Buff & Kuhl Bottles / St. Louis

Welcome to our Antique Bottle community

Be a part of something great, join today!

bottle-bud

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2018
Messages
532
Reaction score
625
Points
93
Location
St. Louis, Missouri
I have been looking for one of these bottles for years and was lucky enough to get two at the same time. Shown are pictures of how I received them and another after being tumbled.

1646329122308.jpeg
1646329154774.jpeg

Here is a little history on the bottling operation.

Buff & Kuhl were in business from 1865-1882 and were located on 4th Street at the northwest corner of Elm.

The first year I find Buff & Kuhl in St. Louis directories is in the year 1865. Jacob Buff and Max Kuhl start a partnership that will last 17 years.

1646328826380.png


1646328762318.png


Jacob Buff was born in Switzerland, and in 1865 he is 36 years old. Jacob is married to Anna who is 37. My limited research tells me they had no children.

Max Kuhl was born in Prussia, and in 1865 he is 30 years old. Max is married to Nina who is 33 and they have a son, Theodore who is 8 years old.

1646328869961.png


Two months prior to the previous ad dated in Oct 1882, I find a Dissolution Notice as follows;

1646328917888.png


Max Kuhl decides to leave the partnership after 17 years and relocates to Alton, Illinois where he starts the Kuhl Soda Works. Max passes away in 1893 at the age of 57. The obituary says 57 years old but the census says he was 41 in 1880 that would have made him 54, however his birth year as in many cases with census recording mentions the birth year as abt 1839. So Max was not sure of his birth year. The obit mentions Nina as a surviving family member and two brothers, but no mention of Theodore. I assumed he passed away.

Jacob Buff and John U. Preisig are partners for only one year. That being 1883.

Jacob Buff in 1884 is listed as having a partner by the name of Ferdinand Rau.

Ferdinand Rau was born in Germany Abt 1837 and in 1884 he is 47 years old. He is married to Henrietta who is 44 years old. Ferdinand in previous years was listed as a bookkeeper for Grone & Whelan, who were also in the business of bottling mineral and soda waters.

I find in directories that the business of Buff and Rau are around until 1913. I also know Jacob Buff dies in Oct. of 1911 and was 83 years old. I could not determine when Ferdinand Rau passed away or who operated the company in the latter years.

Now I just need to find a Buff & Rau bottle!
 

Attachments

  • P1040741.JPG
    P1040741.JPG
    344.4 KB · Views: 94
  • P1040761.JPG
    P1040761.JPG
    378.5 KB · Views: 86

Members online

Latest threads

Forum statistics

Threads
83,220
Messages
742,916
Members
24,237
Latest member
Fancy2cu
Top