H A Williams - Huntsville Ontario soda water manufacturer

[RCO]

another bottle I was trying to do some research on is for a possible local bottle . the only reason anyone seems to even know he existed back then is a listing in the Canada soda water manufacturers gazette from 1896 . which was a listing created at the time of all known / active soda water manufacturers . so if he was included in them , had to be bottling soda water at the time and big enough to be included with well known bottlers .

although many bottlers especially in small towns were relatively small and low tech , so he could of been operating out of a basement downtown or small building along the river . which is were others were located back then .

but can't seem to find any information on him , nothing in any local history books and never seen a bottle with such names or markings .

the local library might have something if I dug deep enough , know there is old newspapers and birth / death listings , but there closed due to covid 19 / building issues and unknown when they can re open . I don't think I've actually been in there building since March 2020 .

he's also listing in the " Ontario soda water manufacturer list 1851-1930 " but only a brief listing identical to other one - H.A.Williams - pop manufacturer 1896 - Huntsville . so the source of that listing seems to have been the gazette . considering the time period and small town its likely he operated for several years prior or past the 1896 listing , doubtful he only operated 1 year .

I'm not sure why he stopped bottling , there was a large town wide fire in Huntsville but appears to have been in 1894 ( a local book says all buildings downtown had to be brick after that fire ) . I also checked listings to see if he moved to another city but he's not listed as being anywhere else in Ontario unless he moved out of province


here is a picture of the listing which happens to be included in the yellow hardcover " bottles in Canada " book from the 70's

 

[RCO]

have some older postacards which would date from around 1905's-1910's era so slightly after he would of been in town but can see how small it was back then . the view one is taken from top of lookout

most of the buildings were located downtown , was a large railway station by then so town was well connected with the more populated southern Ontario

 

[RCO]

one though that does come to mind after looking at the pictures of the new brick buildings downtown built after town wide fire of 1894 .

is that would of created an opportunity for a new bottler to come to town , lots of new fancy brick buildings downtown with more space and empty basements .

with so little infrastructure and buildings it wouldn't of been an easy place for someone to set up a bottling operation but conditions in 1895 might of been much better than normal and allowed for someone new to town to enter the local market

so its likely his operation started after the fire around 1895 in one of the newer buildings downtown

 

[RCO]

didn't mention anything about what bottles he might of used ? based on the time period he operated , leaning towards a hutch style bottle but it be impossible to determine based on so little info

had some more postcard views to share , don't tell us anything about the bottle but help to explain the context of his location and era , one is made by a local photographer advertising his store downtown , 2 are views from the lookout and another is an old view of the downtown from north end dated 1906 but could be a bit earlier .

the image of the downtown makes it appear like a larger town but it actually wasn't that big and area with brick buildings rather small compared to other small cities