Lucian A. Wolcott

189?—1906

From these bottles, we can see that Lucian A. Wolcott, or L.A. Wolcott for short, began his bottling operation with only his name—without the “Co.” as seen on Huntington crown tops. It should be noted that there is no “Co.” ending on the L.A. Wolcott hutch soda from Huntington either. I suspect that these crown tops were used not to indicate Central City as a separate town from Huntington, but instead to inform customers of the neighborhood of the plant, as Central City’s absorption into Huntington occurred earlier than most crown tops. Such a practice wasn’t necessarily common, but it was not unheard of. The last year that his business appears as just his name is in 1906, making these very early crown top soda bottles.