Bottling 2 8-17-2024

In doing research for these articles, we found evidence of several more small bottling establishments in Willimantic but scant information. Some of the other bottlers were E.A. Rood who had a beer bottling works and a delivery wagon; Thomas Kelley did bottling in the basement of the Brainerd House; Henry Edgarton’s bottling business was in the European House. An 1883 Chronicle story reported that, “Michael Shea has bought the bottling works and salon of Samuel Trimble in the basement of Hamlin block.” Willimantic‘s well known Irish-American  entrepreneur, Dennis Shea operated a soda  bottling works in a large brick building located at  the old junction of Main and Union streets. Shea dealt in ale, wines, lager and mineral waters from  the late19th century until 1905. The building was demolished in 1973. Soda manufacturing continued in Willimantic in the 19205 when the  proprietors of the new Nathan Hale Hotel, unable  to sell alcohol because of prohibition, formed the  Nathan Hale Bottling Company in the newly built  hotel in 1927. It boasted of its "high grade mineral sodas“ and Nathan Hale brand beverages, but it  became a victim of the Depression, and ceased  operation in 1931.  In 1884, E. A Frink began utilizing spring water to  manufacture "temperance drinks." in Quinebaug,  Connecticut. He moved his bottling plant from Quinebaug to the "Crystal Spring" at Chaplin in the early 1890s. The spring was referred to as "boiling" with "exceptionally pure, crystal-like water bubbling over a rocky ledge."  Frink‘s Crystal Spring Bottling Company boasted "modern facilities" producing many  "carbonated beverages" "His preparations are evenly excellent, and his famous  specialty, Frink‘s Root Beer, has attained a widespread reputation. His transactions are  at wholesale, supplying retailers throughout a large amount of territory. And though  most of his shipments are made by rail, he has two teams in constant attendance on  near-by trade" (The Willimantic]ourna1 Souvenir, 1894).  The company had stopped trading by 1900, but it reappears in 1913, producing root and  birch beer, hop beers, sodas and spring water, operating from the rear of 443 Iackson  street. The proprietor was N. L. Frink, but this operation also ceased trading by 1915.  Gertrude Frink was the proprietor of a soda company in North Windham in 1915 and  1916. Iohn Latusek occasionally appears in the city directories as a dealer in soda water,  from his 27 Ash street home, and a Timothy Sullivan manufactured root beer from his  home at 190 ]acl<son street.  The "Cold Spring Bottling Company" operated in 1909 from 112 North street. In 1924,  the D. J. Shippee Bottling Company of North Windham began operations. Duty Shippee and his wife Ella operated the Rocky Spring Bottling Works in North Windham,  bottling spring water and series of sodas, including ginger beer, root beer, lemon and  lime, Howdy and Canadian Club, until 1935. From that year, the Hosmer Mountain  Company became the lone soda manufacturer in the city.  Arthur Potvin was born in Willimantic in 1923, but his family moved out to North  Windham when he was a teenager. He recalls: "My father and the family moved out to  North Windham in 1937 or 1938, and purchased a house on a seven acre lot across from  a Mr. Shippee. The house was located on the water side of old route 6, just past where  the dike meets the road today. Mr. Shippee was an old man when I was a kid, and I  never knew that he’d ran the Rocky Springs Bottling Company from there, because the  spring was just a ripple by then." This early exposure to soda water must have made an  impression on young Arthur, because he went on to work for many years for Pepsi Cola  in Willimantic, and in 1957 he purchased the Hosmer Mountain Bottling Company, and  ran it up until his retirement in 1985.    Continued Next Week

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