Thomas
Tucker County
D.F. Close
1908—1911
D.F. Close existed as a bottler in Thomas from 1908 to 1911 according to Dun & Bradstreet issues.
D.F. Close, Thomas soda bottle. BIMAL crown top w/ aqua green glass. Front.
Reverse.
Helmick Bottling Works
1912—1913
Helmick Bottling Works was around from 1912 to 1913 according to Dun and Bradstreet.
Helmick Bottling Works, Thomas soda bottle. BIMAL crown top w/ colorless glass. Front.
Reverse.
H.B. Hockman
1904—1905
H.B. Hockman, formerly attributed to Davis, was a bottler in Thomas. He appears as such in the 1904 West Virginia Gazetteer (R.L. Polk & Co., 1904). This is corroborated by Dun & Bradstreet records.
Example needed of an H.B. Hockman soda bottle from Thomas.
D.W. Mason
1904—1907
Long believed to be from Marlinton or Piedmont, D.W. Mason was actually listed as a bottler in Thomas (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907). Oddly enough, there is a 1907 postcard marked from Piedmont of D.W. Mason’s bottling works; he is not, however, listed under Piedmont in any directories I have located.
D.W. Mason, Thomas soda bottle. Aqua blue glass, BIMAL.
Milkint Bottling Works
1914—1925
C. and P. Milkint ran a garage and bottling works according to Dun & Bradstreet (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1919; Sep. 1920). In the Bureau of Labor’s reports, they are listed as just “Milkint’s Garage,” with the owner, P.L. Milkint, reporting that they opened the business in 1918 (Daugherty, 1922). However, even before that, Milkint Bros. was a grocery store and bottler, as early as 1914 (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1914).
I am unsure as to when they closed, but their last mention in newspapers suggests around 1925.
Milkint Bottling Works, Thomas soda bottle. ABM crown top, aqua green glass.
Milkints Bottling Works, Thomas soda bottle. BIMAL crown top, aqua blue glass w/ only base embossing. Front.
Base.
Milkints Bottling Works, Thomas soda bottle. BIMAL crown top, light aqua glass w/ only base embossing. Front.
Base.
Nehi Bottling Co.
1949—1959
According to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office, the Thomas Nehi Bottling Company was incorporated in 1949 by Delton H. Kight, Rodney Kight, and others (WV Sec. State, n.d.), then in 1959 changed its name to the Royal Crown Bottling Company of Thomas.
Nehi Beverages, Nehi Bottling Co., Thomas soda bottle. Red and yellow ACL painted label. Front.
Reverse.
Nehi Bottling Co., Royal Crown Cola, Thomas soda bottle. Red and yellow ACL painted label. Front.
Reverse.
Nehi Bottling Co., Upper-10, Thomas soda bottle. Emerald green glass w/ yellow and white ACL painted label. Front.
Reverse.
J.H. Pase
Information needed.
Stuart & Patterson
1922—1929(?)
Stuart and Patterson were actually the owners of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Thomas (H.S. Rich & Co., 1925), which was a branch of the Elkins plant (Daugherty, 1924). There even exists a Coca-Cola crate from Thomas of the era, but no bottles are known. To make matters more confusing, in 1924 both Elkins Coca-Cola Bottling Works and Stuart & Patterson Bottling Works are listed by the Bureau of Labor as being in Thomas (Daugherty, 1924). Dun & Bradstreet does the same from 1923 (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1923, Sep. 1924). Stuart and Patterson do not appear before this year, but the Coca-Cola bottling plant does.
I can only presume there was confusion by publishers that listed them as the owners of the Coca-Cola plant. The 1925 Beverage Blue Book includes them, but the 1930 edition does not, so it closed in the latter half of the 1920s.
Stuart & Patterson, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., Thomas soda bottle. "Double drum" style. Front.
Reverse.
Base.
Stuart & Patterson, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co., Thomas soda bottle. "Double drum" style with colorless glass. Front.
Reverse.
Base.
A. Suder & Co.
Information needed.
Thomas Bottling Works
1914; 1915—1920
Edward James is listed in the 1914 Dun & Bradstreet as a bottler, but is not listed in the years before or after. This suggests that this Thomas Bottling Works was a different one from that which later appears.
Thomas Bottling Works may have been the business of the partnership between two individuals named Presutto and De Pollo, who were bottlers in Thomas starting in 1915 (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1915). Thomas Bottling Company appears in the 1920 Dun & Bradstreet issues (Mercantile Agency, Sep. 1920), and the 1919-1920 Bureau of Labor’s biennial report (Montgomery, 1920), but not in any years surrounding these years.
Thomas Bottling Works soda bottle. BIMAL crown top w/ colorless/amethyst glass. Edward James, proprietor embossed.
Thomas Bottling Works soda bottle. BIMAL crown top w/ aqua green glass. Very faint "808" embossed in center of slug plate.
Thomas Bottling Works soda bottle. ABM crown top, colorless glass.
References
Daugherty, G.F. (1922). Sixteenth biennial report of the bureau of labor of West Virginia 1921-1922. Tribune Printing Company.
Daugherty, G.F. (1924). Seventeenth biennial report of the bureau of labor of West Virginia 1923-1924. Jarrett Printing Company.
H.S. Rich & Co. (1925). The beverage blue book, 1925, the standard directory buyers' guide and reference volume for the beverage industry.
Montgomery, S.B. (1920). Fifteenth biennial report of the bureau of labor of West Virginia. Tribune Printing Company.
R.L. Polk & Co. (1905). West Virginia Gazetteer and Business Directory.
West Virginia Secretary of State. (n.d.). Business entity details: Nehi Bottling Company of Thomas. https://apps.wv.gov/SOS/BusinessEntitySearch/Details.aspx?Id=HdhoArJBIpX5f2ksExyaHA==&Search=IVh6S1E8yDfOpitXk61E4A%3d%3d&Page=0