Better beverages embossed bottle weldon bottling co.

[SODAPOPBOB]

Or ... Maybe, just maybe, the reference in the J.L. Jones book is a typo and instead of 1940 it was supposed to be 1904 [light] ????

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Summary ...

Kari

As strange as it might seem, the only newspaper articles and advertisements I can find for the Weldon Bottling Works / Company are from 1901. The article from May 9, 1901 is the earliest and clearly indicates this is when the company began operation. There was a follow up article on May 16, 1901 which states they were open for business at that time. The May 9th article included the advertisement but the May 16th article did not. Following this there were six more advertisements, all of which were identical and published on the following dates ...

May 24, 1901
May 30, 1901
June 6, 1901
June 13, 1901
June 20, 1901
July 4, 1901

The July 4th advertisement is the last one I was able to find and after that it appears the company just disappeared off the face of the earth. This is not to say the company was only in business for two months, which doesn't seem likely, it merely means this is all I have been able to find after conducting an extensive search.

Here are the word-for-word articles and the dates they appeared in the Roanoke News of Weldon, North Carolina ...


May 9, 1901 ANOTHER ENTERPRISE --- Messre. M. L. Fine & Co.have leased the Old Delmonico's building, on Second street and will open up on the 15th the Weldon Bottling Works, for the purpose of bottling beer, pop, ale and sodas. This enterprising firm will also deal in ice and supply in large or small quantities. Weldon is an excellent position for beer bottling and the new firm will be prepared to fill all orders promptly. They will supply the trade only with their bottled goods and invite correspondence from all firms who handle their goods. Weldon being within easy reach of the towns along the Seaboard and Atlantic Coast Lines it will be to the interest of dealers to send their orders to the Weldon Bottling Works. The firm comes well recommended and we bespeak for the managers a large trade.

May 16, 1901
NOW OPEN FOR BUSINESS. --- The Weldon Bottling Company is now open for business at the old Delmonico's stand on Second street. Beer, ginger ale, sarsaparilla and cream soda fresh bottled. The trade will be supplied on short notice. Orders solicited from the surrounding towns.

~ * ~

As time allows I will see if I can find anything else. But for the time being this is the best I can come up with. I hope you find it useful.

As for the possibility that your bottle is from 1901, I'd say it has all the earmarks of being from that time period. I never found a single reference for "Better Beverages."

Bob

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

To put a little frosting on the cake I am searching for a picture of "Delmonico's" building/store/stand located on Second Street in Weldon, North Carolina. If anyone stumbles onto one, please share it with us. This is the only thing I have found so far, but no Delmonico's yet ... Downtown Weldon ~ Circa 1920-1930

 

[Karikeller11]

BobMy Ipad is on its way. It will be here on MOnday so I will be able to post more pictures. I can't thank you enough for all the research you have done. Now you see why I have been so frustrated. Curious why you think it had Stawberry soda?

 

[Karikeller11]

Bob I will have my IPAD on MOnday so I can post more pictures.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Kari

I'm glad you are enjoying this as much as I am. I love a good research challenge! No hurry on the pictures. But when you do get it done, I have a picture of a bottle I want to post and compare with your's. I'll tell you more about it later. As for my saying your bottle contained strawberry soda, that was a joke. I just picked one of the flavors from the 1901 advertisement because I knew it had to be one of them. In fact, your bottle probably contained all of the flavors at one time. Plus, I just planted some strawberries the other day and it got me to thinking about strawberry soda pop.

Anyhoo, I stumbled onto something today that I am still researching and thought you might find interesting. It involves my search for a picture of the old Delmonico building, which I haven't found yet, but I did find this ...

It's a 1904 map of Weldon and on 2nd Street it shows a building marked Portner's Beer Bottling. The map does not show any other types of bottling facilities located on 2nd Street or anywhere else in town. There is no building marked Weldon Bottling Company. Remember, neither Coca Cola or Pepsi Cola were in Weldon in 1904. I still have some research to do and try and find out more about Portner Bottling in Weldow, but I'm thinking its the same location and same building where the Weldon Bottling Company was located. I'm also thinking that the Weldon Bottling Company might have been out of business at the time and that Portner Bottling moved in when Weldon Bottling moved out. In other words, its starting to look as if Weldon Bottling might have been in business for only a very short time, which would explain why there is so little information to be found regarding them and no named building for them on the 1904 map. I plan to look into this closer and will let you know what I find.

The attached pictures are as follows ...

1. 1904 Map of Weldon, North Carolina. Red arrow indicates 2nd Street. Green X indicates Portner's Beer Bottling building.

2. Cropped map. Close up with green arrow showing location of Portner's Beer Bottling building.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S.

Although I still haven't found a picture of the old Delmonico building, I did find this ...

[URL=http://books.google.com/books?id=ZrMDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA46&dq=delmonico's+weldon+north+carolina&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HFo3U78-pO7IAbSlgdgM&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=delmonico's%20weldon%20north%20carolina&f=false]http://books.google.com/b...20carolina&f=false

It's from 1884 and what's interesting about it is that it mentions Delmonico's. But of particular interest is that it also mentions a Hotel next to Delmonico's. And what do you think the building on the left side of the Portner's Bottling building is on the 1904 map? You guessed it! But on the 1904 map the Hotel is actually marked as a Lodging House, which in 1884 was likely a Hotel. I'm confident that the Lodging House and the Hotel are the same building. I'm also confident that the Delmonico building and the Portner Bottling building are one and the same! Which, if true, means Portner Beer Bottling and The Weldon Bottling Company were in the same building only at different times.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. ~ P.S. In other words ... At this juncture I honestly believe the Weldon Bottling Company was established in 1901 and remained in operation no later than 1904.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

This will confirm that the Robert Portner Brewing Company was established in Weldon in 1904 and that they were in fact located on Second Street. And because they officially opened for business on January 14, 1904 and required time to set up, this pushes the evacuation of the Weldon Bottling Company back to sometime in 1903 or possibly even earlier. The pertinent text reads ... January 14, 1904 TO THE TRADE: Our new depot building, Second Street, is now open for business ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Which means ... If all of this is 100% accurate as I believe it is, then it would date Kari's Better Beverages bottle to ... Circa 1901-1903 ... and that it could very well be a rare and hard bottle to find.