JOHNSON CITY BOTTLING COMPANY

There is one bottler that showed up in the 1928 city directory during my initial researching endeavors which I didn’t include due to not knowing very much about them. This was the Johnson City Bottling Company with was located at 105 Whitney Street.(1) There is a building on the corner of Whitney and Main Street with a shorter addition on the back which matches the ten foot height noted for the building at 105 on the Sanborn maps. The President of this bottling company was A. W. Tipton.(1) Knowing the time period of this bottler, I remembered an advertisement that I had found in a 1929 Johnson City newspaper for Green River. Green River was a soda which was born of the prohibition era in Chicago. I have tried the drink, and can say its unique flavor can only be described as tasting like green.

While I own an earlier Green River ad which the seller claimed was from 1925, the one I’m referring to is dated July 19, 1929, and I can verify that one’s date. I originally put these Green River ads in a file for a possible later edition to this page dedicated to drinks distributed in Johnson City, but not bottled there; however, I just re-read this ad. At the very bottom is noted “Green River in bottles is for sale everywhere-Order it by the case for your home” distributor ads tell you it is for sale only through them, this is an obvious bottler ad; however, no bottler is mentioned. This mysterious bottler was a previously untested contender for the Johnson City mystery bottle, and since the company didn’t last past 1929, it’s not in the 1930 city directory, then it may be very possible that given the rarity of said bottle it may have belonged to this company. I know there is a lot of speculation going on with this one, but it explains several things which didn’t quite fit in before.

July 19, 1929 ad for Green River

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