More on the Westchester County Brewing Company that Operated in Pelham Before Prohibition

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Few realize that the extensive parking area behind the Village Hall building of the Village of Pelham on Sparks Avenue once was the site of a massive beer brewery, refrigeration stock house, and ice manufacturing facility operated by the Westchester County Brewing Company (often also referred to as the Westchester Brewing Company and, occasionally, as "Westchester Brewery").  The brewery operated from 1910 until about the beginning of Prohibition when it became a full-time ice manufacturing facility.

The brewery, stock house, and ice facility once was located along the Hutchinson River near Sparks Avenue in an area where, today, Tiffany & Co. (and other businesses) have back office operations.  In late 1909 and early 1910, that area was desolate and low-lying.  There were virtually no residences in the area except for a few homes (and businesses) along Wolf's Lane.  The brewery and ice facility was completed in about May, 1910.  The business had its "Office and Bottling Dept." located across the Hutchinson River in Mount Vernon.  Thus, the business often was referenced as the Westchester County Brewing Company of Mount Vernon, though its main plant was located in the Village of Pelham (Pelham Heights). 

Detail from 1914 Bromley Map With "WESTCHESTER BREWING CO."

Shown in Upper Left Quadrant of Detail Between Sparks Avenue and the

New Haven Main Line.   Source:  "Pelham and New Rochelle" in G. W. 

Bromley & Co., Atlas of Westchester County, N.Y. Pocket, Desk and

Automobile Edition, Vol. I, pp. 124-25 (NY, NY:  G. W. Bromley & Co.,

1914).  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

I have written before about the history of the Westchester County Brewing Company.  See Wed., Jan. 07, 2015:  Westchester County Brewing Company Operated in Pelham Before Prohibition. Today's Historic Pelham Blog article documents additional research regarding the history of the company, its founders, and its facility in the Village of Pelham (Pelham Heights).  The focus of the research presented today is the serious set of financial difficulties faced by the business and its founders from its inception.

Early 20th Century Wooden Advertising Sign for the

Westchester County Brewing Company.  NOTE:

Click on Image to Enlarge.

There were two principal founders of the Westchester County Brewing Company:  William H. Ebling, Jr. of Pelham Heights who became President of the Company and William O. Hobby of Mount Vernon who became President after Ebling's untimely death.  In the months leading up to the completion of the main facility and its opening, the pair touted the new business as a sure "bonanza" and sold stock in the venture to investors throughout Westchester County and New York City.  

Although the United States economy was healthy in 1910, Ebling and Hobby over-extended themselves and their new business with debt at precisely the time the U.S. Economy moved from a twenty-year-period of rapid growth to a twenty-year-period of modest growth.  Indeed, the period from 1890 to 1910, generally, was one of economic growth in excess of 4%.  Beginning in 1910, however, there was a break as economic growth in the U.S. slowed to about 2.8% from 1910 to 1929.  The combination of slowing economic growth and too much debt turned out to be too much for the new business and its founders.

Indeed, financial strain may have played some role in the death of William H. Ebling, Jr.  He died "suddenly" on December 8, 1910, only seven months after the Westchester County Brewing Company opened its new facility near his home in Pelham Heights.  

In less than a year, the new business was in trouble.  On September 12, 1911, bankruptcy proceedings were commenced as a voluntary petition for dissolution of the business was filed.  In reality, the bankruptcy was merely a move to fend off creditors.  There were more than twenty lawsuits pending against the company at the time of filing with some nearing judgment.  According to one news account:

"The application was made because of the financial difficulties the corporation is in, and is preparatory to an application for a voluntary dissolution of the corporation.  It was also made to forestall having the plant and property levied on under judgments, as about twenty suits are now pending against the company, and have almost gone to judgment.  The bonded indebtedness of the company is secured by a mortgage for $250,000 held by the Empire Trust Company of New York to protect the bond holders.  There is due to different persons and corporations on promissory notes, the sum of $145,175.20, and for other debts and liabilities the sum of $95,496.87.  As against this immense debt, the corporation owns property buildings, plant, office furnishings, horses, wagons, harness, auto trucks and stock on hand valued at $395,568.20.  There are 114 stockholders of the corporation, scattered throughout Westchester County, New York City and in nearby Connecticut towns."

As the proceedings dragged along, the brewery continued to operate under receivers including William O. Hobby (the remaining living founder).  Hobby's own financial situation, however, grew increasingly bleak.  In March, 1915, Hobby filed for personal bankruptcy.  An account in the New York Times made clear how dire his situation had become.  It stated:

"WILLIAM O. HOBBY of Mount Vernon has filed a petition in bankruptcy, with liabilities of $182,664 and no available assets.  He has 1,000 shares of stock of the Westchester County Brewery, 720 shares Wauregan Hotel Company, 200 Elk Creek Oil and Gas Company, and 20 Mount Vernon National Bank, all of which are put in as of no value.  Most of his liabilities are for endorsing notes of the Westchester County Brewery, against which concern a petition in bankruptcy was filed here on Sept. 12, 1911.  William Hobby was President of the Company, and was also appointed one of the receivers for it.  Among his creditors are Philip Tillinghast, receiver of the Mount Vernon National Bank, $27,852; Mount Vernon Trust Company, $7,451; First National Bank of Jamaica, $4,184; Trustees of the First National Bank of Oneonta, $9,3331; Bollinger Brothers, Pittsburgh, $49,000; Frick Company, Waynesboro, Penn., $22,000, and Liberty Brewing Company, $6,631." 
 

 

Example of Beer Bottle of the "WESTCHESTER COUNTY BREWING

COMPANY" of  "MOUNT VERNON, N.Y." With Close-Up of the

Embossed Medallion of the Bottle Immediately Below.  NOTE:  Click

on Image to Enlarge.

By the late Teens, with Prohibition looming, officials of the Westchester County Brewery Company negotiated a sale of the Pelham Heights facility off Sparks Avenue to the Knickerbocker Ice Company, a supplier of ice to lower Westchester County.  In 1933, as Prohibition came to a close, there were brief efforts to reinstate a brewery on the site, although Village building inspectors halted the work.  At least two lawsuits followed with one of those suits eventually resulting in a decision to relocate the proposed brewery elsewhere. 

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"Wm. H. Ebling

Attended by many people of prominence from Pelham Heights, Pelham, New York and Philadelphia, and by the Mount Vernon Lodge of Elks, the funeral services of William H. Ebling, Jr., President of the Westchester County Brewery, who died suddenly on December 8th, were held on December 12th, at Pelham Heights, N. Y.

The services were conducted by the Rev. H. H. Brown, the rector of the Church of the Redeemer, in Pelham.  Following came the ritualistic burial service of the Elks, which was conducted by the Exalted Ruler Robert R. Kallman and the officers of the lodge.  Mr. Williams, of the Mount Vernon Lodge, sang 'Nearer, My God, to Thee' and 'The Vacant Chair.'

The floral tributes were numerous and beautiful.  The honorary pallbearers were F. F. Ballinger, of Pittsburgh, Pa., Sidney A. Syme, Leon St. C. Dick, John L. Fee, E. J. Farrell, Charles Wintermeyer, Henry Muck, and William Hobby.  The body was placed in a receiving vault in Woodlawn temporarily.

Among those in attendance at the funeral were:  Edward, Harry and C. Schmidt, of Philadelphia; from New York:  Mr. and Mrs. Peter Doger, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Zoller, M. Zoller, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Heabler, Charles Warner, secretary of the Brewers' exchange; Louis Heidenheimer and Harry E. Rauch.  Many in the list are prominent brewers."

Source:  Wm. H. Ebling, The American Bottler, Vol. XXXI, No. 1, p. 63 (NY, NY:  Jan. 15, 1911).  

"TWO RECEIVERS NOW ACTING FOR THE BREWERY CO.
-----
William Hobby and Leo Oppenheimer are Appointed in the Bankruptcy Proceedings by Judge Hough.
-----
ANOTHER DECISION IN THIS LITIGATION NOW
-----
Proceedings Yesterday -- Bonds Fixed at $10,000 Each -- Status Is Now of Federal Jurisdiction -- What the Attorneys Say.
-----

Judge Hough yesterday named Leo Oppenheimer, of No. 60 Wall street, New York, and William Hobby, of Mount Vernon, receivers in bankruptcy for the Westchester county brewery.  On whose application the receivers were appointed does not seem to be agreed upon as Moos, Princ and Nathan, of New York, who represent a number of creditors, claim that the appointment was made on their application while Judge Syme for the brewery corporation, says it was on their application.  The bond of the receivers was fixed at $10,000 each.

It was stated at the office of Moose, Princ and Nathan this morning by Attorney Princ that in answer to the application made before Judge Hough that the Westchester county brewery be declared in bankruptcy last week, Receiver Hobby, through
-----
(Continued on page 13.)

TWO RECEIVERS NOW ACTING FOR THE BREWERY CO.
-----
(Continued From Page One)
-----

Attorney Syme denied that the brewery was insolvent -- and denied that the petition of creditors who made the application were creditors of the Westchester county brewery.

As such an answer was filed with Judge Hough, Moos, Prince and Nathan secured an order to show cause which was returnable Monday as to why the answer of the Westchester county brewery should not be stricken -- out, on the ground that it was 'false, a sham and frivolous and interpose for the purpose of delay.'  When argument were heard on this order to show cause Monday, Moos, Princ and Nathan presented to the court a certified copy of the proceedings in the supreme court of voluntary dissolution proceedings of the brewery, which showed that the brewery was insolvent.  Other facts were brought out about the proceedings and Judge Hough ordered that the answer be stricken out and declared the Westchester county brewery to be in bankruptcy.

After that an application was made to the court that two receivers be appointed in bankruptcy for the brewery and Judge Hough made the appointments yesterday as already told.

Mr. Princ was asked this morning why it was that he requested that Mr. Hobby be appointed a receiver with Mr. Oppenheimer when in the original application he had asked for the removal of Mr. Hobby and the appointment of a receiver to take his place.  Mr. Princ said that the thought that it would be well to have Mr. Hobby retained in view of the fact that he was familiar with the business and it would be better for the creditors to have him appointed to act with somebody else.  

Judge Hough refused to appoint a receiver on September 15 but it was afterward found that money had to be raised to pay for the licenses of customers on October 1 and that it was necessary to have a receiver to do this.  Judge Hough yesterday allowed the receivers to issue certificates for $47,800 to be a first lien on the assets ahead of the mortgages.  Of this amount $34,300 is to be issued to be used solely to pay the liquor tax certificates $13,500 is to be held in a trust company as security for any damages that may arise to the non-assenting bondholders.

Judge Syme, as counsel, for Mr. Hobby when seen this morning denied that Judge Hough appointed the receivers on the application of the New York attorneys.  He declared that Mr. Hobby went before Judge Hough yesterday and stated that he was unable to get any money from the local banks on receiver's certificates and so it was necessary for him to get the money in New York.  He said that such a step would be necessary to keep the business; if it was not done it would have to close.  He declared that Judge Hough consequently appointed Mr. Oppenheimer and Mr. Hobby as receivers.  '''This appointment really makes Mr. Hobby's position -- stronger than it was before,' said Judge Syme this morning.  We beat those New York lawyers in their application to have Mr. Hobby removed and we obtained the money an hour after the appointment was made.'  

The receivers were given authority by the court to carry on the business for thirty days."

Source:  TWO RECEIVERS NOW ACTING FOR THE BREWERY CO -- William Hobby and Leo Oppenheimer are Appointed in the Bankruptcy Proceedings by Judge Hough-- ANOTHER DECISION IN THIS LITIGATION NOW -- Proceedings Yesterday -- Bonds Fixed at $10,000 Each -- Status Is Now of Federal Jurisdiction -- What the Attorneys Say, The Daily Argus [Mount Vernon, NY], Sep. 29, 1911, No. 6653, p. 1, col. 3 & p. 13, col. 1.

"Hobby Brewery in Bankruptcy
-----
276 Claims, 32 Notes and Several Contracts Unpaid.

Greatly to the surprise of everyone who heard of it, Justice Tomkins this morning appointed William Hobby of Mount Vernon, as temporary receiver of the Westchester Brewery of Mount Vernon, on the application of the Board of Directors of the institution.  Mr. Hobby immediately qualified by filing a bond for $30,000 and takes charge at once.

The Westchester Brewery stock was sold about the county and 114 invested in it.  One of the heaviest of the local investors was Henry Fulle.  Mr. Fulle served the Westchester beer at his hotel and it is quite popular there.  

The directors are:  William Hobby, Sydney A. Syme, C. Davies Tinter, William M. N. Eglenton and Henry Fulle.

When the stock was being sold the scheme was held forth as a bonanza.  There would be a refrigerator, cold storage and ice making plant in connection with it.  Stockholders from White Plains are Chas F. Armbruster, two shares; Henry Fulle, ten shares; I. V. Fowler, five shares; C. D. Horton, seven shares.  There are 276 claimants, besides 32 notes.  Hobby claims $30,000 for services as manager.

What Financial Difficulties Are. 

The application was made because of the financial difficulties the corporation is in, and is preparatory to an application for a voluntary dissolution of the corporation.  It was also made to forestall having the plant and property levied on under judgments, as about twenty suits are now pending against the company, and have almost gone to judgment.  The bonded indebtedness of the company is secured by a mortgage for $250,000 held by the Empire Trust Company of New York to protect the bond holders.  There is due to different persons and corporations on promissory notes, the sum of $145,175.20, and for other debts and liabilities the sum of $95,496.87.  As against this immense debt, the corporation owns property buildings, plant, office furnishings, horses, wagons, harness, auto trucks and stock on hand valued at $395,568.20.  There are 114 stockholders of the corporation, scattered throughout Westchester County, New York City and in nearby Connecticut towns.

The Justice has also appointed Arthur Rowland, of Yonkers, as Referee and has directed that notice be given to all creditors of the corporation to show cause before Mr. Rowland at his office in Yonkers on October 27 next at 3 p.m. why the corporation should not be dissolved. -- Westchester Co. Reporter, Sept. 1."

Source:  Hobby Brewery in Bankruptcy -- 276 Claims, 32 Notes and Several Contracts Unpaid, New Rochelle Pioneer, Sep. 9, 1911, Vol. 53, No. 24, p. 3, col. 7.


"BUSINESS TROUBLES.
-----
Receivers for the Westchester County Brewery Will Protect Liquor Licenses.

Judge Hough yesterday appointed Leo Oppenheimer of 60 Wall street and William Hobby of Mount Vernon receivers in bankruptcy for the Westchester County Brewery of Mount Vernon.  They are authorized to carry on the business for thirty days.  Judge Hough allows the receivers to issue receivers' certificates for $47,800 to be a first lien on the assets ahead of the mortgages.  Of this amount $34,300 is to be issued for cash, to be used solely to pay liquor tax certificates for customers, and $13,500 is to be held in a trust company as security for any damage that may arise to the non-assenting bondholders. . . ."

Source:  BUSINESS TROUBLES-- Receivers for the Westchester County Brewery Will Protect Liquor Licenses, The Sun [NY, NY], Sep. 29, 1911, p. 13, col. 5.  

"BUSINESS TROUBLES. . . .

WILLIAM O. HOBBY of Mount Vernon has filed a petition in bankruptcy, with liabilities of $182,664 and no available assets.  He has 1,000 shares of stock of the Westchester County Brewery, 720 shares Wauregan Hotel Company, 200 Elk Creek Oil and Gas Company, and 20 Mount Vernon National Bank, all of which are put in as of no value.  Most of his liabilities are for endorsing notes of the Westchester County Brewery, against which concern a petition in bankruptcy was filed here on Sept. 12, 1911.  William Hobby was President of the Company, and was also appointed one of the receivers for it.  Among his creditors are Philip Tillinghast, receiver of the Mount Vernon National Bank, $27,852; Mount Vernon Trust Company, $7,451; First National Bank of Jamaica, $4,184; Trustees of the First National Bank of Oneonta, $9,3331; Bollinger Brothers, Pittsburgh, $49,000; Frick Company, Waynesboro, Penn., $22,000, and Liberty Brewing Company, $6,631."

Source:  BUSINESS TROUBLES. . . .  WILLIAM O. HOBBY, N.Y. Times, Mar. 24, 1915, Vol. LXIV, No. 20,878, p. 16, col. 3.

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Visit to the Wrong House Uncovered Massive Pelham Manor Bootlegging During Prohibition

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Everything was set.  It was nearly 2:00 a.m. in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, August 6, 1927.  Philip Oldwell of the Bronx and his two compatriots, Frank Reilly and Arthur Schiller of New York City were slowly cruising the streets of Pelham Manor in a Chrysler roadster.  They were searching in the dark for 1318 Roosevelt Avenue.  

The new tenant who had rented 1318 Roosevelt Avenue only two months before, 31-year-old Harold L. Peterson was ready for the three men.  He had placed a signal light in a front window of the house for the three men to see.

In the darkness, the three men in their Chrysler roadster weren't certain if they were on Roosevelt Avenue or connecting Bolton Road.  They had a good description of the home, however, and soon found what they were looking for.  The three pulled up to the house and banged on the door.

A sleepy and annoyed Pelhamite opened his front door and was a bit startled to see three visitors on his doorstep.  One stepped forward and, "in a guarded whisper," asked "Got the stuff?"  According to one account:

"Dumbfounded, the householder asked, 'What stuff'?

'Quit your kiddin',' the leader of the trio responded.  'We're here for it.  Let's have it.'"

It took quite a while before the homeowner convinced the bumbling visitors that they had the wrong house.  Indeed, it was only "after much argument" that the three men departed.  Surprisingly, having awakened the Pelhamite and having aroused his suspicions, the three inept thugs simply continued their search for 1318 Roosevelt Avenue which they shortly found.

Of course, the homeowner they had awakened called the Pelham Manor police and reported the encounter.  According to The Pelham Sun:

"Sergeant McCaffrey and Patrolman Karp were detailed to investigate.  They searched the neighborhood in question, and found the Chrysler machine parked in the driveway at Peterson's house.  They watched and saw the men bringing cases out of the house and storing them in the car.  Waiting until the machine was loaded and the trio had prepared to drive away the officers stopped the car.  A search revealed a bottle half filled with whisky in a pocket of the machine.  Oldwell was ordered to drive to police headquarters as McCaffrey placed the trio under arrest. At police headquarters the machine was searched and 24 bottles of Creme de Menthe and 12 bottles of Benedictine were found.  The trio were locked up in the cells."

The three men were put into a holding cell at police headquarters that night.  Later in the night, as the police opened the cell to release another prisoner on bail, the three men tried to overpower the cops and escape.  A ten-minute melee ensued.  It was not until the police pulled out their clubs that they were able to take control of the situation.  In addition to bootlegging charges, charges for assault were added.

With plenty of evidence of wrongdoing, later that afternoon Chief of Police Philip Gargan accompanied Federal Prohibition officers to 1318 Roosevelt Avenue where they found Harold L. Peterson still on the premises.  The officers searched the home.  According to the same newspaper account:

"The place was a veritable bottling works.  Champagne, Benedictine, Creme de Menthe, and a large assortment of wines and cordials were found in the hosue, as well as an extensive stock of labels, bottles, corks, and bottling apparatus.  Peterson was affable to the officers.  He showed them about the place, explained the operation of the apparatus and submitted to arrest without protest.  The Federal authorities agreed to his release on his own recognizance.  He appeared before Commissioner O'Neill Tuesday and was released under $500 bail."
Pelham, once again, had prevailed in its efforts to help enforce Prohibition.  

 

1318 Roosevelt Avenue Where the Illegal Liquor Bottling Plant

Was Discovered on Saturday, August 6, 1927.  Source:  Google

Maps.  NOTE:  Click on Link to Enlarge.

 

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"BOOTLEGGERS' MISTAKE LEADS TO DISCOVERY OF $5,000 LIQUOR STOCK AND BOTTLING PLANT IN MANOR
-----
Four Prisoners Taken After Pelham Manor Resident Warns Police of Visit of Bootleggers.  Trio Makes Bold Attempt to Break Jail.  House of Mystery Proves Liquor Storehouse
-----

A midnight visit to the wrong house, a few whispered words and a warning to the police  led four bootleggers into cells at Pelham Manor police headquarters Saturday, and disclosed a $5,000 stock of illicit liquor and a complete bottling plant in the heart of the residential  district of Pelham Manor.  Harold L. Peterson, 31, a salesman, mysterious tenant of No. 1318 Roosevelt avenue; Philip M. Oldwell, 33, of No. 2337 Andrew avenue, Bronx; Frank Reilly, 32, of No. 150 Sherman avenue, New York City, and Arthur Schiller, 23, of the same address, are held in $500 bail each on charges of violation of the Volstead Act.  The Pelham Manor police are responsible for the arrest of the latter three.  Chief Gargan and operatives of the office of Prohibition Enforcement Director Maurice Campbell took Peterson and discovered the bootlegging plant.

Including the three men taken in the raid on Newman's Drug Store, two days previous, a total of seven bootleggers were arrested in the same neighborhood within three days.  

After being incarcerated in the Pelham Manor lockup, Reilly, Schiller and Oldwell made a bold attempt to escape.  Sgt. James McCaffrey and Patrolman Stanley Karp battled with the prisoners in the cell room for ten minutes before they were finally returned behind bars.  The prisoners faced additional charges of assault and were fined $50 each, when taken before Judge Rice on Saturday afternoon.

Although the residence rented by Peterson at No. 1318 Roosevelt avenue had been under police surveillance for the last two months the quartet can blame their downfall on the mistake made by Oldwell, Reilly and Schiller, who came to Pelham Manor shortly after two o'clock in order to get liquor from Peterson.  Having a description of the house and the locality and being instructed to watch for a signal light in a window, the trio mistook a residence on Bolton road for the home where they were to get the liquor.  Believing they were on the right street they stopped their machine, a Chrysler roadster, outside of a house that tallied with their description and went to the door.

Awakened from his sleep, the householder was surprised to find three visitors, one of whom in a guarded whisper, asked 'Got the stuff'?

Dumbfounded, the householder asked, 'What stuff'?

'Quit your kiddin',' the leader of the trio responded.  'We're here for it.  Let's have it.'

It was some time before the householder could satisfy the visitors that they had the wrong house.  Convinced, after much argument, they departed.

Being suspicious of his callers the householder immediately notified Pelham Manor police headquarters.  Sergeant McCaffrey and Patrolman Karp were detailed to investigate.  They searched the neighborhood in question, and found the Chrysler machine parked in the driveway at Peterson's house.  They watched and saw the men bringing cases out of the house and storing them in the car.  Waiting until the machine was loaded and the trio had prepared to drive away the officers stopped the car.  A search revealed a bottle half filled with whisky in a pocket of the machine.  Oldwell was ordered to drive to police headquarters as McCaffrey placed the trio under arrest.

At police headquarters the machine was searched and 24 bottles of Creme de Menthe and 12 bottles of Benedictine were found.  The trio were locked up in the cells.

A short while later McCaffrey and Karp opened the cell door to release a prisoner on bail.  The trio made a break for liberty and a free for all ensued.  The officers were forced to use their clubs in subduing their prisoners.

Saturday morning the trio appeared before Judge Charles E. Rice and were held for the Prohibition Commissioner.  They paid fines of $50 each on disorderly conduct charges as a result of their attack on the officers in their attempted jail break.

Chief of Police Philip Gargan in questioning the trio obtained enough evidence on Peterson to warrant an investigation; in company with Federal Prohibition officers he searched the residence Saturday afternoon.  

The place was a veritable bottling works.  Champagne, Benedictine, Creme de Menthe, and a large assortment of wines and cordials were found in the hosue, as well as an extensive stock of labels, bottles, corks, and bottling apparatus.  Peterson was affable to the officers.  He showed them about the place, explained the operation of the apparatus and submitted to arrest without protest.  The Federal authorities agreed to his release on his own recognizance.  He appeared before Commissioner O'Neill Tuesday and was released under $500 bail.

Little activity has been noticed about the house since it was rented by Peterson two months ago.  Chief of Police Gargan aroused by the veil of mystery woven around the apparently deserted house had instructed the officers of the department to keep a close vigil.  Peterson apparently kept his activities well covered.  The illicit liquor stock was reported to be of the best imported brands, running mostly to wines and liqueurs.

The Federal authorities removed the liquor early this week."

Source:   BOOTLEGGERS' MISTAKE LEADS TO DISCOVERY OF $5,000 LIQUOR STOCK AND BOTTLING PLANT IN MANOR -- Four Prisoners Taken After Pelham Manor Resident Warns Police of Visit of Bootleggers.  Trio Makes Bold Attempt to Break Jail.  House of Mystery Proves Liquor Storehouse, The Pelham Sun, Aug. 12, 1927, Vol. 18, No. 25, p. 3, cols. 1-3.

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I have written extensively about Pelham's struggles with Prohibition and the enforcement of the unpopular laws that it spawned. See: 

Wed., Jan. 03, 2018:  The Massive Illegal Still Discovered at 137 Corlies Avenue During Prohibition in 1932.

Wed., Jun. 21, 2017:  The Infamous Ash Tree Inn of Pelham Manor and its Prohibition Violations During the 1920s.

Thu., Feb. 02, 2017:  Bootleggers Began to Feel the Heat in Pelham in 1922.

Mon., Dec. 26, 2016:  Pelham Stood Alone in Westchester When It Voted to Go Dry in 1896. 

Mon., Aug. 22, 2016:  Pelham, It Seems, Became a Hotbed of Bootlegging and Illegal Stills During Prohibition.

Mon., Jul. 06, 2015:  Police Raided a Massive 300-Gallon Illegal Liquor Still on Corlies Avenue in 1932.  

Fri., Jun. 19, 2015:  More Liquor Raids in Pelham During Prohibition in the 1920s.

Wed., Jun. 17, 2015:   Prohibition Rum-Runners Delivering A Boatload of Booze Were Foiled in Pelham in 1925.

Fri., Apr. 24, 2015:  The North Pelham "Speakeasy Section" Created Quite a Stir During Prohibition.

Tue., Nov. 18, 2014:  More Bootleggers and Speakeasies Raided in Pelham in 1929 During Prohibition.
Fri., May 23, 2014:  How Dry I Am -- Early Prohibition Efforts Succeed in Pelham in 1896.

Thu., Apr. 03, 2014:  The Prohibition Era in Pelham:  Another Speakeasy Raided.

Tue., Feb. 18, 2014:  Pelham Speakeasies and Moonshiners - Prohibition in Pelham: The Feds Raid the Moreau.

Thu., Feb. 07, 2008:  Village Elections in Pelham in 1900 - New York Athletic Club Members Campaign Against the Prohibition Ticket in Pelham Manor.

Thu., Jan. 12, 2006:  The Beer Battle of 1933.

Thu., Aug. 11, 2005:  How Dry I Am: Pelham Goes Dry in the 1890s and Travers Island Is At the Center of a Storm. 

Bell, Blake A., The Prohibition Era in Pelham, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XIII, No. 25, June 18, 2004, p. 12, col. 2.

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More on Bottlers Who Operated in the Pelhams in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries

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During the 19th and early 20th centuries, more than 15,400 bottlers operated throughout North America.  According to one expert on antique soda and beer bottles, these 15,400 firms produced more than 29,950 different types of soda and beer bottles with more than 34,725 variants of such bottles.  See von Mechow, Tod, Soda & Beer Bottles of North America (visited Mar. 19, 2016).  The vast majority of such firms were "Mom and Pop" shops in localities like the tiny litte settlement of Pelhamville, New York.  Thus, researching small bottlers can be like researching a local country grocery store or a local drug store that existed for only a few years at a time when records for such businesses were scant and are nearly impossible to find today.

Bottler David Lyon and the Vernon Bottling Works

I have written before about Pelham bottlers.  See Fri., Jul. 11, 2014:  Bottlers Who Operated in the Pelhams in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries.  Among the bottlers about whom I wrote in that article was David Lyon.  Regarding Lyon, I wrote:  

"David Lyon was a Civil War veteran who lived in Pelham on Third Avenue between Second and Third Streets.  He established the first carbonated beverage establishment in Pelham and named it the "Vernon Bottling Works".  His establishment was in the rear of his residence and was instituted before 1898. It is not now known if this "Vernon Bottling Works" later became the "Vernon Bottling Works" of Mount Vernon or if the Mount Vernon business later used the same name. 

The Lyon family was quite prominent in Pelham in the late 19th century. One Lyon homestead stood at Colonial Avenue and Wolfs Lane.  It stood on the site of the old First Church of Christ which became today's Pelham Public Library.  The first butcher in what is today's Village of Pelham was Frank M. Lyon whose father -- David Lyon of "Vernon Bottling Works" fame -- built a butcher shop adjoining his home on Third Avenue.  See Souvenir Program - Golden Jubilee Celebration of Village of North Pelham Westchester County, New York, p. 17 (Village of North Pelham, Aug. 29, 1946)."

Recently I was able to acquire from an eBay seller for $10 an example of a so-called "Blob Top" soda bottle manufactured by, or for, David Lyon of Pelhamville.  An image of the bottle appears immediately below.

Aquamarine Embossed Blob-Top Soda Bottle.  Embossed

Center Medallion Reads:  "DAVID LYON  REGISTERED

1889  PELHAMVILLE"  NOTE:  Click Image to Enlarge.

The bottle, on its face, suggests that David Lyon was a bottler operating in Pelhamville earlier than previously believed.  Although the "REGISTERED 1889" reference does not necessarily establish with certainty that Lyon was operating as a bottler as early as 1889, it certainly is strong circumstantial evidence to that effect.  The bottle further suggests that Lyon operated as a bottler for some period of time before he established the "Vernon Bottling Works" at some time prior to 1898.  

Henry Straehle and Straehle's Bottling Works in the Old Wolf Homestead

As I previously have written, in about 1898, Henry Straehle bought the old Anthony Wolf homestead located at Fifth Avenue and Third Street.  (Wolfs Lane is named after Anthony Wolf and his farm).  Straehle opened a competing bottling business in the old Wolf homestead that he initially named the "Straehle Bottling Co." (occasionally referenced as "Straehle Bottling Works").

The company was billed as "soft drink dispensers."  The office and plant of the firm were in the Wolf homestead with the bottling equipment in the basement of the home.  For some period of time around 1909-1910, Henry Straehle and his wife operated a hotel / boarding house in the structure as well.  Once Straehle opened his competing bottling business, David Lyon apparently threw in the towel and liquidated his business.  It is possible that he sold his bottling business to Mr. Straehle, although that is still somewhat unclear and has not been established.  The only evidence to support this presumption is the reported existence of bottles marked "Straehle & Lyon."

Anthony Wolf Farmhouse in an Undated Photograph, Site of

Straehle's Bottling Works Operated by Henry Straehle in the

Basement of the Home.  Photograph Courtesy of The Office

of the Historian of the Town of Pelham.  NOTE:  Click on

Image to Enlarge.

Recently I located an advertisement for "Straehle's Bottling Works" that sheds interesting new light on Henry Straehle and his bottling business.  An image of the advertisement appears immediately below, followed by a transcription of its text to facilitate search and, thereafter, a discussion of its significance.

1911 Advertisement for "Straehle's Bottling Works, North Pelham, N.Y."

Source:  Straehle's Bottling Works [Advertisement], The Pelham Sun,

Sep. 30, 1911, Vol. 2, No. 26, p. 8, col. 2.  NOTE:  Click on Image to Enlarge.

To facilitate search, the text of the advertisement immediately above reads as follows:

"Straehle's Bottling Works
North Pelham, N.Y.
Dealer in and Manufacturer of
MINERAL AND CARBONATED BEVERAGES
David Mayer Brewing Co.  High Grade Lager Beer, Ale and Porter.
Tel. Call 1647-R Pelham
Works:  6th Ave. and 3rd Street, 
North Pelham."

The Straehle advertisement is significant in several respects.  By 1911, Straehle and his wife had moved the old Wolf homestead from its original site around the corner to 210 Sixth Avenue near Third Street.  (The home was moved to make way for the Fifth Avenue Station and the tracks of the New York, Westchester & Boston Railway built in 1910 through the Town of Pelham.)  The 1911 advertisement provides the address of "Straehle's Bottling Works" as "6th Ave. and 3rd St.," thus establishing that Henry Straehle continued to operate his basement bottling works in the old Wolf homestead even after the home was moved from its original location at Fifth Avenue and 3rd Street around the corner to 210 Sixth venue.  

Secondly, the advertisement reaffirms that Henry Straehle was both a dealer and a manufacturer of mineral and carbonated beverages and that he also delivered lager beer, ale, and porter brewed by the David Mayer Brewing Company.  (The David Myer Brewing Company operated from 1882 until 1920.  The brewery was in New York City at 1650 Third Avenue at 168th Street.)

Conclusion

Though researching small 19th century bottles like David Lyon and Henry Straehle is difficult, it is not impossible.  The historic record likely will continue to divulge more of its secrets regarding these two local businesses that once operated in the tiny settlement of Pelhamville and, later, the Village of North Pelham.  

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Stories About The Old Wolf Homestead in Pelhamville, Told by J. Gardiner Minard

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For many years there stood in Pelhamville a house built by Anthony Wolf.  It stood on the north side of Third Street between today's Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue.  The home was said by many to be the oldest home in the Village of North Pelham.  It stood along a dirt pathway barely wide enough for a single horse and cart.  That simple, unpaved roadway followed a pathway once carved into the countryside by local Native Americans that ran parallel to the Hutchinson River.  The pathway extended from the Boston Turnpike (today's Boston Post Road) all the way to the little house built by Anthony Wolf.  Today we know that little country lane as Wolfs Lane and Fifth Avenue.  

In about 1898, Henry Straehle, Sr. and his wife took possession of the Anthony Wolf home.  They redesigned the interior and converted the home into a boarding house.  Henry Straehle also installed bottling equipment and, later, refrigeration equipment in the basement.  He operated a soda bottling business from the basement for about a decade.  Straehle sold and delivered his bottled sodas along a route that covered mostly City Island and Mount Vernon, although he had some soda bottling business customers in Pelham.  I have written about Henry Straehle, Sr. and his bottling business before.  See Fri., Jul. 11, 2014:  Bottlers Who Operated in the Pelhams in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries.

Anthony Wolf Farmhouse in an Undated Photograph.

Photograph Courtesy of The Office of The Historian

of the Town of Pelham.  NOTE:  Click Image to Enlarge.

In 1908 or 1909 (J. Gardiner Minard believes it was 1909), the Wolf homestead was moved to make way for the Fifth Avenue Station and the tracks of the New York, Westchester & Boston Railway that once passed through the Village of North Pelham.  The home was moved around the block to 210 Sixth Avenue.

J. Gardiner Minard was a former Pelham newspaperman who became one of the oldest residents of the Village of North Pelham.  He once boarded at the Wolf Homestead while it was operated by Mrs. Straehle as a boarding house.  Periodically Minard wrote about his reminiscences of Pelhamville and the early days of the Village of North Pelham.  In 1938 and 1939, he published in The Pelham Sun a three-part series in which he recounted anecdotes about the old Anthony Wolf Homestead.  The text of each of those three articles, followed by citations and links to their sources, appear immediately below.

"THE OLD DAYS 
By
J. GARDINER MINARD

In another column of The Pelham Sun is a legal ad that will probably be noticed by about one reader in a hundred; and about one in ten of those will read it through with interest.  It is a foreclosure sale of the house and lot on the east side of Sixth avenue between Fourth and Third streets.  More properly it may be identified as 210 Sixth avenue.  It is the Wolf homestead.  The oldest house in North Pelham, it stood originally on an acre of ground on the north side of Third street from Fifth to Sixth avenues.  In 1909 the property was sold to the new Boston and Westchester and the house moved to its present location.  The house has a peculiar interest to me for it was the house that I gave as my home when I enlisted in 1917 and it so appears in my enlistment papers.

But here is another story; in 1908 on a bright June morning I was seated on the front porch when my attention was attracted by a short, stout man:  almost bald, with ruddy face and snow white moustache.  He was coming up the driveway, his eyes sweeping the entire front of the building and smiling broadly.  He greeted me cordially and said:

'I am Andy Wolf; the last of the tribe.  I was born in this house and a short time ago a notion occurred to me to find out whether the house was still standing and, if so, to see it once more before I die.  I wrote a friend to that effect and he replied that the house was still standing so I have come all the way from California to see it.'

I called Mrs. Straehle who gave him a hearty greeting and after explaining that she was very busy, asked me to show him over the house.  We first went down the stone steps to the basement and his eyes danced with joy as he identified the flat slabs of sandstone with which the areaway was paved and remarked that his father laid those stones.  He chuckled upon entering the kitchen in the basement and remarked that his family also had used the basement for a kitchen but the wood burner had given way to a coal range and there was no hot water boiler then.  We entered the cellar but he was not so sure of himself as now it was filled with bottling machinery and and a big ice box had been built there; but he showed some excitement when he pointed to the girder and floor beams overhead which showed the marks of the adz.  These timbers, he explained, were all hewn by hand from trees felled on the spot.  We now went up the same cellar stairs that he had ascended as a child and he again registered joy as he found the dining room unchanged and the old fireplace still there.  The pantry was now Mr. Straehle's office.  

His eyes glistened as he stood in his old bedroom which had not been divided into two rooms, as were two other bedrooms.  We now went down to the front door and first opened the two glass doors in the panels and pointed to the iron grill covering it from the outside.  This, he explained, was for the purpose of identifying anyone who came knocking at the door at night.  You carried the lamp to the door and opened one of these little doors and asked the caller to come close so you could see who he was.  Again he registered happiness when he beheld the old original door bell.  You pulled a handle and it drew a wire and started the bell on the end of a spiral spring jingling.  Again and again he pulled the knob and told how as a child he liked to ring it and was often scolded for it.

He stood on the porch and waved his hand toward Lather's woods (Pelhamwood) and said 'The woods extended right down to the river.  My father and grandfather cleared it and where all these houses and stores are now was the farm lands and pasture.  There was a lane that began at the Boston Turnpike and came right up to the front door.  I noticed a street sign the other side of the track showing they still call it Wolf's Lane.'

What lucky star directed Andy Wolf to the house in 1908?  A year later he would have found it in a different location and he most certainly would never have derived the same amount of satisfaction."

Source:  Minard, J. Gardiner, THE OLD DAYS By J. GARDINER MINARD, The Pelham Sun, Nov. 4, 1938, p. 10, cols. 6-7.

"THE OLD DAYS 
By
J. GARDINER MINARD
 Tales of the Old Wolf Homestead No. 2

While cleaning up the pile of rubbish in the pavilion, Jack Pellicci, who was giving me a hand, called out, 'Hey!  What do you call this?' and held in his hand what looked like a cross on a long pole.  At sight of it my memory went back to a mid-Summer day in 1899.  The Straehles had taken possession of the old Wolf homestead in November, 1898.  Directly across the street, where the Boston & Westchester station now stands, was Reilly's blacksmith shop.  Mrs. Straehle came from the County Clare, Ireland, and spoke Gaelic fluently.  Reilly also spoke the language, but as he had no one to converse with for years, he was somewhat rusty in its use.  It did not take him long to discover Mrs. Straehle's familiarity with it and he spent much time there brushing up on his Gaelic.  In those days Reilly's shop was a favorite meeting place for all the famous characters of the 'Pelhamville' era.  

Being a news gatherer, I put in about an hour a day absorbing the village gossip.  A dime spent for a growler of beer was good for a column of news.  Reilly was welding old horseshoes together and showing much enthusiasm over it.  This evoked my curiosity, and when we were alone he confided to me that he was making an old-fashioned Irish pike such as the Irish in olden times used in opposing the attacks of the English soldiers.  It was to be a present for Mrs. Straehle.  He hammered out a spear head and across the shank one side soon had a long narrow axe like blade and on opposite side a hook.  When it was completed he went to Jake Heisser's store where you could buy anything from a pound of butter to a plow.  He purchased a long rake handle which he fitted in the pike head.

Learning from him the approximate time it would be ready for presentation.  I sat with a group in the bar room when Reilly entered with his pike.  Smiling broadly, he glanced about and taking a position in the middle of the floor where all could see, he held it up before Mrs. Straehle who was behind and asked, 'Did you ever see one of those, Mrs. Straehle?'

'I did not, Jim,' she replied.

'You're a fine Irishman,' he growled.  Let me state here that Jim Reilly in those days did not carry an ounce of fat.  He was slightly stoop-shouldered and his hair, eyebrows and flowing moustache were coal black.  Taking a half-squatting position, he held the pike firmly in his hands and with the lethal end up at an angle of 45 degrees, explained that the English soldiers, mounted, were charging the Irish who are afoot.  The glint of battle was in his eye as he watched his victim approach.  With a sudden lunge forward and a sweep of the arms he yelled, 'You take the hook and hook the bridle of his horse and break the reins -- that makes him lose control of the horse.  Now, (another hook in the air and yank) you hook him by the neck and drag him off the horse to the ground.'  Before the astonished soldier was aware just what had happened, Reilly sprang forward and placing a foot on the helpless victim brought the spear down.  'Then you drive the spear through his heart,' he explained.  Reilly now seized the handle with both hands near the end and gave an imaginary tug to withdraw the spear and jumping to one side he made a chop with the axe and said 'then you cut his head off.'

Having finished a good job, he turned in triumph to Mrs. Straehle whose face registered horror.  'And did he kill him, Jim?' she asked.  Reilly regarded her with disgust for a second.  Gentle reader, this is a family paper and I cannot repeat Mr. Reilly's exact words, but they implied that the Englishman was really dead.

*     *     *     *

In the pile of rubbish in the center of the floor I found an Irish blackthorn.  When Reilly completed his first term as Village President, he returned to Ireland, his first visit since coming to this country during the 80's.  Returning, he brought with him a half dozen blackthorns and this one he had presented to Mrs. Straehle.  [NOTE an "Irish Blackthorn" is a wooden walking stick and club or cudgel typically made with a large knob at the top.]  What strikes one forcibly is with all the time, labor, material and expense to which people go to give pleasure to others, the articles become junk when the principals die."

Source:  Minard, J. Gardiner, THE OLD DAYS By J. GARDINER MINARD -- Tales of the Old Wolf Homestead No. 2, The Pelham Sun, May 12, 1939, p. 12, cols. 6-8.  

"THE OLD DAYS
By
J. GARDINER MINARD
Tales of the Old Wolf Homestead No. 3

I put a catch on the window of the bedroom at the southwest corner of the upper floor.  To my knowledge there has been no lock on that window in 45 years and I doubt if there ever was one, as no screw marks show.  That window has a little story of its own.  When the Straehle's took possession in 1898, Mrs. Straehle decided to take in boarders and had that room divided so as to increase the number of bedrooms.  The corner room was a spare and the adjoining one was occupied by Henry, Jr., better known as 'Son.'  I often used the spare room.  Straehle established a soda bottling plant in the basement and had two large routes; one in New Rochelle and the other in City Island.  He had a smaller route in Pelham.

During the busy season the bottling machines had to be operated all day.  Son was a pretty good bottler, but he could not be gotten out of bed before noon.  This necessitated the hiring of a bottler.  In vain his father and step-mother tried to get him out of bed in the morning and would appeal to me as to whether they should get a doctor for him inasmuch as they thought he always retired early.  I knew what was the matter but kept it secret.  Son loved to dance and attended dances every night.  He knew just where the next one would be held, whether in New Rochelle, Mount Vernon, Yonkers, Tuckahoe, etc.  He would start for bed at night, noisily undress, shake the bed and then quietly get dressed, sneak out that window, creep over the piazza roof and climb down the corner post and away.  After the dance he would return and get in the same way.  When I occupied this room it was necessary for him to pass through.

Around the top of the piazza is a row of heavy wooden fancy ornaments, one over each post.  The one on the corner he would put his arm about in order to swing over the gutter.  One morning while returning, this ornament broke loose and both came tumbling to the ground, hitting the tub of water below for watering the horses and dumping it over him.  He gave a yell that aroused the household.  I explained that he was walking in his sleep.  This satisfied Mrs. Straehle, but when his father could talk to me alone he winked and said, 'It's a good think the Missus didn't smell his breath.'"

Source:  Minard, J. Gardiner, THE OLD DAYS By J. GARDINER MINARD -- Tales of the Old Wolf Homestead No. 3, The Pelham Sun, Jun. 2, 1939, p. 4, cols. 1-2. 

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