Richard Hooper
Houghton Mineral Water Bottling Works

13 Nov 2021, last revised 22 May 2024

Richard Hooper was a soda bottler in Houghton for about ten years. For most of this period, mostly in the early 1900s, he was the only bottler in Houghton.

Richard T. Hooper was born on 13 Oct 1870 in Houghton (1). His father was born in England and his mother was born in Michigan (2). He worked for Matt Northey for a number of years, and then in Jan 1899, he purchased Northey's bottling works (12). He was then listed as a soda water manufacturer in the 1899 Polk directory (4). In Jul 1900, Hooper established a telephone line and solicited orders by phone (11).

Newspaper ad - Sep 1899

Newspaper ad - Sep 1900

Newspaper ad - Jan 1901

The 1899 directory described the location of the bottling works as being on the east side of Dodge St., two addresses (or units) south of Montezuma Ave. (4). This was the same description used to locate Matthew Northey's bottling works in the 1897 directory (3). The Sanborn map showed that they operated in the old Hahn brewery, which was purchased by A. Haas Brewing Co. (5). The building burned in Mar 1903 at a loss of $25,000 (6), but it is unknown if the bottling works sustained any damages. In Jul 1906, Hooper moved the bottling works to 104 Montezuma St., which was "much more desirable" (15).

Sanborn map - Jun 1900

Sanborn map - Feb 1908

The 1899, 1901, and 1903 directories listed Richard Hooper by name without specifying the name of his bottling works. An ad from Jul 1901, however, specified the name, "Houghton Bottling Works". This name was also used by Matt Northey, and then later for Cochran's bottling works. Michigan labor inspections recorded a "Houghton Bottling Works" with five employees in 1904 and 1906 (13,14); and given the time period, they can only refer to Hooper's bottling works. A subsequent ad from May 1902 specified the name, "Houghton Mineral Water Bottling Works" for R. T. Hooper. The 1905 and 1907 directories then listed Richard Hooper as proprietor of "Houghton Mineral Water Bottling Works" (7,8). Hooper had one bottle (#32) embossed with this name and his initials on the base.

Newspaper ad - Jul 1901

Newspaper ad - May 1902

Newspaper ad - Sep 1902

Hooper was listed as a mineral water manufacturer in the 1909 directory (9), and then the 1910 directory noted that he had moved to Oakland, CA (10). Thus, his business started in 1899 and ended in 1909 or 1910. It is unknown what happened to Hooper in California.

Citations

1. Michigan, U.S., Births and Christenings Index, 1867-1911 (accessed on ancestry.com).
2. U.S. Census Bureau. 1900 United States Federal Census. accessed on ancestry.com.
3. R. L. Polk & Co. 1897. Houghton County Directory 1897-98. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
4. R. L. Polk & Co. 1899. Houghton County Directory 1899-1900. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
5. anonymous. 1883. History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The Western Historical Company. Chicago, IL.
6. anonymous. (1903, Mar 14). Peninsula News. The L'Anse Sentinel (L'Anse, MI). p. 1.
7. R. L. Polk & Co. 1905. Houghton County Directory 1905-06. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
8. R. L. Polk & Co. 1907. Houghton County Directory 1907-08. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
9. R. L. Polk & Co. 1909. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1909. R. L. Polk & Co. Detroit, MI.
10. R. L. Polk & Co. 1910. 1910 Calumet, Houghton, Hancock and Laurium Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
11. anonymous. (1900, Jul 22). Local brevities. The Daily Mining Gazette (Houghton, MI). p. 8.
12. anonymous. (1899, Jan 14). Portage Lake news. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
13. Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics. 1905. State of Michigan Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics Including the Twelfth Annual Report of State Inspection of Factories. Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers. Lansing, MI.
14. Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics. 1907. State of Michigan Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics Including the Fourteenth Annual Report of State Inspection of Factories. Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers. Lansing, MI.
15. anonymous. (1906, Jul 28). Bottling works moved. The Evening Journal (Hancock, MI). p. 5.