Mullens
Wyoming County
[Raleigh] Coca-Cola Bottling Works
ca. 1930s
This was indeed a branch of Raleigh Bottling Works, as evidenced by a 1933 advertisement saying so (Raleigh Coca-Cola Bottling Works, 1933). To my knowledge, no bottles exist from this bottler with “RALEIGH” embossed on them as others under the brand do.
Raleigh Coca-Cola Bottling Works, Mullens soda bottle. CC soda style, ABM crown top. Colorless glass w/ textured body. Front.
Reverse.
Base.
Deep Water Bottling Works
1906—1924
While Deep Water Bottling Works is not listed in any early publications, Dun & Bradstreet lists a D.D. Moran, a bottler (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1906) in the earliest days of Mullens. I can only presume this is the proprietor of Deep Water Bottling Works. Only much later publications list this company by its name (R.L. Polk & Co., 1916; H.S. Rich & Co., 1923). While it appears in the 1923 Beverage Blue Book, it does not reappear in the 1925 edition, so I presume it closed in 1924.
Deep Water Bottling Works, Mullens soda bottle. Hutchinson-style, aqua green. Earliest bottle from this company.
Deep Water Bottling Works, Mullens soda bottle. ABM crown top, aqua green.
Mullens Bottling Works
ca. 1920s
The only information I can find on this bottler is that, in 1922, Mullens Bottling Works doubled their stock from $25,000 to $50,000 (“State House Happenings”, 1922).
Mullens Bottling Works soda bottle. ABM crown top, colorless glass.
Nu-Grape Bottling Co.
1929
The 1929 Census of Manufacturers notes that, at the time of their interview with the company, the company was closing (Dept. of Commerce, 1929). It was located on Howard Avenue and A.C. Cook was the director.
NuGrape Bott. Co. (Nu-Grape Bottling Co.), Mullens soda bottle. ABM crown top, aqua green.
Wyoming Ice & Bottling Co.
1917—1925
The Wyoming Ice and Bottling Company must have began in late 1917, as a newspaper from December of 1917 mentions it, while the September Dun & Bradstreet does not (“Ice Cream Men”, 1917). The November 1917 American Carbonator and American Bottler gives us that the “Magic Cola Ice & Bottling Co.” [sic], of Mullens, organized with incorporators B.D. Dunham, I.S. Fine, and H.S. Hancock (“West Virginia,” 1917). This is, almost certainly, Wyoming Ice & Bottling Company. The 1922 Bureau of Labor biennial report lists B.G. Scott as the proprietor, but claims it only sold ice and ice cream at the time (Daugherty, 1922). Their last appearance is in 1925 in a legal advertisement page of The Charleston Daily Mail for companies delinquent on their corporate taxes, likely meaning this is the end of the company.
Wyoming Ice & Bottling Co., Magic Cola, Mullens soda bottle. ABM crown top, colorless glass. "Kola Wars" soda bottle, meaning it bottled a "knockoff" Coca-Cola flavor line.
References
Daugherty, G.F. (1922). Sixteenth biennial report of the bureau of labor of West Virginia 1921-1922. Tribune Printing Company.
Department of Commerce/Bureau of the Census. (1929). Census of manufacturers, 1929, beverages. (Form No. 101). https://catalog.archives.gov/id/50101518?objectPage=1
H.S. Rich & Co. (1923). The beverage blue book, 1923, the standard directory buyers' guide and reference volume for the beverage industry.
Ice cream men elect officers; close session with stunts. (1917, December 13). The Wheeling Intelligencer, 11.
Legal advertisement. (1925, February 16). The Charleston Daily Mail, 42.
Raleigh Coca-Cola Bottling Works. (1933, January 19). Beckley Post-Herald, 9.
R.L. Polk & Co. (1916). West Virginia Gazetteer and Business Directory.
State House happenings. (1922, May 31). The Wheeling Intelligencer, 4.
West Virginia (1917). American Carbonator and American Bottler, 37(11), pp. 70.