Early Soda & Mineral Water Bottles

1820-1829 More Trials

In Philadelphia

During the 1820s, another attempt was made to bottle mineral waters in Philadelphia by Elias Magloire Durand. He was born in Mayenne, France in 1794 and was educated at the Collegiate School where he was attracted to the study of chemistry.  He became a pharmacist during a three year apprenticeship starting in 1808.  After completion of this apprenticeship, he served as pharmacist in Napoleon's army.  After the 100 Days War and due to his affiliation with Napoleon, he was placed under surveillance, which interfered with his employment.  Disgusted at his treatment, he decided to leave his country and seek the freedom being denied him.

Durand left France for the United States in 1816 and on arrival went to Boston to visit a distant relative and obtain employment there.  He soon left and went to Philadelphia and worked in a chemical factory.  When he became ill due to working mercurial salts, he abandoned chemistry and returned to pharmacy and proceeded to Baltimore.  He ended up working for Edme Ducatel, a prominent pharmacist, and was in charge of the pharmaceutical part of his business.

He worked in Baltimore until the summer of 1824, when he proceeded to France to procure his supplies for a new business he planned in Philadelphia.  His spent his time in France selecting stock, apparatus, bottles, and everything needful for a first-class French Pharmacy.  In the spring of 1825, he returned to Philadelphia and obtained a lease on a store on the Southeast corner of Sixth and Chestnut, which is right next to Independence Hall. Durand moved quickly to have the necessary alterations completed and with the reception of his goods, he fitted up his store at considerable expense, using French glassware, porcelain jars, mahogany drawers and marble counters.  But the most important part was his stock of French drugs and chemicals and an apparatus for making and vending soda water.

Durand's great skill as a pharmacist, untiring industry, and close attention to business, social and scientific qualities, attracted the most eminent and principal physicians to his store.  His devotion also made "Durand's Drugstore" well known to the general public giving a great boost to his prescription business.  Durand's business flourished and ultimately became one of the most distinguished pharmacies in the United States.  His interest in business was not merely that of a trader as he carried it into the same love of science.  His store became an important center of pharmaceutical information, which directly and indirectly had much to do with the introduction of scientific pharmacy to Philadelphia and the United States.  His store became a resort of the most intelligent and influential of the time and was a haven for scientists, botanist in particular, and his soda water fountain became a gathering point.  Durand is known as the father of the American Soda Fountain as a result.

I believe that the Durand bottle of this period was manufactured in France and were shipped with the mold to Philadelphia in 1825.  The bottle does not have the appearance of American manufacture and Durand purchased bottles in France during his buying trip to supply his new business.   This bottling of mineral water at this time was not a success for Durand, but he was to pay more attention to it later on.

The above information is a synopsis from a more detailed article I wrote on Elias Durand.  There are more details on Durand and his later bottle in the next chapter.

In New York and Beyond

Another attempt to bottle mineral waters during this decade was made in New York City by Marsden Haddock and Sons; Edward and Marsden.  The main moneymaker for the the Haddocks was their android show and it may be possible that bottling of mineral waters was a foray that they entered when the popularity of the androids waned or alternatively they felt that the bottled mineral water business was about to explode as it had in England.  Another possibility is that the mineral waters were a sideline business to the android shows.  What ever the case, the Haddocks had some of the most primitive American mineral water bottles.

Marsden Haddock was born about 1759 in Ireland.  As early as 1787, he was an umbrella maker in Cork and later built organs.  During the early 1790s, he advertised he was cutting Waterford and Cork glass and offering it to the public. By 1795, Marsden had entered into the automaton or android show business.  The earliest advertisement I found was in the London Times on December 22, 1795 and lists the androids and what they did:

AT the MECHANIC THEATER, No. 98. NORFOLK-STREET, STRAND. will be exhibited the
                                                                     ANDROIDES (sic),
Doors open every Day at half past 12, and begin at 1, and every Evening doors open at half past 7, and begins at 8
  These much admired Pieces of Mechanism, which not only imitate human actions, but appear to possess rational powers, consist of first,
   The WRITING AUTOMATON; a Figure, about the size of a Boy of four years old, which will be brought to a table, and set to write any word, words, or figures required, in a round legible hand.--Second.
   The FRUITERY; the model of a neat rural mansion, and contains the following figures; first, the Porter, which stands at the gate, and on being addressed, rings a bell, when the door opens, the Fruiterers come out, and any Lady or Gentleman may call for whatever fruit they please, and the figures will return and bring the kind required, which may be repeated, and the fruit varied as often as the company pleases; it will likewise receive flowers, or any small articles, carry them in, and produce them again, as called for.  As the Fruits are brought out they will be given on charge to a Watch Dog, which sits in front of the house, and on any person taking away or touching them will begin to bark, and continue to do so until they are returned.  The next figure belonging to this Piece is, the LITTLE CHIMNEY SWEEPER, which will be seen coming from behind the house, will enter the door, appear at the top of the chimney, and give the usual cry of "Sweep!" several times, descend the chimney, and come out with its bag full of soot.--Third,
    The LIQUOR MERCHANT and WATER SERVER.  These are on a platform of about two feet square, which (as the former Pieces), will be placed on a table.  The Liquor Merchant stands at a small cask, from which it will draw every kind of spirits, wine, &c. required.  The Water Server stands at a pump, and will fill a tumbler with water as often as called for.--Fourth,
    The HIGHLAND ORACLE; a Figure in the Highland Dress, stands on a time piece, and gives the Hour and Minutes whenever asked, by striking its Sword on a Target; it gives a rational Answer (by Motion) to any Question proposed; it calculates Sums in Arithmetic, and gives the amount instantly of any number of pounds, yards, &c. at any given price, beats Time to Music, &c.
   The Table the different Pieces will be placed on contains an organ, on which the Proprietor introduces a few Notes; also,
   THE MACHINE, or (SELF-PLAYING) ORGAN, will play occasionally several Pieces of Music, Airs, Country Dances, &c.
   Mr. HADCOCK (sic) flatters himself the Androides (sic) will be found more curious than any thing of the kind ever before offered to the Public, as the Principles of Action are entirely new.  The Theatre is neatly fitted up, and every thing calculated to give satisfaction to a polite and discerning Audience.
   Boxes 4s--Gallery 2s -Exhibition lasts Two Hours

Although Haddock stated that the show was "closing in two or three weeks" with his intent of "leaving town" in an  April 21, 1796 London Times ad, a later advertisement in the same paper dated December 4, 1797 shows he was still operating the show a year and a half later and added new androids to it:

                                                                       TELEGRAPH,
Exhibited upon Mechanical Principles by an Automaton Figure, at the ANDROIDS, No. 38, Norfolk-street, Strand.
THIS PIECE of MECHANISM represents the Model of that on the Admiralty, with the Cabin underneath where the officer sits to work it, which by the combination of six Swivel Boards, can spell any word, or enumerate any number of figures, exclusive of several occasional Signals adapted for the purpose.  The Hand-bills give a description of the number of signals, and how they are combined to make a sentence.
    The other much-admired pieces are as follow:
    The ORTOGRAPHER, quite a new Piece.
    The WRITING FIGURE, much improved.
    The FRUITERY
    The LIQUOR MERCHANT, which draws twelve kinds of Liquors from the same Cask
    The WATER PUMPER
    The RUNNING ATTENDANTS, quite new
    And the HIGHLAND ORACLE.
    HADDOCK'S new-invented TABLE ORGAN will be introduced in the Exhibition. Tickets and Places in the Boxes taken at the Mechanic Theatre, which is neatly fitted up, and every thing calculated to give satisfaction to a polite and discerning Audience.  Begins at 1 o'clock in the Day, and 8 in the Evening.  Boxes 2s  Gallery 1s.

An ad in the May 4, 1798 London Times states that Haddock was "closing (finally)" down the androids' show in "three weeks" to dedicate his attention to his "Manufactory,"  which was likely back in Cork.  Haddock shows up in the Cork directories in 1805 as an organ builder and umbrella maker and was building and installing organs in Ireland in the early part of this century.  It seems likely that he took his android show on the road to other cities in Great Britain during the ensuing years. 

The next record we find is the arrival of Marsden Haddock and his son Edward in New York aboard the ship Ann Marie on March 9, 1820.  Almost immediately, Haddock was introducing his android show to a whole new continent.  Haddock first advertised his android show in the May 22, 1820 Mercantile Advertiser;

Opens to-morrow evening, Tuesday, 23d May, inst and every evening after, and a morning exhibition on Mondays and Thursdays, the
     ANDROIDS or Animated Mechanism.
  M. HADDOCK, Organ Builder, from Cork, intends himself the honor of exhibiting his Androids in New York, for a short time, at the Park Hall Auction Room, 253 Broadway.  The repute this exhibition has obtained in the capitals of Great Britain, will he hopes, insure it equal attention in this city.  Doors open at half past 7 o'clock and exhibition begins at 8.  The morning exhibition, on Monday and Thursday, opens at half past 12 and begins at 1.  Tickets at Messrs Haly & Thomas, booksellers, 142 Broadway.  Particulars in the handbills.  It is requested that the company be in the room before the time of beginning, or they lose an interesting part of the entertainment.

The  show opened to rave reviews and year later Haddock sent for his family to join him in New York.  His wife Martha, son Marsden, and daughter Jane, arrived in New York aboard the ship Boston, on August 28, 1821. Haddock then took the show on the road and over the next four years exhibited in New York (3 months initially), Philadelphia (5 months) Boston (9 months), Baltimore (5 months), Albany and possibly in other cities.  The price to enter the show was 50 cents for boxes and 25 cents for the gallery.  Children were half price, but were not permitted in the gallery.  In May of 1821, Haddock donated the receipts, $92, from his last two Boston shows to the Boston Asylum for Indigent Boys.  If $92 were the receipts for just two shows, Haddock must have amassed a small fortune of the ten years of his exhibitions.  Haddock returned to New York and closed his show down in April of 1824.  With five years of exhibiting the androids, the show must have gone stale in the public's eye.

Haddock and his sons then entered the mineral water business.  They were listed in the 1824 New York Directory as manufacturing mineral water at 62 Spring Street.  Perhaps Haddock was looking for a new venture.  He had seen the explosion of bottled mineral waters in Brittan and perhaps thought the United States was ripe for a similar product, but it does not appear that this venture shared the success experienced by his android shows.  A year later, the android show was on the road again, but now in smaller markets including Providence, Salem, Saint John and Halifax.

In June of 1826, Haddock moved the mineral water factory to Boston as advertised in the Boston Commercial Gazette on June 12, 1826:

HADDOCK'S SODA & ARTIFICIAL MINERAL WATER ESTABLISHMENT.
REMOVED from New-York to Boston, No. 120, Washington-street, 3d door from Water-street.
    M. Haddock has at a very great expense completed his new invented apparatus for the manufacture of the above waters, so constructed that the carbonic acid gas from the time it is generated, until received in the water does not come in contact with any deleterious metal whatsoever, as it passes into the machine through silver appertures (sic) and silver Cocks.
    The Ladies and Gentleman of Boston are respectivelly (sic) informed, that his room is fitted up for the exclusive sale of Artificial Mineral Waters, and as no Spirituous Liquors of any kind are sold, he hopes that Ladies will honor the establishment with their patronage.
    The waters he manufactures are Soda, Pyrmont, Seltzer, Rochelle, Cheltenham, Epsom and plain acidulous. The above can be supplied in Bottles also.  Persons who drink the Saline waters such as Rochells, &c. will find his the most pleasing and efficacious -as they are impregnated immediately from the Machine.
    Congress water fresh from the springs.

At the end of July in the same year, 1826, Haddock's wife Martha died. and he appears to have left Boston.  In 1827, Haddock was back in New York City and working on technique for making paper, which was patented on July 28, 1828.  This venture did not prove successful and the Androids show was back on the road again this time in Baltimore, New Haven, and by the fall of 1828 in Hartford.  Haddock stayed there improving his paper manufacturing patent and running the Androids show thru May of 1829.  At this point we lose track of his movements, but it is interesting that Haddock bottles have been found in the Hartford vicinity.  I believe Haddock died soon after as he is not listed in the 1830 Census and no further records can be found on him after this date.     

The Haddock bottles were likely manufacture in 1824 and used in New York City, Boston and possibly Harford.  The manufacturer was likely the Coventry Glass Works in New Hampshire. 

Copyright © 2013 Tod von Mechow

Last modified: December 7, 2013