Elfers & Otterstedt was a local saloon business run by two German immigrants, Dederich (sometimes Diederich) Elfers and Henry Otterstedt.
Otterstedt was born in 1866 and arrived in the United States sometime between 1880 (1910 census) and 1883 (1900 census). As early as 1883 he was in the liquor business with his brother, Frederick, under the name Otterstedt Brothers at 67 Hudson Street. They’re listed that way in the New York City directories as late as 1889.
Sometime around 1890 Henry Otterstedt moved to Brooklyn where throughout much of the 1890’s and early 1900’s he was listed in the Brooklyn directories with the occupation “grocer.” Addresses he used during this time include 6th Ave. c. 12th St. (circa 1894 to 1897), 108 5th Ave. (circa 1899 to 1901) and 867 Fulton St. (circa 1902 to 1903.)
By mid-decade Otterstedt was back in Manhattan and in business with Dederich Elfers. Census records in 1910 list Elfers’ arrival in the United States as 1891, but I can’t find any information on him prior to 1907 when the New York City Copartnership and Corporation Directory named both Elfers and Otterstedt as partners in the firm of D. H. Elfers & Co., located at 929 Ninth Avenue.
Later that year the business incorporated under the name of “Elfers & Otterstedt.” Their incorporation notice was published in the September 6, 1907 edition of the “New York Times.”
The next year, the 1908 Copartnership and Corporation Directory listing named Otterstedt, president; Elfers, treasurer and August Roffmann, secretary. According to the June 14, 1971 obituary of Elfers’ wife, Pauline, published in the “Mount Vernon (N.Y.) Argus,” the secretary and third named director, August Roffmann, was Elfers’ father-in-law.
The company continued to be listed in the New York City directories up through 1918, always at the 529 Ninth Avenue address. Census records in 1910 also have Elfers and Otterstedt living at that address with the occupations of “bartender – saloon'” and “storekeeper – saloon,” respectively. This all leads me to believe that both lived in apartments above the street level saloon, a supposition that’s supported by the building that’s located there today. A four story walk-up with a commercial store at ground level, according to streeteasy.com, it was built in 1900 so it’s the same building that housed the saloon.
The business was almost certainly a victim of national prohibition. In 1920 the NYC Directory indicates Elfers still lived at that location but with “no occupation.” At the same time, Elfers & Otterstedt was no longer listed. Census records in 1930 through 1950 list Elfers as a real estate agent living further north in upper Manhattan. According to his August 24th obituary in the “Mount Vernon Argus,” Elfers passed away on August 22, 1959.
Otterstedt moved back to Brooklyn where census records listed his occupation as “agent.” in 1920 and “retired” in 1930.
The bottle I found is a mouth blown liquor flask containing roughly a half-pint. It certainly dates to the years the saloon was in operation, 1907 to sometime in the late teens. Mouth blown it likely skews toward the earlier side of this period.
One hundred plus years ago the flask likely passed through the front door of what is now a smoke shop before making its way to the Long Island bays.
