Chilliwack's first soda pop maker - Harry Fairall
Came across this little ad dated February 27th, 1919 in the Chilliwack Progress, courtesy of Chilliwack Museum & Archives:
Apparently this was run on a regular basis from 1918 until the official Prohibition ended in 1920. This was the so-called "Near beer" which was the only kind of beer allowed to be sold in BC during the Prohibition.
Note the dealer, H. Fairall. This is Harry Fairall of the Victoria family that made ginger beer and then founded the Silver Spring Brewery about 1903 before selling out in 1908 or 1909.
Harry Fairall, one of the brothers, moved to Chilliwack and started up a pop company there about 1909 or 1910. It became a viable business and remained so for many years. Here is an article from the Chilliwack Progress courtesy Chilliwack Museum & Archives describing the firm, dated July 20th, 1922:
And how about a glowing review of Fairall's products, check this one out dated July 9th, 1924:
I am not aware of what bottles might have been used by Fairall in the early years. They may have been plain with paper labels and I haven't seen one myself. As for the Kist brand that he put out, we can see a great ad from 1920 on the cover of The Canadian Grocer magazine, courtesy of University of Toronto Library Fisher Collection, dated September 8th, 1921:
While Fairall in Chilliwack isn't listed with the BC companies on the lower right, note that there is a Fairall's Ltd. listed for Victoria, part of the family soda water interests.
Harry Fairall carried on his business in Chilliwack for several years and moved into a partnership by the end of the 1920s for the Chilliwack Bottling Works. They also sold coal and ice. In the mid-1930s the company went into receivorship and re-emerged to carry on business for another few decades.
Very cool, thank you! Mary Anne Fairall
ReplyDelete