Canada Dry Ad – Dec. 19, 1959

I found this ad (which appeared in the Lorain Journal on December 19, 1959) interesting, because it identified the name of a drink that I like to make at home. That is, I like to add some Canadian Club to my Canada Dry Diet Ginger Ale for a nice, Canadian-themed drink.

According to the ad, that drink is called a highball. Gee, I’d heard of that drink but didn’t realize that was what I was making. Suddenly I feel very old.

Anyway, I have another reason for posting this ad.

One of the features of this blogger website is the ability to review statistics to see which posts get the most visits. And for some inexplicable reason, one of the most-visited posts that I have ever written is this one  from 2013 about the old Canada Dry bottling plant building at 1251 Colorado Avenue.

I don’t know why, but when I check my stats each week, that Canada Dry post is usually at the top of the heap. It had more than 500 visits in November. Why?

I can’t figure it out. Does anybody out there have any ideas?

****

Here’s some information about the Canada Dry bottling plant on Colorado Avenue that I've found since that original post.

According to an article in the Lorain Journal on June 21, 1955, “Canada Dry Bottling Co. of Lorain was established here as a franchised carbonated beverage manufacturing firm in 1947.

“The company, which bottles Canada Dry beverages for Lorain, Huron and Erie counties, is owned and managed by David E. Mowrey.

“Mowrey is widely known in Lorain and is past president of the Lorain board of education.

“The firm employs five persons. Three large trucks are used for quick delivery service.”

****

Our old pal, longtime blog contributor Bob Kovach sent me (as he put it) the "relic" at right. 

It's a well-worn piece of correspondence from the Canada Dry Bottling Company of Lorain, Ohio, Inc. to its customers, dated August 27, 1948.

The letter is on an elegantly designed masthead that shows some of its Canada Dry products at the time, including two I'd never heard of: Spur and Hi-Spot.

Spur appears to have been Canada Dry's cola product. Hi-Spot was a lemon-lime soda that probably competed with Seven-Up.

Thanks for sharing your find with us, Bob!

To visit a terrific vintage advertising website that includes a history of Canada Dry along with vintage labels and ads, click here.