National Botting Works
Mattson Bottling Works

18 Nov 2021, last revised 10 Jul 2024

National Bottling Works was one of the last soda companies to start in the Copper Country, but it survived well into the ABM age.

In Apr 1909, Matt Mattson was renovating his recently purchased property on the corner of Scott St. and Hancock St. for a bottling works to be known as the National Bottling Works (2). Embossing on the bottles, however, specified Ruona and Mattson as proprietors. The 1910 Polk directory identified them as August Ruona and Matt Mattson (1). Interestingly, Ruona resided in Ishpeming, while Mattson resided in Hancock (1).

Kustaa Adolf Ruona was born on 25 Sep 1869 in Finland (21) and immigrated to the U.S. in 1889 (22,23). He first settled in Calumet, and then in 1890, he moved to Ishpeming where he worked in the iron mines for 12 years (23). The Ishpeming City directory listed August Ruona as a miner during the 1890s (3,4,5). After acquiring sufficient funds, he established the Ishpeming Bottling Works in 1902 (23,6-9). It is unknown how he formed a partnership with Mattson given he lived in the iron country, but he also served as a director of Suomi College in Hancock from about 1914 (23), so he clearly maintained ties to the Copper Country.

Matt Mattson was born on 27 Mar 1881 in Finland (10) and immigrated to the U.S. in 1899 (11) or 1900 (12). He was married in Ishpeming on 16 Aug 1902 (13), so he may have resided in Ishpeming before moving to Hancock.

Their listing stated that they were manufacturers and dealers in all kinds of carbonated beverages. The bottling works was located on the northwest corner of Scott St. and Hancock St. (1).

Sanborn map - Aug 1917

The business was quite small, with only two employees in 1910 (18), three in 1913 (19), and two in 1915 (20). Ruona and Mattson were last listed together in the 1916 directory (14). The last bottle to bear both of their names was dated to 1917. A Michigan Department of Labor inspection in 1919 still listed the company as "National Bottling Works" (24). The 1921 directory then listed only Matt Mattson as a bottler of high-grade carbonated beverages at the same location (15). The first bottle to be embossed with Mattson Bottling Works was dated to 1922. Mattson died on 03 Apr 1925 at the age of 44 and was buried in Lakeside Cemetery, Hancock (17).

The 1927 directory listed the bottling works as "Mattson Bottling Works" (27) and the 1930 directory specified Louis A. Pasula as manager (16). It was called "Mattson Bottling Co." in the 1939 Polk directory (25) and a 1947/1948 directory (26). It is unknown when the bottling works closed, but the ABM bottles date into the 1960s.

ABM soda-bottle label

ABM soda-bottle label

ABM soda-bottle label

References

1. R. L. Polk & Co. 1910. 1910 Calumet, Houghton, Hancock and Laurium Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
2. anonymous. (1909, Apr 09). Hancock brevities. The Calumet News (Calumet, MI). p. 3.
3. R. L. Polk & Co. 1894. 1894 Ishpeming City Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
4. R. L. Polk & Co. 1899. 1899 Ishpeming City Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
5. R. L. Polk & Co. 1901. 1901 Ishpeming City Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
6. R. L. Polk & Co. 1908. 1908 Ishpeming City Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
7. R. L. Polk & Co. 1910. 1910 Ishpeming City Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
8. R. L. Polk & Co. 1912. 1912 Ishpeming City Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
9. R. L. Polk & Co. 1916. 1916 Ishpeming City Directory. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
10. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, Michigan; Death Records (accessed on ancestry.com).
11. U.S. Census Bureau. 1910 United States Federal Census. accessed on ancestry.com.
12. U.S. Census Bureau. 1920 United States Federal Census. accessed on ancestry.com.
13. Michigan, U.S., Marriage Records, 1867-1952 (accessed on ancestry.com).
14. R. L. Polk & Co. 1916. Houghton County Directory 1916-17. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
15. R. L. Polk & Co. 1921. Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1921-1922. R. L. Polk & Co. Detroit, MI.
16. R. L. Polk & Co. 1930. Polk’s Hancock (Michigan) Directory 1930. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
17. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics; Lansing, Michigan; Death Records (accessed on ancestry.com).
18. State of Michigan Department of Labor. 1911. Second Annual Report of the Department of Labor of the State of Michigan. Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers. Lansing, MI.
19. Michigan Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics. 1914. Thirty-First Annual Report of the Department of Labor of the State of Michigan. Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers. Lansing, MI.
20. State of Michigan Department of Labor. 1916. Thirty-Third Annual Report of the Department of Labor of the State of Michigan. Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers. Lansing, MI.
21. Find a Grave. accessed Feb 2022. Kustaa Adolf Ruona. findagrave.com/memorial/186889545/kustaa-adolf-ruona
22. U.S. Census Bureau. 1930 United States Federal Census. accessed on ancestry.com.
23. Fuller, G. N. 1926. Historic Michigan: Land of the Great Lakes, Vol. III - A History of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. National Historical Association, Inc.
24. State of Michigan Department of Labor. 1920. Thirty-Seventh Annual Report of the Department of Labor of the State of Michigan. Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., State Printers. Lansing, MI.
25. R. L. Polk & Co. 1939. Polk’s Hancock (Michigan) Directory 1939. R. L. Polk & Co., Publishers. Detroit, MI.
26. The Daily Mining Gazette. 1947 or 1948. Copper Country Classified Business and Professional Directory. Houghton, MI.
27. R. L. Polk & Co. 1927. Polk’s Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory 1927-1928. R. L. Polk & Co. Detroit, MI.