Coalton

Coalton, also known as Womelsdorf, is a small mining town in Randolph County. Its bottler, H.B. Kramer, was only in business for one year before shutting down. These hutchinson style sodas are incredibly rare.

H.B. Kramer

1904—1906; 1908—1913

With Kramer around for so much longer than most bottlers, I suspect that these hutches that have been discovered are merely a case of not searching hard enough, rather than a vastly limited number being manufactured. H.B. Kramer would later also bottle in Belington and Elkins (Expositions Co. of America, 1925) with his Elkins plant being located on Railroad Street (H.S. Rich & Co., 1930).

Of note with this bottle is that there are two variants that appear identical in all details except the base. One bears a horseshoe, the other has a blank base.

H.B. Kramer bottle, Coalton. No horseshoe on the base.

H.B. Kramer bottle, Coalton, horseshoe w/ "L" on base.

References

Expositions Company of America (1925). Bottlers and beverage manufacturers universal encyclopedia, a complete reference book and guide.

Header background: West Virginia History OnView (1908). View of buildings and farmland; Coalton, W.Va. [postcard].

H.S. Rich & Co. (1930). The beverage blue book, 1930, the standard directory buyers' guide and reference volume for the beverage industry.