Page 44 - Lets Make Waves December 2018

1905 C. F. Marschner Building

1916 Mechanic Street | Texas Bottling Works | Triple XXX
Bottling Company

and Avenue M 1/2, in 1886. By early 1890, storm. The areas of destruction, however
Marschner had become proprietor of Texas were mere blocks away. The area of Mechanic
Bottling Works. He and his wife had a daugh- Street Marschner purchased was virtually un-
ter, Louise, born in 1888; their son Alfred scathed. He contracted with Otto Haase, also
born in 1890 and son Otto born in 1892. a German immigrant, to build a two-story
brick structure on the lot, at a cost of $3,000.
Texas Bottling Works has a long history in Several architectural styles were incorporated
Galveston. The company was founded by into the Marschner building design including
1860 and was given credit as being the oldest
bottling works in the state. City directories in
the late 1870s record Henry Cortes was pro-
prietor of the company, which in a half-page
16 Mechanic lies just a advertisement touted its soda, sarsaparilla,
block from the Strand ginger ale, mineral waters, and steam beer
National Historic Land- bottles. A book published in 1887, The In-
19 mark District. Legal dustries of Galveston, names Cortes as the
records relating to the property date back to company's founder. Up to ten men worked
1839, when the Allen brothers (founders of there during the busy season. It was originally
Houston) sold the lot to Michel Menard for located at 26th and Winnie Streets and the
$3,500. The property changed hands many plant was one of two bottling works in the
times over the years, sometimes more than city at the time.
once in a single year.
19th century Victorian, Romanesque Revival
Among the speculators of this venture was design and Italianate influence. The large
James Moreau Brown and his business part- arched portals in the front and rear were de-
ner Stephen Kirkland. Brown would go on to signed for deliveries and outgoing shipments.
become a leader in industry, civic affairs, and In 1887, Cortes sold Texas Bottling Works to The bottom level of the new building would
society. He would also become known for his Theodore Greb and Henry Hennemuth. The be the home of Texas Bottling Works, and
majestic home, Ashton Villa, one of the first next year, the pair sold the bottling plant to the family would make its home in the large
Italianate-styled brick structures built in Gal- Hans N. Hansen. Hansen owned the bottling apartment on the second level. A solid brick
veston. works for a short period of time; he had sold structure, forty people would take refuge
the company to Charles F. Marschner by early within the building to wait out the 1915
A map of Galveston com- 1890. Shortly after acquiring the bottling op- Storm.
pleted in 1871 shows there erations, Marschner moved it to 1511 33rd
were no structures at 1916 Street. Under him, the company also began to Marschner never saw the finished building --
Mechanic until 1905 when bottle such concoctions as Celebrated Iron he died of cancer in early 1906, shortly before
Charles F. Marschner built Brew, Southern Favorite Sassaftas Beer, construction was complete. He was buried at
a two-story brick building Champagne Cider, Cherry Blossom and Or- Lakeview Cemetery in Galveston.
to house his bottling ange Crush. He also dealt in soda apparatus.
works on the lower level An advertisement in the 1898 city directory
and provide a home for lists "charging fountains" as a specialty. Bot-
his family on the second level triggering the tling works were a rapidly developing industry
development of this area of Mechanic. on the island. By the turn of the century,
there were eight listings for various bottlers
Texas Bottling Works and drink distributors.

Marschner and his wife Marie Seidel came A New Building for an Old Business
from Saxony, Germany in the early 1880s.
The first reference to the couple can be found In 190I, Marschner purchased lots 10 and 11
in the 1886 city directory. Marschner was in the 1900 block of Mechanic (Avenue C).
working for Conrad Lenz, who had a meat This transaction came just four months after
market on the corner of Broadway and 17th the devastating hurricane of 1900. Apparent-
Street. Marschner then went to work as a ly, neither his plant nor his residence on 33rd
clerk for H. Pulle, a local grocer at 33rd Street Street were severely affected by the damaging
44 | Waves Magazine | December 2018 Issue