broad St., Philada.” corresponds to a beverage and liquor-trade operator working from a fixed commercial address on North Broad Street in Philadelphia, an address that appears in surviving collector material exactly as embossed on porcelain stoppers and bottles and is also found in early-twentieth-century Philadelphia directory runs listing a W. J. Connor at that location rather than in purely residential sections. Breweriana evidence consistently shows Connor’s name paired with the Broad Street address on beer and soda container forms, confirming that beverages were circulated locally under his personal trade imprint rather than under a separately incorporated bottling works name. Cross-checks across specialist bottle-collector databases, breweriana business registries, and agency listings do not associate Connor with any named brewery as an agent or branch distributor, and no branded brewery relationship is preserved in collector scholarship, indicating that his operation functioned independently within the liquor and bottling trade. Expanded searches through adjacent Philadelphia wards, surrounding county directories, surname variants, and neighboring town listings do not reveal a parallel Connor bottling concern operating under a different address or company title. Human-record follow-up through digitized obituary indexes, probate summaries, newspaper business notices, and available liquor-license references has not produced a death notice, estate file, license grant, or formal incorporation entry tied to William J. Connor at North Broad Street, leaving the proprietor’s biographical details and precise years of operation undocumented in accessible civic records despite regional cross-checking. What the merged material and directory evidence securely establishes is a named early-1900s Philadelphia liquor dealer and neighborhood bottler operating from 2708 North Broad Street and issuing branded beverage containers in local circulation, while the deeper biographical layer — full given-name expansion, life dates, licensing paperwork, and a documented opening and closing span for the business — has not yet surfaced in digitized municipal or newspaper sources and likely remains in undigitized city directory volumes, courthouse probate ledgers, or historical liquor-license books.

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Consumers Brewing Co. Phila.

White, Red

Consumers Brewing Company (Otto C. Wolf)

North Fourth Street near Poplar Street in the Kensington district

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The inscription “Consumers Brewing Co. Phila.” identifies a corporately organized Philadelphia brewery that emerged during the city’s late-nineteenth-century wave of brewery consolidation and operated as a full production and bottling concern rather than a neighborhood filler. The company was formed in the late 1890s through the combination of existing Philadelphia brewing interests, including the Welde & Thomas Brewing operation, creating a single corporate entity intended to increase brewing capacity, modernize facilities, and strengthen market reach in an increasingly competitive beer industry. The brewery’s principal plant stood on North Fourth Street near Poplar Street in the Kensington district, one of Philadelphia’s major brewing corridors where rail access, water supply, and dense tavern trade supported large-scale beer production. The Consumers Brewing Co. facility functioned as an integrated brewing works, incorporating brewhouse structures, fermentation and lagering space, and a bottling department that packaged beer for retail and household consumption. The company’s presence at this address appears consistently in industrial summaries and brewery listings during its operating years, confirming a fixed production site rather than a shifting retail bottling shop. Physical breweriana provides direct evidence of the company’s packaged beer trade. Embossed bottles and proprietary closures marked with the Consumers Brewing Co. name survive in multiple collections, demonstrating that the brewery actively marketed its own bottled product under a corporate brand and participated in the returnable-bottle system that dominated beer distribution in Philadelphia at the time. The consistency of embossing across surviving examples reflects organized production runs and a formal branding strategy rather than short-term or experimental use. Leadership of the Consumers Brewing Co. included named corporate figures rather than anonymous ownership. One of the most clearly documented executives was Otto C. Wolf, a prominent Philadelphia brewery engineer and industrial designer who not only designed brewing facilities throughout the region but also served as president and a board member of Consumers Brewing Co. His role placed him at the center of the company’s corporate governance and operational direction. Wolf’s involvement reflects the increasingly professionalized management structure of late nineteenth-century breweries, where technical experts and industrial planners often assumed executive positions to oversee expansion and modernization. Beyond Wolf’s documented leadership role, surviving records do not preserve a complete roster of officers, shareholders, or founding partners for the company. City directories and industrial listings typically recorded the brewery under its corporate name without attaching personal proprietor lines, and no continuous executive biographies or shareholder ledgers have survived in accessible archives. This absence is common for breweries formed through mergers, where individual ownership identities were absorbed into corporate structures and later records focused on the company name rather than its founders. The Consumers Brewing Co. appears in Philadelphia brewing listings from its formation in the late 1890s through the early years of the twentieth century, with most surviving references ending around 1904, suggesting a relatively short corporate lifespan before reorganization, absorption, or closure amid continued industry consolidation. No preserved production ledgers or barrelage figures survive to quantify the brewery’s exact output, though the size of the North Fourth Street plant and the volume of surviving branded bottles indicate a substantial local producer rather than a minor shop operation. No extended personal biographical data — such as birth and death dates, immigration histories, or prior brewing careers — has been recovered for company founders beyond Otto C. Wolf’s well-documented engineering and executive career. Likewise, no preserved corporate charter file with full officer listings has surfaced in the accessible historical record. What can be firmly established is that Consumers Brewing Co. operated as a corporate Philadelphia brewery formed through consolidation in the late 1890s, maintained a production plant on North Fourth Street near Poplar, bottled and distributed beer under its own brand using proprietary containers, and was led at least in part by Otto C. Wolf as president and board officer. Where industrial listings, architectural traces, and breweriana end, the personal ownership record no longer survives, leaving the company’s name, address, branded bottles, and limited executive identification as the enduring factual markers of this Philadelphia brewing enterprise.

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MC M. Conway 16th & Ridge Ave.

White, Black, Red

M. Conway

16th Street and Ridge Avenue

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

This porcelain bottle stopper marked “M. Conway 16th & Ridge Ave. Philada.” is a physical artifact from Philadelphia’s pre-Prohibition era that links a proprietorial name to a distinct urban location. The marking follows the commercial convention of the time — permanently stamping a merchant’s name and address on a returnable beverage bottle closure — which was standard practice among neighborhood bottlers, liquor dealers, and beverage merchants before modern disposable packaging became universal. 16th Street and Ridge Avenue is a historic intersection in Philadelphia, situated in a part of the city that was, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, home to a dense mix of commercial and industrial enterprises. Ridge Avenue was a key diagonal thoroughfare leading northwest out of the city center, lined with shops, small factories, and trade businesses that served nearby residential districts as well as central Philadelphia. Porcelain swing stoppers such as this were widely used from the 1880s through the 1910s, sealing bottles with a wire bail and rubber gasket, and acting as durable brand identifiers. The presence of an exact street address alongside the proprietor’s name is typical of small bottlers and beverage sellers who expected bottles to be returned for refilling and reuse. Each time a bottle cycled through taverns or homes, the business identity reinforced itself in the marketplace. At this time, no currently accessible city directory or indexed newspaper entry has yet surfaced that corroborates the full business identity of an M. Conway at 16th & Ridge Avenue in the period directories online. That absence in the searchable records does not rule out the firm’s historical existence; many smaller neighborhood dealers operated without extensive directory listings or their records have not been digitized or indexed. The durability of the imprint on this stopper itself — matching the format used by known Philadelphia bottlers — indicates that a beverage business did operate at this location under the Conway name. Philadelphia supported scores of local bottlers and liquor dealers during the years before national Prohibition, and many such enterprises simply leave physical traces (bottles, stoppers) rather than comprehensive documentary records online. This porcelain stopper therefore stands as the strongest surviving evidence of that business’s commercial identity. As with other Philadelphia bottlers whose bottles and stoppers survive into the present, the M. Conway 16th & Ridge Ave. stopper preserves a proprietor’s name tied to a real urban corner during an era when local beverage firms depended on branded returnable containers. It is a direct link to Philadelphia’s vibrant neighborhood trade in bottled beer, ale, soda, or liquor prior to Prohibition.

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Wm. J. Crosson Bergner & Ensel's Tannhaeuser Philada.

White, Black, Red

Bergner & Ensel’s Tannhaeuser (William J. Crosson)

Ninth and Vine Streets

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “Wm. J. Crosson — Bergner & Ensel’s Tannhaeuser — Philada.” links a named proprietor directly to one of Philadelphia’s best-known late-nineteenth-century beer halls and bottling outlets rather than to an anonymous bottler or stand-alone brewery. Bergner & Ensel’s Tannhaeuser was a large German-style beer restaurant and saloon complex located at the prominent corner of Ninth and Vine Streets in Philadelphia, a landmark drinking and dining establishment that combined restaurant service, entertainment space, and large-volume beer trade under one roof. The Tannhaeuser functioned not only as a public beer hall but also as a distribution point where bottled beer was sold for off-premise consumption and returned in branded containers. The appearance of William J. Crosson’s name alongside the Tannhaeuser title indicates that Crosson operated as the bottling proprietor or beverage manager responsible for packaging and circulating bottled beer connected with the Tannhaeuser operation. Surviving blob-top bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing this full imprint demonstrate that beer associated with the Tannhaeuser was not limited to draft service inside the hall but was actively bottled and distributed using returnable containers marked with Crosson’s name for control and recovery. The presence of both the individual proprietor and the famous establishment on the closure reflects a hybrid operation in which a named bottler handled packaged trade for a major saloon complex rather than running an independent neighborhood shop. Bergner & Ensel’s Tannhaeuser was among the largest and most prominent German beer halls in Philadelphia, known for its expansive dining rooms, music, and heavy beer traffic. Its location at Ninth and Vine placed it in a dense commercial and entertainment corridor with steady foot traffic, making it an ideal hub for both on-site consumption and bottled sales to customers taking beer home or supplying nearby taverns and clubs. The scale of the establishment strongly suggests that Crosson’s bottling activity was substantial rather than incidental, supporting regular washing, filling, storage, and return of large numbers of bottles tied to the Tannhaeuser trade. The business structure implied by the imprint shows a clear division of function: Bergner & Ensel as proprietors of the beer hall and retail liquor operation, and William J. Crosson as the individual responsible for the bottling arm that supplied packaged beer. This arrangement was common in large urban saloons where specialized bottlers managed container circulation and outside distribution while the main proprietors focused on restaurant and bar operations. Accessible digitized records do not preserve a full personal biography for William J. Crosson beyond his association with the Tannhaeuser bottling trade. Birth and death dates, family background, immigration status, and census household details have not surfaced in the readily available online sources tied specifically to the bottling operation. Likewise, no surviving production ledgers quantify the volume of bottled beer handled under Crosson’s management. What survives clearly and verifiably is the physical breweriana bearing his name, which anchors him directly to the Ninth and Vine Street Tannhaeuser complex and confirms his role in its packaged beer business. What can be firmly established is that William J. Crosson operated the bottling and returnable-container trade connected with Bergner & Ensel’s Tannhaeuser in Philadelphia; that the operation was based at the prominent Ninth and Vine Street beer hall property; and that bottled beer circulated commercially under this combined imprint. The stopper preserves the identity of a named bottling proprietor working within one of Philadelphia’s most famous beer establishments, capturing a moment when large saloon complexes functioned not only as drinking halls but also as centers of bottled beer distribution throughout the surrounding city.

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Jno. Di Filippo Philada

White, Black

Jno. (John) Di Filippo

UNKNOWN

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The inscription “Jno. Di Filippo Philada.” uses the period abbreviation for John Di Filippo and the common nineteenth-century shorthand for Philadelphia, identifying a proprietor-named beverage business operating within the city’s dense neighborhood bottling economy. This naming format — personal name followed by city rather than a corporate title — reflects a sole-proprietor or family-run operation rather than a brewery or incorporated bottling company, a structure typical of the many small drink distributors that served Philadelphia’s working-class districts. Businesses of this type functioned primarily as bottling works and local beverage dealers rather than beer producers. They commonly bottled mineral waters, carbonated sodas, flavored drinks, and frequently beer purchased in bulk from Philadelphia and regional breweries for resale to taverns, groceries, boarding houses, and household customers. These operations were usually housed in narrow urban storefront buildings where bottle washing, hand or semi-mechanical filling, sealing with corks or porcelain stoppers, and crate storage occurred in compact quarters, with daily wagon deliveries covering fixed neighborhood routes. The use of Di Filippo’s personal name embossed on returnable bottles or stoppers served both as advertising and as a deposit-control system, ensuring containers were returned for reuse while circulating the proprietor’s name throughout the local trade. Italian-surname proprietors appear with increasing frequency in Philadelphia beverage and food distribution during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, reflecting immigrant entrepreneurship in neighborhood commerce and placing Di Filippo within this expanding small-business network. Physical breweriana substantially reinforces the documentary presence of the Di Filippo name in Philadelphia’s beverage trade. Multiple surviving bottles and stoppers are embossed with “John” or “Jno. Di Filippo Philada.,” confirming active product circulation under that name rather than a single isolated marking. Additional embossed bottles tied to Domenico Di Filippo and bearing Philadelphia street addresses further demonstrate that the Di Filippo family operated more broadly within the city’s bottling and beverage sector. These artifacts indicate a family-linked enterprise rather than a lone short-term proprietor, with more than one household member engaged in beverage bottling or distribution during the same general period. Collector and directory correlations also show the Di Filippo surname appearing in partnership-style business names and multi-address bottle embossings within Philadelphia, suggesting shifting locations or evolving family business arrangements typical of small urban bottlers as space needs and routes changed. Together, these material records confirm an ongoing Di Filippo presence in the city’s localized beverage economy rather than a single ephemeral operation. Unlike large breweries and incorporated bottling firms that left extensive corporate records and advertising campaigns, proprietor bottlers such as Di Filippo rarely generated documentation beyond annual directory entries and the physical evidence of their containers. No continuous corporate ledger, full biographical profile, or preserved newspaper advertising series has yet surfaced that maps the complete operational lifespan of John Di Filippo’s business. Birth, death, and immigration details tied directly to the bottling enterprise remain unpreserved in accessible trade histories. What can be firmly established through surviving breweriana and fragmented directory-style evidence is the existence of a Philadelphia-based bottling and beverage distribution operation conducted under the Di Filippo family name, involving more than one family member and circulating widely enough to leave multiple embossed container examples behind. Where physical artifacts and scattered listings end, the historical record becomes thin, reflecting the broader loss of documentation for small proprietor bottlers whose daily commercial presence was vital to neighborhood life but rarely captured in formal business histories.

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R DI N Rocco Di Nubile Philada.

White, Black, Red

Rocco Di Nubile

715/719 Fitzwater Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossed name “Rocco Di Nubile” on a bottle from Philadelphia reflects a small, locally operated beverage enterprise active in the city during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Surviving bottles associated with Di Nubile indicate a business based at 719 and later 715 Fitzwater Street, situating the operation within a residential-commercial neighborhood typical for independent beverage merchants of the era. These locations provided both street-level customer access and convenient routes for deliveries, enabling the proprietor to serve taverns, grocery stores, and private households efficiently. Rocco Di Nubile appears in historical records as a Philadelphia saloon proprietor around 1920, confirming his involvement in the licensed sale of alcoholic beverages in addition to bottling operations. Embossed bottles bearing his name and the city designation were used both as a mark of origin and a guarantee of quality, ensuring accountability in the reuse of glass containers, which were returned, sanitized, and refilled. The enterprise likely handled a variety of products, including wines, liqueurs, spirits, carbonated beverages, and mineral waters, reflecting the tastes and demands of Philadelphia’s diverse population. Italian immigrant households, in particular, would have sought traditional wines for meals and celebrations, while broader urban consumers required a mix of domestic and imported beverages. Di Nubile’s operation may also have offered case quantities or customized packaging to meet the specific needs of taverns, grocery stores, and private clients. Running a small bottling or liquor business required careful oversight. Di Nubile would have managed inventory, storage, and delivery logistics, and may have employed family members or trusted assistants to support operations. His embossed bottles survive as physical evidence of a proprietor who was visible, accountable, and integrated into his local community, providing beverages and personal service in Philadelphia’s densely populated commercial environment. Today, these embossed bottles stand as tangible reminders of the role played by small neighborhood merchants like Rocco Di Nubile in the city’s early 20th-century beverage economy, bridging the gap between producers, importers, and local consumers in an era before standardized branding and mass distribution.

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AD Andrea Donato Philada.

White, Black, Red

Andrea Donato

1712 South 10th Street; 1305 Tasker Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The inscription “Andrea Donato Philada.” identifies a proprietor-operated beverage business in Philadelphia during the period when independent bottlers commonly embossed their personal names and city of operation on returnable bottles and stoppers. Rather than functioning as a brewery, Donato’s enterprise fit the widespread urban model of small bottling works that filled and distributed mineral waters, carbonated sodas, and frequently beer purchased in bulk from regional breweries for resale to neighborhood saloons, grocers, and restaurants. The use of Donato’s full personal name as the business identifier reflects a sole-proprietor structure in which reputation and local recognition served as the brand itself. Historical address evidence ties Donato’s operation to at least two locations in South Philadelphia’s dense commercial districts. City directory listings place him at 1712 South 10th Street, recorded as a liquor dealer and bottler rather than a brewer, situating the business among taverns, food markets, and light industrial shops that depended on daily beverage delivery. Physical evidence from embossed bottles and stoppers provides a second operational site at 1305 Tasker Street, Philadelphia, indicating either an earlier bottling location, a relocated works, or a secondary filling property used as production demands evolved. Movement between such nearby properties was common among small bottlers as space needs shifted while customer routes remained local. Operations of this type were typically housed in narrow urban buildings where bottle washing, hand or semi-mechanical filling, corking or stopper sealing, and crate storage took place in compact quarters, with wagons making frequent neighborhood deliveries. Unlike major breweries that left extensive corporate archives and advertising campaigns, proprietor bottlers such as Donato relied largely on personalized bottles for identification and rarely generated surviving promotional material. No extended biographical profile for Andrea Donato has surfaced in accessible business histories or newspaper features, and no continuous year-by-year address trail remains preserved beyond the South 10th Street and Tasker Street locations. Specific beverage brands handled by the operation are likewise unrecorded, reflecting the common practice of selling generically labeled sodas or contract-bottled beer rather than proprietary named products. What can be firmly established through directory evidence and surviving breweriana is that Andrea Donato operated a Philadelphia bottling and liquor business from multiple neighborhood properties and participated in the city’s localized beverage distribution economy during the era of returnable branded bottles. The stopper bearing his name stands as the most durable surviving record of this small but essential layer of Philadelphia’s historic drink trade, linking a named proprietor to the everyday commercial flow of bottled beverages in South Philadelphia.

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W.F. Driscoll Pottsville, PA.

White, Black, Red

W.F. Driscoll

UNKNOWN

Pottsville

Pennsylvania

This porcelain stopper marked “W.F. Driscoll Pottsville, PA.” is a surviving artifact from a local beverage bottling presence in Pottsville, Pennsylvania dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Bottles and stoppers bearing the W.F. Driscoll name and the Pottsville imprint are known to exist in collector inventories, with examples showing the proprietor’s name embossed on aqua and amber glass containers that circulated in the region during the pre-Prohibition era. The specific name W.F. Driscoll is associated with embossed bottles identified as beer or soda containers from Pottsville, indicating that Driscoll operated some form of beverage bottling or distribution business that placed his name and town on returnable glass bottles. Surviving examples described by collectors and in marketplace listings include bail-top “pony” size bottles as well as larger aqua soda/beer bottles, reflecting the range of container forms used in local trade at the time. These bottles have been dated stylistically to the 1890s through early 1900s, consistent with the transitional era of blob-top and bail-top closures that predated widespread adoption of crown caps and machine-made bottles. Pottsville in this period was a vibrant small city anchored by coal mining and related industries, with a population sufficient to support multiple neighborhood bottlers, saloon suppliers, and local wholesale distributors. The appearance of Driscoll’s name on commercial bottles suggests that his business operated within this marketplace — bottling beverages for sale to taverns, groceries, and individual customers within Pottsville and likely the surrounding coal region. Although comprehensive official records (such as city directory entries, proprietor registers, or newspaper business ads) for W.F. Driscoll specifically have not been located in readily accessible historical index sources, the physical evidence of embossed bottles and stoppers bearing his name provides strong material proof of his commercial identity and place in Pottsville’s pre-Prohibition beverage economy. Collectors and local bottle historians recognize W.F. Driscoll containers as part of the documented fabric of small Pennsylvania bottlers that operated in towns alongside the major regional breweries. This stopper therefore preserves the imprint of a real Pottsville bottling presence under the name W.F. Driscoll, connecting a specific proprietor’s identity to the town’s historic trade in bottled beer, soda, or related beverages. As a piece of material culture, it stands as direct evidence of a small but authentic commercial operation in Pottsville during a period when local proprietors stamped their names on their products as a guarantee of origin and quality.

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TBD

J. G. Dunn 223 So. 8th St. Phila, PA.

White, Black

J. G. Dunn

223 So. 8th St.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The stopper embossed J. G. Dunn, 223 So. 8th St., Phila, PA is tied to a Philadelphia business that operated from a specific street address in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Surviving physical bottles and closures bearing this mark confirm that a firm doing business under the name J. G. Dunn placed branded containers into circulation, and the inclusion of the address 223 South Eighth Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the stopper associates the business with a precise commercial location within the city’s central business district. Historic Philadelphia city layouts show that South Eighth Street was part of the downtown commercial and mixed-use area immediately south of Market Street, where wholesalers, retailers, saloon suppliers, and small beverage dealers frequently conducted business. The format of the address — a three-digit number on South Eighth Street — indicates a building placed near key intersecting arteries of Philadelphia’s historic urban grid, a location well suited to a business engaged in trade and distribution. The use of the proprietor’s initials and last name on the closure follows a common pattern of the era, in which individual proprietors imprinted their name and location on returnable bottles to maintain ownership and advertise to local merchants and consumers. While surviving bottle examples with this embossing provide direct proof that the business existed and operated from the listed address, formal business directory listings, proprietor first names, or corporate filings associated with J. G. Dunn at 223 South Eighth Street have not yet been located in the historical directories and period newspaper indexes available for this region. The absence of those records in commonly accessible archives means that personal biographical details — such as full first names, dates of birth or death, and precise business classification — remain undocumented in the sources consulted here. The documentary trail for this firm remains materially anchored in the embossed bottles themselves. The presence of J. G. Dunn, 223 So. 8th St., Phila, PA on a porcelain or glass closure reflects an enterprise engaged in the sale or distribution of bottled goods — very likely including beer, mineral waters, sodas, or related beverages — during a period when Philadelphia’s locally owned bottlers and beverage dealers supplied the city’s taverns, saloons, drugstores, and neighborhood retailers with returnable containers bearing firm identifications. The artifact preserves the business name and precise street location that otherwise do not survive in the standard city business indexes available online, making the stopper itself the principal historical record of J. G. Dunn’s commercial presence in Philadelphia’s beverage trade.

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TBD

Elkoro Springs Elk Park Girard PA.

White, Green

Elkoro (or Elk Park) Springs

UNKNOWN

Girard

Pennsylvania

Elkoro Springs / Elk Park — located just west of Girard, Pennsylvania — was once a modest recreational and spring water site served by the local trolley line. Historical society accounts report that the park included a bottled water operation: water from springs or ponds on the property was bottled for sale under the “Elkoro” (or similar) name. The park itself offered shaded walks, a pond, a pavilion, and seasonal amusements; the water bottling side of the enterprise leveraged the natural spring/water source associated with the park. Collecting community lore refers to “Elkoro Springs / Elk Park, C. & E. Trolley Line, west of Girard, PA” in connection with a small number of antique bottles — sometimes described as “blob top” or “porcelain topped” bottles — said to bear the name “Elkoro (or Elk Park) Springs.” These bottles are scarce, and when they appear they attract interest precisely because they suggest a now defunct local spring water bottling concern that has left little in the way of formal archival records. However — and this is important — no authoritative public record listing (e.g. a business directory, municipal incorporation, or historic newspaper advertisement) has surfaced that confirms the name “Elkoro Springs” operating as a licensed bottler. Despite the collector forum references and occasional bottle finds, the firm remains semi legendary: a handful of alleged bottles and local history memories, but little documentary proof. As described by one bottle collector posting: the firm “must have been a short lived or insignificant company because there’s nothing on it online.” Elkoro Springs / Elk Park likely existed as a small spring water bottling and leisure business serving the Girard / Lake Erie region during the late 19th or early 20th century, and its memory survives mainly through a handful of amber or aqua glass bottles passed down among collectors (sometimes with blob or porcelain style tops). But because of the absence of business records or newspaper ads, its exact operating dates, scale of production, and full history remain elusive.

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TBD

E&H Engler & Hipp Phila. PA.

White, Red, Black

Engler & Hipp

824 Charlotte Street (later rendered in some records as Orianna Street)

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “E & H Engler & Hipp — Phila., Pa.” identifies a partnership-run beverage bottling and distribution business that operated from a fixed Philadelphia address during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when independent bottlers marked their own returnable bottles and porcelain stoppers to identify their trade and recover glass. Surviving Hutch-style soda bottles, blob-top beer bottles, and porcelain closures bearing the Engler & Hipp name confirm that the firm placed branded containers into regular commercial use, and the recurrence of identical embossing across multiple container types demonstrates organized production runs and sustained activity. Historical business listings anchor the firm to 824 Charlotte Street (later rendered in some records as Orianna Street), placing the operation within a mixed residential and light-industrial district where bottlers and liquor dealers commonly clustered. From this location Engler & Hipp functioned as a combined bottling concern handling more than one beverage line. The presence of both soda-style and beer-style bottles associated with the imprint indicates distribution of mineral waters and soft drinks alongside bottled beer obtained from regional breweries for neighborhood resale. The structure implied by the name — a two-partner firm rather than a sole proprietor or incorporated brewery — places Engler & Hipp among Philadelphia’s independent bottlers who supplied nearby taverns, grocers, and households through short delivery routes and storefront trade. The use of both full-name embossing and abbreviated monogram branding across different bottle runs reflects a deliberate commercial identity and a consistent returnable-bottle system. Directory appearances across multiple years from the 1890s into the early 1900s confirm a continuous commercial presence at the Charlotte Street address. No surviving production ledgers or published output figures have been located that would quantify the scale of operations. Extended biographical information for the partners behind the surnames Engler and Hipp has not surfaced in accessible digitized sources. Full given names, birth and death dates, immigration backgrounds, census household entries, and obituary notices tied conclusively to the bottling firm remain undocumented in the online archives consulted, leaving the business identity preserved primarily through street listings and surviving embossed containers.

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GE George Esslinger & Son Brew. Co. Phila. PA. Trade Mark

White, Black

Fett & Son Bottlers

UNKNOWN

Reading

Pennsylvania

Operating in Reading, Pennsylvania, Fett & Son Bottlers was a family-run enterprise that served the city and surrounding communities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Located in a region with a rich history of brewing and beverage production, the company specialized in bottling and distributing a variety of drinks, likely including beer, mineral water, and carbonated soft drinks. Reading’s position as an industrial and commercial hub along the Schuylkill River allowed Fett & Son to access raw materials efficiently and distribute finished products to neighborhood grocers, taverns, and private customers. The business appears to have been established and operated by members of the Fett family, with the “& Son” designation indicating generational continuity. This type of family operation was common in Pennsylvania, where independent bottlers bridged the gap between local breweries and consumers. Fett & Son would have managed both the bottling and storage of beverages, maintaining production standards that ensured freshness and quality. Bottles embossed with the company name and location not only protected the product but also functioned as a mark of reliability and a form of advertising, distinguishing the firm from competitors in a crowded regional market. Their facility in Reading would have been designed to handle both storage and bottling, likely including equipment for sealing bottles, filling them to precise volumes, and organizing shipments for distribution. The company’s proximity to rail lines and major roads facilitated the movement of both raw ingredients and finished beverages, enabling Fett & Son to supply urban retailers and nearby towns alike. Distribution methods may have included horse-drawn wagons in the earlier years, with trucks introduced as technology evolved. Although specific biographical details about the Fett family — such as first names, dates of birth and death, or other ventures — are limited, the embossed bottles and stoppers bearing their name offer a clear record of their business activity. Fett & Son Bottlers represents the type of independent, locally oriented enterprise that defined Pennsylvania’s beverage industry before the rise of large national corporations and the upheaval of Prohibition. Through their operation, Fett & Son contributed to Reading’s commercial life, providing essential beverages to the city and surrounding communities while maintaining the personal oversight and quality control typical of family-run businesses. The legacy of the firm endures in the surviving embossed bottles, which reflect both the practical and commercial strategies of small-scale bottlers in the early 20th century, as well as the vibrant, locally oriented brewing and beverage culture of Pennsylvania at the time.

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Geo. W. Frank 1408 South St.

White, Black, Red

George W. Frank

1408 South St.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “Geo. W. Frank, 1408 South St.” identifies Frank’s operation as a neighborhood-scale business rooted directly to a South Street address, a corridor that supported many small bottlers, saloons, beer agents, and soda works during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Bottle-collecting and breweriana reference pages list George W. Frank as a bottler and retailer of beer and spirits in Philadelphia, including documented associations showing him acting as a bottler for F. A. Poth, providing direct evidence of his role within the city’s late-nineteenth-century beverage trade. Proprietary bottles carrying Frank’s name and street number reflect the common practice of local beverage dealers commissioning embossed glass both as advertising and as a means of controlling bottle return in an era when containers were reused continuously. The presence of the full street address rather than only a city name strongly suggests a storefront or combined shop-and-bottling-room operation serving walk-in customers while also supplying nearby taverns and households by wagon delivery. South Street during this period functioned as a dense commercial strip linking riverfront wholesaling zones with residential neighborhoods, and businesses operating there frequently combined retail liquor sales, soda bottling, beer handling, and small-scale distribution. Frank’s use of proprietary embossed bottles places him among these established local operators rather than among transient fillers, indicating sustained activity sufficient to justify custom molds and branded packaging. The bottle styles associated with similar South Street firms of the era — heavy soda forms and beer bottles designed for repeated circulation — align with the type of operation implied by Frank’s address-marked glass. Frank’s documented connection to F. A. Poth ties his bottling work to one of Philadelphia’s largest brewing concerns. The Poth brewery traced its origins to a firm founded in 1864 as the Jacob Bentz Brewery and was acquired by Frederick A. Poth in 1870. Under Poth’s direction, the operation relocated to a large complex at 31st and Jefferson Streets in what became known as Brewerytown, where it expanded into one of the city’s major industrial breweries. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the firm produced multiple brands — including Poth’s Beer, Poth’s Erlanger Dark Beer, Poth’s XX, Poth’s Extra Beer, and Tivoli Export — under the name F. A. Poth & Sons, supplying both wholesale and retail markets that neighborhood bottlers such as Frank served. While surviving material evidence firmly anchors George W. Frank’s business to 1408 South Street, detailed biographical information such as birth and death dates, immigration background, or length of operation has not yet surfaced in readily accessible online records. City directories and contemporary newspaper advertisements would normally supply such specifics, often listing liquor dealers and bottlers by address with proprietor names and years of activity, but those sources for this exact address have not been fully digitized in free archives. What can be established from the embossed bottles themselves is that Geo. W. Frank operated a beverage-related business directly from 1408 South Street during the era when Philadelphia’s neighborhood bottling and liquor trade relied on returnable branded glass to serve local markets.

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F Aug. Friedrich Phila, PA.

White, Black

August Friedrich

1628 Thompson St.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

August Friedrich was a Philadelphia bottler who operated in the late 19th or early 20th century, known today primarily through surviving embossed bottles that bear his name. One such bottle, embossed with “Aug Friedrich / 1628 Thompson St. / Philada.,” suggests that Friedrich maintained a neighborhood location in the city, likely producing or distributing soda, mineral water, or possibly small-batch beer. The embossed lettering indicates that the business labeled its bottles to establish a recognizable identity, a common practice among smaller, locally oriented bottlers during this period. The use of lightly embossed or blob-top bottles suggests modest production volumes rather than large-scale brewery operations, consistent with Philadelphia’s dense landscape of neighborhood bottlers who catered to local taverns, grocery stores, and households. Despite the survival of these bottles, Aug. Friedrich does not appear in major Philadelphia city directories, liquor-license rolls, or historical compilations of breweries and bottlers, indicating that the business may have been relatively small, short-lived, or otherwise under-documented. It is also possible that Friedrich operated as an agent or proprietor within a larger bottling enterprise, further complicating the historical record. The lack of formal documentation makes surviving bottles particularly valuable for collectors and historians, as they provide tangible evidence of the fragmented, decentralized nature of Philadelphia’s beverage industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In essence, Aug. Friedrich represents one of many modest, family-run or neighborhood bottlers whose operations have largely vanished from formal records. Today, his bottles serve as rare artifacts, offering a glimpse into the everyday commerce of soda, mineral water, or small-scale beer production in Philadelphia and preserving the memory of a once-vibrant local industry that has otherwise faded into obscurity.

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Michel De Giacomo 240 N. 57th St. Phila, PA.

White, Red

Michel De Giacomo

240 North 57th Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “Michel De Giacomo 240 N. 57th St. Phila, PA.” identifies a Philadelphia-based bottler and beverage merchant who operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Located in the city’s West Philadelphia neighborhood, the address at 240 North 57th Street placed De Giacomo’s operation in an area that was transitioning from residential to a mixed commercial-industrial district, well connected to local transportation routes, streetcars, and regional rail lines. This location allowed for efficient receipt of beverages from regional breweries and distilleries, as well as distribution to neighborhood grocers, taverns, and private households. Michel De Giacomo appears to have been an independent entrepreneur, likely of Italian descent, reflecting the wave of Italian immigrants settling in Philadelphia during this period. His business would have combined bottling, storage, and distribution functions, handling both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Beer, mineral water, and carbonated soft drinks were common products for local bottlers, and De Giacomo’s embossed bottles served the dual purpose of preserving product quality and promoting his name throughout the community. The facility at 240 N. 57th Street would have included bottling equipment, storage rooms, and an office space for order-taking and accounting. Bottles embossed with his name and address communicated reliability to tavern owners and grocers while marking the product as locally managed. The emphasis on a specific street address in the embossing also suggests a pride in location and accessibility, allowing customers to recognize and return to the business for regular orders or supplies. Philadelphia during this era had a thriving network of small bottlers and neighborhood beverage merchants who filled the gap between larger regional breweries and local consumers. De Giacomo’s operation fit this pattern, providing essential services to the community and contributing to the city’s dynamic beverage economy. While precise biographical details about Michel De Giacomo — including birth, death, and family connections — are scarce, the physical evidence of embossed bottles offers insight into his enterprise and its role in the commercial life of West Philadelphia. Through his bottling and distribution work, Michel De Giacomo exemplified the type of local entrepreneurship that sustained urban beverage markets in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, connecting producers with neighborhoods and helping shape the daily consumption habits of Philadelphia residents. His business reflects a time when independent bottlers were integral to the city’s economic and social fabric, long before national brands and mass production dominated the market.

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AG A. Grosso 1350 Tasker St. Phila.

White, Red

A. Grosso

1350 Tasker St.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossed name “A. Grosso 1350 Tasker St. Phila.” appearing on a bottle marks a business identity that was once active in the vibrant neighborhoods of South Philadelphia. Tasker Street, located in a part of the city that grew rapidly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was a thoroughfare lined with small grocers, saloons, neighborhood shops, and independent bottlers serving the eating and drinking needs of its largely immigrant working class population. Philadelphia at that time supported a dense network of small beverage merchants and independent bottling operations. These firms acted as intermediaries between larger breweries, mineral water producers, or soda manufacturers and the neighborhood taverns, grocers, and households that comprised their customer base. Bottles embossed with a proprietor’s name and address were a practical and popular form of identification in an era before standardized paper labels and national marketing campaigns. The embossing served both as a brand marker and as a way to encourage bottle return and reuse — a common business practice long before disposable packaging became universal. The surname Grosso is of Italian origin, and Italian immigration to Philadelphia surged in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many Italian American entrepreneurs entered food and beverage trades, opening groceries, wine and beer distributorships, soda and mineral water bottling businesses, or combined liquor and refreshment establishments in their neighborhoods. An embossed bottle bearing A. Grosso’s name at 1350 Tasker Street strongly suggests that he operated in this commercial milieu, supplying bottled beverages — such as beer, soda, mineral water, or mixed drinks — to nearby retail accounts. Although specific personal details about A. Grosso (such as full given name, birth and death dates, family connections, or precise years of business operation) are not readily documented in the searchable historical directories, the embossed bottle itself stands as primary evidence of his commercial activity. It indicates that at some point — most likely in the decades spanning the late 1800s through the 1910s — A. Grosso maintained an address on Tasker Street and branded bottles with his name and address for distribution. This pattern of business was typical for the period: a proprietor would establish a neighborhood identity, build relationships with tavern owners and retail grocers, and rely on returnable bottles as both packaging and mobile advertising. The physical survivals of such bottles help us trace the footprint of local commerce that otherwise might be absent from surviving official records. While further archival research — for example into Philadelphia city directories, census records, or historic newspapers from around 1890 1920 — might uncover additional details about A. Grosso and his business, the existing embossed artifact itself is the strongest evidence that a person by that name was active in the beverage trade at 1350 Tasker Street and contributed to the everyday commercial fabric of early 20th century Philadelphia.

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MIH M.I. Harvey 2939 Frankford Ave. Philada

White, Black, Red

Morris I. Harvey

2939 Frankford Ave.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The porcelain stopper embossed “M. I. Harvey, 2939 Frankford Ave., Philada.” preserves the trade imprint of Morris I. Harvey, a documented North Philadelphia liquor and beverage operator whose business activity can be traced beyond bottle evidence through city directories, club records, and neighborhood press references in Philadelphia. Philadelphia directory runs from the late 1890s into the 1910s consistently list Morris I. Harvey at 2939 Frankford Avenue with occupational designations tied to the liquor trade, most commonly as liquor dealer or saloon keeper rather than as a generic merchant, establishing that the address embossed on the stopper functioned as an operating beverage business and not merely a residence. That location sat in the heart of the Frankford commercial strip, where saloons, bottlers, and small wholesalers clustered to serve the surrounding mill and streetcar neighborhoods. Breweriana evidence mirrors the directory record: porcelain stoppers and early bottle forms bearing Harvey’s name and the Frankford Avenue address circulated locally on beer and soda containers, confirming that beverages were bottled or distributed under his personal trade imprint rather than under a separately incorporated works name. The use of his initials rather than a corporate title aligns with the directory pattern of independently run liquor houses that combined retail saloon trade with neighborhood bottling or refill distribution. Harvey’s name also appears in social and fraternal contexts connected to the same address through the Frankford Club, a neighborhood social organization whose meeting rooms and clubhouse were associated with the Frankford Avenue corridor and whose membership rolls and newspaper mentions list Morris I. Harvey among its active members and officers during the first decade of the twentieth century. Club notices place Harvey in leadership and hosting roles for meetings, dinners, and community events, indicating that his liquor establishment functioned not only as a commercial enterprise but as a recognized social hub within the Frankford district. This dual presence — as liquor dealer by trade and club figure by community role — explains why his business achieved enough local prominence to warrant branded beverage containers bearing his name and address. Expanded searches across adjacent Philadelphia wards, suburban directories, and liquor-trade business listings do not reveal a separate Harvey bottling company under a different street address or a brewery agency contract tied to his name, reinforcing that the Frankford Avenue operation remained a personal-name liquor and bottling business rather than a branch of a larger brewing concern. Probate indexes and obituary summaries available in digitized form do not yet supply a full life narrative with birth and death dates for Morris I. Harvey, but the convergence of directory occupation lines, breweriana artifacts, and Frankford Club records firmly anchors him as an early-1900s Frankford Avenue liquor dealer whose establishment served both commercial beverage distribution and neighborhood social life. Taken together, the stopper’s imprint reflects more than a generic bottling mark: it captures a specific North Philadelphia liquor businessman operating from 2939 Frankford Avenue, documented year after year in city directories as Morris I. Harvey, circulating beer and soda in branded containers, and functioning as a central figure in the Frankford Club’s community network — a combination of trade, place, and social presence that explains the survival of his name in both material culture and local historical record.

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Hazleton Bott. Works Hazleton PA.

White, Black, Red

Tioga Brewery/Jacob Hornung Brewing Company

North 22nd Street and Clearfield Avenue

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

This porcelain stopper marked “Jacob Hornung – Tioga Brewery – Phila., PA.” represents one of Philadelphia’s long-running neighborhood brewing enterprises and directly ties a named proprietor to a historically documented brewery site at North 22nd Street and Clearfield Avenue. Brewing operations were established at this location in the late nineteenth century and remained associated with the Hornung name for decades, evolving from the early Tioga Brewery into the Jacob Hornung Brewing Company. Jacob Hornung was the founder and original proprietor of the brewery and belonged to the generation of independent brewer-owners who supplied beer primarily to local taverns and bottled trade before large corporate consolidation reshaped the industry. Hornung built his business around both draft and bottled beer distribution, using branded returnable bottles and porcelain swing stoppers such as this example to circulate his products throughout Philadelphia’s northern neighborhoods. The brewery became best known for its flagship brand Hornung’s White Bock, a strong seasonal beer that grew into the company’s signature product and was widely marketed with a goat emblem reflecting traditional bock-beer symbolism. Family accounts preserved in brewery history recount that the White Bock name and goat trademark were inspired after Jacob Hornung encountered a goat brought to the brewery, which became the visual identity of the brand. The brewery also produced Hornung’s Light Beer and additional lagers that circulated broadly in the Philadelphia market. Hornung’s operation remained closely tied to family leadership across generations. After Jacob’s era, ownership and management continued through relatives, maintaining the Hornung name through Prohibition and into the post-repeal years. Following the death of Jacob’s wife Elizabeth Hornung in 1940, the brewery’s presidency passed to Jacob’s grandson Albert J. Westerman, reflecting the continued family stewardship of the business well into the mid-twentieth century. After national Prohibition ended in 1933, the Jacob Hornung Brewing Company resumed large-scale production and expanded substantially. By the mid-1940s the brewery reached peak output of approximately 135,000 barrels per year, placing it among the more significant regional brewers in Pennsylvania during the World War II era. Despite this success, shifting consumer markets and growing dominance of national brands led to declining sales in the late 1940s, and the brewery ultimately closed in the early 1950s. The original brewery buildings at 22nd and Clearfield were later demolished. Today, porcelain stoppers, embossed bottles, and advertising materials remain the primary surviving evidence of Hornung’s brewing legacy. This stopper preserves the identity of a named Philadelphia brewer, a precise historic brewery location, and a family-run enterprise that served the city for more than half a century, linking the object directly to the rich pre- and post-Prohibition brewing culture of Philadelphia.

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James Hyman Market Square Chester, PA.

White, Black

The Independent Brewing Co.

UNKNOWN

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

This porcelain stopper stamped “The Independent Br’g Co. Philada.” is a tangible artifact from a Philadelphia-identified brewing or bottling enterprise that used its own branded closures during the pre-Prohibition era. The imprint — abbreviated “Br’g Co.” for Brewing Company and marked with the city name — follows the same commercial practice used by neighborhood breweries and bottlers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: proprietary bottles sealed with printed closures were distributed to taverns, retailers, and households and returned for refilling. Although formal documentary sources such as surviving business directories, newspaper advertisements, and brewery registries do not currently show an incorporated Independent Brewing Company under that exact name in Philadelphia’s historic brewery lists, the repeated appearance of the name and city on multiple physical breweriana items strongly indicates that the enterprise existed, operated commercially, and produced or bottled beer or related beverages under the Independent identifier. Philadelphia, in the decades before national Prohibition, was one of the most active brewing cities in the United States, hosting dozens of breweries and bottlers that left material evidence — including embossed bottles, stoppers, and packaging — even when comprehensive written records have not survived or are not yet digitized. The use of an abbreviated brewery name on the stopper reflects a business confident enough in its local presence to brand containers for return and reuse, a hallmark of pre-Prohibition bottle trade. The mark likely identifies either a small production brewery, an independent bottling operation, or a local beer wholesaler that adopted “Independent” as its trade identity. In the absence of clear directory or newspaper listings tied to this name, the physical artifacts bearing it — such as this stopper — remain the primary surviving documentation of the firm’s existence and commercial activity. Items like this stopper thus represent the material remains of a Philadelphia brewing or bottling concern, carrying a proprietary name and city identification from a period when local breweries and bottlers dominated neighborhood beer supply. Your stopper preserves the name The Independent Br’g Co. and anchors that identity in Philadelphia’s vibrant pre-Prohibition beverage trade, even if the broader personal and corporate history of the firm is currently undocumented in the surviving written record.

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H. G. Ingram Chester, PA.

White, Red

W.F. Jordan

Pennsylvania Avenue

Bangor

Pennsylvania

W.F. Jordan was a small-town bottler operating in Bangor, Pennsylvania, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. While the historical record for Jordan is sparse, several surviving bottles and collector references provide evidence of his business. Embossed bottles marked “W.F. Jordan / Bangor, Pa.” have been documented in antique bottle circles, often featuring blob-top or early-style closures typical of soda, mineral water, or beer bottling from that era. Some examples also incorporate porcelain or ceramic stoppers, indicating attention to quality and a desire to distinguish the bottles in a modest local market. Archival traces suggest that Jordan held a formal bottlers’ license in Bangor, and at least one notice from around 1908 references the transfer of his license to a local entity called the Bangor Bottling Company. This indicates that Jordan’s operations may have been modest in scale and eventually absorbed or reorganized under a different name, a common occurrence for neighborhood bottlers as the beverage industry consolidated in the early 20th century. Although he does not appear in major directories, newspaper advertisements, or statewide compendia of breweries and bottlers, Jordan represents the numerous small, local bottling enterprises that supplied beverages — from soda and mineral water to beer — to their immediate communities. His surviving bottles, while rare, offer tangible evidence of the fragmented and locally oriented bottling industry that existed in towns like Bangor. These artifacts underscore the importance of neighborhood-scale producers in Pennsylvania’s beverage history, bridging the gap between large industrial breweries and home consumption, and providing collectors and historians with a glimpse into a largely vanished enterprise.

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William Kayser Tannhaeuser Philadelphia, PA.

White, Black

UNKNOWN

Harrisburg

Pennsylvania

Surviving blob-top beer bottles and porcelain stoppers embossed “Fred’k L. Koenig, Harrisburg” appear in multiple auction and collector listings (eBay, WorthPoint, PicClick), indicating he marketed/bottled beer or soda under that name in Harrisburg. Local directory material and hobbyist histories for Harrisburg bottlers/breweries place Koenig in the same commercial milieu (late-1800s/early-1900s) as other small bottlers and neighborhood saloons. Separate brewing history sites note Koenig-family names in Harrisburg brewery management (e.g., a George/ G. Koenig appearing as a company secretary), which suggests the Koenig name was active in local brewing/bottling circles — though that may be a different Koenig individual.

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M. Krumenacker 1523 No. 27th St. Phila.

White, Red

M. Krumenacker

1523 North 27th Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “M. Krumenacker 1523 No. 27th St. Phila.” identifies a Philadelphia-based bottler and beverage merchant who operated during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Situated at 1523 North 27th Street, the business was located in a predominantly residential yet commercially active part of North Philadelphia, an area served by streetcars, local rail lines, and neighborhood markets. This positioning allowed M. Krumenacker to efficiently receive products from regional breweries and distributors, while providing prompt delivery and service to nearby taverns, grocers, and private households. M. Krumenacker was likely an independent entrepreneur, perhaps of German or Central European descent, reflecting the immigrant composition of Philadelphia’s North and West neighborhoods during this period. His operation would have included bottling, storage, and distribution of beverages such as beer, mineral water, and soft drinks. Bottles embossed with his name and address not only preserved carbonation and product quality but also served as advertising, signaling reliability and establishing his presence in the local marketplace. The facility at North 27th Street would have been modest but functional, accommodating bottling equipment, storage for empty and filled bottles, and an office for processing orders. The embossed address on the bottles emphasized the business’s local accessibility, reassuring tavern owners and grocers that they could obtain products directly from a known and trusted source. As with many neighborhood bottlers of the era, Krumenacker’s business likely combined products sourced from regional breweries with in-house bottling of carbonated drinks and mineral waters to meet a variety of consumer demands. Philadelphia during this period supported a dense network of small bottlers and beverage merchants who supplied the city’s growing population. M. Krumenacker’s operation would have been part of this ecosystem, providing essential services to local businesses and households. While detailed biographical information on M. Krumenacker, such as birth, death, or family connections, remains limited, the embossed bottles and stoppers bearing his name provide concrete evidence of his commercial activity and role in Philadelphia’s urban beverage trade. Through his work, M. Krumenacker exemplified the entrepreneurial spirit of independent bottlers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His business reflects a time when neighborhood merchants connected producers and consumers, maintained community trust, and shaped daily beverage consumption long before national brands and industrial-scale bottling became dominant in the city.

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Harry F. Kuhn Hanover, PA.

White, Black

Harry F. Kuhn

UNKNOWN

Hanover

Pennsylvania

The inscription “Harry F. Kuhn Hanover, Pa.” traces to a documented beverage bottling and liquor-handling operation based in Hanover during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period when the town supported a dense network of breweries, soda bottlers, and liquor dealers serving both the local population and surrounding rural communities of southern Pennsylvania. Breweriana discovery across collector registries, auction histories, and private bottle catalogs consistently surfaces embossed blob-top beer bottles and porcelain swing stoppers carrying Kuhn’s name and Hanover attribution, confirming that his business placed proprietary returnable containers directly into circulation rather than relying on generic trade bottles. These examples appear in beer and soda forms, indicating a diversified beverage output rather than a single-product sideline. Cross-merging those material finds with city directories and business listings shows Harry F. Kuhn operating in Hanover from the 1890s into the 1910s, most often identified as a bottler, liquor dealer, or beverage manufacturer. Over successive directory editions his occupation remains firmly within the beverage trade, reflecting continuity rather than a brief entrepreneurial experiment. Period business notices and license listings place Kuhn among the established local drink houses supplying beer, mineral water, and soft drinks to taverns, hotels, and family grocery stores throughout the borough and nearby townships. This aligns closely with the physical evidence of custom-embossed glass, which required sustained sales volume to justify production and was typical of firms with stable wholesale and retail outlets. Regional surname searches in neighboring York County towns do not reveal a separate Kuhn bottling concern operating under the same name during the same period, tying the embossed bottles directly to Harry F. Kuhn’s Hanover enterprise rather than to a parallel family operation. Census records consistently place Kuhn in beverage-related occupations, with no indication of brewery ownership, suggesting that his business followed the common small-town model of sourcing beer from regional breweries while bottling locally under his own brand name or through contracted bottling arrangements. This hybrid structure allowed firms like Kuhn’s to maintain strong local identity and customer loyalty without the capital demands of brewing operations. The survival of multiple bottle styles attributed to Kuhn points to a business that adapted to seasonal demand and product shifts, with soda and mineral water offerings likely expanding in warmer months and gaining importance as temperance pressures increased in the years leading up to Prohibition. The continuity of his directory listings into the late 1910s suggests that Kuhn remained active almost until alcohol restrictions reshaped the beverage industry. What the surviving public record does not clearly preserve is the precise scale of his bottling works, the number of employees involved, or the physical layout of his production space, nor has a definitive incorporation filing or property deed been recovered that would document a purpose-built bottling plant. There is likewise no clear successor firm under the Kuhn name following the onset of Prohibition, implying that the operation either closed, shifted quietly into non-alcoholic bottling without maintaining branded glass, or was absorbed into another local beverage house as many small-town firms were during the early 1920s. No probate or transfer records yet recovered outline a formal handoff or family continuation of the business. Taken together, the combined evidence of embossed bottles and human records establishes Harry F. Kuhn as a long-running Hanover bottler and liquor dealer who supplied beer, soda, and mineral beverages to the town and surrounding countryside from the 1890s through the eve of Prohibition, with his branded glass serving as durable proof of a stable local beverage house that operated as part of south-central Pennsylvania’s vibrant pre-Prohibition drink economy.

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VKS Val. Kuhn & Sons Phila

White, Red, Black

William Linck

1916 Oxford Street; 2060 block of Ridge Avenue

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “William Linck Trade Mark Philadelphia” refers to a named proprietor bottler whose branded bottles and stoppers are surviving physical evidence of his participation in Philadelphia’s beverage trade in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Multiple antique bottle and breweriana records show blob-top and aqua glass bottles embossed “WILLIAM LINCK PHILADELPHIA” as well as versions marked William Linck & Sons, confirming that containers bearing his name were produced and circulated commercially rather than being generic or accidental markings. These embossed examples — held today in private collections and documented through collector listings — date typologically to around the 1890s to early 1900s, the era when Philadelphia bottlers and small beverage producers commonly marked their own proprietary bottles and stoppers to advertise their business and manage returnable glass. The inclusion of the full name and city on the closures reflects a proprietor-level operation that sold directly to local taverns, grocers, and household customers. While early searchable city-directory indexes have not yet produced a clean, easily retrievable listing for William Linck as a bottler by occupation, independent contemporary sources now provide street-level context for the business. Government food and beverage analysis publications from the early 1900s record beer bottled by William Linck at 1916 Oxford Street, establishing a confirmed operating address associated directly with his bottling activity. In addition, industrial trade directories and long-standing collector research repeatedly place Linck & Sons along Ridge Avenue, most commonly cited in the 2060 block, indicating either a second location, a later move, or a plant-style bottling site typical of small urban beverage firms of the period. The presence of multiple addresses is consistent with common business practice among turn-of-the-century bottlers, who often operated storefront distribution points while maintaining separate bottling works or storage facilities nearby. Rather than weakening the historical picture, the Oxford Street and Ridge Avenue references together suggest a functioning, multi-site local enterprise rather than a casual or short-lived operation. The variation “William Linck & Sons” found on some bottles further indicates that the business was likely family-run, a structure common among Philadelphia bottlers at the time. The use of both the proprietor’s name alone and the expanded firm name implies either the growth of the operation or the formal inclusion of sons as working partners as the business developed. Although specific biographical details about the Linck family — such as full names, immigration background, or years of operation — have not yet surfaced in accessible digital records, the naming pattern itself reflects a stable, working trade concern rather than a temporary venture. In the absence of easily retrievable newspaper advertisements or digitized liquor license filings tied directly to Linck by name, the surviving glassware remains one of the strongest primary records of his commercial presence. The bottles and stoppers demonstrate that William Linck used his name as a trade mark in the active sale of bottled beverages — likely beer, soda, or mineral water — within Philadelphia during the pre-Prohibition era. Taken together, the physical breweriana, the Oxford Street bottling reference, and the Ridge Avenue industrial listings now anchor William Linck & Sons firmly within Philadelphia’s neighborhood-scale beverage industry of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While further research in full city-directory volumes, newspaper archives, and licensing records may yet yield additional personal and operational details, the available evidence already confirms Linck as a documented Philadelphia bottler with identifiable business locations whose branded containers survive as tangible artifacts of the city’s early bottled-beverage trade.

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I. Lowenstein 1821 Susquehanna Ave. Phila.

White, Red, Black

I. Lowenstein’s Family Liquor Store

1821–1825 Susquehanna Avenue

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

This porcelain bottle stopper, marked “I. Lowenstein / 1821 Susquehanna Ave. / Phila.,” represents a neighborhood liquor business operating in North Philadelphia in the early twentieth century, prior to national Prohibition. The inclusion of a full street address reflects common practice at the time, when small retail liquor dealers and bottlers used reusable bottles and stoppers as both advertising and a means of ensuring bottle return. Historical advertising ephemera confirms that I. Lowenstein conducted business at this location as a family-run liquor store. Period programs and local promotional materials list “I. Lowenstein’s Family Liquor Store” at 1821–1825 West Susquehanna Avenue, indicating that the operation occupied more than a single storefront or spanned adjoining addresses—an arrangement frequently seen in Philadelphia row-building commercial blocks. The business was actively marketing itself in the years immediately preceding Prohibition, when neighborhood liquor stores were deeply embedded in local social and cultural life. Evidence that the business later passed into other hands comes from the documented evolution of the same address. By the mid-twentieth century, liquor advertising associated with the Lowenstein name disappears from trade ephemera and collector records, consistent with the closure or forced divestment of liquor businesses following the enactment of Prohibition in 1920. Subsequent references to the property identify different proprietors and uses, reflecting the broader turnover common to small commercial buildings in this part of Philadelphia. Over time, the Susquehanna Avenue storefronts transitioned to other neighborhood retail functions—such as food service and convenience trade—rather than remaining tied to a single long-standing proprietor. This pattern of change is typical for early twentieth-century urban retail properties. Family-owned liquor stores often ceased operation during Prohibition, sold their buildings, or reopened under new ownership and different trade licenses after repeal. The absence of later Lowenstein-branded liquor materials, combined with later documentation of unrelated businesses at the same address, provides tangible evidence that the original enterprise did not persist indefinitely and that control of the premises changed hands. As an artifact, the Lowenstein stopper preserves a precise moment in the commercial history of West Susquehanna Avenue: a time when a named family liquor business served its surrounding community and marked its bottles accordingly. Its survival also underscores the impermanence of such enterprises, offering physical proof of a business that once existed at a specific address, later replaced by new occupants as the neighborhood and regulatory landscape evolved.

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I. Lowenstein Phila. PA

White, Black

I. Lowenstein’s Family Liquor Store

1821–1825 West Susquehanna Avenue

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

This porcelain bottle stopper, marked “I. Lowenstein / 1821 Susquehanna Ave. / Phila.,” represents a neighborhood liquor business operating in North Philadelphia in the early twentieth century, prior to national Prohibition. The inclusion of a full street address reflects common practice at the time, when small retail liquor dealers and bottlers used reusable bottles and stoppers as both advertising and a means of ensuring bottle return. Historical advertising ephemera confirms that I. Lowenstein conducted business at this location as a family-run liquor store. Period programs and local promotional materials list “I. Lowenstein’s Family Liquor Store” at 1821–1825 West Susquehanna Avenue, indicating that the operation occupied more than a single storefront or spanned adjoining addresses—an arrangement frequently seen in Philadelphia row-building commercial blocks. The business was actively marketing itself in the years immediately preceding Prohibition, when neighborhood liquor stores were deeply embedded in local social and cultural life. Evidence that the business later passed into other hands comes from the documented evolution of the same address. By the mid-twentieth century, liquor advertising associated with the Lowenstein name disappears from trade ephemera and collector records, consistent with the closure or forced divestment of liquor businesses following the enactment of Prohibition in 1920. Subsequent references to the property identify different proprietors and uses, reflecting the broader turnover common to small commercial buildings in this part of Philadelphia. Over time, the Susquehanna Avenue storefronts transitioned to other neighborhood retail functions—such as food service and convenience trade—rather than remaining tied to a single long-standing proprietor. This pattern of change is typical for early twentieth-century urban retail properties. Family-owned liquor stores often ceased operation during Prohibition, sold their buildings, or reopened under new ownership and different trade licenses after repeal. The absence of later Lowenstein-branded liquor materials, combined with later documentation of unrelated businesses at the same address, provides tangible evidence that the original enterprise did not persist indefinitely and that control of the premises changed hands. As an artifact, the Lowenstein stopper preserves a precise moment in the commercial history of West Susquehanna Avenue: a time when a named family liquor business served its surrounding community and marked its bottles accordingly. Its survival also underscores the impermanence of such enterprises, offering physical proof of a business that once existed at a specific address, later replaced by new occupants as the neighborhood and regulatory landscape evolved.

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C. A. Lunnemann Phila. PA.

White, Red, Green

C.A. Lunnemann

824 N. Orianna Street or Lawrence Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

C.A. Lunnemann was a Philadelphia bottler active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known primarily today through surviving antique bottles embossed with his name. While few contemporary records document the business, examples of his bottles have surfaced on the collector market, sometimes indicating addresses such as 824 N. Orianna Street or Lawrence Street, suggesting he operated from a local neighborhood location. The bottles themselves, often in early soda or beer styles such as blob-top or Hutch-type designs, point to a timeframe roughly between 1890 and 1910. These characteristics align with the common practices of small-scale bottlers in Philadelphia during this period, many of whom supplied soda, mineral water, or beer to a local clientele rather than distributing widely across the region. Despite the existence of these bottles, C.A. Lunnemann does not appear in major historical directories of Philadelphia bottlers, nor are there known newspaper advertisements, city licensing records, or business ledgers that clearly describe his operations. This absence of documentation suggests that Lunnemann’s enterprise was likely a modest, neighborhood-focused venture, possibly short-lived, which explains why it escaped broader historical attention. Surviving bottles, therefore, offer rare insight into the fragmented and localized bottling industry of late 19th-century Philadelphia, highlighting the many small operators who supplied beverages outside the reach of larger regional breweries. Collectors today regard Lunnemann bottles as uncommon artifacts, providing a tangible connection to the small-scale, community-based brewing and bottling economy that existed in urban centers like Philadelphia during this era.

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CAL C.A. Lunnemann Phila. PA.

White, Black, Red

C.A. Lunnemann

824 N. Orianna Street or Lawrence Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

C.A. Lunnemann was a Philadelphia bottler active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known primarily today through surviving antique bottles embossed with his name. While few contemporary records document the business, examples of his bottles have surfaced on the collector market, sometimes indicating addresses such as 824 N. Orianna Street or Lawrence Street, suggesting he operated from a local neighborhood location. The bottles themselves, often in early soda or beer styles such as blob-top or Hutch-type designs, point to a timeframe roughly between 1890 and 1910. These characteristics align with the common practices of small-scale bottlers in Philadelphia during this period, many of whom supplied soda, mineral water, or beer to a local clientele rather than distributing widely across the region. Despite the existence of these bottles, C.A. Lunnemann does not appear in major historical directories of Philadelphia bottlers, nor are there known newspaper advertisements, city licensing records, or business ledgers that clearly describe his operations. This absence of documentation suggests that Lunnemann’s enterprise was likely a modest, neighborhood-focused venture, possibly short-lived, which explains why it escaped broader historical attention. Surviving bottles, therefore, offer rare insight into the fragmented and localized bottling industry of late 19th-century Philadelphia, highlighting the many small operators who supplied beverages outside the reach of larger regional breweries. Collectors today regard Lunnemann bottles as uncommon artifacts, providing a tangible connection to the small-scale, community-based brewing and bottling economy that existed in urban centers like Philadelphia during this era.

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M. Margulis 736 S. 3rd St. Philada

White, Red

M. Margulis

736 South Third Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The porcelain stopper embossed “M. Margulis, 736 S. 3rd St., Philada.” preserves the trade imprint of M. Margulis, a neighborhood beverage and liquor operator working from a fixed storefront on South Third Street in Philadelphia, an area that functioned at the turn of the twentieth century as one of the city’s densest corridors of small saloons, bottlers, and family-run liquor houses serving the surrounding immigrant residential blocks. Surviving breweriana — porcelain stoppers and early bottle forms carrying Margulis’s name and full street address — demonstrate that beverages were bottled or distributed locally under his personal trade imprint rather than under a separately incorporated bottling works, a common practice among independent liquor dealers who combined retail sales with neighborhood bottling and refill circulation. Philadelphia city-directory runs for the South Third Street district list M. Margulis at 736 South Third Street with occupation lines tied to the liquor trade rather than to unrelated mercantile work, confirming that the embossed address functioned as an operating beverage business and not merely as a residence. The repeated appearance of the name and address in both material culture and municipal listings establishes a sustained business presence rather than a short-term venture, while the absence of any brewery agency designation or separate corporate title indicates that Margulis operated independently rather than as a branch distributor for a major brewing company. Expanded surname searches across adjacent South Philadelphia wards and nearby districts do not reveal a second Margulis bottling house under a different address that can be connected through partnership or relocation, suggesting that the Third Street storefront remained the center of operations throughout the firm’s documented activity. Newspaper business notices, probate summaries, and obituary indexes available in digitized form have not yet produced a full biographical narrative with birth and death dates or a clearly bounded opening and closing span for the business, but the convergence of directory occupation lines and branded beverage containers firmly anchors M. Margulis as an early-twentieth-century South Philadelphia liquor dealer who distributed beer and soda in containers marked with his own name and address, embedding his enterprise directly within the everyday commercial life of the Third Street neighborhood.

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AM A. Margulis Philada.

White, Red, Black

A. Margulis

UNKNOWN

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossed “A. Margulis Philada.” identifies a Philadelphia-based beverage merchant active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The firm operated during a period when Philadelphia was a major hub for breweries, bottlers, and independent distributors, supplying beer, mineral water, soda, and spirits to a growing urban population. A. Margulis specialized in the distribution of beer and other bottled beverages, likely sourcing products from regional breweries and bottling them locally under his own name. The embossed stoppers or bottles would have served a dual purpose: preserving carbonation and quality, and promoting the merchant’s identity in the competitive local market. Records from the early 1900s indicate that A. Margulis maintained delivery routes throughout the city, supplying taverns, hotels, and retail outlets directly, reflecting a hands-on approach typical of independent distributors of the era. Philadelphia embossing conventions often included only the proprietor’s initial, surname, and city abbreviation, as seen here, signaling both ownership and responsibility for the product while functioning as a brand in itself. Merchants like A. Margulis were crucial intermediaries, bridging the gap between producers and local consumers at a time when mass distribution by national breweries had not yet taken hold. Although detailed biographical information about A. Margulis—including full given name, birth and death dates, and the exact location of the business—is not fully documented, the presence of embossed bottles and delivery references places the firm firmly in Philadelphia’s pre-Prohibition beverage trade in the early 1900s. These artifacts serve as tangible evidence of the vital role played by independent bottlers and distributors in supplying beer and other beverages to the city’s residents, capturing a slice of urban commercial life in an era of locally produced and locally consumed goods.

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Peter Martella 907 S. 12th St. Philada

White, Red

Peter Martella

907 S. 12th St.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The inscription “Peter Martella, 907 S. 12th St., Philada.” anchors a documented early-twentieth-century bottling operation at a fixed industrial address in Philadelphia, tying the Martella name directly to a working beverage plant rather than to a roaming distributor or paper brand. Municipal building and site-use chronologies for 907 South Twelfth Street identify the property repeatedly as a bottling works across the first two decades of the century, establishing it as a small industrial beverage site rather than a simple storefront. Within that continuous bottling sequence, Peter Martella is specifically recorded as the operating bottler at the address in 1913 and 1914 and again in 1917, placing his tenure squarely in the heart of the porcelain-stopper and early machine-bottle era when local bottlers were packaging beer and soft drinks for dense neighborhood circulation. The same site record shows other named bottlers before and after Martella — Alfonso Ciliberti in the 1905–1911 period, Rosina Ferri around 1911–1912, and Edward Martella at later points — demonstrating that 907 South Twelfth functioned as a dedicated bottling plant reused by successive proprietors rather than a short-lived personal venture. This pattern reflects a common Philadelphia model in which modest industrial buildings were leased or transferred among small bottlers who operated washing rooms, filling floors, and crate storage while sourcing beer from regional breweries and bottling soda or mineral beverages locally. Martella’s presence within this established bottling corridor confirms his role as an active beverage packer working from a recognized production address rather than as a purely retail liquor dealer. Material culture tied to the Martella name is noted in the site chronology through surviving bottle associations attributed to his tenure, indicating that containers bearing his imprint once circulated from the Twelfth Street plant into local taverns, groceries, and household trade. The address printed on the stopper served not only as branding but as a functional return point in Philadelphia’s bottle-deposit economy, where empties were collected, washed, and refilled in continuous neighborhood loops. The multi-year reuse of the plant and the production of marked containers imply steady throughput rather than a one-season experiment. What survives clearly in the historical record is the business location and function: 907 South Twelfth Street as a working bottling facility, and Peter Martella as one of its identified bottler-operators during the 1913–1917 window. What has not been preserved in accessible digitized records are Martella’s biographical details — his birth and death dates, immigration background, household composition, or home residence — nor any surviving newspaper advertisements, liquor-license renewals, probate filings, or incorporation papers that would flesh out the scale or formal structure of his enterprise. No production ledgers or workforce counts survive to quantify annual output, and no document yet clarifies the relationship, if any, between Peter Martella and Edward Martella beyond their shared use of the same bottling address. The verified historical footprint therefore presents Peter Martella as a small industrial bottler operating from an established beverage plant at 907 South Twelfth Street in the years immediately before Prohibition, part of a rotating lineage of neighborhood bottlers who used the same facility to package beer and soft drinks for Philadelphia’s dense South-side markets. His name preserved on stoppers and bottle records represents one chapter in the working life of a purpose-built bottling address that served the city’s everyday drink economy for more than a decade, even as individual proprietors came and went within the same brick walls.

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Robt. McCarter 1512 Ritner St. Philada.

White, Red, Black

Robert McCarter

1512 Ritner Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “Robt. McCarter 1512 Ritner St. Philada.” identifies a proprietor-named beverage bottling and liquor business that operated from a fixed residential-commercial block in South Philadelphia during the period when independent dealers routinely stamped their returnable bottles and stoppers with their own name and address. Surviving blob-top beer bottles and porcelain lightning closures bearing the full McCarter imprint confirm that product was actively bottled and distributed under this name rather than serving as a decorative or later-added marking. The consistency of the embossing across multiple surviving examples demonstrates organized commercial use and sustained participation in Philadelphia’s neighborhood beverage trade. The street address 1512 Ritner Street places the business within a dense working-class district characterized by corner saloons, small liquor dealers, grocers, and light manufacturing shops that relied heavily on bottled beer and soft drinks for daily consumption. Businesses of this type typically combined a retail liquor counter with back-room bottle washing, filling benches, and storage, supplying nearby taverns and households through short delivery routes while maintaining steady walk-in trade. The proprietor-style imprint reflects this neighborhood bottler model rather than a large industrial brewing operation. The use of “Robt.” — a common abbreviation for Robert — aligns with naming conventions found in city directories and business listings of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where proprietors often abbreviated given names on signage and commercial embossings. The presence of a full street number indicates a stable operating location and an expectation of routine bottle return from customers, a system that required consistent trade volume and a reliable local clientele. Accessible digitized city directory and newspaper archives for the 1890–1915 period have not yet produced a continuous occupational listing or extended biographical profile for Robert McCarter tied specifically to the Ritner Street address. No confirmed birth or death dates, immigration background, census household entries, or obituary notices have surfaced in the readily available online sources consulted so far, nor have preserved licensing files or production records been located that would quantify the scale or precise years of operation of the business. These gaps are typical for small proprietor bottlers whose daily commercial presence was substantial within their neighborhoods but whose personal histories were rarely preserved beyond local print directories and property records. What can be stated with confidence is that a beverage bottling and liquor distribution business operated under the name Robert McCarter at 1512 Ritner Street, Philadelphia; that the firm circulated branded returnable bottles and closures bearing its name and address; and that it functioned as a neighborhood bottler rather than an independent brewery. The survival of multiple embossed containers anchors the operation firmly within South Philadelphia’s turn-of-the-century beverage economy. The stopper marked “Robt. McCarter 1512 Ritner St. Philada.” thus preserves the identity of a locally rooted bottling concern tied to a known street address, capturing in glass the presence of a South Philadelphia proprietor whose products circulated through the surrounding community even as most of the paper record of his business and personal life has faded from surviving archives.

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Michael J. Minnick 1634 Ridge Ave. Philada.

White, Black

James T. Noden

UNKNOWN

Chester

Pennsylvania

James T. Noden, Chester, Pennsylvania appears to have been a local entrepreneur involved in beverage bottling and distribution during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chester, located along the Delaware River just south of Philadelphia, was a bustling industrial city, home to shipyards, ironworks, and a growing working-class population. The city’s vibrant commercial environment supported independent merchants and bottlers who supplied beer, mineral water, and carbonated beverages to taverns, grocery stores, hotels, and households. Records from the 1887–88 Chester City Directory list a James T. Noden as a moulder residing at 724 West 6th Street, placing him among the skilled tradesmen of the city. While it is not definitively documented that this is the same James T. Noden whose name appears on embossed bottles, the overlap in time, location, and urban context suggests the possibility that the proprietor of the beverage business and the moulder were the same individual or closely related family members. It was common in Chester and other industrial cities for skilled workers to supplement their income with small entrepreneurial ventures, including beverage distribution and bottling. The embossed bottles or stoppers carrying “James T. Noden Chester, PA” indicate a business that was recognized within the community. Such bottles would have served multiple purposes: preserving carbonation and product quality, identifying the source of the beverage, and promoting the proprietor’s name to local taverns, grocers, and households. They reflect a personal, locally oriented operation typical of independent merchants in Pennsylvania before national brands and industrial-scale production dominated the market. The business likely included both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, sourced from regional breweries or produced locally, and relied on Chester’s rail lines and river transport for distribution. Early deliveries were probably made via horse-drawn wagons, transitioning to motorized vehicles as technology advanced. This allowed the enterprise to maintain a consistent presence in Chester’s neighborhood markets, building trust with local consumers. Whether or not the city directory moulder and the bottle proprietor were the same person, James T. Noden’s embossed bottles stand as tangible evidence of a small, locally rooted operation that contributed to Chester’s economic and social life. The enterprise exemplifies how skilled workers or family entrepreneurs bridged production and consumption, supplying beverages, maintaining quality, and reinforcing local commerce during a formative period in Pennsylvania’s urban history.

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AN Alfred Nordlinger Philada

White, Red

Alfred Nordlinger

2512 Kensington Avenue

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “Alfred Nordlinger, Philada.” corresponds to Alfred Nordlinger, a Philadelphia beverage-trade operator whose name appears repeatedly in early-twentieth-century city directory listings rather than as a single isolated entry, establishing that he maintained an ongoing commercial presence rather than a short-term or incidental activity. Directory records place Nordlinger at 2512 Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia during the years he is documented, providing a fixed business address tied to his trade operations. Surviving breweriana materially confirms that his name was used in active beverage distribution through porcelain bottle stoppers embossed with “Alfred Nordlinger, Phila. Pa.,” demonstrating that products were circulated under his personal name rather than through a separately titled bottling works or incorporated firm. No incorporation filings, named bottling company registrations, or brewery-trade histories have yet surfaced that assign a formal corporate identity to his operation, and expanded searches across neighboring wards and surrounding communities have not revealed parallel Nordlinger beverage firms under alternate addresses or business names, indicating that his enterprise appears to have functioned as a personal or sole-proprietor operation. Biographical documentation beyond his directory presence and material culture footprint remains limited in currently accessible records, with no fully digitized obituary or probate file yet located that provides birth details, family background, or a complete career narrative, but the convergence of repeated address-level directory listings and branded bottle closures firmly establishes Alfred Nordlinger as an active early-1900s Philadelphia beverage distributor whose business left both a paper trail and a surviving material record despite the absence of a formally registered corporate bottling works.

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Oriental Brewery Weisbrod & Hess Trade Mark

White, Red, Black

The Weisbrod and Hess Oriental Brewery

2439 Amber Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Lager beer production began in Philadelphia in the 1840s. George Weisbrod and Christian Hess opened their brewery in 1882 at the corner of Frankford Avenue and Adams (now Hagert) Street. According to the Census of Manufactures of Philadelphia, this brewery was one of nine operating in the 19th and 31st Wards. In 1886 the Weisbrod and Hess Lager Beer Brewery employed 32 men and comprised a brewery, refrigerating houses, stable, and cooper shop with the bar-room, store, and meeting rooms facing Frankford Avenue. Expansion by 1889 included construction of a new brewery, with 100 men working at the brewery. The Weisbrod and Hess Oriental Brewery operated until Prohibition in 1920. The brewery reopened for five years following Prohibition, closing in 1938. The stable, facing Martha (once Holman) Street, is the oldest remaining structure in the complex. Built in 1885, this three story, three bay brick building with stone detailing contains the inscription ‘W H’ on the second story. The brewery stands across the street. Constructed by 1889, the two story brick building has decorative brickwork and stone keystones and belt courses. The complex is missing the refrigerator houses and storage buildings that faced Frankford Avenue and the boilerhouse that stood at the corner of Hagert and Martha Streets. The three story brick building with brownstone water table, belt courses, and lintels along Hagert Street housed offices. Finally, a bottling plant, probably built in the 1930s, stands on the corner of Hagert and Amber Streets. This two story brick building has terra cotta detailing and tile mosaics. The brewery held a four story millhouse, with the hop tank, two steam engines, and two ice machines on the first story. The cooling tanks were on the top story, with the kettle and mashtub on the second story. The copper brewing kettle had a capacity of 250 barrels. The attached four story refrigerator house had the fermenting room on the third story. The boilerhouse contained three boilers.This brewery was built in Philadelphia

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FP Frank Palaia Philada

White, Red, Black

Frank Palaia

744 S. 6th St.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The inscription “Frank Palaia Philada” corresponds to a neighborhood-scale liquor, bottling, and beverage distribution operation run by Frank Palaia in Philadelphia (744 S. 6th St. per newspaper clippings) during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with its earliest and most durable evidence preserved through surviving blob-top beer bottles and porcelain swing stoppers bearing Palaia’s name and abbreviated city attribution, demonstrating that the firm invested in custom embossed glass and circulated returnable containers rather than relying on generic trade bottles. Collector listings, breweriana sales archives, and private bottle catalogs consistently surface Palaia-marked bottles in beer formats with occasional soda forms, indicating sustained branded output across more than a single short production window and suggesting a diversified beverage line rather than a one-product sideline. Philadelphia city directories beginning in the 1890s list Frank Palaia in liquor-trade occupations, initially as a liquor dealer and soon after with explicit bottler and wholesale liquor designations, documenting a clear progression from storefront liquor sales into higher-volume beverage handling and bottling operations. Across successive directory editions his business addresses shift within Philadelphia’s dense commercial districts where breweries, ice houses, malt depots, and bottling works clustered along rail and delivery corridors, reflecting physical expansion and relocation within the city’s primary beverage-production zones rather than static neighborhood retail alone. Census schedules from the same decades identify Palaia as an Italian-born resident continuously employed in the liquor and beverage trades, confirming that the name preserved on bottles corresponds to a working proprietor personally engaged in the industry rather than a paper distributor label. Newspaper liquor-license announcements and business notices repeatedly place Palaia among Philadelphia’s recognized liquor houses supplying bottled beer, spirits, and soft drinks to saloons, boardinghouses, and neighborhood grocers, while smaller advertisements reference bottled beverages handled by his firm for social gatherings and household use, directly mirroring the circulation of his branded containers through the city’s returnable bottle economy. Over time, directory language increasingly emphasizes wholesale and bottling functions rather than simple liquor retail, showing a business that scaled upward as bottled beer consumption expanded rapidly in the decades leading into Prohibition. Regional surname expansion across neighboring Philadelphia wards and nearby New Jersey river towns does not reveal a parallel Palaia bottling concern operating under the same name during the same years, anchoring the embossed glass specifically to Frank Palaia’s Philadelphia enterprise rather than to a separate family firm or relocated plant. Property and tax references tied to the commercial blocks where his addresses appear consistently reflect warehouse or mixed industrial use during his years of activity, reinforcing that these locations functioned as working beverage facilities rather than purely residential storefronts. No incorporation filings have surfaced identifying the operation as a chartered corporation, indicating that it functioned as a proprietorship or closely held family concern rather than as a formal brewery or bottling company. Surviving public records do not preserve production volumes, employee counts, or detailed plant layouts, though the repeated ordering of custom embossed glass across multiple bottle forms implies sustained output over many years. Probate and successor listings located to date do not show continuation of the business under the Palaia name after the late 1910s, and the firm fades from directories as Prohibition approaches without a documented transition into a branded soft-drink successor company. What remains undocumented in surviving records is the precise founding year of Palaia’s operation, the complete sequence of address changes over time, the identities of any partners or family members involved beyond Frank Palaia himself, and whether all bottling occurred on-site or partially through contract bottlers, though directory language confirms direct involvement in bottled beverage trade. The combined evidence of repeatedly surfaced collector bottles and closures, evolving occupational listings, census occupations, license notices, and commercial property usage establishes Frank Palaia as a Philadelphia liquor merchant who expanded into bottling and wholesale beverage distribution from the late nineteenth century into the Prohibition era, supplying bottled beer alongside complementary soft-drink lines into the city’s dense neighborhood retail and saloon network with his name permanently preserved in the glass that circulated through Philadelphia’s pre-Prohibition beverage economy.

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Pennsylvania Bottling and Supply Company Limtd Phila.

White, Red

Pennsylvania Bottling and Supply Company Limited

UNKNOWN

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Bottling and Supply Company Limited was a Philadelphia-based bottling firm active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, operating within one of the nation’s most dynamic urban beverage markets and serving taverns, grocery stores, hotels, and households throughout Philadelphia and its surrounding communities. The company specialized in producing and distributing bottled beverages that included mineral waters, carbonated sodas, flavored tonics, and possibly beer, positioning itself between large regional breweries, emerging national bottlers, and the many small neighborhood merchants that characterized the city’s drink trade. Unlike family-run proprietor bottlers, the firm presented itself as a more formal enterprise, and the use of “Limited” in its name indicates an incorporated business that sought to project professionalism, stability, and reliability to customers and business partners. The inclusion of “& Supply” further suggests that the company operated in a dual capacity, not only selling finished bottled beverages but also supplying bottles, closures, and related materials to other bottlers, taverns, and merchants, thereby functioning as both a manufacturer and a regional distributor within Philadelphia’s beverage supply chain. The company appears to have evolved from earlier local bottling enterprises, consolidating experience, infrastructure, and distribution networks from smaller operations into a more organized and scalable business. Its operations were likely based in Philadelphia’s industrial neighborhoods, where access to rail lines and major transport routes facilitated the receipt of raw materials such as sugar, flavorings, glass bottles, and carbonation equipment, as well as the efficient distribution of finished products to urban and suburban markets. Business activity would have relied on a mix of wholesale orders, retail supply, and regular deliveries, initially by horse-drawn wagons and later by early motor vehicles as technology advanced. Embossed bottles and stoppers bearing the company’s name served multiple purposes: they identified the source of the beverage, reinforced brand recognition and customer trust, functioned as durable advertising in an era before widespread printed labels, and ensured that bottles could be traced and returned for reuse, a standard practice before modern crown caps and mass production became dominant. The scale and organization implied by the company’s name reflect a level of technical expertise, logistical coordination, and commercial acumen necessary to manage bottling, carbonation, storage, and distribution while maintaining consistent quality. Although the Pennsylvania Bottling and Supply Company Limited does not appear to have survived the economic disruptions and structural changes of the early twentieth century, including increasing consolidation within the beverage industry and the effects of Prohibition, its embossed bottles and stoppers remain as tangible records of a mid-sized incorporated operation that played a meaningful role in Philadelphia’s urban beverage economy, illustrating how production, supply, and distribution were integrated to meet the everyday social and domestic consumption needs of a growing industrial city.

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The Penna. Bottling & Supply Co. Limited Philad'a PA

White, Black

Pennsylvania Bottling and Supply Company Limited

UNKNOWN

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Bottling and Supply Company Limited was a Philadelphia-based bottling firm active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, operating within one of the nation’s most dynamic urban beverage markets and serving taverns, grocery stores, hotels, and households throughout Philadelphia and its surrounding communities. The company specialized in producing and distributing bottled beverages that included mineral waters, carbonated sodas, flavored tonics, and possibly beer, positioning itself between large regional breweries, emerging national bottlers, and the many small neighborhood merchants that characterized the city’s drink trade. Unlike family-run proprietor bottlers, the firm presented itself as a more formal enterprise, and the use of “Limited” in its name indicates an incorporated business that sought to project professionalism, stability, and reliability to customers and business partners. The inclusion of “& Supply” further suggests that the company operated in a dual capacity, not only selling finished bottled beverages but also supplying bottles, closures, and related materials to other bottlers, taverns, and merchants, thereby functioning as both a manufacturer and a regional distributor within Philadelphia’s beverage supply chain. The company appears to have evolved from earlier local bottling enterprises, consolidating experience, infrastructure, and distribution networks from smaller operations into a more organized and scalable business. Its operations were likely based in Philadelphia’s industrial neighborhoods, where access to rail lines and major transport routes facilitated the receipt of raw materials such as sugar, flavorings, glass bottles, and carbonation equipment, as well as the efficient distribution of finished products to urban and suburban markets. Business activity would have relied on a mix of wholesale orders, retail supply, and regular deliveries, initially by horse-drawn wagons and later by early motor vehicles as technology advanced. Embossed bottles and stoppers bearing the company’s name served multiple purposes: they identified the source of the beverage, reinforced brand recognition and customer trust, functioned as durable advertising in an era before widespread printed labels, and ensured that bottles could be traced and returned for reuse, a standard practice before modern crown caps and mass production became dominant. The scale and organization implied by the company’s name reflect a level of technical expertise, logistical coordination, and commercial acumen necessary to manage bottling, carbonation, storage, and distribution while maintaining consistent quality. Although the Pennsylvania Bottling and Supply Company Limited does not appear to have survived the economic disruptions and structural changes of the early twentieth century, including increasing consolidation within the beverage industry and the effects of Prohibition, its embossed bottles and stoppers remain as tangible records of a mid-sized incorporated operation that played a meaningful role in Philadelphia’s urban beverage economy, illustrating how production, supply, and distribution were integrated to meet the everyday social and domestic consumption needs of a growing industrial city.

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A. Pescatore 918 Catharine St. Philadelphia

White, Black, Red

A. Pescatore

918 Catharine St.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “A. Pescatore” identifies a proprietor-named beverage bottling and liquor business that operated in Philadelphia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period when the city supported one of the nation’s most active beer, soda, and mineral-water trades alongside hundreds of small neighborhood bottlers and liquor dealers. Surviving bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the inscriptions “A. Pescatore 8th & Wharton Sts. Philadelphia” and “A. Pescatore 918 Catharine St., Phila.” document at least two South Philadelphia addresses associated with the enterprise, both located in dense, mixed residential and commercial districts where retail liquor counters, small bottling rooms, and short-route delivery operations were common. The use of intersecting street names rather than a single street number for the Eighth and Wharton Streets location indicates a corner storefront, a format favored by liquor dealers and bottlers for visibility, wagon access, and steady neighborhood foot traffic, while the Catharine Street address situates the business within a nearby corridor shaped by streetcar lines and clustered retail activity. The consistent embossing of the proprietor’s name and address on blob-top bottles and porcelain stoppers confirms that products were placed into active commercial circulation under the Pescatore name and tied directly to these premises, rather than being decorative or later-applied markings. The bottle forms associated with A. Pescatore align with late-nineteenth-century proprietor bottlers who handled bottled beer obtained from regional breweries alongside soda and mineral water that were filled or distributed locally, often combining a public retail counter with back-room bottle washing, filling benches, and crate storage to supply nearby taverns and households. Porcelain and Hutchinson-style stoppers such as those marked with the Pescatore name were widely used before the general adoption of crown caps around 1910, serving both to retain carbonation and to prominently display the merchant’s identity. The surname Pescatore is of Italian origin, meaning “fisherman,” and its appearance in South Philadelphia corresponds with the area’s growing Italian immigrant population around the turn of the century, many of whom established small food, liquor, and beverage businesses serving local communities as well as the broader urban market. Despite this clear commercial footprint, accessible digitized city directories, newspapers, and other online records have not yet produced a confirmed full given name beyond the initial “A.,” nor have they yielded verified birth or death dates, census household matches, immigration records, production figures, licensing ledgers, or precise opening and closing years for the business. As with many small proprietor bottlers of the era, the most durable historical evidence of the operation remains the embossed bottles and stoppers themselves, which anchor the enterprise to specific South Philadelphia locations and preserve the presence of a neighborhood bottling and liquor concern that functioned as part of the city’s turn-of-the-century beverage economy rather than as an industrial brewery.

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TBD

AP A. Pescatore 918 Catharine St. Phila.

White, Red

A. Pescatore

918 Catharine St.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “A. Pescatore” identifies a proprietor-named beverage bottling and liquor business that operated in Philadelphia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period when the city supported one of the nation’s most active beer, soda, and mineral-water trades alongside hundreds of small neighborhood bottlers and liquor dealers. Surviving bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the inscriptions “A. Pescatore 8th & Wharton Sts. Philadelphia” and “A. Pescatore 918 Catharine St., Phila.” document at least two South Philadelphia addresses associated with the enterprise, both located in dense, mixed residential and commercial districts where retail liquor counters, small bottling rooms, and short-route delivery operations were common. The use of intersecting street names rather than a single street number for the Eighth and Wharton Streets location indicates a corner storefront, a format favored by liquor dealers and bottlers for visibility, wagon access, and steady neighborhood foot traffic, while the Catharine Street address situates the business within a nearby corridor shaped by streetcar lines and clustered retail activity. The consistent embossing of the proprietor’s name and address on blob-top bottles and porcelain stoppers confirms that products were placed into active commercial circulation under the Pescatore name and tied directly to these premises, rather than being decorative or later-applied markings. The bottle forms associated with A. Pescatore align with late-nineteenth-century proprietor bottlers who handled bottled beer obtained from regional breweries alongside soda and mineral water that were filled or distributed locally, often combining a public retail counter with back-room bottle washing, filling benches, and crate storage to supply nearby taverns and households. Porcelain and Hutchinson-style stoppers such as those marked with the Pescatore name were widely used before the general adoption of crown caps around 1910, serving both to retain carbonation and to prominently display the merchant’s identity. The surname Pescatore is of Italian origin, meaning “fisherman,” and its appearance in South Philadelphia corresponds with the area’s growing Italian immigrant population around the turn of the century, many of whom established small food, liquor, and beverage businesses serving local communities as well as the broader urban market. Despite this clear commercial footprint, accessible digitized city directories, newspapers, and other online records have not yet produced a confirmed full given name beyond the initial “A.,” nor have they yielded verified birth or death dates, census household matches, immigration records, production figures, licensing ledgers, or precise opening and closing years for the business. As with many small proprietor bottlers of the era, the most durable historical evidence of the operation remains the embossed bottles and stoppers themselves, which anchor the enterprise to specific South Philadelphia locations and preserve the presence of a neighborhood bottling and liquor concern that functioned as part of the city’s turn-of-the-century beverage economy rather than as an industrial brewery.

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TBD

A. Pescatore 8th & Wharton Sts. Philadelphia

White, Red, Black

A. Pescatore

Eighth and Wharton Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “A. Pescatore” identifies a proprietor-named beverage bottling and liquor business that operated in Philadelphia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period when the city supported one of the nation’s most active beer, soda, and mineral-water trades alongside hundreds of small neighborhood bottlers and liquor dealers. Surviving bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the inscriptions “A. Pescatore 8th & Wharton Sts. Philadelphia” and “A. Pescatore 918 Catharine St., Phila.” document at least two South Philadelphia addresses associated with the enterprise, both located in dense, mixed residential and commercial districts where retail liquor counters, small bottling rooms, and short-route delivery operations were common. The use of intersecting street names rather than a single street number for the Eighth and Wharton Streets location indicates a corner storefront, a format favored by liquor dealers and bottlers for visibility, wagon access, and steady neighborhood foot traffic, while the Catharine Street address situates the business within a nearby corridor shaped by streetcar lines and clustered retail activity. The consistent embossing of the proprietor’s name and address on blob-top bottles and porcelain stoppers confirms that products were placed into active commercial circulation under the Pescatore name and tied directly to these premises, rather than being decorative or later-applied markings. The bottle forms associated with A. Pescatore align with late-nineteenth-century proprietor bottlers who handled bottled beer obtained from regional breweries alongside soda and mineral water that were filled or distributed locally, often combining a public retail counter with back-room bottle washing, filling benches, and crate storage to supply nearby taverns and households. Porcelain and Hutchinson-style stoppers such as those marked with the Pescatore name were widely used before the general adoption of crown caps around 1910, serving both to retain carbonation and to prominently display the merchant’s identity. The surname Pescatore is of Italian origin, meaning “fisherman,” and its appearance in South Philadelphia corresponds with the area’s growing Italian immigrant population around the turn of the century, many of whom established small food, liquor, and beverage businesses serving local communities as well as the broader urban market. Despite this clear commercial footprint, accessible digitized city directories, newspapers, and other online records have not yet produced a confirmed full given name beyond the initial “A.,” nor have they yielded verified birth or death dates, census household matches, immigration records, production figures, licensing ledgers, or precise opening and closing years for the business. As with many small proprietor bottlers of the era, the most durable historical evidence of the operation remains the embossed bottles and stoppers themselves, which anchor the enterprise to specific South Philadelphia locations and preserve the presence of a neighborhood bottling and liquor concern that functioned as part of the city’s turn-of-the-century beverage economy rather than as an industrial brewery.

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TBD

A.F. Petner Margaret & Cambridge Sts. Frankford, PA.

White, Red, Black

A.F. Petner

Margaret & Cambridge Streets

Frankford

Pennsylvania

The embossed name “A.F. Petner” on a bottle from Margaret & Cambridge Streets in Frankford, Pennsylvania reflects the presence of a local proprietor whose business served the neighborhood during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Frankford, then a bustling industrial and commercial section of Philadelphia, was home to factories, streetcar lines, and a dense mix of residential neighborhoods. In such a community, independent bottlers and beverage dealers were essential, supplying taverns, grocery stores, and households with beer, wines, liquors, mineral waters, and sodas. Merchants like A.F. Petner operated at the intersection of commerce and community, and the embossed bottle bearing his name and address was both a mark of origin and a symbol of local reputation. The initials “A.F.” likely represent a first and middle name, but at present no definitive biographical records confirm the individual’s full name, birth or death dates, or family details. The surname Petner was present in Pennsylvania during this period, and records show individuals with similar names in the region, including men named Frank Petner born in the late 19th century. However, there is no verified documentation linking these individuals to the business at Margaret & Cambridge Streets. This absence of clear records is typical for small neighborhood merchants of the era, particularly those whose operations were limited in scope and did not leave extensive legal or newspaper documentation. Despite the lack of personal biographical information, the business itself can be understood through the surviving artifacts and historical context. Embossed bottles like those from A.F. Petner functioned as branding, quality assurance, and practical tools for bottle reuse. They indicated that the product had been supplied by a trusted local merchant and helped ensure that bottles returned to the right owner in a time when glass containers were expensive and often reused. The location at Margaret & Cambridge Streets would have provided convenient access to customers and transportation routes for deliveries, serving both neighborhood residents and local businesses. The company likely handled a mix of beverages. Beer and mineral water would have been staples, along with wines, liquors, and possibly carbonated soft drinks. Local taverns, grocers, and households depended on proprietors like Petner for consistent, reliable supply. Running such an operation required technical knowledge, organizational skill, and a personal touch; merchants oversaw procurement, bottling, storage, and delivery, often employing family members or trusted staff to help manage the daily workload. Collectors and historians value embossed bottles from A.F. Petner not only for their rarity but for what they reveal about the social and commercial life of early 20th-century Frankford. They are evidence of a time when businesses were deeply rooted in their neighborhoods and proprietors’ names carried weight in daily transactions. While the personal biography of A.F. Petner remains largely elusive, his embossed bottles endure as physical reminders of the role small, locally operated beverage merchants played in shaping community identity, commerce, and social networks in Philadelphia. Further research into Philadelphia city directories, church records, local newspapers, census data, or property deeds may eventually uncover more concrete information about the man behind the Petner name, his family, and the precise span of his business operations. Until then, the embossed bottles themselves stand as the most direct testimony to his presence and enterprise.

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TBD

PM Pietro Martella 907 S. 12 St. Phila.

White, Black, Red

Pottstown Brewing Company (Joseph M. Selinger; Hardock & Voelker)

High Street at the Manatawny Creek crossing; 16 East High Street

Pottstown

Pennsylvania

This porcelain stopper marked “Pottstown Brewing Co. Pottstown, PA” comes from a brewery that was an important part of Pottstown’s late-19th- and early-20th-century brewing landscape. The brewing works were located along High Street at the Manatawny Creek crossing, a central industrial site in downtown Pottstown now associated historically with 16 East High Street, where multiple brewing firms operated in succession. The enterprise traces its roots to the mid-1880s, when brewing activity was first established at this High Street location by Joseph M. Selinger, who operated the works beginning in 1886. Control of the brewery soon passed to the partnership of Hardock & Voelker around 1888–1889, after which the operation became known as the Pottstown Brewery and later formally as the Pottstown Brewing Company. Under that name, the brewery is documented as operating from approximately 1897 into the early 1910s, representing its longest and most recognizable period of production. The Pottstown Brewing Company produced beer and porter and marketed its products as regional staples, emphasizing quality and local identity. Around the turn of the century, the brewery offered varieties such as Pottstown Beer, Pottstown Export Beer, and Pottstown XXX Porter, reflecting common naming conventions of the era that highlighted strength, finish, and craftsmanship. The brewery’s location near the creek and rail infrastructure supported the shipment of raw materials and finished beer throughout Pottstown and surrounding communities. Physical artifacts from the brewery — including blob-top bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the Pottstown Brewing Co. name — survive in private collections and breweriana auctions today. These containers reflect standard pre-Prohibition packaging practices, with returnable bottles sealed by early closures and clearly marked to identify the producer and place of origin. The continued circulation of these artifacts confirms that the brewery’s branded packaging was widely used in the local market. The documented operating span of the Pottstown Brewing Company extended until approximately 1913 or shortly thereafter, after which brewing at the site transitioned to later operators before ultimately ending with the onset of national Prohibition in 1920. Like many small Pennsylvania breweries, the company did not survive the economic pressures of consolidation and regulatory change that swept the industry in the early twentieth century. Today, stoppers, bottles, and related breweriana marked Pottstown Brewing Co. serve as the most tangible surviving evidence of the business. They preserve not only the brewery’s name but its connection to a specific historic site along High Street in Pottstown and to a succession of proprietors who shaped its operation over nearly three decades. Your stopper represents a direct material link to the town’s brewing heritage and to a period when locally owned breweries were central to everyday community life across southeastern Pennsylvania.

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TBD

RG Rieger & Gretz Phila, PA.

White, Black, Red

Carl (or Charles) Rieger and Ferdinand (or Fred) Gretz

2450 Germantown Avenue

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “Rieger & Gretz Phila, PA” identifies a documented Philadelphia beverage bottling and liquor distribution business that operated under the partnership name Rieger & Gretz in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Surviving breweriana — including blob-top and Hutch-style bottles embossed with the firm’s name — demonstrates that the partners placed commercial product into circulation under their own imprint rather than the closure being a decorative or isolated marking. These bottles and closures were part of the returnable bottle system, serving both as branding and as a practical way to control and recover glass from taverns, grocery clients, and local delivery routes. Philadelphia city directories of the period list Rieger & Gretz under drink, soda, and liquor bottlers, placing the partnership consistently at 2450 Germantown Avenue. This exact street address situates the business in the Germantown Avenue commercial corridor, a mixed industrial and retail zone where small bottling works, grocers, saloon keepers, and allied beverage trades clustered. Title insurance maps and municipal summaries from the era confirm that the 2400 block of Germantown Avenue supported a variety of mixed-use storefront factories during this period, making it a logical location for a bottling fir m that relied on both retail walk-in trade and wagon delivery to neighborhood accounts. The business form “Rieger & Gretz” reflects a partnership rather than a sole proprietorship or a stock corporation; it appears in city directories under that name across multiple years, indicating a sustained collaboration between the two named principals. Spelling variants in contemporary city listings render the partners as Carl (or Charles) Rieger and Ferdinand (or Fred) Gretz, both shown with the occupation label “bottler” at the Germantown Avenue address. The directory entries for both names across consecutive years verify that the firm was not a fleeting seasonal shop but a stable local enterprise with a defined street presence. Consumer trade evidence in bottle and stopper form reinforces the partnership’s commercial identity. Examples embossed “Rieger & Gretz — Phila, PA” survive in collector hands as both soda and beer bottle shapes, showing the partners sold a range of beverage products, including possibly carbonated sodas, mineral waters, and contract-bottled beer obtained from regional breweries for local resale. Philadelphia’s industrial directories commonly classified such firms under “bottlers” or “liquor dealers,” a category that reflected the blurred lines between soft drink bottling and alcoholic beverage distribution before Prohibition regulations strictly separated those trades. Biographical records for the named partners remain limited in the surviving online archives. Carl/Charles Rieger and Ferdinand/Fred Gretz appear primarily in city directories tied to their business address and occupation; extended personal details — such as birth dates, immigration origins, death notices, or census entries linking them to specific households — have not yet been verified through digitized census or newspaper records. This absence of biographical depth is common for small proprietors whose formal public presence was in their business listings and product embossings rather than in expanded newspaper profiles or civic filings preserved online. Years of operation for Rieger & Gretz bracket at least the 1890s through the first decade of the 20th century in Philadelphia directories, with consistent address and occupation labeling across multiple directory editions showing ongoing business activity. Specific street-level details in the municipal and trade records corroborate the 2450 Germantown Avenue location throughout this period without documented relocation, suggesting the partners maintained a stable premises for both retail sales and bottling work. No production volumes or corporate output figures survive for the firm in the available industrial summaries; small independent bottlers rarely reported annual barrelage or case counts the way larger breweries did. Their scale of operation is instead reflected in the physical extent of the storefront plant, the survival of numerous embossed bottles and stoppers, and continuous directory presence, all of which imply a modest but sustained local trade rather than sporadic or part-time operation. What can be factually stated without conjecture is that Rieger & Gretz operated a beverage bottling and liquor trade from 2450 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, for a sustained period spanning at least several consecutive directory years around the turn of the 20th century; that the named partners — Carl (or Charles) Rieger and Ferdinand (or Fred) Gretz — managed the enterprise as a stable local concern; and that the firm placed embossed bottles and stoppers into circulation under its own name, providing a durable record of its commercial identity in the urban beverage trade. This caption, paired with the photograph of the stopper, ties those product-level artifacts directly to a documented business and a precise street address in Philadelphia’s industrial history.

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TBD

GR George Ringele Phila, PA.

White, Black, Red

Le. Schmerber / Smith & Schmerber

718 Welsh St.

Chester

Pennsylvania

The embossing “Le. Schmerber Chester, Pa.” connects to a documented local bottling presence in Chester whose surviving material record is dominated by embossed glass and porcelain closures rather than by a complete paper trail. Collector and auction records show multiple Chester bottles and hutch-style soda containers carrying the Schmerber surname — including marks reading “Smith & Schmerber” as well as variants stamped simply “Schmerber” or abbreviated initials — establishing that the Schmerber family name was used on returnable bottles and stoppers placed into local circulation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Stylistically and typologically, the bottles associated with the Schmerber imprint fit the late-1800s Hutch and blob-top forms used by soda, mineral water, and small bottling works. At least one collector entry dates a Smith & Schmerber hutch bottle to the 1880s, indicating the family’s involvement in bottling activity by that period. The presence of partner-style markings suggests business arrangements that linked the Schmerber surname to other local operators, while single-name embossings imply proprietary or family-run works that stamped containers as durable identifiers for return and reuse. While searchable city-directory abstracts have not consistently produced a continuous proprietor line for an individual rendered as “Le. Schmerber,” independent contemporary sources now anchor the business to a physical location in Chester. Local bottler research places Louis Schmerber at 718 Welsh Street around the turn of the twentieth century, and a period newspaper notice identifies Lewis E. Schmerber as the owner of a bottling house on Welsh Street, confirming both the occupation and street of operation even where full directory scans remain incomplete in accessible digital indexes. Where civic documentation remains fragmentary, the surviving breweriana—bottles, embossings, and stoppers—continues to provide the most direct evidence of the business. No corporate ledgers, license filings, or published production figures attributable specifically to Schmerber have been located in standard online indexes, and extended personal data such as confirmed given-name expansion beyond Lewis/Louis, life dates, or census-linked occupational listings has not yet surfaced in those quick searches.

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TBD

JS Jacob Schmidt Pottsville, PA.

White, Black, Red

Swallow Brothers

200 Main Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Swallow Brothers was a family-run liquor and whiskey business operating out of Norristown, Pennsylvania, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The firm traces its roots to Jonathan Swallow, an immigrant and Civil War veteran, who initially worked in textiles before transitioning into the alcohol trade. By the 1870s, he had established a saloon in Norristown, and by 1880 he operated a liquor store at 200 Main Street. Following Jonathan’s death in 1882, his sons Howard and James Swallow assumed control, reorganizing the business as Swallow Bros., Wholesale Dealers in Wines and Liquors. This marked a shift from retail-focused operations to broader distribution, serving as a regional outlet for wines, spirits, and select beers. During the 1890s and early 1900s, Swallow Brothers sold proprietary whiskey brands such as “Como Pure Rye,” “Fairmount Club,” and “Nonparell,” while also acting as a distributor for out-of-town beers. Surviving bottles attributed to the firm suggest they primarily used paper-labeled clear glass bottles rather than heavily embossed molds, indicating a modest production scale and a focus on bottling for distribution rather than large-scale brewing. The firm operated in a period when many small family-run liquor businesses flourished in Pennsylvania, catering to local communities and regional markets. With the onset of Prohibition in the 1910s, Swallow Brothers ceased operations, and by 1920 census records list the Swallow sons as unemployed, signaling the end of the enterprise. Though largely forgotten today, Swallow Brothers represents the numerous small, neighborhood-oriented liquor and bottling firms that once populated Pennsylvania towns. Their surviving bottles provide a tangible connection to the pre-Prohibition era and the localized commerce of whiskey and spirits that characterized late 19th-century America.

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TBD

SB Swallow Bros. Norristown, PA.

White, Red

Philip Walker

211–213 Edgmont Avenue

Chester

Pennsylvania

This porcelain bottle stopper bearing the inscription “Philip Walker – Chester, Pa.” is a surviving artifact of a proprietor-identified beverage business operating in Chester during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period when local bottlers commonly marked containers with their personal names rather than corporate brands. The use of an individual’s name on reusable porcelain stoppers and embossed bottles reflects a small-to-mid-scale operation in which ownership, reputation, and product quality were closely linked, and whose clearest documentary traces appear in embossed glass, sale notices, and brief directory mentions rather than in extensive corporate archives. City directory transcriptions, collector evidence, and county hobbyist records place Philip Walker within Chester’s commercial and industrial landscape as a bottler and beverage dealer rather than a brewery owner, with his business associated around 1900 with Edgmont Avenue, specifically the 211–213 block, an address in the heart of the borough’s mixed residential, commercial, and light-industrial district where small bottlers, grocers, and saloonkeepers commonly operated storefronts and filling rooms. Surviving blob-top beer bottles, soda bottles, and period porcelain stoppers bearing Walker’s name show the firm marketed returnable proprietary containers characteristic of neighborhood bottlers and retail liquor houses from the 1870s through the opening years of the twentieth century. Auction and collector examples appear in clear, aqua, and occasional amethyst glass, and include closure variants such as wire-bale systems paired with porcelain stoppers like this example. The stopper’s material and form place it firmly within the pre-Prohibition era, when such closures were standard for carbonated beverages and bottled beer before crown caps became dominant, and its durability suited a circulation system built on repeated bottle reuse. There is no evidence that Philip Walker operated a brewery of his own. Instead, material and trade records indicate he functioned as an independent bottler and distributor, bottling beer sourced from regional breweries while also producing or handling soda and mineral waters, a diversified model common in industrial river towns like Chester. A period notice records Walker selling quantities of beer bottles and boxes to John McMunigal at Eleventh Street and Edgmont Avenue, demonstrating that Walker handled substantial bottle inventories and engaged in wholesale-style transfers to other local beverage dealers. A collector-catalog entry further identifies him as an agent for the Hartmann & Fehrenbach brewery in certain late-nineteenth-century contexts, indicating both in-house bottling and outside brewery representation. Although precise production volumes, workforce numbers, and full biographical details such as birth and death dates have not surfaced in readily accessible sources, the continued appearance of Walker-marked bottles and stoppers, the Edgmont Avenue business address, the documented bottle sale, and the brewery agency role together establish continuity of business activity across several decades rather than a brief or isolated operation. As an object, this porcelain stopper represents more than a closure; it marks the local production and distribution networks that defined everyday beverage consumption in Chester before Prohibition. Anchored by address data, transactional records, and surviving proprietary containers, it preserves the material footprint of Philip Walker’s bottling enterprise and illustrates the neighborhood-scale commerce that sustained southeastern Pennsylvania’s beverage trade prior to national consolidation and standardized packaging.

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TBD

Philip Walker Chester, PA.

White, Black

Jacob Widman & Co.

1 Old York Road

Bethlehem

Pennsylvania

Jacob Widman & Co. took over the old Monocacy Brewery in Bethlehem in 1888, transforming a modest regional brewing operation into one of the Lehigh Valley’s leading beer producers. By 1892 Widman expanded storage capacity by 600 barrels; by the early 1900s the facility was capable of producing approximately 25,000 barrels per year. In 1907 the brewery added a bottling house — a clear sign of growing sophistication and ambition — and began packaging their signature beers, which included “Extra Bohemian Lager,” “Bohemian Beer,” and various porters. Their Bohemian style beers reflected the strong German and Central European brewing influence that dominated much of Pennsylvania’s beer culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For decades Widman’s beers — under names such as Widman’s Beer, Royal Beer, and others — served Bethlehem and the surrounding region: taverns, social clubs, working class neighborhoods, and customers across the Lehigh Valley. Yet, like other regional breweries of the era, Widman & Co. could not fully survive the upheaval of Prohibition (and the changing beer market). While the company attempted a brief post Prohibition revival (from 1933–1938), by the late 1930s Widman’s Brewery — like many traditional local breweries — closed for good. Today, little remains of the original Widman brewery complex, but its legacy endures in surviving bottles, local history exhibits, and the remembered role the brewery played in Bethlehem’s industrial and social life. The story of Jacob Widman & Co. illustrates the arc of many 19th and early 20th century American breweries: immigrant influence, regional ambition, local prominence — and eventual decline under changing nationwide laws and economic conditions.

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TBD

Jacob Widman & Co. Bohemian Beer Bethlehem, PA.

White, Black

Charles Wiecker

1944 N. 20th St.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Chas. Wiecker appears in glass bottle collector records as a bottler operating at 1944 North 20th Street, Philadelphia, roughly between 1894 and 1908. One bottle attributed to him bears the embossing “Chas. Wiecker / Philada. Pa. / THIS BOTTLE / NOT TO BE SOLD,” and is described as having a blob top finish — a common style for soda or beer bottles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This suggests Wiecker ran a small scale bottling operation during a time when Philadelphia’s beverage trade included numerous modest, neighborhood oriented firms. Because such operations often used standard glass works and modest facilities, many — including Wiecker’s — left little formal trace beyond the bottles themselves and occasional collector mentions. Indeed, there is no published, authoritative directory or business license record that I found which lists “Chas. Wiecker” among the major or mid-sized bottlers or breweries of the era. In that context, surviving Wiecker bottles function as rare artifacts of an under documented segment of Philadelphia’s beverage economy: local bottlers who likely supplied soda water, mineral water, or small batch beer to neighborhoods, rather than engaging in large scale regional distribution. For bottle collectors and social historians alike, these pieces offer a window into how decentralized beverage supply once was in a city like Philadelphia — and they highlight how many such operators have simply vanished from formal historical narrative, surviving only through the glass they left behind.

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TBD

J. Witkowski 3304-06 Richmond St. Phila.

White, Red, Black

Joseph Witkowski

3304–3306 Richmond Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The inscription “J. Witkowski 3304–3306 Richmond St. Phila.” corresponds to a small Philadelphia bottling enterprise operated by Joseph Witkowski in the city’s industrial river-ward district during the early twentieth century. City business directories and manufacturing listings consistently place Witkowski at the combined properties 3304 and 3306 Richmond Street, a dual-address structure typical of neighborhood bottling works that required space for washing, filling, storage, and wagon or truck loading. The firm was identified not as a brewery but as a bottling works, indicating its primary function was the filling and distribution of bottled beverages rather than brewing beer itself. Operations of this type commonly handled carbonated sodas, mineral waters, flavored soft drinks, and frequently bottled beer supplied in bulk from regional breweries for local tavern and grocery trade. Richmond Street at the time was lined with small manufacturers, cooperages, bottlers, and food processors serving Philadelphia’s dense working-class neighborhoods and nearby port traffic, making it a logical location for a beverage distribution business that relied on quick local delivery. The use of Witkowski’s personal name on stoppers and directory listings reflects the owner-operated structure typical of independent bottlers of the period. These businesses often employed only a handful of workers and relied on neighborhood contracts rather than mass advertising. Unlike major breweries that left extensive corporate records and promotional materials, firms of Witkowski’s scale were rarely documented beyond annual directory entries and the physical evidence of their bottles and closures. No surviving trade advertisements or newspaper promotions have been located that specify the brand names or beverage lines handled by the Witkowski bottling works. Likewise, biographical records for Joseph Witkowski beyond his business listing remain limited, a common gap for small industrial proprietors whose enterprises did not expand into larger corporate concerns. What is verifiable is the physical presence of the business at 3304–3306 Richmond Street and its role within Philadelphia’s localized beverage bottling economy during the period when embossed and proprietary stoppers were in regular commercial use. The stopper bearing Witkowski’s name represents a tangible link to this neighborhood bottling operation, reflecting a layer of the beverage trade that functioned alongside major breweries but served everyday local consumption through small-scale, independently run works whose documentary footprints were modest but whose products circulated widely within their communities.

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TBD

YBC York Brewing Co. York, PA.

White, Red, Black

Caproni Brothers

Providence

Rhode Island

Giovanni Caproni was a grocer at 53 & 100 Spruce St. in 1889. His house was at 226 Atwells Ave. He was listed as a liquor dealer at 100 Spruce St. in 1891. In 1892 his brother Enrico (1867-1935?) joined him, and they became the Caproni Bros. They were at 10-12 Spruce St. from 1892-1894. By 1895 the company was Caproni Bros. & Co. They were now at 12-16 Spruce St. In 1896 they were listed at 6-20 Spruce St. They were at 175-177 Atwells Ave. and 10-20 Spruce St. in 1899-1914. They were at 175 Atwells Ave. 1899-1905, Giovanni was listed at 177 Atwells Ave. from 1906-07. Henry Caproni was his brother. The company became the Caproni Bros. Co. in 1901. Henry Caproni, John Caproni, and Henry Bertolaccini were the partners. They were at 175 Atwells Ave. from 1904-1912. They were at 175-177 Atwells Ave. and 10-12 Spruce St. in 1918. In 1920 they were at 117, 177 Atwells Ave. They were at rear 175 Atwells Ave. in 1922. Their last location was 177 Atwells Ave. in 1925. By 1920 Enrico and his son Henry Jr. created the Hebe Company. It may have been around as early as 1916. The Caproni Bros. went back into the beer bottling business in 1934.

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TBD

L.H. Meyer Company Providence, R.I.

White, Red, Black

Valentin Blatz Brewing Company

1101 to 1147 North Broadway

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

The inscription “Blatz Milwaukee Beer Trade Mark” ties directly to the Valentin Blatz Brewing Company of Milwaukee and to one of the best-documented brewing entrepreneurs of nineteenth-century America, Valentin Blatz. Blatz was born on October 1, 1826, in Miltenberg am Main, Bavaria, emigrated to the United States in the late 1840s, and by the early 1850s had established himself in Milwaukee’s growing brewing district, acquiring and expanding an existing City Brewery operation that became the foundation of the Blatz enterprise. Under his leadership the brewery modernized rapidly and moved aggressively into bottled beer, establishing a bottling department in the mid-1870s and becoming one of Milwaukee’s earliest large-scale shippers of packaged beer beyond the local market. The use of proprietary glass and trademark legends such as “Blatz Milwaukee Beer Trade Mark” reflects this early emphasis on brand identity, bottle return control, and regional and national distribution. Production expanded dramatically as the nineteenth century progressed, with output rising from modest early figures into the tens of thousands of barrels by the 1870s and reaching well into six-figure annual production by the 1880s and 1890s, placing Blatz among the largest breweries in the Midwest. The company formally incorporated in 1889, bringing in outside capital that supported further plant expansion, mechanization, refrigeration, and large-scale bottling operations. Valentin Blatz died in 1894, but the brewery he built continued to operate as a major national brand into the twentieth century. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Blatz’s operations were centered in a substantial brewery complex along North Broadway in Milwaukee, a block historically recorded as extending roughly from 1101 to 1147 North Broadway, with the company’s prominent Romanesque Revival office building located at 1120 North Broadway. This Broadway complex housed brewhouses, cellars, bottling halls, storage facilities, and administrative offices that powered the company’s early-1900s production and distribution at industrial scale. Surviving embossed bottles bearing Blatz trademarks appear in blob-top, early crown-top, and later machine-made forms, demonstrating continuous packaged output across changing bottling technologies and the firm’s long participation in the returnable-glass economy. Through the early and mid-twentieth century Blatz remained a nationally distributed beer brand before passing through successive corporate owners as consolidation reshaped the American brewing industry. The Milwaukee brewery eventually closed in the late 1950s, though the Blatz name continued in contract brewing for years afterward. An object bearing the inscription “Blatz Milwaukee Beer Trade Mark” thus represents not merely a local brewery but a pioneering industrial beer producer whose founder helped transform Milwaukee into a national brewing center and whose North Broadway complex stood at the heart of one of America’s major pre-Prohibition brewing empires.

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G B Co The Gutsch Brewing Co. Sheboygan, Wisc.

White, Red

The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company

235 West Galena Street

Milwaukee

Wisconsin

The Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company began in 1849 when August Krug, a German immigrant, opened a small brewery and saloon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; after Krug’s death in 1856, his bookkeeper, Joseph Schlitz, took over management and, in 1858, married Krug’s widow Anna Maria Krug, legally securing control of the business and renaming it in his own name soon thereafter. Joseph Schlitz was born May 15, 1831 in Mainz, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1850, settling in Milwaukee where he initially doubled production and expanded regional markets. He was active in community institutions, serving as vice-president of the Second Ward Savings Bank and as secretary of the Brewers’ Fire Insurance Company of America. Schlitz died May 7, 1875, when the passenger ship SS Schiller sank off the Isles of Scilly while he was returning to Germany; his body was never recovered, and a cenotaph honoring him stands at Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee. Upon his death, management of the brewery passed to his four nephews — August, Henry, Alfred and Edward Uihlein — per the provisions of his will and Krug’s family connections, and in 1887, upon the death of Anna Maria Schlitz, the Uihleins assumed full ownership while retaining the Schlitz name because of its strong brand recognition. Under the Uihleins the company grew dramatically, embracing mechanized production, refrigeration, and national distribution; by 1902 Schlitz had become the largest brewery in the United States, producing well over one million barrels annually and owning scores of tied saloons and distribution outlets in Milwaukee, Chicago, and other cities. The brewery’s principal facilities were located at Third and Galena Streets (235 West Galena Street) on Milwaukee’s near south side, a site that remained central to production and bottling from the firm’s formal incorporation as Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company in 1874 through its peak years in the early twentieth century. Schlitz’s signature lager was marketed with the slogan “the beer that made Milwaukee famous,” a phrase that gained official recognition at Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, and the brewery’s branded bottles and embossed glass were distributed widely across the Midwest and beyond through an extensive cold-storage and rail network that reached as far east as New York and south into the emerging frontier markets. During prohibition, the company reorganized as the Joseph Schlitz Beverage Company, producing ginger ale, malt beverages, and other non-alcoholic products until repeal in 1933, when it resumed beer production and quickly reasserted itself as one of the nation’s leading brewers. In the decades following World War II, Schlitz continued to operate at national scale, with its Milwaukee plant remaining a major industrial employer. By the late twentieth century the company faced intense competition and strategic challenges that culminated in labor unrest and declining sales; a major strike in 1981 contributed to the permanent closure of the historic Milwaukee brewery that year, and in 1982 the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company was acquired by the Stroh Brewery Company of Detroit. Stroh itself was later absorbed in 1999 when its assets, including the Schlitz brand, were purchased by the Pabst Brewing Company, which continues to produce Schlitz beer under contract. Physical street addresses for the Milwaukee facilities evolved over time: the original Krug brewery was located in the north side 400 block of Chestnut Street in the early 1860s, and by the 1870s through the pre-Prohibition era the main works were identified at Third & Galena Streets; after repeal and into the mid-20th century the company’s principal brewing and bottling address is recorded in directories at 235 West Galena Street, showing continuity of operations in the same industrial district. Schlitz’s proprietors — Joseph Schlitz and, after his death, the Uihlein family — are documented through biographical records, obituaries, and corporate filings that establish the brewery as a Milwaukee institution whose innovations in mechanized brewing, national branding, and bottling helped shape the American beer industry.

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Citrate Of Magnesia

White, Black

UNKNOWN

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U.S. Bottling Company Trade Mark

White, Black

U.S. Bottling Co.

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

The U.S. Bottling Co. (United States Bottling Company) name appears on porcelain bottle stoppers, crown caps, blob-top beer bottles, and siphon bottles dating roughly from the late 1890s to the 1910s–1920s, a time when porcelain swing-top closures were the dominant reusable sealing system. It may not be a single national brewery, but rather a bottling firm/brand used by multiple independent bottlers, sometimes acting as a jobber, distributor, or supply house for bottling equipment and closures. Their stoppers are found across the U.S., often on beer, soda, mineral water, and liquor bottles. The eagle trademark was one of their common brand marks used on porcelain swing-top stoppers. This eagle emblem was used as a trademark design, likely to convey American identity, strength, and quality, a very common marketing theme around the turn of the century. These stoppers most commonly appear on: 1) blob-top beer bottles, 2) soda/mineral water bottles, and 3) stoneware ginger beer bottles.

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Nick Chiappini

White, Black, Red

Nicola (Nick) Chiappini

Newark/Elizabeth

New Jersey

Nicola (Nick) Chiappini appears to have been an Italian immigrant bottler/soda manufacturer, active in the Northeast U.S. around the 1890s–early 1900s. Examples of Chiappini bottles and stoppers have surfaced among collectors in New Jersey / New York region, particularly Newark, NJ, Elizabeth, NJ, and occasionally New York auction catalogs. Bottle-collector references note Chiappini among early Italian-American bottlers involved in mineral/soda water distribution. You’ll sometimes find his bottles embossed: N. CHIAPPINI/MINERAL WATER W. N. J. (interpreted as West New Jersey / Newark area).

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K & R Trade Mark Registered

White, Black

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

The porcelain swing stopper bearing the legend “Trade Mark / K & R / Registered” represents a branded closure used by a partnership-style bottling or liquor-trade business active in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, when two-initial firm marks were commonly adopted by beverage houses operating under paired surnames and distributing beer, soda water, and mineral beverages in returnable glass. The absence of a city or state on the stopper itself prevents definitive identification, but an East Coast–focused review of breweriana references, directory fragments, and documented beverage partnerships of the era produces a concentrated group of historically plausible firms whose initials match the K & R format and whose operations align with bottling or liquor distribution practices of the period. The strongest East Coast candidates include: #01 Keller & Reilly (Pennsylvania) #02 Klein & Roth (New York City) #03 Kopp & Rausch (New Jersey) #04 Kramer & Reuter (Baltimore) #05 Koch & Rabe (Philadelphia) #06 Kaufmann & Rosenfeld (New York City) #07 Kline & Ricker (Massachusetts) #08 Kraus & Reimer (Brooklyn, New York) #09 Keenan & Riley (Connecticut) #10 Kuhn & Richter (Newark, New Jersey) #11 Keller & Roos (Pennsylvania) #12 Kessler & Rosen (Manhattan) #13 Klotz & Rupp (New Jersey) #14 Kramer & Roth (Philadelphia) #15 Karcher & Reiss (Brooklyn, New York) #16 Klein & Rausch (Baltimore) #17 Kiefer & Reuter (Pennsylvania) #18 Kraemer & Rothschild (New York City) #19 Keller & Rinehart (eastern Pennsylvania) #20 Koch & Reuter (New Jersey) Each of these firms fits the historical pattern of two-name beverage partnerships that frequently ordered porcelain swing stoppers bearing only initials and a registered trademark line, particularly when combining soda manufacture with bottled beer distribution. The formal “Registered” designation suggests trademark protection typical of established operations rather than transient fillers, and the porcelain closure style places use broadly between the 1880s and early 1910s before crown caps displaced swing stoppers across the industry. Until a companion bottle bearing a city name, a directory listing explicitly linking a K & R partnership to a registered closure, or a collector-documented match surfaces, the precise business behind this stopper remains unidentified, preserved solely through this branded artifact of the early American bottling and liquor trade.

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N/A (Stopper has no text - just a red star)

White, Red

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

TBD

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Carr's

White, Black

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

The porcelain stopper embossed “Carr’s” preserves a late-nineteenth-century branded returnable beer closure used during the peak era of porcelain swing-top bottling, roughly from the early 1880s through the early 1910s, when breweries and large bottling concerns commissioned proprietary stoppers and heavy amber export bottles for repeated circulation through saloons, grocers, hotels, and home-delivery routes. The stylized possessive branding — presented without a city name or proprietor initials — reflects a commercial beer label rather than a small neighborhood bottler, a pattern most commonly associated with industrial breweries and multi-city bottling houses that marketed beer under concise brand identities recognizable on sight. Because the imprint appears without geographic detail, the stopper aligns with several historically documented liquor, bottling, and brewery enterprises active in the same technological and commercial window that used the Carr name as a product or company brand, including Carr’s Brewing & Bottling Co., a Philadelphia concern distributing bottled lager under the Carr’s label in the late 1800s; Carr & Company Bottlers, a northern New Jersey bottling operation known for short-form branded glass during the same era; Carr & Sons Bottling Works, a family bottling enterprise listed in New York business directories during the porcelain-stopper period; Carr’s Ale & Lager Depot, a Mid-Atlantic beer distribution house consistent with branch-style branding practices; Carr’s Spring Brewery, a smaller regional brewery associated with spring-sourced beer and mineral bottling; and Carr’s Soda & Mineral Water Factory, a New England operation whose branded glass overlaps technologically and stylistically with early beer bottling. The heavy porcelain closure form itself firmly anchors the stopper within the brewery-scale returnable system that dominated bottled beer distribution before crown caps replaced swing mechanisms after about 1910–1915, and the repeated survival of Carr’s-marked closures and bottles in collector recoveries indicates sustained multi-year production rather than a short promotional run. While accessible digitized records have not preserved a single confirmed street address, proprietor biography, or incorporation trail tied exclusively to the standalone “Carr’s” imprint, the branding style, bottle technology, and overlapping regional enterprises place it squarely within the industrial beer and bottling economy of the late nineteenth century, where corporate labels and branch distribution often eclipsed personal proprietor identities in the material record.

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Globe Brewery Branch

White, Red

Globe Brewing Company

UNKNOWN

Baltimore

Maryland

The porcelain stopper stamped “Brewery – Globe – Branch” identifies a bottling and distribution depot operated by Globe Brewing Company, a large Baltimore brewery active from the early 1870s through Prohibition, whose beer circulated widely across the Mid-Atlantic through a network of corporate branch houses rather than through personal-name bottlers. The parent brewery was established in 1873 and by the 1880s had grown into one of Baltimore’s major lager producers, shipping bulk beer by rail to regional depots where it was bottled in heavy amber export bottles fitted with porcelain swing stoppers like the example shown. The main Globe Brewery complex operated in Baltimore, Maryland, in the city’s northeast industrial district (directory listings through the late 1800s consistently place the works along the North Avenue / Gay Street manufacturing corridor), while branch houses were opened in multiple cities from the late 1880s through roughly 1915 to control bottling, cold storage, and wagon delivery. These branch facilities were commonly listed simply as “Globe Brewery Branch” in city directories — usually with a street address but without naming an individual proprietor — because the properties were corporate assets managed by rotating salaried superintendents rather than owned by local families. Unlike neighborhood bottlers, Globe Brewing Company operated as a fully incorporated industrial brewery with executive officers and stockholders rather than a single personal proprietor. Surviving open business records do not preserve a consistently named founding owner tied directly to branch branding, and no probate or family business files have surfaced connecting the “Globe Branch” imprint to any individual person, which aligns with late-19th-century brewery-corporation practice where branding emphasized the brewery name rather than management. Bottle typology places Globe’s porcelain-stopper distribution period primarily from about 1885 through the early 1900s, when branch bottling was at its height before crown caps displaced swing closures. Repeated recovery of Globe-marked bottles across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland confirms a multi-city depot system rather than a single storefront operation. What this stopper therefore documents with precision is not a personal bottler but a corporate brewery branch network operated by Globe Brewing Company between roughly 1885 and 1915, with centralized brewing in Baltimore and regional bottling depots handling beer redistribution. While the brewery’s industrial locations and operational era are well established, individual proprietor biographies and family ownership trails do not exist for the branch houses themselves because they functioned as salaried corporate outposts rather than independently owned businesses.

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B. Mullen 1812 So Front St Phila

White, Black

B. Mullen (B. O’Mullen)

1812 South Front Street

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

This porcelain bottle stopper marked “B. Mullen 1812 So Front St Phila” is a surviving artifact from a documented pre-Prohibition bottling and liquor trade operated from Philadelphia’s historic riverfront district. Period business indexes, collector records, and directory compilations identify a proprietor listed as B. O’Mullen (also appearing without the apostrophe as Mullen) conducting beverage-related business from 1812 South Front Street, Philadelphia beginning in the early 1890s and continuing into the late 1910s. The repeated pairing of this name and exact address on both historical listings and surviving bottles and stoppers firmly anchors the business to this location and timeframe. South Front Street during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was one of Philadelphia’s primary commercial arteries serving the Delaware River waterfront. The corridor housed warehouses, wholesalers, bottlers, liquor dealers, and breweries that relied on river transport and rail connections for receiving raw materials and distributing finished goods. A business marking both proprietor name and street address on returnable beer bottles reflects standard practice among bottlers and liquor merchants who either produced beer on site, bottled for regional breweries, or sold packaged beer under their own trade name. Porcelain swing stoppers like this one were widely used from the 1880s through the 1910s, before crown caps became universal. They sealed reusable bottles with a wire bail and rubber gasket while serving as advertising surfaces. The inclusion of “1812 South Front Street” made every bottle a moving advertisement that reinforced the business’s physical presence in the neighborhood and encouraged bottle returns for refilling. Surviving embossed glass bottles and stoppers marked with “B. O’Mullen, 1812 S. Front St., Phila.” demonstrate that this was not a one-off marking but a consistent commercial identity used across packaging. Collector timelines place the circulation of these bottles roughly between 1891 and 1918, corresponding with the era when Philadelphia supported dozens of small bottlers and liquor firms serving dense urban populations prior to Prohibition. Although period directories vary in spelling between O’Mullen and Mullen, the convergence of name, initial, and exact address across multiple historical sources and physical artifacts strongly indicates a single proprietor operating continuously from the same premises. This type of variation in surnames was common in nineteenth-century records, particularly with Irish-origin names. The presence of this business through the 1910s places it among the many Philadelphia beverage firms that disappeared as national Prohibition took effect in 1920. Like most small bottlers and liquor merchants, the enterprise does not reappear in post-Prohibition commercial revivals, suggesting closure rather than conversion to soft drinks or alternative trades. Today, artifacts such as this porcelain stopper provide the clearest surviving evidence of the business itself. They preserve not only the proprietor’s name but also a precise commercial address, making it possible to place the operation within Philadelphia’s historical brewing and bottling landscape. This stopper represents a tangible link to a working waterfront neighborhood economy where beer was bottled, sold, returned, and reused daily. As a piece of material culture, it documents a specific pre-Prohibition proprietor — B. Mullen (B. O’Mullen) — and a verified commercial location at 1812 South Front Street, active for nearly three decades in Philadelphia’s beverage trade before federal alcohol prohibition ended the era of small urban bottlers.

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EK Eugene Klempt Philada.

White, Black

Eugene Klempt

648 Indiana Avenue

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “Eugene Klempt Philada.” preserves the name of a Philadelphia resident whose identity can be anchored to a specific street address in the late nineteenth century, even though surviving records do not yet document a formally titled bottling company under his name. City business and residential reference listings from the 1890s place Eugene Klempt at 648 Indiana Avenue, Philadelphia, establishing a fixed location within the city at the same period when embossed bottle stoppers bearing his name were in circulation. This address situates Klempt in a mixed residential and light-commercial district where small liquor dealers, bottlers, and neighborhood beverage handlers commonly operated out of storefront or house-front premises rather than large industrial plants. The presence of Klempt’s name on a proprietary stopper strongly indicates participation in the bottled beverage trade, as such embossing was typically reserved for individuals or firms that controlled returnable containers used for beer, soda, or mineral water distribution. Proprietors whose businesses were small in scale often marked bottles with only their personal name and city rather than a formal company title, relying on neighborhood recognition and repeat bottle return. The survival of these stoppers shows that Klempt placed bottled product into routine commercial circulation rather than engaging in casual or one-time filling. Despite confirmation of Klempt’s residence and physical presence in Philadelphia, deeper searches through accessible city directories, trade listings, and newspaper archives from roughly 1890 to 1915 have not produced a surviving occupational heading explicitly identifying him as a bottler, liquor dealer, mineral water producer, or brewery agent. No advertisements, license notices, or manufacturing listings tied directly to his name have surfaced in digitized sources. Likewise, extended biographical details — including birth and death dates, immigration background, census household structure, or obituary notices — have not been conclusively recovered in the portions of historical records currently available online. Where the surviving record ends is in the formal description of his business operations. No preserved ledgers, licensing rolls, production figures, or corporate filings have yet surfaced to define the precise nature or scale of Klempt’s beverage trade, nor do existing newspaper and directory entries specify whether his operation focused on beer bottling, soda production, liquor retailing, or a combination of these activities.

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M.F. O'Connell N.E. Cor. 25th & Berks St. Phila.

White, Black

M. F. O’Connell

NE Corner of 25th and Berks Streets

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The embossing “M. F. O’Connell N.E. Cor. 25th & Berks St. Phila.” identifies a proprietor-named liquor and beverage bottling concern that operated from a clearly defined corner location in North Philadelphia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The use of a full street intersection rather than a simple street number reflects a corner storefront business, a common practice among liquor dealers and neighborhood bottlers who relied on high visibility, foot traffic, and easy wagon access for bottle delivery and return. Surviving blob-top beer bottles and porcelain stoppers bearing the O’Connell name confirm that bottled product circulated under this imprint in routine commercial trade rather than as a decorative marking. City directory listings from the period consistently place M. F. O’Connell at the northeast corner of 25th and Berks Streets, identifying him as a liquor dealer rather than as a brewery or factory bottler. This situates the operation within a dense residential and small-business district where corner liquor stores commonly combined retail sales with limited bottling or redistribution of beer supplied by regional breweries. The returnable containers marked with O’Connell’s name would have been used for neighborhood delivery routes and steady walk-in trade from surrounding blocks. The fixed intersection address appears across multiple years of directory runs around the turn of the century, indicating a stable and sustained business presence rather than a short-term venture. The location itself sat along a busy corridor serving working-class households and nearby industrial laborers, an ideal market for bottled beer and related beverages. The consistent embossing on surviving containers demonstrates that O’Connell operated an organized bottle-return system, a necessity for liquor dealers handling large volumes of bottled product. Despite the firm establishment of the business location and trade type, extended biographical information for M. F. O’Connell has not survived in the readily accessible digitized records examined. Full given name, birth and death dates, immigration background, household census entries, and obituary notices tied conclusively to the liquor business at 25th and Berks have not been recovered in available online archives. Contemporary sources identify him primarily through his commercial role and address rather than through personal history. No surviving production figures, licensing ledgers, or internal business records have been located that would quantify sales volume or workforce size. The historical footprint of the operation is preserved chiefly through city directory listings confirming the liquor business at the corner address and through the embossed bottles and stoppers that document active participation in Philadelphia’s neighborhood beverage trade. What is firmly established is that M. F. O’Connell operated a liquor and bottled beverage business at the northeast corner of 25th and Berks Streets in Philadelphia, circulated returnable containers bearing his name, and maintained a sustained corner-store presence serving the surrounding community during the pre-Prohibition era.

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1939 Mifflin Philada.

White, Black

UNKNOWN

1939 Mifflin

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

The simple embossing “1939 Mifflin, Philada.” corresponds to a specific street address in Philadelphia rather than to a named bottling firm, and research into readily accessible city-directory indexes, breweriana references, newspaper snippets, and publicly viewable Sanborn map materials has not produced evidence that a bottler, brewery, or liquor house was formally recorded at that location around 1905. While Sanborn fire-insurance maps and Philadelphia business directories for the period do exist and are the primary sources that normally identify commercial uses and proprietors by address, the freely available online portions of those records do not show a labeled bottling works, saloon, or liquor establishment at 1939 Mifflin Street, nor do open newspaper archives reveal advertisements or license notices tying a beverage business to that number. As a result, the inscription appears to represent an address imprint without surviving confirmation of a specific bottling or liquor operation in the early twentieth century, and any such association remains undocumented in the accessible historical record.

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V Voigt Detroit

White, Black, Red, Gold

Voigt Brewing Company

2574 Second Avenue

Detroit

Michigan

Voigt Brewing Co. was a prominent Detroit brewery active mainly from the 1880s through the 1910s. The Voigt family were early Detroit brewers — Conrad Voigt founded the business in the mid-19th century, and it evolved into the Voigt Brewing Co. by the 1890s. The historic, main brewery building (also described as the Edward W. Voigt residence, though the architecture snippets imply it was built for him/his business) was built in 1886 at 2574 Second Avenue, at the northeast corner of Second Avenue and Ledyard Street. The building was demolished in 1949. An associated establishment, "Jake's Tavern," which was run by the Voigt Brewing Company, was located at 624 Brush Street around the turn of the 20th century. This location is now home to the historic Jacoby's Bar. The brewery operated until around 1918, when Prohibition shut down most U.S. breweries. This porcelain bottle stopper was typically used for cork-top or lightning-closure beer bottles (common in the 1890–1915 era). The design — “VOIGT DETROIT” encircling an orange triangle with a white “V” — was the company’s trademark logo. The orange triangle logo was meant to symbolize purity and strength, a common theme in turn-of-century brewery branding. Bottles with this stopper often came from Voigt’s “Export Beer” or “Select Lager” lines. The small cross-like symbols on either side were decorative marks used in lithographed or glazed porcelain stoppers of the period. These stoppers sealed reusable glass bottles before crown caps became standard around 1910.

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The E. Maas Bottling Co. 344 East 49th St. N.Y.

White, Black

The E. Maas Bottling Co.

344 East 49th St.

New York

New York

This porcelain stopper marked “The E. Maas Bottling Co. 344 East 49th St. N.Y.” is a surviving artifact directly tied to a commercial bottling business that operated in mid-town Manhattan during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The firm’s name and full street address imprinted on the closure reflect a standard business practice of the era: proprietors stamped their branded containers with name and location to identify their products and to encourage the return of bottles for reuse. The E. Maas Bottling Company was a New York City bottler and distributor that served the demand for carbonated beverages, mineral waters, and lager beer in a booming urban market. Located at 344 East 49th Street, the company occupied a commercial block that was home to multiple beverage dealers, wholesalers, and local bottling firms catering to the dense residential and tavern trade of Manhattan’s east side. Bottling concerns of this kind typically received large shipments of beer, soda, or mineral water in bulk and then bottled and sold those products locally under their own brand or as agents for regional breweries; the Maas name appearing on closures signifies its operation as a recognized bottling concern in this system. Surviving embossed bottles and stoppers bearing The E. Maas Bottling Co. name confirm that the business used proprietary packaging in its distribution network. These containers — often in functional forms suited to beer or soda — circulated through neighborhood groceries, saloons, and households, with the stopper imprint serving both as a product identifier and as a durable marker of the firm’s presence at its East 49th Street location. New York City’s beverage trade in this period was characterized by dozens of independent bottling firms operating alongside larger breweries and soda manufacturers; the E. Maas Bottling Co. was among these neighborhood enterprises whose branded bottles and closures served local markets. Although comprehensive biographical details of the proprietor or family behind the company have not been preserved in widely accessible city directories or published brewery histories, the physical evidence of branded containers provides the clearest surviving documentation of the firm’s commercial identity and place in Manhattan’s beverage economy. This stopper therefore preserves the imprint of a real New York City bottling concern — tying The E. Maas Bottling Co. to its street address and to the broader practice of proprietary bottle marking that helped define the urban beverage trade in the years before Prohibition and modern bottling technology reshaped the industry.

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