Columbia Bottling Company

Historical Context

The Columbia Bottling Company was incorporated on 7 Dec 1896 by Samuel Leonard, Frederick Hellmann, Joseph Hellmann, Ferdinand Dugan and John Lodden with $1000 in capitol. The company was run by George Schacher at the 214 S . Caroline St address. According to a 1901 add The Columbia Bottling Company was the only company allowed to market The Germania Breweries beer. It is unclear if this is the well known Germania Brewery or another lesser known company as the well known Germania Brewery went out of business in 1899. Few embossed Columbia bottles have been found. Due to the 9 year timespan and so few embossed bottles, Columbia must have primarily used un-embossed bottles with paper labels as noted in the 1901 add. George Schacher also partnered with Charles Brendel in their Brendel & Schacher Bottling house from 1898-1902 before leaving and purchasing the Columbia Bottling Company.