Brooklyn bottler – Bay Bottles

Creedmoor Beer, 321-323 Rutledge St., Brooklyn

Always located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. the Creedmoor Beer Company began operations sometime in the late 1870’s at 369 S 2nd Street before moving to 321-323 Rutledge Street, the address embossed on the subject bottle, in 1883.

The company was not a small brewery as you might expect from their name but in fact, a manufacturer of carbonated beverages whose menu of products was described in the August 15, 1885 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Times.”

The Creedmore Beer Company’s list of carbonated beverages includes root beer, pop beer, raspberry beer, birch beer, ginger ale, mead and lemon cream soda. Only the choicest of extracts, made from roots, barks, herbs, etc., are employed in the manufacture of these beverages, which are absolutely free from any deleterious ingredients. Havemeyer & Elders’ Moller, Sierck & Co.’s and North River Refining Company’s confectioner’s “A” sugar only is used in making the syrups, which are carefully strained and purified.

Their plant location, generally described in advertisements as Rutledge Street, near Broadway is depicted on this this Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, dated 1887 (just to the right and below the “R” in Rutledge).

Who exactly owned the business is not clear, however, according to another “Brooklyn Daily Times” item, this one published in their July 31, 1886 edition, it was managed by a man named David U. Quick.

Mr. D. U. Quick, the Manager of the Creedmoor Beer Company, whose well-appointed establishment is located at 321 and 323 Rutledge Street, near Broadway, Brooklyn, E. D. has had a long experience in the manufacture of carbonated water and fully understands the requirements of the trade, which he conscientiously endeavors at all times to meet, therefore the character of their goods for reliability and purity can always be depended upon. Hence the company’s well-merited success.

The above description was included in what was certainly a newspaper advertisement presented to look like a news item, a tactic the company employed on more than one occasion in the “Brooklyn Daily Times” during 1885 and 1886.

One such item, published on June 6, 1885, appealed to the temperance movement, stressing the non-alcoholic nature of their products.

One of the surest indications of the advancement of a true spirit of temperance is to be found in the rapidly increasing consumption of what are known as carbonated beverages. Although non alcoholic and therefore non intoxicating in their nature, they possess certain qualities that make them especially desirable as quenchers of thirst, and being composed chiefly of the extracts of roots and barks noted for their tonic and exhilarating effects, the use of these beverages if pure can be indulged to any rational extent, without the least injury to the most delicate and sensitive physical organizations. In fact, pure carbonated waters are highly recommended by medical men generally, on account of their healthful and refreshing effects on the human system.

Still another, published in the “Brooklyn Daily Times’s on July 10,1886, associated those “healthful and refreshing effects ” with the digestive system.

The inestimable value of pure carbonated beverages in all cases of feeble digestion and lack of tone in the stomach is universally acknowledged. All of the ailments prevalent in warm weather, Dyspepsia, Diarrhea, Acidity of the Stomach and kindred affections are due to but one source, namely , lack of vigor and vitality in the digestive organs. Every person who has given the subject any study is fully aware that nothing equals in efficacy in all such troubles a beverage impregnated with a pure carbonic acid gas. Between the debilitating and enervating effects of alcoholic and ice cold drinks and the invigorating and healthful carbonated beverage there should be no hesitation in choosing. Absolute purity is of vital importance, and this can only be assured where a firm has the greatest facilities and a determination that their goods shalll be the finest that skill and cleanliness can make them. All this can be said of the Creedmoor Beer Company, of 321 and 323 Rutledge Street, near Broadway, Brooklyn.

Creedmoor classified advertisements that ran in several 1886 and 1887 editions of the “Brooklyn Daily Times” made the case much more succinctly.

Carbonated waters impart vigor and tone to the stomach and exhilarate the system.

Sometime in 1889 the company moved to 67 Kent Avenue (sometimes listed as 42 N. 10th St.). By then their business card, found in the 1890 edition of Brooklyn’s “Lains” Business Directory,” identified the company as dealers in cider and vinegar in addition to carbonated water manufacturers.

The company apparently had a short stay on Kent Avenue, disappearing from the directories by 1892.

One Final Note: The “Historical Guide to Long Island Soda, Beer & Mineral Water Bottles & Bottling Companies – 1840-1970” by George Fisher, indentified a “Creedmoor Beer” bottle embossed with an address of 369 South 2nd St. in Brooklyn. The description of the bottle as presented in the guide is shown below.

While I cannot find a directory listing that associates the Creedmoor company with that address, I did find their manager, David Quick, listed with the occupation “root beer” at 369 S 2nd Street in the 1879/1880 Brooklyn city directory. This all but confirms that the company got its start in the late 1870’s at that location..

The subject bottle was blown in a mold with what looks like a tooled blob finish. It’s 10-1/4 inches tall and 3-1/2 inches in diameter. The embossed address of 321 – 323 Rutledge Street dates it between 1883 and 1889 when the company was located at that address.

L & Co., Centennial Root Beer, 1876, No. 7 Charles St., Brooklyn

The words “Centennial Root Beer” along with the year “1876” embossed on the subject bottle make it clear that it was meant to commemorate our nation’s 100th birthday. In fact, it’s at least possible that the bottle’s contents may have even been enjoyed during New York’s Fourth of July celebrations that year. So with that in mind, I thought it appropriate to start this post with a recounting of those celebrations as they appeared in the July 5, 1876 edition of the “New York Tribune.”

THE CITY’S REJOICING

THE GREAT HOLIDAY KEPT WITH SPIRIT.

PATRIOTIC AND POLITICAL SPEACHES BEFORE VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS – MERRYMAKING IN PARKS AND GROVES – ILLIUMINATIONS AND FIREWORKS AT NIGHT – FEATURES OF THE HOLIDAY OBSERVANCES IN NEIGHBORING TOWNS

The Centennial celebration begun in this city on Monday was continued throughout the night. The services at Union Square did not conclude until 2 o’clock Tuesday morning, and the vast crowd of nearly 40,000 persons which concentrated there on the previous evening did not disperse before the early dawn yesterday. The cars and cabs were loaded down with human freight as late as 1 o’clock, and the ferries on the North and East Rivers were crowded at 2 in the morning as they usually are each afternoon at 6 o’clock. The later railway trains to the suburban cities carried immense numbers up to 1 o’clock yesterday morning.

The demonstrations of enjoyment and patriotism were renewed with apparently new energy at daybreak on Tuesday, Independence Day proper. They were of a different character, however, from the display of Monday, consisting chiefly of noisy demonstrations out of doors and music and oratory within. At sunrise the forts in the bay, the battery at the Navy-Yard, and the men-of-war in the harbor joined in a national salute, during which the American flag was hoisted at the Battery. Trinity chimes were rung shortly afterward. There were a few social celebrations at the up-town parks, and a sham battle was fought at Lion Park, but there was no public celebration in the nature of a procession. At the Academy of Music, Tammany Hall, Irving Hall, and other minor political halls, programs of music and oratory interested large numbers; while at various churches, and at Association Hall, semi-religious, semi-patriotic services were held. The principal civic celebration was at the Academy of Music, where the Rev. Dr. Richard S. Storrs delivered the oration, and William Cullen Bryant’s Centennial ode was sung. The meetings at Tammany Hall and Irving Hall were very poorly attended, and degenerated into mere political gatherings of unimportant persons, whose speeches were not worth repeating.

The display of fireworks in the evening was the principal attraction, and drew great crowds to the central points especially to the City Hall Park. The extent and brilliancy of the exhibitions of fireworks made by private persons in this and neighboring cities were much greater than in former years…

The name L & Co., embossed on the bottle, was short for Litchfield & Co., a business founded by a Connecticut native named Henry C. Litchfield who manufactured and bottled root beer and mineral water in Brooklyn from 1864 to 1878. That being said, Litchfield is remembered more as an educator and New York City school principal than as a bottler. In fact, his April 11, 1900 obituary found in the “New York Tribune,” stressed his 25 year career as the principal of Manhattan’s Public School No. 79 without any mention of his bottling career.

Henry C. Litchfield who was principal of Public School No. 79, Manhattan, for more than twenty-five years, died on Monday night at his home, No. 62 South Portland Ave., Brooklyn. His connection with New York City schools covered a much longer period than his service as principal of No. 79. He has been identified with a large number of the educational societies and with the organizations and associations among the members of his profession. Notwithstanding his success in the school methods followed at the time when he fitted himself for his profession, he had always been keenly appreciative of the value of new methods, and his large school has been one of the most progressive in the city. In character and temperament he was admirably suited to his profession, as is evidenced by the loyalty, affection and esteem of the hundreds of boys who came under his influence, and of the teachers who served under him…

Back in the late 1860’s, it appears that Litchfield was managing his Brooklyn bottling business when he began teaching school in Manhattan. As early as 1864/1865 Brooklyn directories listed Lichhfield & Co. as a “root beer manufacturer with a business address of 31 Charles Street in Brooklyn. Later, sometime around 1871, the business moved to 7 Charles Street, the address embossed on the subject bottle. (Located near the Williamsburg, Brooklyn waterfront, Charles Street was later renamed Kent Avenue.)

At the same time, New York city directories in 1866 and 1867 listed Litchfield’s occupation as a teacher. According to a story in the May 18, 1895 edition of the “New York Tribune,” by the early 1870’s he had advanced to vice-principal of Grammar School No. 19 before becoming the principal of Grammar School No. 13 (later renamed No.79) in 1874.

Around the time Litchfield became principal it appears he began taking a step back from the root beer business. Sometime around 1874 or 1875, the Brooklyn directories indicate Litchfield took on a partner named Henry S. Ford and by 1877/1878 the Litchfield & Co. listing included three principals; Litchfield and Ford, along with John Kerr. Two years later Litchfield, along with Ford, had terminated their involvement in the root beer business, with the company listing in 1879/1880 only naming Kerr at the 7 Charles Street address.

A year later, Kerr moved the business to 71 N. Oxford Street in Brooklyn. His bottling notice exhibiting that address, was published in the February 7, 1880 edition of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle.” The notice suggested that at that point Kerr was still using bottles embossed with the “L & Co.” trademark.

The business was short-lived under Kerr’s management, and as far as I can tell never did produce any bottles embossed with the Kerr name. On March 18, 1881, a “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” classified advertisement announced that the business, which at the time included 8 wagons, 4 horses, bottling machines, bottles and boxes was for up sale, apparently by the building owner.

It’s not clear if anyone bought the business but a month later an April 14th “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” classified advertisement announced that the entire property on North Oxford Street was vacant and up for sale, certainly signaling the end of the business.

Ultumately, Henry C. Litchfield would go on to serve as the principal of Public School No. 79 for over 25 years, from 1874 up until his death in 1900.

According to a story in the March 25, 1886 edition of the “New York Tribune.”

No. 79 is one of the oldest schools in the city. It was reorganized in 1832 by the Public School Society in North St., now Houston St., near Norfolk Street. In 1853 it went under the control of the Board of Education. Two years ago when it had become overcrowded, the Board purchased several lots in First St., next to a primary school and on these the present building was erected. It is 80 x 100 feet, of brick, five stories high and has cost $76,000.

The school moved to its new location on First Street on March 24, 1886. This late 19th century rendering of the school appeared in the “New York Tribune,” on May 18, 1895.

At the time of his death Litchfield was one of only three educators to have served as the school’s principal over it’s entire 68 year history. They were Anson Willis (1832 – 1835), Leonard Hazeltine 1835 – 1874) and Henry C. Litchfield (1874 – 1900).

The school building that opened in 1886 remains to this day and now serves primarily as an apartment building.

More informaation on the building itself can be found on the following web site.

http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2015/10/grammar-school-no-79-nos-36-42-east-1st.html

The subject bottle is blown in a mold and exhibits an applied blob finish. It’s 10-inches tall, three-inches in diameter and contains about 27 ounces. The address of “7 Charles St., Brooklyn” is embossed on the back, but the embossing is so light it wouldn’t photograph, so you’ll have to take my word for it.

Unlike most of the bottles presented on this site, this one was not found in the Long Island bays, but in a different kind of bay…e-bay. That being said with America’s Semiquincentennial coming up I thought it certainly deserved some attention.

Happy 250th America!!!!

Owen McShane, 85 Pacific St., Brooklyn, 1888

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.

Daniel Bahr, 679 Grand St., Brooklyn

Daniel Bahr conducted a mineral water business in Brooklyn, N. Y. from 1889 to approximately 1908. The business itself however dates back to the mid-1880’s when it was apparently established by his older brother, Jacob G. Bahr.

German by birth, the Bahr brothers immigrated to the United States in 1853 settling approximately 100 miles north and west of New York City in Ellenville, New York. According to Jacob’s obituary published in the January 26, 1917 edition of the Middletown Press:

Mr. Bahr was a native of Bavaria, Germany and came with his mother to Ellenville when he was but eight years old. He was employed for a time in the old Ellenville Glass works and had continued in that business ever since. As young man he went to New York where he remained until 11 years ago….

By 1870 Jacob had made the move to New York City where he was listed as a demijohn manufacturer in Manhattan up through the mid 1880’s. Then, in 1885, he moved to Brooklyn where he associated with Henry P. Bahr, who I suspect was his father, and together they started what was likely the predecessor of the subject business. That year, both were first listed at 679 Grand Street, Jacob with the occupation “bottler” and Henry as “glass.”

Meanwhile, his younger brother Daniel had also relocated downstate to Brooklyn where he was listed throughout most of the 1880’s as an oyster dealer and restaurant owner with an address of 11 Ewen Street (now Manhattan Avenue).

Then, sometime in 1889 Daniel apparently took over the mineral water business. His “bottle registration notice” published in several February and March, 1889 editions of the Brooklyn Citizen and (Brooklyn) Standard Union made it clear that while he was still using bottles embossed with Henry P. Bahr’s name and monogram, by then he had begun using bottles embossed with his name and monogram as well.

A year later, in 1890, he was the only Bahr listed at the 679 Grand Street address. (At that point Henry was no longer listed in the Brooklyn directories and Jacob was back in the demijohn business with his son, Henry J. Bahr.)

Brooklyn city directories continued to list Daniel Bahr at 677/679 Grand Street until 1891 when he relocated the business to 911/913 Grand Street. It was also in 1891 that Bahr partnered with Harry Jaquillard under the name “Bahr and Jaquillard.” An August 24, 1904 feature on Jaquillard published in the (Brooklyn) Standard Union told his story.

In 1889 he was named Record Clerk in the County Clerk’s office, and held it about a year when he resigned to go into the mineral water business. He formed a partnership with Daniel Bahr, of Grand Street, and for nearly four years could be seen every day driving one of the mineral water wagons through the streets of the ward.

The story goes on to say that sometime in 1893 (or 1894) Jaquillard left the business and entered politics. By 1904 he was serving as Brooklyn’s Port Warden.

After Jaquillard’s departure Bahr continued the mineral water business and by the late 1800’s was expanding his facilities on Grand Street. Building permits issued in 1898 and 1899 show that he added a three-story frame building as well as a two-story stable and one-story wagon shed, all on the north side of the block between Olive and Catherine Streets. That being said, the business always remained a small, local operation as evidenced by New York State’s Report of Factory Inspections for the fiscal year ending November 30, 1900 which stated that the business employed a total of 10 workers (all working a 60 hour week) during that period.

In the Spring of 1908 Bahr purchased property in Lynbrook, Long Island and shortly thereafter retired, resulting in the end of the business.

According to a December 7, 1909 story in the Standard Union:

Some months ago Mr. Bhar carried on a mineral water business at 899 Grand Street, but he gave up the business when he moved to the country and his Grand Street place has since been occupied by his brother, a manufacturer of demijohns.

Daniel Bahr passed away in June, 1930.

The bottle I found is a mouth blown pony with a blob finish. It’s embossing matches the description included within the 1889 bottle registration notice:

Glass bottles on which is “Daniel Bahr” and the letters “D.B.” in a monogram…

The bottle exhibits the 679 Grand Street address dating it to the first two or three years of the business, prior to their 1891 move to 911/913 Grand Street. A bottle recently offered for sale on the internet exhibited this later address.

R. Robinson, 402 Atlantic Av., Brooklyn, N.Y., Patent

Robert Robinson was born in Yorkshire, England in 1821 and arrived in the United States in 1841. His obituary, printed in the August 5, 1890 edition of the New York Sun stated that he:

established what was probably the first manufactory of bottled mineral water in America.

Another obituary, this one in the August 4, 1890 Brooklyn Daily Eagle, mentioned that upon arriving in this country he spent several years in Philadelphia before moving north to New York. McElroy’s City Directory of Philadelphia listed a Robert Robinson as a tavern owner (Maiden near Stone Bridge and later 233 S 6th St.) from 1841 to 1846. While I can’t confirm that this was in fact our Robert Robinson, the timing is certainly correct.

He’s first listed in New York City’s Borough of Manhattan in 1849 with an address of 7 Elm St. (now Lafayette St.) and the occupation “mineral waters.” By 1851 the business had moved to 376 Bowery where it remained through the mid-1860’s. A March 22, 1862 advertisement in the New York Times makes it clear that by then, in addition to his mineral water, Robinson was also selling bottles of both Champagne Cider and Crab-Apple Cider.

In early 1865 Robinson apparently shut down his Manhattan operation and sold its entire contents at auction on March 16th. The auction notice was printed in the February 25, 1865 edition of the New York Daily Herald.

The sale included “1500 gross (over 200,000!) of mineral water bottles, most of them with Putnam’s patent wire fasteners on.” One of the survivors of this lot was recently offered for sale on the Internet.

Soon after Robinson was up and running again. Now located in Brooklyn, his business was listed between 1867 and 1871 at 402-404 Atlantic Avenue and later, between 1873 and 1886, at 432-434 Atlantic Avenue.

On August 13, 1878, he filed an application to trademark what he called in his application, “the fanciful word ‘Queer'” in connection with his temperance beer.

Less than a year later, a May 29, 1879 Brooklyn Daily Eagle item advertised “Queer” with this little jingle:

According to his Brooklyn Daily Eagle obituary Robinson discontinued the business and retired to private life sometime around 1885.

The bottle I found is small, maybe six ounces, and mouth blown with an applied blob finish. Embossing that includes the 402 Atlantic Avenue address likely dates it to the period between 1867 and 1871 when the company listed that address in the Brooklyn directories.

On a final note, Robinson’s obituaries also note that he holds a place in the early sporting history of both Brooklyn and the Nation.

Mr. Robinson may be called the father of pigeon shooting in America and was known as such throughout this country. He was a peculiar example of the English sportsman. His gun and dog were his boon companions, and he shot snipe from northern New York all the way south to New Orleans, and west, through Ohio and other states to Iowa. Snipe was his hobby, but when snipe could not be had he shot pigeons. He originated the rules of pigeon shooting in this country and organized the first shooting club in this country – the old Long Island Club – which after forty years’ successful existence, was dissolved last year.

He was also involved in horse racing, serving, for a time, as president of the Brighton Beach Racing Association.

Union Hill B. B. Co., 6 – 8 Monitor St., Brooklyn N. Y.

The Union Hill Birch Beer Company was listed in the Brooklyn directories from 1904 t0 1951, always with an address of 6 Monitor Street.

Edward C. Hindermann was named as the owner of the business in his October 30, 1959 obituary that was printed in the Geenpoint Weekly Star. Born in 1872, 1910 census records indicate that he immigrated to the United States in 1901. The 1904 Brooklyn Directory listed Hindermann’s residence as 8 Monitor Street, right next door to the business, suggesting that it was a relatively small operation.

The 1910 census records also listed a Dieterich Benken living at the same 8 Monitor Street address. Benken, like Hindermann, listed his occupation as a birch beer manufacturer so he was likely associated with the business, but in what capacity is unknown.

Hindermann was still living at 8 Monitor Street when he died on October 24, 1959.

There’s not much information available on the company which is another indication that it was not a large business. I did find one reference to it in a column entitled “I Remember Old Brooklyn,” in the March 22, 1965 edition of the New York Daily News. A reader had submitted this story to the newspaper.

PICNIC LUNCH

When the St. Nicholas Band struck up a tune with fifes, drums and bugles, that was a signal that we St. Nicholas pupils were starting off on a picnic to Washington Park on Grand St., Elmhurst.

The band would parade through the neighborhood and stop at Grand and Olive Sts. We would pile aboard chartered trolley cars at 7 A.M. with shoe boxes full of lunch, enough for all day.

Our tickets cost 15 cents, including three stubs, each good for a glass of Union Hill birch beer. The beer was on tap at the park for us. Then the trolleys would take us back at 7 P.M.

Today 6 – 8 Monitor Street does not date back to the early 1900’s

The bottle I found is 27 ounces and machine made. A monogram is embossed on the back of the bottle that, as far as I can tell, represents Hindermann’s initials “E H.”