When you study the history of a Wisconsin community the Brewing Industry looms large. Most medium sized towns had several breweries and they were a significant element of local culture.
Soda pop bottling is mostly unrecognized.
So I guess it's time to revisit, update and extend the history of soda pop bottling in Chippewa Falls.
I've covered some of this in the past. For instance the brief attempt by Schofield, Garon and Hebert to establish a soda pop factory in the late 1860s. They seem to have set up shop, ordered the equipment and bottles, gotten things going....and then quit after a few months in 1868.
I think that, among other problems, they had a measure of competition. Matt Johannes had come to next door Eau Claire in 1860, starting the areas first soda pop factory a few years later. He may well have operated in Chippewa Falls too. Fragments of his distinctive 1870's bottles turn up on occasion, and he is known to have owned commercial property in town.
A 1936 newspaper article with the headline "Landmarks in Chippewa are Being Razed" has this to say:
"Two of the oldest landmarks in Chippewa Falls are being torn down. They are the two buildings located at 409 and 411 Bridge Street, owned by Mrs. Albert Nunke of this city. Both are frame buildings and were erected about 60 years ago (Note, that would only put them in the late 1870s)....The properties were formerly owned by Mrs. Nunke's father, the late Math Johannes of Eau Claire."
The article mentions that various businesses were carried on there, including a tailor and a barber shop, but the logical thing for a soda pop bottler to do with a building in a near by community would be to sell pop there!
While a storefront operation would do just fine to store, sell and most importantly to collect your returned bottles, it would take a bit more involvement to actually set up and start manufacturing soda. Perhaps after a while business was good and the bother of hauling wagon loads of clinking bottles with sticky residue all the way down to Eau Claire just got to be too much. And Johannes also needed to do something with young Albert....
Albert Nunke was born in Prussia in 1853, emigrating to the United States in 1867. In 1874 he joined the army, serving five years and supposedly being engaged in various skirmishes with hostile Indians. He turns up in Eau Claire circa 1879 and spends the next few years learning the
soda business from Matt Johannes. While also apparently making goo goo eyes at the boss's daughter Mary! After marrying the gal Nunke started his own bottling works in Chippewa Falls, with the most likely starting date of 1882.
Nunke's factory and his home - still standing btw - was on Jefferson Street. In the 1880's this would have been on the edge of town. But it turned out to be a pretty good location. Because eventually it would be right next to the biggest park in the city. Irvine Park specifically. But the benefits of that would come to the next owner of the business, as the park was not officially established until 1906.
Albert Nunke's life, at least the part after the Indian fighting days, does not sound very interesting. He bottled soda pop until 1904. I found one mention of him at that time also being involved in, of all things, selling washing machines...maybe bottle washers? His second career was selling insurance, something he did up until his death in 1920. He was also a City Councilman for many years.
His later life was characterized by ill health. He had heart troubles and was diabetic, in an era before effective treatments. So his passing was not a surprise. But....he went out with class.
It seems his daughter Mayme was getting married. With Albert's failing health there was discussion of whether the ceremony should be delayed. But he insisted that it go on as scheduled, saying "Never postpone it on my account. I will be there to eat a piece of wedding cake."
Strong words, but his strength failed him. But the wedding went off as planned. When he was told that it had happened he was too weak to speak, but is said that a "smile of satisfaction" came over his face. He died the next day.
Here's a photo of the Nunke House. The soda plant was back behind it.
For the continued story of soda pop in Chippewa Falls, there will be a Part Two shortly.
No comments:
Post a Comment