While having dinner with some friends over the weekend, I was surprised to find out that some of them actually read this blog! They also had a question for me: Did I remember a Lorain bottling plant that in the 1960s was somewhere around 14th or 15th Street. They thought that the company bottled soda pop, including Seher's Old English Ginger Beer.
Well I didn't remember any of this (especially since I'm more of a Vernor's drinker), but a trip to the Lorain Public Library revealed that in 1968, there was a company called the T. J. Bottling Company, Inc. at 318 15th Street. Their November 1968 ad (shown above) shows that besides the ginger beer, they handled Dodge City Sarsaparilla, Quicky (a grapefruit and lemon soda), and Clicquot Club Beverages.
I'm going to have to do some more research, because apparently there is much more to this story. According to the Images of America book on Lorain published by the Black River Historical Society, William Seher was the owner of the Lorain Brewing Company, which began producing the popular ginger beer bearing his name during Prohibition. So I guess I'll have to find out the relationship between his company and the T. J. Bottling Company.
If anyone else has suggestions for future blog topics, feel free to email me! And by all means, be sure to post a comment regarding any of the entries if you feel like it. It's easy! Just click on the word 'comments' at the end of the entry. A box will pop up that will allow you to type your comment into it. Then, use the pull-down menu to select 'Anonymous' (if you prefer) and hit the 'Post Comment' button!
I just ran across a clear bottle marked "The Lorain Bottling Co.". I think it was ginger beer or perhaps Quicky soda.....don't really remember. I remember some sort of bottling company where a form Mfg. is now....
ReplyDeleteI have a full case of empty bottles of Pleasure Time Beverage-12 oz- bottled by T.J. Bottling Co, Inc.-Lorain, Ohio. I also have the original wooden case they came in.
ReplyDeleteSeems like I remember a product in a green bottle. Squirt maybe?
ReplyDeleteany one know of Purity bottling company in lorain, my family has a const company and we found 1000s of bottles, please email me at timeofage@yahoo.com we dug up lakeview park in the 80s
ReplyDeletehave a corktop whiskey bottle with intact label from the Penn Liquor Co. in Lorain Ohio. Anybody know anything about it?
ReplyDeleteI have a bottle of Dodge City Sarsaparilla that was given to me by my grandfather from the TJ Bottling Co., Lorain, OH. It's at least as old as the 1940s
ReplyDeleteI found a T.J. Bottling Company wood crate at the Lorain Habitat for Humanity store last summer! Thank you for giving me a time frame that it was from!
ReplyDeleteJoe Kovacs. I have 22 bottles of Seher's beverages, along with the original wooden case. Three of the bottles are dark brown, Seher's Ginger Beer. It says T. J. Bottling Co., Lorain, Ohio on the sides, and Seher's on the ends.
ReplyDeleteWe used to live a couple doors down from T&J, my younger brother used to work there, cleaning up as a kid. . .they paid him in cases of soda. . .the ginger beer was my favorite, though the sarsaparilla was pretty good, too.
ReplyDeleteThe old house on
ReplyDelete9th near Washington
I Professionally Restore Vintage Soda Machines. Just made a Quiky Machine! Wish there was a way to post a picture of it
ReplyDelete