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.
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.