This morning I was at Dental Health on Western Avenue and while I was there I saw some really interesting product labels from the Brattleboro Jelly Company. Dr. Neumeister had them mated and framed and they looked like they were probably from the early 1900’s. I looked online and I found other vintage Brattleboro Jelly Company labels for sale. Amazon.com even sells a canvas reproduction of the company’s maple syrup label. But I couldn’t find any information on the company itself.
Where was it located? Who owned it? When was the company in business? I have a feeling that there’s an interesting story behind those labels and I’m hoping that someone on ibrattleboro knows it and is willing to share.
Ken Brace
company info
From the Vermont Phoenix dated March 24, 1905 (typos are in the original document):
The directors of the Brattleboro Jelly company hnve voted to wind up tho concern s affairs nnd have Instructed A. L. Blair to sell nil the property, lucliid Ing stock on hnnd, fixtures, real estate, etc. The directors are Georgo E. Crowell, president, A. A. Dunklee, vice president. O. O. Ware. E. II. Akley and C. D. Whit man. They will lose what they have paid in lownru me capital hiock. The com pnny was organized In 1888 nnd mndo npplo Jelly nnd maple sugar and syrup. They stopped grinding apples about flvo yeats ago. They have put up cucumber pickles since A. L. Blair came to Brat tleboro In 1892. thnt being their only business since 1900, In order to make the pickling business pay nt least 100 tons of cucumbers n year would be neoes sary. Two years ago about 13 tons wen-grown. Last year u special effort was made to Increase tho acreage and about 40 tons were recelyed. Those who grew tne DtilK or the cucumbers last year said they would not grow nnv the coming year, so the directors decided thnt the only thing left to do wns to closo ud the business, Mr. Blair has had his office ,nt his house the past year, and he will continue It nnd will handle the product or tne Clyde Kraut company of Clyde, Ohio, and Jackson, Mich., and the Cnuas-tota Pickling company of Cnnastota, N. Y.
Jelly Mill at Stickney Brook, Perhaps
I’m wondering if the typos are in the original document or in the OCR scan of the original Phoenix article? This reminds me a lot of what the old scanners used to produce, alas. But it’s still interesting to read.
My thought is that this might be the jelly mill that was located out at Stickney Brook where we all go wading in the warm weather. There was a jelly mill there and as I recall they did pickles too, so that might the one referred to here. Or not.
typos
You probably know way more about this than I do. This was only my way of saying that I knew there were a ton of typos in my cut and paste (and I did not make them…). I do really love reading through the Phoenix to get a flavor of life in those times.
The Jelly Mill gift shop and art gallery?
Does anyone remember the Jelly Mill gift shop and art gallery that I think was out Rt. 30, maybe in the vicinity of Stickney Brook Rd? I have a vague recollection of it from the 60’s when I was a kid, and my mom had a few of her paintings for sale there. But, being a kid then, and not so much a kid (in age, anyway) now, my memory could be all wrong! Might this place have been named after the original jelly mill, or even been the actually jelly mill repurposed?