Operated there from 1903 to 1968, the local company produced wonderful sodas in clear bottles. I can remember my Grandpa Paulsen bringing them home by the case, sitting it on the stair landing to their basement and telling me to grab a bottle whenever I wanted.
When the company went out of business, I took one full bottle of orange soda and placed it into storage. Where that was, I couldn't quite remember at first.
What prompted thoughts of Star City soda was a Facebook post by the Ohio Ghost Town Exploration Co. They recently found an old seven ounce bottle (just the bottle) in New Burlington, Ohio, near the bank of Caeser's Creek off of Route 380, and near the Greene and Clinton County border.
That certainly prompted me to search for my archived bottle. And I eventually found it, nestled in my bedroom bookcase. It looks to me that the sealed bottle is not quite so full of orange soda as it was 46 years ago. Some evaporation must be taking place through the cork.
Remember those wonder flavors? The soda's were available in a rainbow of flavors: crystal clear lemon-lime, cream soda, grape, root beer and orange are the first to come to mind. I'm sure there were others.
Here's a close-up of the cap on my bottle. I'd love to open it and take a sniff. But I won't!
It looks like there's even a market for these bottles. One eBay listing notes $60. I wonder if it sold? Memories don't come cheap.
I cannot believe you thought to hold onto one of these bottles FULL! Wow! Enjoyed taking that trek down memory lane with you...also remembering the wood cases full of those bright colored/fruit flavored sodas in clear glass bottles! Acutally, on occassion - there would be an old bottle - kind of greenish colored, remember? Pop, as most call it in Ohio. My favorite was the cream soda - we used to make a "Farmer's Soda" with vanilla ice cream! Star City was even better than Barq's. (wonder if that still exists?)
ReplyDeleteMy son still has one - proudly displayed - it is a 12 oz bottle - with the star and graphics - fun reminder of days gone by...
So Bill, you grew up in the 'Burg! Me too. MHS '66. One of my best friends in high school was Ed Hiehle, whose dad owned and ran Star City Bottling. We used to help his dad out at the bottling plant behind their house after school - sending bottles through the bottle washer, stacking wooden cases of filled soda bottles, etc., and getting free orange sodas or cream sodas (my fav) as we worked.
ReplyDeleteBrings back some fond memories, my best friend Danny and I worked for Ed the summer of 63'. Unloading semi truck of bottles was a killer.
ReplyDeleteI spent most of my time placing bottles on a rack that was 'backlite' to inspect. Bottle-washer did a pretty good job, so I did reject many...but I did drop a few. Most fun was a occasional Seltzer squirting battle.
Ed was a good ole sole
I remember drinking Star City Sodas at a church-run coffeehouse in Englewood as late as 1972. I was told that the company had donated them. So maybe they kept the works going for a while after officially closing.
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