Hancock City Bottling Works

14 Nov 2021, last revised 15 Jul 2022

Most soda/mineral water bottlers in the Copper Country were small and often short-lived operations. This one was no exception, with only two known bottles embossed with HANCOCK CITY BOT. WKS. Its proprietor was Henry H. Saam (1).

Henry Herman Saam was born on 02 Sep 1871 in Copper Falls to immigrants from Germany (2). The 1899 Polk directory listed him as a brewer's agent in Hancock (3), and the 1901 and 1903 directories specified that the agency was for the Val Blatz Brewing Co. (7,8).

In Jun 1906, he established the "Hancock City Bottling Works" in the Crawford building on Ravine St. and started manufacturing and selling all kinds of soft drinks, with additional equipment expected to arrive shortly (9). He apparently moved, because the 1907 directory listed him as proprietor of "City Bottling Works" at 738 Hancock St. with his residence being at the same address (1). The 1907 Sanborn map shows a building at the rear of a lot in a residential area housing the bottling works.

Sanborn map - Nov 1907

The City Bottling Works and Saam were last listed in the 1912 directory (5). Saam then died on 05 Sep 1914 at the age of 43 (6). His death certificate listed his occupation as hotel keeper, and he was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Houghton (6).

Based on his history, Saam's bottling works started in 1906 and ended in 1912 to 1914. For this duration, we expected him to have used more than just two bottles. His bottles have date codes for 1906 and 1908, thus they were purchased in the first few years of his operation. Was he able to reuse the bottles for many years, or are there more bottles yet to be discovered?

References

1. R. L. Polk & Co. 1907. Houghton County Directory 1907-08. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
2. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, Michigan; Death Records (accessed on ancestry.com).
3. R. L. Polk & Co. 1899. Houghton County Directory 1899-1900. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
4. R. L. Polk & Co. 1910. 1910 Calumet, Houghton, Hancock and Laurium Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
5. R. L. Polk & Co. 1912. 1912 Calumet, Hancock, Houghton and Laurium Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
6. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, Michigan; Death Records (accessed on ancestry.com).
7. R. L. Polk & Co. 1901. Houghton County Directory 1901-02. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
8. R. L. Polk & Co. 1903. Houghton County Directory 1903-04. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
9. anonymous. (1906, Jun 10). New Industry Ready. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 4.