Bramwell Bottling Works/Co.

1891—1911

One thing to note about the bottles from Bramwell is that Bramwell, Freeman, and Simmons are basically the same place. So, some bottles say they are from Bramwell and some from Simmons. Some just say “Mercer County.” The receipt from Bramwell Bottling & Cider Works below has “Freeman” in print, but it is crossed out, replaced with “Bramwell.” That being said, Simmons was never an incorporated community, but rather it seems it was a neighborhood of Bramwell/Freeman, though more within Freeman. So, any one of these bottles—whether they say Bramwell or Simmons—are from Bramwell in general, given it is the largest and most identifiable town.

The earliest records of a bottler in Bramwell that I can locate are R.D. Digg[e]s in 1890, whose company Digg[e]s & Hicks appears as a saloon and bottler (Mercantile Agency, 1890). The following year, Bramwell Bottling Works proper is listed in the West Virginia State Gazetteer and Business Directory (R.L. Polk & Co., 1891). They are also in the 1895 West Virginia State Gazetteer under the same name (R.L. Polk & Co., 1895). Unfortunately, neither directory lists the owner of the company.

In the 1900 Dun & Bradstreet, Blanton & Kirk Bottling Works are listed in both Bramwell and Freeman (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1900). By 1901, the bottling works becomes only listed under S.M. Blanton (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1901). In 1902, Blanton only appears in Freeman selling meat, not bottling (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1902), but reappears in Bramwell as the proprietor of Bramwell Bottling Works in 1903 (Mercantile Agency, 1903). This leads me to think there exists a Blanton & Kirk bottle explicitly listing their names, rather than Bramwell Bottling Works.

In 1904, Blanton, announced in the newspaper that he had sold Bramwell Bottling Company to Charles Wesley Freeman of the Caswell Creek Coal and Coke Company (“Bramwell Bottling,” 1904). However, that year in September, Bramwell Bottling Works is still listed in Dun & Bradstreet as a branch of S.M. Blanton in Freeman (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1904). It is possible that there were two separate plants, one with the bottles bearing “Bramwell” as the town and another that used “Simmons.” The 1905 Dun & Bradstreet does not list a Bramwell Bottling Works under Bramwell, though there is an E.W. Freeman Bottling Works under Freeman in that issue (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1905).

In 1906, Bramwell Bottling Works appears, again, in Bramwell (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1906). The next year, in 1907, Dun & Bradstreet noted that Bramwell Bottling Works was a branch of Keystone Bottling Company of Northfork (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1907). This continues until 1909, when the business evidently changed hands again to a Mrs. Dora L. Gaal, who also sold ice cream (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1909). She owned the firm until 1911, when it disappears from listings, though she remains as a seller of ice cream and soft drinks. I suspect there is a crown top Bramwell Bottling Works from this period of K.B.Co. and Mrs. Gaal’s ownership.

Three to four bottles are missing here. One says “R.D. Digges, Mercer County,” another “Bramwell Bottling Works, Bramwell,” and a final one is a Roorbach stopper bottle with no town-state line, rather just “Bramwell Bottling Works.” There may also be a Hix & Dupuy Roorbach bottle.