Author: PHW

The reception and silent auction to celebrate the completion of the Samuel Noakes House on March 9 is drawing closer. While we count down until March 9, a number of items that will be available at the auction will be highlighted in the PHW blog.

Unsurprisingly enough, given the Noakes House’s history as both a residence and grocery store in the early 1900s, a number of home products were found in the house. This Rumford Baking Powder tin is tentatively dated circa 1930.

Rumford Chemical Works was founded in 1859 by Eben Horsford and George Wilson, originally to manufacture chemicals for the textile industry. Horsford was also working on improving leavening agents for bread, or baking powder. By the mid-1860’s “Horsford’s Yeast Powder” was packaged in glass bottles. Horsford, however, was interested in using metal cans for packing; this meant the mixture had to be made more moisture resistant. Corn starch was added to the formula to extend its shelf life, and modern baking powder hit store shelves in 1869.

Rumford Chemical Works produced the raw materials, the baking powder, the tins, the labels, and even the shipping crates for their products at their manufacturing base in Rhode Island. The company survived into the 1940s, until the company experienced trouble raising capital. The baking powder division was sold and relocated to Terre Haute, Indiana, and continues production today.

Although the Rumford factories in Rhode Island fell into disrepair, the factory complex is currently being rehabilitated into apartments, condominiums, office space and retail shops.

Rumford Baking Powder was designated National Historic Chemical Landmark on June 12, 2006. Its designation notes “Eben Horsford’s unique formula was an important innovation and made the making of biscuits, cookies and other quick baking products simpler than before.”

Learn more about the history of Rumford Chemical Works, their products, and their buildings at American Chemical Society, The Providence Journal, and www.rumfordcenter.com.

If you’d like to own this piece of history, tickets are still available for both the afternoon and evening reception and silent auction on March 9. The baking powder tin will be part of the afternoon auction items. Reserve your spot online via PayPal, or make your reservation by mailing in a check payable to PHW to 530 Amherst St., Winchester, VA 22601.

Afternoon Showing, 3-5 p.m. – $20 admission

Evening Showing, 6-8 p.m. – $30 admission

The reception and silent auction to celebrate the completion of the Samuel Noakes House on March 9 is drawing closer. While we count down until March 9, a number of items that will be available at the auction will be highlighted in the PHW blog.

A number of Coca-Cola items were uncovered in the Noakes House, including two of the distinctive hobble skirt bottles labelled for Winchester. The bottles found at the Noakes House likely date between 1951-1958.

A common misconception is that the city on the bottles is where the bottles were manufactured. In fact, the city is merely the marker of where the bottles were to be distributed, not where the bottles were made. These bottles were manufactured by the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, as noted by the manufacturer’s mark of an I enclosed in an oval. The bottles were dated to the 1951-1958 time period because the label reads “Min. contents 6 fl. oz.” Later bottles would read 6 1/2 fl. oz.

The Coca Cola Bottling Works came to Winchester in 1940-1941. Although originally constructed exclusively for bottling, the plant gradually changed to a distribution and warehouse by the 1970s. The Coca Cola building is itself a significant, if restrained, example of Art Deco architecture and an example of Coca Cola’s shrewd and innovative advertising acumen. As stated by Maral Kalbian, “The use of large plate-glass windows on the front of this building . . . signifies a departure from traditional designs of manufacturing facilities where production processes were concealed from the public. By placing this modern building within a residential neighborhood and allowing the bottling of Coca-Cola to be clearly visible to the passer-by, the Coca-Cola Company was using its architecture as a marketing device.”

This inviting style of Coca-Cola plant buildings seems to be a hallmark of the architects Davis & Platt. Similar designs to the Winchester building can be found in Frederick, Maryland; Silver Spring, Maryland; Romney, West Virginia; Williamsport, Pennsylvania; and an addition to an existing Coca-Cola facility in Alexandria, Virginia.

Learn more about the history of Coca-Cola bottles, glass manufacturer marks, and the Winchester Coca-Cola Bottling Works at www.glassbottlemarks.com, www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/coca-cola.pdf, www.antiquebottles.com/coke/, and www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Cities/Winchester/138-5044_CocaColaBottlingWorks_2008_NRfinal.pdf.

If you’d like to own this piece of history, tickets are still available for both the afternoon and evening reception and silent auction on March 9. The Coca-Cola bottles will be part of the afternoon auction items. Reserve your spot online via PayPal, or make your reservation by mailing in a check payable to PHW to 530 Amherst St., Winchester, VA 22601.

Afternoon Showing, 3-5 p.m. – $20 admission

Evening Showing, 6-8 p.m. – $30 admission

The reception and silent auction to celebrate the completion of the Samuel Noakes House on March 9 is drawing closer. While we count down until March 9, a number of items that will be available at the auction will be highlighted in the PHW blog.

This attractive blue Bromo-Seltzer bottle is one of several uncovered in the Noakes House. Originally produced by Emerson Drug Company of Baltimore, Maryland, Bromo-Seltzer was an antacid with pain relievers. It was touted to cure “Nervous Headache, Neuralgia, Brain Fatigue, Sleeplessness, Mental Exhaustion, Alcoholic Excesses &c.”

The product took its name from a component of the original formula, sodium bromide, a tranquilizer. It also contained acetanilide, an analgesic ingredient. Both sodium bromide and acentanilide were identified as toxic and potentially lethal substances. Bromo-Seltzer survived the Pure Food and Drugs Law of 1906, aimed at clearing out dangerous and ineffective medicines, with only minor alterations. Production of Bromo-Seltzer continued with an altered formula until recent years.

The Bromo-Seltzer bottles found in the Noakes House likely predate 1916, as they lack the Maryland Glass Works company mark typically seen embossed on the bottom of the bottles. A postcard postmarked 1913 found in the Noakes House features the Bromo-Seltzer Tower, constructed in 1911, which seems to corroborate this timeframe for the bottles.

Find much more of the fascinating history on Bromo-Seltzer, its bottles, and its signature tower in Baltimore at www.bromoseltzertower.com/, www.peachridgeglass.com and cecilmunsey.com.

If you’d like to own this piece of history, tickets are still available for both the afternoon and evening reception and silent auction on March 9. The Bromo-Seltzer bottles will be part of the afternoon auction items. Reserve your spot online via PayPal, or make your reservation by mailing in a check payable to PHW to 530 Amherst St., Winchester, VA 22601.

Afternoon Showing, 3-5 p.m. – $20 admission

Evening Showing, 6-8 p.m. – $30 admission