Collectors of antiques dig in strange places for the gems to enhance their collection or to bolster their prowess as a trader in nostalgic souvenirs, but John Kowalski of the Commercial Design Co. of St Louis was surprised at what he found in a cistern under a building owned by the Bank of Marion. The cistern yielded a miscellaneous pile of 350 to 400 ancient glass bottles.
Kowalski, is in charge of the building project that includes demolition of some of the banks property preparatory to expansion of the bank’s main building on the north side of the Public Square.
The Cistern was uncovered beneath the wall that separated the old building adjacent to the main bank building and the drive-up facility which stood at the northwest corner of the block.
The reservoir was partially filled with water and muck which, when cleaned out, revealed the huge collection of encrusted objects of glass.
The husband of an avid collector of antique bottles, Kowalski recognized that the find is valuable. Just how valuable he won’t attempt to estimate.
“The bottles will have to be washed and catalogued before we can tell what they’re worth”, he said, “but some of them are valuable.”
Unique among the collection were some bottles with the name, “Coal Belt Bottling Co.” stamped on the side. The Coal Belt Bottling Co. bottled carbonated beverages in Marion at a plant near the C. &.E.I. Railroad south of the railroad station from the early years of the century until a few years ago. It held a Coca Cola franchise from the early days of its operation. The bottles found with the plant’s name on them, however, are not Coca Cola bottles. They are larger around, and doubtless contained some other beverage produced by the Coal Belt plant, perhaps, Kowalski thinks, a soft drink that preceded Coke.
But perhaps an even rarer find is a bottle with the imprint, “Coal Belt Brewery”. Its origin is a bit hazier Since Marion was “dry” long before national prohibition. It is not certain when, if at all, beer was brewed here. The Coal Belt Brewery may have been located elsewhere.
There is no doubt, however, about the origin of one of the other bottles found in the cistern. Lettering on it spelled out the words, “Duty Pharmacy”. The Duty drug store was located north of the old cistern, in the building now occupied by Campbell’s Drug Store. It was owned by the late Delos L. Duty, a pharmacist who later turned to the law, served the county as state’s attorney, and became an outstanding legal practitioner.
Another bottle which Kowalski is certain is valuable as a collector’s Item is a tall slender item bearing the imprint of Garrett & Co., producers of Virginia Dare Wine.
Other bottles bear the imprint of Anheuser Busch, Terre Haute Brewing Co., R & Co. Falstaff-Lempof St. Louis, Hoylt German Cologne, Bonnie Bourbon, Lexington, Ky. Florida Water, and many others.
Mixed up in this assortment of beverage containers is a square ink bottle.
So far examination of the bottles have revealed no dates which would establish their exact age, but collectors have ways of tracing antiquity by catalogue comparison, and Kowalski is certain that the long-hidden cistern has given up some objects of value.
One other thing is certain too. The long hidden cistern beneath the building which once housed the C.W. Hay store and later a series of retail firms, recent among which were Kenneth Sparks’ fabric house and a Western Auto Supply Store, has caused the Kowalski’s firm a lot of trouble and expense.
Because it was located in a spot over which a heavy, new vault is to be built for the expanded Bank of Marion, the contractor had to make sure that solid ground was reached beneath the water reservoir for new footings. Men worked for days with pumps and shovels before the bottom of the cistern was cleared of water and quagmire, and solid clay was found.
(Glances at Life by Homer Butler from around 1974)