I Found More Glass

On Sunday, after inches and inches and inches of rain the preceding few days, I went back outside and continued my hunt for glass in the yard, which was a swampy mess. 

Due to the conditions I decided to stick close to the property line on the east. I've pulled a ton of stuff out of there in the past, but it's been busted up brick and limestone scraps, nothing too exciting. Having discovered the underground wall just beyond the oak tree in the pic, I thought maybe I should repeat past digs -- but dig deeper. 

At first, it was more of the same, old bricks and little rock scraps.

I also added to my quickly-growing baby limestone farm (the big boy limestone farm is elsewhere on the property, and it's MOUNTAINOUS). The rain cleaned off what I'd found previously, the muddy stuff is what I pulled out of the ground on Sunday.

During the digging I made an unremarkable discovery: I found an old steel fence post (or, what was left of it). It's not OLD old, and comparable items can be bought right off the shelf at big box stores today, but after finding a few more, it's pretty safe to say they're the remnants of the previous iteration of what's now a chain link fence. 

On the other hand, finding the fence posts -- 3 of 'em, all about 8 ft apart and still buried in place -- is why I find the yard excavation so much fun: I never know what I'm going to find, but I'm probably going to find *something*.

A few shovel pokes later, I did.   

After a delicate extraction, some careful muck removal, ​and a little cleanup, this turned out to be a pretty neat little score.

The only embossing on the big fragment was "ER & MEINHA", but that was more than enough for the internet to tell me that it was (what's left of) a soda water bottle, sold by the Meyer - Meinhardt Soda Water Company. Let's see what we can find out on the company...

The Meyer - Meinhardt Soda Water Company began around 1890 and was a partnership between Frederick W. Meyer (secretary) and Charles Meinhardt (president). For the first few years of operation, the business was housed at 1550 S. 7th Street, almost directly across 7th Street from Soulard Market. 

Whipple's Fire Insurance Map of STL, MO, 1892. Vol. 1

Newspapers of the time indicate that the humble structure was home to soda water companies as far back as 1875. 

The partnership between Meyer and Meinhardt was short-lived; Charles Meinhardt left the company in 1892 and ventured into the grocery business.

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Friday, June 9, 1893, Page 7

Despite Meinhardt's exit, the company carried on under its original name. Around 1897, the business moved to 211-213 St. George Street, an area (Kosciusko Neighborhood) that is now a wasteland of nondescript low-rise industrial/commercial buildings and asphalt parking lots. Almost nothing remains of St. George Street today, aside from a stubby half-block stretch.  

Whipple's Fire Insurance Map of STL, MO, 1897. Vol. 1

Same Block, 2023

The business continued operations until around 1912 and appears to have been relatively profitable; records indicate that Frederick Meyer was an accomplished businessman and one who gave back to the community on many occasions. 

​For example, his company regularly contributed to the annual Christmas Fund/Festival:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thursday, December 13, 1900, Page 2

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thursday, December 24, 1903, Page 4

Meyer was active in the promotion and protection of his industry, which led to an introduction to President Roosevelt:

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Thursday, April 17, 1902, Page 4

The St Louis Republic, Friday, April 18, 1902, Page 7

​In 1906, Meyer formed the Missouri Bottlers Association. A year later, he was elected president of the newly formed Consolidated Soda and Mineral Water Co.:

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Friday, April 12, 1907, Page 14

Meyer died in 1918 at the age of 55, but it seems like he was able to accomplish quite a bit in those 55 years.

I wish the bottle had been intact, and that I had been able to find out more about the company, but I'm more than happy to have found a little slice of its history buried in my yard.