The name Mimnaugh in Far Rockaway dates back to at least 1867 when Curtin’s Long Island directory named James Mimnaugh as the proprietor of a “country store.” He’s not listed in the 1865 directory suggesting that the Mimnaugh business got its start sometime in the mid-1860’s.
At some point in the early to mid 1870’s it appears that his son, also named James, joined the business at which time it operated under the name “J & J Mimnaugh”until 1887 when James Mimnaugh, Sr. left and turned complete control of the store over to his son. An announcement to this effect, dated June 3, 1877, appeared in several editions of Freeport Long Island’s “South Side Signal.”
JAMES MIMNAUGH, JR., would inform the public that he has assumed entire control of the store business conducted under the firm name of J. & J. Mimnaugh.
The announcement referred to the business as:
…and went on to say:
A year later Mimnaugh still owned the business when it was burglarized on a Sunday morning. The burglary was reported in the March 13, 1878 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle.”
At one 0’clock on Sunday morning thieves effected an entrance to the store of James Mimnaugh, in Far Rockaway. They bored holes around the lock, knocked the wood out and thus were enabled to unlock the door. The hand of one of the men was cut in the operation. They had a wagon and one horse, and carried off dry goods, boots and shoes and groceries to the amount of $680. The burglary was not discovered until seven o’clock the next morning.
Up to this point it’s clear that the business was still operating as a general or country store, so it’s possible that Mimnaugh was selling bottled beer and soda, however, if he was it certainly wasn’t apparent in his advertising. In fact, I can’t connect the Mimnaugh name with bottling until 1889 when this item appeared in the July 13th edition of the “South Side Signal.”
On complaint of Charles L. Looker, agent of the Bottler’s Association, Henry Lotz, of Rockville Centre, and James E Mimnaugh of Far Rockaway, were arrested on the charge of using and trafficking in bottles belonging to Pflug and Ackley and E. Matthews, bottlers , of Hempstead. They were tried before Justice B. V. Clowes and found guilty. Lotz was fined $65 and Mimnaugh $10. Lotz had 198 bottles in his possession and Mimnaugh 20.
Subsequently, in the 1890’s, I’ve been able to find three Far Rockaway business listings for James Mimnaugh all of which suggest bottling. In 1890, he’s listed with the occupation “liquors” with an address of Central Avenue, near Cornaga Avenue. Later, in 1898 and 1899, he’s listed as a “bottler of lager beer” at the corner of Carleton Avenue and R.R. Avenue. During the same 1890’s period there’s no listing I can find that associated Mimnaugh with a general store, dry goods or groceries. By 1900, census records list Mimnaugh’s occupation as a day laborer and business directories in the early 1900’s don’t associate him with any bottling related categories.
This all suggests that Mimnaugh got out of the country store and established a bottling business sometime in the 1880’s and continued it until 1900 at the latest.
The bottle I found is a mouth blown champagne style with a blob finish. It fits the late 1880’s to 1890’s time frame when Mimnaugh was certainly in the bottling business.