Red Jacket Bottling Works (Lantto)

14 Nov 2021, last revised 17 Dec 2023

Isaac Lantto had only two bottles, both being extremely rare. They form a pair of two sizes with the same embossing design. Thus, he probably placed just one order of bottles during a short-lived operation. In fact, we could not find any documentation of Lantto being a bottler.

Isaac Lantto was born around 1864 in Finland and was married to Annie Kraunth in Calumet on 27 Jun 1893 (1). He was first listed in the 1893 Polk directory, but as a barber (2). The 1895 directory located his barber shop at 473 Pine St., Calumet, but also listed him under Laundries at 426 Pine St. (3). The 1897 directory listed him as a barber, but now at the 426 Pine St. location with his residence being at the same address (4). This address was on the south side of Pine St. just west of 4th St. The Sanborn map from Dec 1897, however, did not label the building as a barber shop.

Sanborn map - Sep 1893

Sanborn map - Dec 1897

Interestingly, the 1897 directory also listed Kemp & Roberts at the same address (4). The 1897 Sanborn map labeled the rear building as a pop factory and the front building as a dwelling. Since the Polk directories never listed Lantto as a bottler, it is only this shared address that connects Lantto to a bottling works.

Kemp & Roberts dissolved in Oct 1897 with Kemp continuing the business (7), and then Kemp sold the bottling works to R. T. Harvey in Jul 1898 (6). Thus, if Lantto ran the same bottling works, it must have been before Kemp & Roberts. Lantto had boarders at his Pine St. location in Feb 1897 (8), and Kemp apparently was a boarder by the 1897 directory (4). Thus, it seems that Lantto could have started the bottling works and then sold it to Kemp & Roberts. This could explain why there are no bottles embossed with Kemp & Roberts. They could have used Lantto's bottles, and by the time new bottles needed to be ordered, the firm was just A. Kemp.

It is unknown what happened to Isaac Lantto. We could not find him in subsequent Polk directories or census records. We could not find his death record. We could not find him in subsequent newspaper issues. We are left with two beautiful bottles as the only evidence of his proprietorship of the Red Jacket Bottling Works.

References

1. Michigan, U.S., Marriage Records, 1867-1952 (accessed on ancestry.com).
2. R. L. Polk & Co. 1893. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory 1893-94. R. L. Polk & Co. Detroit, MI.
3. R. L. Polk & Co. 1895. Houghton County Directory 1895-96. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
4. R. L. Polk & Co. 1897. Houghton County Directory 1897-98. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
5. R. L. Polk & Co. 1899. Houghton County Directory 1899-1900. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
6. anonymous. (1898, Jul 28). Pop Factory Changes Hands. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 5.
7. anonymous. (1897, Oct 07). untitled. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 8.
8. anonymous. (1897, Feb 15). untitled. The Copper Country Evening News (Calumet, MI). p. 4.