Any idea as to what was in it?

[SODAPOPBOB]

Just fooling around with enlargement editing and thought this came out pretty good ...

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Thank you for the exceptionally thorough research and history! I hope this didn't take up much of your time. If so, I apologise. But, again, Thank you!
That Chumard bottle, did you read the newspaper article on the girl who spotted it accidentally in the lake? It waited 140 years down there and is in better shape than most 1900s bottles in there.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

No apologies necessary - I have lots of time on my hands and enjoy doing bottle research. I read the newspaper article about the young girl and is where I found the picture of the Chumard Cider bottle. ~ * ~ More fooling around / Location of the Brewery-Bottling Works 1. Notice the water (which I believe is an inlet/bay of Lake Michigan) in the 1892 image. Also notice the Railroad. 2. Now compare the 1892 image to this 1900 map of Muskegon. The 1892 article said the Brewery/Bottling Works was located on the corner of Bareclay and Michigan Avenue, which I have indicated in green. The red arrow indicates the Brewery. 3. Cropped image of the Brewery w/ Railroad tracks Link to the Muskegon Map(s) http://www.lakeshoremuseum.org/MuskegonMaps.html

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Very good eye! I'd not have seen that. And, oh! My great great grandfather I believe it was was Chief of Security on that rail-line. All my maps date no later than 1900. One's a railroad map though, of which I am proud to own.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Robert: Unfinished Business / More Research ... If the Muskegon Bottling Works became the property of the Muskegon Brewing Company in 1889, and your bottle predates the transaction, then the bottle was in fact produced by the stand-alone Muskegon Bottling Works. It would help if we could date the bottle more precisely.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

If it helps, my friends here identified it as a Baltimore loop closure,

Robert: Have you fully researched the closure? Baltimore Loop Seal ~ Patented 1885 http://www.sha.org/bottle/closures.htm#Baltimore

 

[Robby Raccoon]

I'm pretty sure the Muskegon Bottling Works bottles I saw in the antique store were T.O.C. and I think, cannot positively recall though, their having a seem up the lip on some, so... Mine is much older, by a decade at least. But I don't really know much more on it. All I can say is, I believe mine is 1890s, but wish it were 1880s as I've seen non-local similar pieces in research over past months of bottles and how to identify them. It could be an original bottling works piece, or Muskegon Brewery continued it's line of 'quality' Muskegon Bottling Works bottles, as Owens did 'Root' bottles I believe, for a short time. The bottles in the antique store are all Alcoholic from the Muskegon Bottling Works so, they could very well be Brewery alcohol, and not Bottling Works. But, the Bottling works name was continued till T.O.C. where most of the Muskegon Brewery bottles date to (T.O.C. to 1940. I've only personally held one from T.O.C. or before saying Muskegon Brewery.)

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

If the bottle does in fact have a Baltimore Loop Seal closure, then it fits the date range okay between 1885 and 1889 to have been produced by the stand-alone Muskegon Bottling Works.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Yes, I looked into the closure. It's a Baltimore Loop on a Hutch-type bottle, and has an inside ledge within the mouth of the bottle. I find it fascinating, all the closure types.

 

[Robby Raccoon]

Wait, so it is 1880s? That'd be super! That's my favorite time period! This'd make it my oldest bottle.