BeeLines - May 30, 2018
By Marybelle Beigh, Westfield Town & Village Historian
HELP WANTED: Find Westfield’s Former Breweries, Bottle Works, and Bottles!
Last Monday and email popped up in my Westfield Historian inbox announcing “Major Brewery Event this week!” And it was happening on Thursday, just four days later! And it included workshop presentations by local brewers and historians as well as displays of Dunkirk’s former Dotterweich and Koch brewery and family Histories and Reception with treats and tastes! Did your Westfield Historian attend? YOU BET!
The workshop presentations were by Westfield’s 5 & 20 facility and by Vince Martonis, Hanover Town Historian with some of his vast old bottle collection. As at a previous presentation by Martonis on his bottle and jug collection, he displayed the two bottles from Westfield that he had shown – one of Geo. Maurer, and a very rare one of G.A. Lane & Co. The food was ok, the beer tastings were tasty and the exhibits, particularly the Dotterweich Family materials were fascinating. Chatting afterward with Martonis, the usual questions were asked regarding any old bottles or stories of breweries in Westfield. Sorry to say, it seemed no further finds have appeared since yours truly had written about former breweries, bottle works, and ephemera in her early 2015 BeeLines articles. As faithful BeeLines readers might suspect, the temptation to dig into this lingering history mystery was impossible for your Westfield Historian to resist.
The 2-23-2015 BeeLines – “Has there ever been a Beer Brewer or Brewery in Westfield?” – begins with questions asked earlier that month, including, “Has there ever been a beer… bottled in Westfield besides Lane or Maurer?” The questioner guessed Maurer ran a bar/saloon.
BeeLines continues… “As for beer brewing and bottling, oh yes! The first ones that come to mind are a couple on Chautauqua Creek back in the mid to later 1800s - they are noted on the 1867 Chautauqua County Atlas maps of the Village of Westfield. One was run by Rorig (of Rorig Bridge) along with his grist mill. Ads in the 1874 Westfield Republican for Westfield Steam Mill (At Rorig’s Brewery) specify that A. Rorig had recently completed his Gristmill and was ready to do business. The Gazetteer and Business Directory of Chautauqua County NY for 1873-74 has a listing for Rorig, August, Nettle Hill, Westfield, under the heading of Brewers and Malsters. And the 1881 Atlas of Chautauqua County still shows Rorig’s Brewery on Chautauqua Creek.
The other brewery was announced in The Westfield Republican of August 22, 1866, page 1 - “Messrs. Hudleston & Johnson are erecting a new Brewery, near the Westfield Mills.” Sadly, a longer article in the November 4, 1874, WR, headlined “Disastrous Conflagration,” reads, “Between one and two o’clock on Friday morning last, the brewery of Samuel Johnston, on the Chautauqua Creek, near the Westfield Mills, was entirely destroyed by fire, with a great portion of its contents. The south end of the building was occupied by James Johnston and family.” The family did get out safely, and Mrs. Johnston, who was bed-ridden, was kindly taken into care by neighbors on Water Street.
It was interesting to discover in the following week’s newspaper, “Fire in the Bushes - On Thursday last, a fire on the bank of the creek on Mr. D. Dix’s premises, fanned by the high wind, began spreading through the woody underbrush, until at night the Planing Mill on the opposite bank, and Rorig’s Gristmill and Brewery, were in danger of being fired, should the wind chance to shift. About 10 P.M. the firemen quietly drew the engines (Cascade and Independent) up to the scene, and in a few minutes flooded the whole business. Rorig showed his appreciation of the move, by unloading a couple of kegs of lager for the benefit of all concerned.”
There was a Westfield Bottling Works that Geo. Maurer purchased in 1883-84. But research has not determined where the bottling works was located. Ads for this facility were only located in the Westfield Republicans of late 1883 through 1884.” <end quote>
Digitized Westfield newspapers from the 1800s were again searched this weekend, for other names or information. The earliest newspaper notice for a specific brewery found was from the set of issues of the Westfield Republican from Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. of 1858, all running the same notice dated Westfield, Aug. 25th, 1858, by A. Rorig & Co. It reads: “Brewery. At the old Oil Mill, near the Plank Road Bridge, the Subscribers will keep constantly on hand the best Hops Beer and Yeast, in all quantities.” The many ads from 1874 as noted before, were also relocated for Rorig’s Brewery, as well as the “Fire in the Bushes” story.
The August 22, 1866 Hudleston & Johnson’s new brewery notice was located. Then, a previously undiscovered ad appeared in the October 21, 1868 WR: “Cash for Barley at Johnston’s Brewery, Westfield, N.Y. Sept. 16, 1868.” The “Disastrous Conflagration” article of November 4th, 1874, was also found, plus a notice regarding Hartford Fire Insurance Co., agent John Marr’s satisfactory settlement of the claims from the fire, in the November 18, 1874 issue of the paper. In the June 9th, 1874 WR, a notice reads, “E. Hall & Co. have purchased the property owned by Samuel Johnston, recently occupied by the brewery, and adjoining the Westfield Mill. Consideration, $500.”
A few other names of bottlers in Westfield have been found in the current research. In 1894 Westfield Republicans, there are several mentions of a Mr. Pfeffer, a beer bottler, or proprietor of the numerous bottling works in town. From the November 28, 1894 issue: “Fred H. Brewer, at one time a beer bottler in Westfield, it is alleged has skipped to California with $625 belonging to a Buffalo piano firm for which he was agent. He went from here to Forestville, was sold out of the hotel business by the sheriff, and became a piano agent. He leaves a wife and child.” In April 1895, an article notes: “A large black Angora cat belonging to Mr. Kronenberg, the beer bottler, attracted considerable attention at the express office Monday. It weighs about 14 pounds, and was being shipped back to Erie to which place its owner is moving.” And the March 20, 1901 WR notes that “M. Weindorf is preparing to move his bottling works into the Ottaway building on North Portage street.”
An interesting editorial article appeared in the July 30, 1890, Westfield Republican entitled, “Bring Back the Empty Bottles,” which is about an unusual NY State law that had been recently passed at the urging of the “bottlers of beer, mineral waters, and other beverages.” This law [made] “it illegal for any other than themselves or their agents to have in his possession any empty bottles with the name of the original dealer blown in the glass. As a result, there is a small mountain of trouble piled on the bottle dealers and many other people. Suppose you buy bottled beer. You drink the beer, and have the bottles left. They are in your cellar, and the beer bottler may, if he desires, get a search warrant, hunt for the bottles and have you hauled into court. When there you have no defence [sic] to offer; the law says it is illegal for you to have those bottles, and you must pay a fine of 50 cents for each bottle found. Should you sell the bottles or give them away, or throw them into the ash barrel or smash them, it would be all the same a violation of the law.”
Maybe this is why it is so hard to find these bottles anymore? And your Westfield Historian is wondering if this law is still on the books? However, despite that unlikely possibility, faithful readers are again requested to help find any old bottles from the various beer bottlers and brewers, as well as names and information about old-time, pre-prohibition breweries in Westfield.
In addition, we are still looking for any extant bottles of the Silver Dew Bottling Works from 1930 that produced carbonated flavored soda beverages such as Root, Birch, Cherry, Orange, Ginger, Lime, Lemon, and Strawberry. Silver Dew Bottling Works is still much of a “history mystery” to be explored. And as always, reader input, photos, bottles of Silver Dew beverages, and so on are requested by your Westfield Historian.
Contact info: email westfieldhistorian@fairpoint.net or phone 716-397-9254 (cell). Thanks!