EL Kerns, King of Trenton, NJ bottlers

[jerrypev]

A couple of years ago I dug this EL Kerns soda bottle near Trenton, NJ. I first discovered Kerns soda when I moved to NJ in 1970. Harold's store in Cranbury had been selling Kerns soda since Harold O'Neil's father opened the store in 1910. The EL Kerns business went out of business about 1980. The company was by far the most successful and long lasting of bottlers in central New Jersey.
Edgar L Kerns as a child was forced to leave school in Pennsylvania after the death of his blacksmith father to work in the coal mines of Eastern Pennsylvania. He moved to Trenton, NJ during the 1880s to work with established bottler John Schroth. In 1889 he joined his brother-in-law Ed Meyer in business as Kerns and Meyer. When Ed Meyer left to work at Hill's Brewery in Trenton in 1895 Kerns business became "EL Kerns Bottler Trenton, NJ". He and his wife Mary did most of the work by hand at 122 Rose St, Trenton.
Kern's business quickly grew to dominate bottling in Trenton. During the mid 1890s he moved into a large multi story building on North Broad Street. He bought the first automatic bottling machine in 1903 advertising it as his "bottle loader". He was always ahead of the curve, a brilliant business strategist. He died in the mid 1920s living just across the Delaware river in his native Pennsylvania.

 

[jerrypev]

Edgar Kerns and workers at his North Broad Street location about 1896.
Photo courtesy in the private collection of a friend.

 

[jerrypev]

Kerns serving tray about 1903 from a friend's collection.

 

[epackage]

There are alot of nice Kerns out there for sure Jer...This case is on e-bay now...JIM

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-WOODEN-KERNS-SODA-CRATE-CARRIER-TRENTON-N-J-GOOD-CONDITION-/230687137434?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b6065e9a

 

[jerrypev]

One of Kerns early bottles, about 1895-96, and one of his last, 1950s to 70s.

 

[jerrypev]

Kerns, an avid sportsman, sponsored local sports teams as promotion for his bottling business.

 

[KBbottles]

Incredible photos Jerry! I particularly love the one of him and his wagon. He had some nice color bottles as well. I imagine there are quite a bit of variants out there spanning many years.

-KB

 

[bostaurus]

ORIGINAL: jerrypev

Edgar Kerns and workers at his North Broad Street location about 1896.
Photo courtesy in the private collection of a friend.

I wonder what that big Pabst bottle was made of? That would be an interesting find. Course the wagon would be great too.

 

[KBbottles]

Which also leads me to question... Do any such old bottling wagons from NJ or anywhere exist in museums? Or did they often not survive or get reused repainted or scrapped altogether.

 

[jerrypev]

The serving trays are the only early advertising I've seen. I have seen advertising signs, door pulls, clocks, etc from the 1950s. I once asked Harold O'Neil if he had any old signs, etc. He said they never kept them. Harold's family had sold Kern's soda for 70 years. I think that's fairly typical, else there would be old tin signs and other types of advertising items in collections.

The NJ Agriculture Museum in New Brunswick, NJ had a good collection of old utility wagons, a milk wagon or two but nothing from bottlers. Sadly none of these items have survived that I know of.