Owen McShane was born in 1846 and spent his entire life in Brooklyn, New York. He served as a mineral water manufacturer and bottler in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill section from the late 1870’s up through the early 1900’s.
He first appears in the Brooklyn directories as a “bottler” in 1879 with a home address of 77 Congress Street. Over the next several years he was predominately listed as a “bottler” living at various addresses that included 44 Willow Pl. (1883 – 1886) and 36 Atlantic Avenue (1887).
Then, in 1888 McShane was first listed as a “bottler” with an address of 85 Pacific Street (the address embossed on the subject bottle). By this time, he was certainly in business for himself, recognizing that his bottling notice appeared periodically in several May, 1889 editions of the “Brooklyn Times Union,” and “Brooklyn Citizen.”
McShane’s business remained on Pacific Street until 1892 when he began listing the business at 140 Harrison Street.
The catalyst for this change occurred in April of that year when McShane purchased the building at 424 Henry Street and began listing it in the directories as his residence. Located on the southwest corner of Henry and Harrison Streets, the purchase was announced in the April 11, 1892 edition of the “Brooklyn Times Union.”
S. G. Fox & Co. have sold for Joseph O’Brien to Owen McShane the three-story and basement brick dwelling, 26.5, x 55 x 125 on the southwest corner of Henry and Harrison Streets for $11,000…
The above item suggests that McShane’s purchase not only included the 26.5 x 55 building on the corner but the vacant land extending another 70 feet up Harrison Street for a total of 125 feet. I suspect that it was on a portion of this vacant land that sometime in 1892, McShane built the two-story structure at 140 Harrison Street that would house the business.
Both buildings exist to this day and their configuration serves to support this suspicion. McShane’s former residence at 424 Henry Street is still on the same corner, though it should be noted that Harrison Street was renamed Kane Street in 1928.
The building that housed the business, now 140 Kane Street, is situated about mid-block.
The two buildings are separated by a fenced-in vacant lot and it makes sense that this lot was utilized by the business as well. The lot is pictured below with 424 Henry on the left and 140 Kane on the right.
The above views are all courtesy of “Google Maps.”
Over the next 14 years McShane continued to list his residence at 424 Henry Street and the business at 140 Harrison Street. Certainly not a large operation, a New York State Factory Inspection Report, dated January, 1899, indicted the business had three employees, all working a 60-hour week.
McShane and his business both remained on Harrison Street up through 1904 after which, in 1906, the Brooklyn business directory listed the firm of G. & L.W. Fischer & Co., a blueing manufacturer, at the 14o Harrison Street address.
Whether this was the end of McShane’s bottling/mineral water business is not clear. While I can no longer find his business or residence listed in the Brooklyn directories, 1910 census records indicate McShane was still living in Brooklyn, on Bedford Avenue, and the census continued to list his occupation as “mineral water manufacturer.” He passed away in November, 1916.
More information on the building at 140 Kane Street can be found on a website called the “Brownstoner,” where it was featured as the “Building of the Day” in a January 5, 2012 post. http://brownstoner.com/architecture/building-of-the-day-140-kane-street
The subject bottle was actually found on e-bay but was certainly dredged, and likely from local waters. It’s embossed with the 85 Pacific Street address dating it between 1888 and 1891. Embossed on the back of the bottle is the 1888 start date along with the monogram described in McShane’s 1889 bottling notice.
the letters “O. S.” in a monogram, with the letters “Mc” within one of the loops of the letter “S” in the aforementioned monogram.
Recently, another McShane bottle offered for sale on the internet exhibited the 140 Harrison Street address utilized between 1892 and 1904.
