Not the best shot, taken with my phone. Will have to come back to reshoot.
Some history:
Harbisons Dairies built the water tower around 1914. There were two other bottles at the intersections of Kensington and Erie avenues and another at York Road and Ontario Street in Kensington. it was a water tank for the sprinkler systems.
Over time, the milk bottles became trademarks for the company. When the original milk bottle and the plant that it was attached to were sold to the Novick Brothers food company (for a mere $40,000 in 1951), an agreement was drawn up: The water tower was to remain and if the shape was not changed, the plant's new owners were allowed to paint it any color but white. It took a while, but eventually the agreement was honored and the bottle was painted gray and black.
Today, Harbisons Dairies are no longer in business (the company was sold in 1966), and all that remains is the original bottle, rusted and in danger of meeting the same fate as the other two. The bottle, nominated to the Preservation Alliance's Endangered Properties List in both 2003 and 2004 is said in the alliance's newsletter to be "not as significant as many other sites.
Great article here. More information here.
Coral and Abigail Streets [map]
"Fishtown Ice"
As the corner buildings were being demolished, I spotted signage being reused as cladding...
Corner, Columbia Ave and Thompson St [map]
"Berger Bros. Company"
The origins of Berger Bros may be traced to the late 1800s. William H. Berger was born in Milton, Pennsylvania, in 1841. He learned carpentry before joining the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war, Berger moved to Philadelphia and in 1874 he founded William Berger & Company, manufacturers of tinners' and roofers' supplies such as copper, aluminum and steel gutter. Soon after he was joined by his brother, and the company name was changed to Berger Bros Company. The company grew steadily, and became one of the largest of its kind in the United States. It is still in business today, operating outside the city limits in Feasterville.
Older, painted brick signage. Taken 1929.
An early location of the business seems to have been immediately adjacent to the Betsy Ross House, in a building now demolished. First image taken 1929, next two, dates unknown.
Sign on larger building, with dimensional lettering in place. Taken 1959. The larger building next door to the earlier location still retains the ghost outline of lettering left after dimensional tin letters were removed.
PhillyHistory.org.
Philadelphia Department of Records. 23 February 2012.
<http://www.phillyhistory.org>
236 Arch Street [map]
"Joseph Cornelius, John Wanamaker,
Upholsterer"
Thanks to Justin Flax for sending this in!
50th and Baltimore [map]
