Tag: antique liquor flask

Elfers & Otterstedt, 529 – 9th Ave., New York

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.

 

Ch. Bleyert, 223 – 8th Ave., New York

 

Born in 1855, census records from 1920 identify Charles Bleyert as a German immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1880. As far as I can tell Bleyert spent the next 40 years in New York City’s Borough of Manhattan working at various times as a sales agent and shopkeeper.

Bleyert was initially listed in the 1883 New York City directory as a clerk living on Manhattan’s 2nd Street. Then over the next four years he listed his occupation as an “agent,” located  at two different addresses; 135 East 59th St. (circa 1883 to 1885) and 235 East 33rd St. (circa 1886 to 1888.)

Sometime, circa 1888, Bleyert moved to 223 Eighth Avenue (between 21st and 22nd Streets) where he remained for the next 16 years primarily listing his occupation in the directories as “liquors,” though he sometimes used the occupation of “grocer” instead. At the same time he also continued to serve as a local selling agent for at least one patent medicine, a product called “DePlagnol’s Austrian Liniment.”  This newspaper advertisement for the liniment naming Bleyert as a local agent appeared in the September 25, 1890 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Times.”

All this leads me to believe Bleyert’s business served as a general store that sold a variety of items that included  liquor, various patent medicines and groceries among other things.

Sometime in 1904 Bleyert moved further north where, over the next three years, he was listed as a grocer in upper Manhattan with an address of 58 West 116th Street.

By 1908 he had apparently given up the store and was working as a broker/salesman in the liquor business while living at 318 West 116th Street. Census records still listed him at that address with the occupation “salesman – wholesale wine” in 1920.

There’s no mention of Bleyert in either the 1922 or 1925 New York City directories so it’s likely he fell victim to national prohibition. By then he would have been in his late 60’s so it’s possible he either retired and moved on or passed away.

The bottle I found is a mouth blown liquor flask that contained a “Full Measure 1/2 Pint.” It exhibits the 223 Eighth Avenue address dating it between 1888 and 1904, the 16 year period that Bleyert used that address.