Maple history fans might be interested in Lanark County Kitchen: A Maple Legacy from Tree to Table, a recently published book about maple sugaring families in Lanark County, Ontario.
Written by Arlene Stafford-Wilson, this 2023 book presents a series of short and concise histories of thirteen legacy maple producers, families that have been making maple products for many generations in Lanark County. Stafford-Wilson is the author of a number of books on life and times in Lanark County, with more information on those available at her website www.staffordwilson.com.
This pocket size book (4.75” x 8.0”) spans 165 pages and covers a range of sugaring families and stories from small homegrown hobbyists to the big names in the county, such as Wheeler’s Maple with their large sugarbush, pancake restaurant, and famous maple and logging museums. The book starts off with a few brief introductory chapters presenting basic details about maple sugaring, syrup grading, and syrup judging that serve as useful contextual materials for the later chapters and histories. There are no illustrations in the book, it is only text, but each family’s chapter includes one or two maple-related recipes that were provided by those families.
Each family history is as much a record of their local genealogy as it is a recounting of the history of their maple operation, with most of the families sharing a common thread of being the descendants of Irish or Scottish immigrants that arrived in Ontario in the early to mid-1800s. Another common thread in almost all the histories in the book is a retelling of the devastating effects and subsequent recovery from a severe ice storm in 1998, as well as a derecho wind storm in 2022.
Like the well-known Wheeler’s Sugar Bush, another notable chapter covers the story of Brien and Marion Paul’s sugaring operation. The late Marion Paul is an especially notable figure in Ontario maple history as the only woman from Ontario and the only producer from Lanark County in the International Maple Hall of Fame.
It is great to see the documentation and publication that highlights local maple sugaring stories and families. The one thing that surprised me in reading the book was no mention of Claudia Smith’s book When the Sugar Bird Sings: The History of Maple Syrup in Lanark County.Admittedly, When the Sugar Bird Sings was published 25 years ago; however, it is still very much worth finding a used copy and having on the maple history shelf in one’s library. It is not common that a single county in the United States or Canada has one book written specifically on the history of maple sugaring in that area, and now Lanark County has two! Stafford-Wilson’s Lanark County Kitchen adds another layer of detail to the history of Lanark maple sugaring, especially when combined with When the Sugar Bird Sings.
Individual copies of Lanark County Kitchen: A Maple Legacy from Tree to Table cost CAD$25.00 may be ordered from the United States and Canada by contacting Arlene Stafford-Wilson directly at – lanarkcountybooks@gmail.com.
Example of Old Colony Maple Syrup label from Quebec Maple Products, LTD, 1934 trademark registration.
In the history of maple syrup brand names, “Old Colony Syrup” was a label used for over one hundred years by as many as six different companies in both the United States and Canada. The Old Colony brand was first used in the early 1900s by two unrelated syrup blending companies in Chicago and Boston. The name was later used in Canada and the United States from the 1920s to the early 2000s, handed down through a series of related companies.
Printing block for Scudder’s Syrup Company’s Old Colony Syrup label (image reversed).
The earliest example of the use of the Old Colony was a blended cane and maple syrup from the Scudder Syrup Company of Chicago, Illinois. The Scudder Company offered a variety of brands of blended cane and maple syrup starting in 1894, with Old Colony Syrup first appearing around 1896. The Scudder Company was one of many syrup blending companies operating in Chicago at this time and the Old Colony brand was one of their minor labels compared to more widely sold Scudder’s Canada Sap Syrup and later Scudder’s Brownie Brand Syrup.
Undated paper label for Old Colony Brand Cane & Maple Syrup from Bay State Maple Syrup Company.
The next early example of the use of the Old Colony name as a syrup brand comes from the Bay State Maple Syrup Company owned by C.M. Tice, operating out of Boston, Massachusetts. Like with the Scudder Company, the use of Old Colony by the Bay State Company was a minor label among other more prominent and popular syrup brands, such as Verhampshire, Fleur-de Lys, Mount Washington, and Mount Mansfield syrups. Since research has only uncovered examples of the label and no dated advertisements or other references, there is little information on the Bay State Company’s use of the Old Colony name and what years it was in use. We do know that the Bay State Company was most active from around 1905 to 1920.
However, the most long-lived and significant use of the Old Colony brand for packaging maple syrup began in 1920 with the Canada Maple Products Company in Toronto, Ontario. Unlike the first two examples of Old Colony Syrup, which were blends of cane and maple syrup, the Old Colony Syrup of the Canadian Maple Products Company was 100% pure maple syrup.
Maples, LTD., advertisement for Lion Brand Pure Maple Syrup from Toronto Daily Star, March 19, 1912.
The Canadian Maple Products Company was a syrup packing and maple products company that began around 1911 under the name of Maples, LTD. Initially, the company sold pure maple syrup and maple butter under the name of Lion Brand, which was only available in Canadian markets. Beginning in 1915, they changed the name of the maple butter to “Old Tyme Maple Butter.”
Early advertisement from Canadian Maple Products, LTD, for Old Colony Maple Syrup – Canadian Grocer, December 16, 1921.
In 1920, the Thornton Huyck family purchased Maples, LTD. and changed the name to the Canadian Maple Products Company, LTD. At this time, the company introduced the name Old Colony syrup name along with a colorful label featuring a yellow background, blue bands, and a splash of red maple leaves.
Advertisement for Old Colony Maple Syrup and Old Tyme Maple Butter – Canadian Grocer. April 1,1921.
In 1929 Thornton Huyck sold Canadian Maple Products Company, LTD., and its Old Colony and Old Tyme brands to the Cary Maple Sugar Company from St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The Cary Company was undertaking a massive expansion in Vermont and Québec, buying smaller syrup companies and expanding their footprint across the region. One of the Cary Company’s efforts was the construction of a modern three-story plant in Lennoxville, Québec for the processing and bottling of maple sugar and maple syrup. In preparation for operating the Lennoxville plant, the Cary Company also acquired a number of other maple syrup businesses from the surrounding Eastern Townships region of Québec, including the Boright Brothers and the Jenne Maple Syrup and Sugar Company, both from Sutton, Québec. As part of their sale to the Cary Company, the Boright Brothers and the Jenne Company sold their syrup manufacturing and bottling equipment and shipped it to Lennoxville. In addition, both Robert M. Boright and Frank Jenne became managers and key employees of Cary’s new Lennoxville plant.
Three story Cary Maple Sugar Company plant in Lennoxville, Québec circa 1929.
The Cary Company’s rapid expansion became a factor in the firm becoming over extended, contributing to the Cary Company’s colossal failure and bankruptcy in 1931. With the Cary Company in the midst of a reorganization, Robert Boright was elevated from general plant manager to the role of President of the entire Cary Company in the United States and Canada. With Boright’s shift to President, Frank Jenne become the Lennoxville plant manager.
Colorful 1930s-era one gallon round can for Old Colony Pure Maple Syrup from Québec Maple Products, LTD.
After a year of year of overseeing the operations and getting the Cary Company back on its feet, Robert Boright resigned his position as President and in late 1932 started his own company called Québec Maple Products, LTD. Conveniently, the newly constructed Cary Company plant in Lennoxville was for sale, which Boright purchased along with the former Canadian Maple Products Company brands of Old Tyme and Old Colony Syrup, with Frank Jenne continuing on as plant manager and a minor partner to Boright.
Early Québec Maple Products, LTD. glass bottle for Old Colony Maple Syrup next to February 28, 1935 – Windsor Start advertisement.
Québec Maple Products, LTD. soon after was offering Old Colony maple syrup to Canadian customers in 16- and 32-ounce circular glass jars and one gallon size tall round cans. The earliest of Québec Maple Products’ Old Colony labels were based on Canadian Maple Products’ earlier Old Colony Syrup design, with the yellow background, red text, and red maple leaves.
1950s era one gallon can with a winter sugaring scene for Old Colony Maple Syrup from Québec Maple Products, LTD.
In 1935, Québec Maple Products, LTD. began its own expansion and formed a subsidiary firm in St. Albans, Vermont called American Maple Products Corporation. With this expansion, Frank Jenne moved from the Lennoxville plant to St. Albans to be the Vice President and general manager of US operations. With the expansion across the border, it was easier for Québec Maple Products, through American Maple Products, to access American markets and introduced the Old Colony brand to a new group of American customers.
Two 1950s examples of early label designs for Old Colony Maple Syrup from American Maple Products Corporation.
American Maple Products Corporation moved from St. Albans, to Newport, Vermont in 1940. Two years later in 1942, Jenne and Boright bought out one another’s interests in Québec Maple Products, LTD., and American Maple Products Corporation. Boright took sole ownership of Québec business and Jenne took over American Maple Products with both continuing to use the Old Colony brand with their separate companies.
American Maple Products Corporation’s Old Colony Maple Syrup label from the 1960s.
Under Jenne’s ownership and later that of his son-in-law Sherb Doubleday, American Maple Products Corporation expanded the company’s variety of maple products and introduced its own designs for its Old Colony labels and containers. Over the next 50 years American Maple Products redesigned its Old Colony label at least four times.
Two versions of American Maple Products Corporation’s Old Colony Maple Syrup labels from the 1970s and 1980s.
American Maple Products Corporation continued to sell syrup under the Old Colony brand into at least the 1980s. American Maple Products Corporation closed its doors in 1994 when Roger Ames, the son-in-law of Sherb Doubleday and owner of the company, was accused and pled guilty to selling syrup labeled as pure maple syrup when it had been adulterated with beet sugar syrup.
Example of advertisement and bottle design for Quebec Maple Products’ Old Tyme Syrup from October 30, 1958 – Windsor Star.
Boright continued as owner of Quebec Maple Products until 1958 when he sold his company to the Canada Starch Company, LTD., and its best Foods Canada Division, with Old Colony and Old Tyme syrups continuing as the company brands. Best Foods was sold to Unilevel Company in 2000 and Unilevel sold the Old Colony and Old Tyme brands to ACH Foods in 2002. Old Colony Syrup continued to be available in Canadian markets until at least 2004 and their blended Old Tyme Pancake Syrup until around 2015.
At the end of prohibition the first alcohol to legally be distilled in the state of Vermont was produced using pure maple syrup as its base sugar instead of cane sugar or corn or grain. Soon after the production of alcohol for consumption was again made legal, the Green Mountain Distillery in Burlington began using maple syrup, a locally available commodity and well-loved food item, to create a unique and rum like liquor as well as a sweet liqueur.
The story of the Green Mountain Distillery’s beginning, short life, and ending are the focus of my latest contribution to the June 2023 edition of the Maple Syrup Digest(Vol. 62, no. 2). For those that may not be familiar with the Maple Syrup Digest, it is the official quarterly publication of the North American Maple Syrup Council. You can read the article at this link or by clinking on the accompanying image.
This contribution examines the history and details surrounding the formation and operation of the St. Paul Syrup Refining Company, a syrup blending company that operated in St. Paul Minnesota from the 1880s to the 1920s under the brand name of Canada Sap Maple Syrup. Of course, one is left to wonder how much, if any, pure maple syrup went into their blended syrups.
Following on the model of their competitor and St. Paul neighbor, Towle’s Log Cabin Syrup, the St. Paul Syrup Refining Company utilized flashy and colorful marketing and interesting packing to sell blended syrup to consumers throughout the western United States and from the maple syrup producing regions.
Modern example of the oval syrup flask with the little round handle.
When thinking of iconic symbols or popular images related to the maple syrup industry, one that quickly comes to mind is the glass flask shaped syrup bottle with the little round handle on the neck. Use of this bottle is unique to the maple industry and is instantly associated with pure maple syrup. About ten years ago a blog post claimed that the appearance or continued presence of the small handle on the neck of this bottle was a hold-over or an artifact of past designs for syrup jugs. Such elements are something known as a skeuomorph, “a retained but no longer functional stylistic feature.” The same Brooklyn Brainery blog writer went on to say “that the handles are a remnant from when most jars were large earthenware containers. The handle’s useful when you’re carrying five pounds of liquid, but not so much when you can easily grab the whole bottle in the palm of your hand.”
Perhaps, a better explanation comes from Jean-François Lozier, a Curator at the Canadian Museum of History, who was quoted online in a Canadian Reader’s Digest article to say, “maple syrup companies weren’t so much retaining an old pattern of a jug as reinventing it and wanting to market their product as something nostalgic.” Lozier, went on to add, “they were tying in the image of maple syrup with their product and the image that people still had of those crocks in the 19th-century.”
Drawing for Brooks D. Fuerst’s 1951 design patent for the oval syrup flask (USD162147).
While it is true that the little handles on the bottles have the appearance of being something of a holdover or throwback design element that was intended to show a connection to bottles and jugs of the past, the fact is that we really do not know why the bottle was designed with a little handle. What we do know is who first designed and manufactured that bottle, and by what company and when the bottle was first used for selling maple syrup. Brooks D. Fuerst of Sylvania, Ohio, was awarded with the design patent (USD162147) for the bottle in February 1951, after applying for the patent in June of 1949.
Image of a young Brooks D. Fuerst.
Brooks Fuerst (1905-1998) was an experienced designer of glass bottles and jars for food and liquid packaging and worked extensively with the Owens-Illinois Glass Company and the Libbey Glass Company, both in Toledo, Ohio, a place that is sometimes called the Glass Capital of the World.
The design for the syrup flask with the little handle on the neck was given the uninspiring title of “jug or the like” and it should be noted that the shape of the small handle on the original design was not actually rounded, but was more angular with two sharp corners. Brooks Fuerst assigned the patent to the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, either through sale, contract, or as an employee of the company.
Early examples of Cary’s Maple Syrup in the 1951 Fuerst bottle. On the left a 8.5 ounce bottle and on the right a small 2.0 ounce sample size bottle.
The Fuerst flask was first used in 1950 by the Cary Maple Sugar Company of St. Johnsbury, Vermont in 2-ounce, 8-ounce, and 24-ounce sizes. At that time, the Cary company used the flask to bottle two kinds of syrup. One was their Cary’s 100% Pure Maple Syrup, the other was their Highland Brand blended syrup, a mixture of cane and maple syrup.
Advertisement from a 1950 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine for Highland Syrup, featuring the Brooks D. Fuerst bottle.
Prior to the introduction of the Cary’s brand pure maple syrup in 1948, the Cary Maple Sugar Company had used the Highland brand for bottling pure maple syrup since 1919. Highland brand blended syrup continued in use to the mid-1960s and appears to have been discontinued after the Childs-Fred Fear Company sold the Cary’s brand to HCA-Doxsee Foods in 1966. The Cary’s brand of maple syrup continues to be sold to this day by B & G Foods.
Advertisement for Cary’s Maple Maker concentrated syrup – May 1953 Los Angeles Times.
The Cary Maple Sugar Company also used the 8-ounce Fuerst flask from 1953 to 1957 to sell their unique “Maple Maker” a highly concentrated maple syrup in which one ounce of concentrate mixed with water and refined white sugar would produce 16 ounces of maple flavored table syrup. This product was aimed at a cost-conscious buyer that wanted to enjoy “home-made” maple flavored syrup at a fraction of the cost of 100% pure maple syrup.
This was not the first design for a maple syrup bottle by a Fuerst. In fact, Brooks Fuerst’s older brother Edwin W. Fuerst (1903-1988) designed a similar bottle over 15 years earlier. It should be noted that, then and to this day, design patents were protected for 14 years.
Image of Edwin W. Fuerst.
With Edwin W. Fuerst’s earlier design, the patent was applied for in December 1932 before obtaining former approval in February 1933. Like with the 1951 syrup flask, the 1933 design patent (USD89301) was assigned to the manufacturer, Owens-Illinois Glass Company. Also, like the 1951 design, the first maple syrup company to use the design was the Cary Maple Sugar Company, this time in 2, 8, 12, and 24-ounce sizes. Edwin Fuerst, like his younger brother, was an experienced commercial artist that lived in Toledo and worked closely with the Owens-Illinois and Libbey Glass companies. Like Brooks Fuerst, Edwin was awarded dozens of design patents for artistic glass containers as well as attractive cut glass tableware from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Drawing for Edwin W. Fuerst’s 1933 design patent for the round syrup flask (USD89301).
The design of Edwin Fuerst’s 1933 syrup bottle, was titled “design for a jug.” It had a rounder shape to the body than the 1951 bottle and also featured a virtually identical, small, seemingly useless angled handle at the neck. The 1933 bottle featured a thick rectangular base that made it much heavier and more stable than the later more oval flask design. In contrast, the later 1951 flask features a series of short decorative vertical flutes or concave scallops near the base which were absent from the earlier bottle.
Advertisement for Cary Maple Sugar Company’s Highland Maple Sap Syrup featuring Edwin Fuerst’s round bottle – January 1937 Chicago Tribune.
It is not known for sure, but it appears that the Cary Company may have had exclusive rights to use both the 1933 and the 1951 designs during the beginning years of the manufacturing of these bottles. However, we do know that Quebec Maple Products, LTD out of Lennoxville, Quebec, also used this design as early as 1935 with their Old Colony brand syrup. Quebec Maple Products, LTD was owned by Robert Boright who had a close history with the Cary Company, first as the manager of their Quebec plant, then as the temporary company president following the death of George Cary in 1931.
Examples of Highland Maple Sap Syrup bottles. 12 ounce bottle on left and smaller 2..0 ounce sample size bottle on right.
In fact, considering that the 1933 design was in the works and initially submitted for a patent in 1932 during the period that Boright oversaw the Cary Company operations, it is possible that it was Boright’s idea and initiative to introduce the new bottle.
Ontario newspaper advertisements for Quebec Maple Products, LTD use of the Edwin Fuerst bottle. Old Colony advertisement on left from February 1935 The Windsor Star and Old Tyme Syrup on the right from October 1958 The Windsor Star.
When Boright left the Cary company and started his own Quebec Maple Products, LTD in 1933, he certainly had the inside scoop on the availability of the new design. And as far as can be seen, Quebec Maple Products, LTD only used the 1933 bottle for sale of their syrup within Canada, so they likely would not have been competing with the Cary company in the US or violating exclusivity agreements or US patent laws. Quebec Maple Products LTD continued to use the 1933 round bottle design well into the 1960s with their Old Colony and Old Tyme Brand syrups.
Examples of two different containers of Little Brown Jug Syrup. The ceramic container from 1920s is on left and the 1930s glass design with the loop handle on the neck is on the right.
The 1933 Fuerst bottle curiously resembles another bottle introduced in the 1930s, that of Little Brown Jug syrup out of St. Louis, Missouri. When Little Brown Jug blended syrup was introduced in 1921 or 1922, it originally came in a ceramic container shaped like a thick round disc on its side with a large loop handle on the shoulder. That design (USD61415) was patented by Joseph Klein in 1922. Around 1934 the Little Brown Jug Products Company shifted to a brown glass bottle in a design that was similar to their earlier ceramic design, with the addition of some notable differences, which happened to make their glass jug very similar to the 1933 round jug of Fuerst, such as a round loop handle on the neck and a thick glass ring or ridge at the juncture of the neck and shoulder. Surprisingly, the glass version of the Little Brown Jug, which only appears in advertisements from 1934 onward, is embossed with the design patent number of their earlier, and different, ceramic jug. One would think the Little Brown Jug company would have also obtained a patent on their new, slightly modified, glass design, unless they were concerned with accusations of copying Fuerst and instead wanted to reply on the precedent of their earlier design patent. It is also possible that Fuerst did the design for the glass version of the Little Brown Jug, and a design patent was never applied for. So far, research has yet to uncover a patent specific to the 1930s design of the Little Brown Jug.
Interestingly, a check of the 1926 and the 1933 catalogs for the Owens- Illinois Glass Company shows the same reinforced ridge or ring at the neck was standard design element for loop handled bottles and jugs at that time.
Use of the 1951 Fuerst bottle by the maple industry in 1960s and 1970s was primarily limited to the large packing companies with national sales and shelf space in grocery chains. It was rarely offered for sale in the catalogs of maple equipment dealers. It wasn’t until the 1980s, with the growing availability and appreciation of specialty glass containers that the flask bottle became a popular option with individual maple producers. By the mid-1990s, the handle design evolved from an angular shape to its current rounded form, finalizing the shape we easily identify today as a symbol of real maple syrup.
The unique story of the turn of the century maple syrup operation carried out by Abbot Augustus Low and his Horse Shoe Forestry Company in the forests of New York’s Adirondacks Mountains is near and dear to my heart and one I love to share. It also happens to be the focus of my latest contribution to the September 2022 edition of the Maple Syrup Digest(Vol. 61, no. 3). For those that may not be familiar with the Maple Syrup Digest, it is the official quarterly publication of the North American Maple Syrup Council. I even managed to snag the cover image of this issue of the Maple Syrup Digest, a first for me! You can read the article at this link or by clinking on the accompanying image.
Those of you looking for even more detail and dozens of maps and images related to the history of the Horse Shoe Forestry Company should check out my second book, A Sugarbush Like None Other: Adirondack Maple Syrup and the Horseshoe Forestry Company, available for purchase online at eBay.
Click on the image above for a link to a PDF of the article.
I am happy to be able to share my recent article on on the origins and early years of the Towle’s Log Cabin Syrup Company. Log Cabin Syrup was started in 1888 by Patrick J. Towle in St. Paul, Minnesota, so it was fitting that this article was published by the Ramsey County Historical Society, home to St. Paul. This article appears in the Spring 2022 edition of the Ramsey County History magazine.
Special attention in the story is given to the company founder, Patrick J. Towle, and his introduction and use of the unique cabin shaped metal can to package and market his syrup made from a blend of maple syrup and cane syrup. Additional topics of note addressed in the article are the realities behind the question of where the idea for the log cabin name and can shape came from, as well as the company’s early use of advertising and promotion in national publications, something that was uncommon for a syrup company in the early part of the 1900s.
The fate of the Log Cabin Syrup company brand was ultimately to be sold to the Postum Company, later to be named General Foods, but as the story shares, that was not the end of the blended syrup business for the Towle family in St. Paul.
Click this link to access a PDF copy of the article.
Mountain Meadow Farms was a gigantic maple syrup operation and game farm that operated in Somerset County, Pennsylvania in the 1960s and 1970s. Somerset County is known for its prominence and history as a maple syrup producing area in Pennsylvania. What made Mountain Meadow Farms unique, both in general and in Somerset County in particular, was that rather than being a small family sugaring operation that grew over time, Mountain Meadow Farms was created from scratch as a new operation on a scale not previously seen with the most modern technology and design available at the time.
1974 advertisement for Mountain Meadow Farms from The Republic out of Meyersdale, PA.
The Farms began in 1964 when Blaine “Bud” Walters and his wife Geneva purchased an existing game farm in the hills of Somerset County about two miles north of the village of New Baltimore, Pennsylvania. The Walters were the owners of the successful Walters Tire Service in the town of Somerset. Started in 1941, Walters Tire Service focused on manufacturing, retreading, and selling large size tires for road building equipment and servicing large trucks used in the Pennsylvania coal industry.
Mountain Meadow Farms had its own custom-designed lithographed metal syrup cans. A popular can among syrup can collectors.
According to one account, it was the Walters farm manger Gerald Grasser, who came up with the idea of making maple syrup. As the Walters’ son Jimmy Walters tells it, “Bud never did anything small. When they bought the farm it already had pheasants. There were two pens of pheasants when they bought it and they added turkeys and cattle. There were lots of maple trees so it made sense to tap those.” In addition to pheasants and turkeys, there were chuckers too. Cattle was usually around 300 head, but at one point with calves and heifers, it got up to close to 1000 head which required a lot of feed and work with Walters installing big Harvestore silos and automated feeding machines.
Mountain Meadow Farms sugarhouse in 1967. Photo from March 30, 1967 Bedford County Press article.
When Walters settled on the idea of starting a maple operation around 1963, over the next two years he promptly did everything he could to learn about the maple syrup business. For example, in 1965 he attended Maple Industry Conference in Philadelphia and when it became known just how large of an operation he was planning, he was put in touch with Adin Reynolds of Reynolds Sugar Bush, in Aniwa, Wisconsin, at that time the largest maple sugaring operation in the world. In addition to being able to offer Walters practical advice on setting up and running an operation of this size, the Reynolds Sugar Bush was an equipment dealer for the Vermont Evaporator Company and in the fall of 1965 made the sale to Walters of three 6 x 20’ oil fired evaporators along with all the requisite piping, tanks, and finishing equipment, as well as tapping supplies, plastic tubing and bags for collecting sap from around 20,000 trees. A brand new, 50 x 110 foot, state of the art sugar house was built at a cost of $75,000, complete with finishing area, candy making room, and sales area.
View of Mountain Meadow Farms sugarhouse sales room. Courtesy of Mark Ware and the Somerset County Historical Center.
In all likelihood, the Reynolds encouraged Walters to focus not only on tapping his many thousands of trees, but also to initiate a plan to get local farmers and families to gather and sell sap to him, similar to how the Reynolds operated their many Central Evaporator Plants in Wisconsin. The Walters made purchasing sap a big part of their operation right from the start. In the spring of 1966 in their first year of operation, they tapped 17,000 of their own trees and bought sap from 8,000 trees tapped by others in the vicinity. In the following years Walters increased his sap buying efforts bringing in sap from 25,000 trees paying 5 cents a gallon for delivered sap and 4 cents per gallon for sap that was picked up. As Jimmy Walters recalled, the farm had a mini fleet of tank trucks to pick up and haul sap along with four 10,000 gallon open tanks for sap storage. The farm was also able to enlist the efforts of a number of local 4-H clubs and scout groups to taps trees and gather maple sap, a valuable fundraiser for their organizations.
Mountain Meadow Farms new sugarhouse, circa 1966. Courtesy of Mark Ware and the Somerset County Historical Center.
The Walters were new to the maple business, but they quickly made it known that they manufactured a good product, taking home a number of awards for their maple candy and confections in the judging at the county maple festivals. Despite their newness to the maple industry, Bud Walters’ growing role as an industry leader was recognized and in 1969 he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Somerset County Maple Syrup Producers. In 1970 Bud Walters was crowned county Maple King based on the performance of Mountain Meadow Farms maple products at the festival. Rightly so, Bud acknowledged that that award was only possible because of his wife’s efforts and it really should go to her. However, there were certainly some maple producers from the area who were suspicious and resentful of his approach and rapid success.
Geneva Walters in 1970 displaying some of her marketing packages in the Mountain Meadow Farms sales room. From March 30, 1970 article in Somerset, PA’s Daily American.
The farm sold most of its products through direct sales and mail order sales and through accounts with a number of restaurants and a few retail locations in Pittsburgh. Mail order sales piggy backed on their sale of game birds with a special package of a smoked pheasant and a fresh pheasant and maple syrup. In addition to making syrup and candy, and encouraging the use of creative and attractive packaging, Geneva Walters was a strong proponent of expanding the range of products that could be made and marketed with maple syrup. Related to that, Jimmy Walters shared that his mother was so influential in introducing new maple products, such as a maple syrup based salad dressing, that the Somerset County maple festival was forced to add more categories for judging beyond the traditional syrup, sugar, and candy. Jimmy added that this was one of his parents most important contributions, expanding the range of maple products being made and opening folks’ eyes in the county to other ways to sell and make maple syrup.
View of the USDA Eastern Utilization Research Lab experimental reverse osmosis sap concentrator in use at Mountain Meadow Farms 1969 and 1970, Courtesy of Mark Ware and the Somerset County Historical Center.
As a large operation focused on efficiency and cutting-edge technology, it was chosen in 1969 as the test site of the USDA’s Eastern Utilization Research Lab experimental Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) system. C.O. Willits and his colleagues from USDA’s Philadelphia Lab had developed a portable R.O. unit for testing in real-world sugaring operations. The previous season it was tested at the Sipple sugarbush in Bainbridge, NY but it was decided that the amount of sap available from the Sipple sugarbush for running through the R.O. was insufficient to really measure the R.O.’s performance. Instead, the lab researchers needed a larger operation like Bud Walters’ to really test how well it processed sap. The USDA test R.O. was operated at Mountain Meadow Farms again the following season, contributing valuable information to the USDA labs development and improvement of reverse osmosis as a viable technology for the maple syrup industry.
View of the entrance to the Mountain Meadow Farms sugarhouse. Note the reverse osmosis unit inside. Courtesy of Mark Ware and the Somerset County Historical Center.
Making syrup from 40,000 to 45,000 taps in the 1960s and 1970s positioned Mountain Meadow Farms as arguably the second largest maple operation in the world, second only to the Reynolds Sugar Bush in Wisconsin. By 1974 the farm was advertising itself to be “The Largest and Most Modern Central Evaporating Plant in the World!” and was clearly helping push and pull the maple industry to a new level of technological sophistication. But it did come with costs. According to Jimmy Walters, the farms had fairly high overhead with payroll to meet and little actual profit coming in. Many of the business ventures the Walters were involved with, including Mountain Meadow Farms were operating on loans and credit and at that time interest rates were relatively high at around 20-21%. The last season of the Mountain Meadow Farms maple syrup making operation was the spring of 1977. When the costs of operation became too great Bud Walters decided to sell and attempted to keep the sugaring operation together and sell it as a package to an interested buyer. Unfortunately, at that time, the scale of the operation was simply too large for any potentially interested buyers. In May 1978 the farming and sugaring equipment of the farm were sold at auction and the Mountain Meadow Farms ceased to operate. Bud and Geneva Walters passed the tire business to their son Jimmy in 1978 and enjoyed retirement. Bud passed away in 1990 and Geneva in 1995.
Special thanks to Mark Ware, Executive Director of the Somerset County Historical Center and to Jimmy Walters, son of Bud and Geneva Walters, for their assistance and sharing of personal memories and materials.
In November 2021 I posted a story about discoveries I made that shed light on the origins of Quebec’s iconic round can for packaging maple syrup. As is sometimes the case, publishing a research report can spark interest and open up new doors to information and lines of inquiry.
Following up on that post I was able to learn a bit more about the origins of the Dominion & Grimm (D & G) design for syrup can labels, arguably the most famous and the truly iconic image of these 26 oz. / 540 ml cans.
Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs advertisement from December 1955 for the new one gallon, four-color lithographed rectangular syrup can from Dominion & Grimm.
As noted in the previously posted story, the earliest evidence I could find for the appearance or use of the D & G design was a December 1955 advertisement announcing the introduction of a new four color lithographed can in the one gallon size. The earliest dated image I could find of the use of this D & G design on a round 26 ounce can was in a D & G Catalog from 1961.
Graphic image of D & G trademark design from United States Patent and Trademark Office registration.
Trying to get a bit more information on the early dates and the creator of the D & G design, I examined the trademark history of the image for both Canada (application number 1942475) and the United States (serial number 87833883). In both cases the trademark record indicates that the design first appeared sometime before 1962, but there were no more specific details about the first date of use. Helpful as an official record, but we already knew it was in use well before 1962.
Excerpt from 1961 Dominion & Grimm equipment catalog showing the D & G design on gallon. half gallon, quart, and 26 ounce round cans.
Shifting gears to see if I could find out the name of the artist who designed the D & G label, I contacted Dominion & Grimm and was pleased to be put in touch with Monsieur François Corriveau, Dominion & Grimm’s Marketing and Communications contact, who was very gracious in tackling my questions. Mr. Corriveau was able to tell me, “we have an old but undated framed poster of the artwork at the office with mentions at the bottom that says “Registered drawing” and “Design by Sylva Lebrun”.
Sylva LeBrun is the founder of Dominion Evaporators in Montreal in 1940. LeBrun later purchased the Grimm in 1953 and combined them to form the Dominion & Grimm Company. So, it was Mr. LeBrun himself who is credited with the design for the D & G syrup cans.
Example of an early one gallon size D & G can, note the lack of volume or weight information. From the collections of Bev Campbell.
Mr. Corriveau further added, “that It seems that there is no traces of when the can with the famous design was introduced. Dominion evaporators was really big in canning equipment for food in the beginning of the 1950’s. (Sterilization and so forth). So we always assumed that the can came first (as soon as 1951) and the metal jugs arrived later in 1955. But we have no evidence that this is what really happened.”
Considering: 1) that Mr. LeBrun was credited with the design; 2) the earliest example we have of the design is a 1955 D & G advertisement; and 3) taking into account that Dominion & Grimm as a company did not exist until 1953, it seems likely that the D &G design was in existence, or at least in use, no earlier than 1953 and most likely was created by Sylva Lebrun around 1954.
Special thanks to Mr. François Corriveau and his colleagues at Dominion & Grimm for sharing their knowledge and company history and helping us all learn a little more about the history of this iconic syrup can.
The text for the following history was written by Mary Mortimer and Scott Abraham, the great-great grandson of J.M. Abraham. It first appeared as a post on the Facebook page of the Logan County History Center. It is reprinted here with their permission and the permission of the Logan County History Center in Bellefontaine, Ohio.
By Mary Mortimer and Scott Abraham
J.M. Abraham, circa 1920. Source: Logan County History Center.
James M. Abraham was born in Union County, Ohio in 1856. When James was eleven years old his family moved to Jefferson Township in Logan County. In 1883, he moved to Bellefontaine and ran a grocery business on Main St. for eighteen years. During this time Mr. Abraham became interested in the manufacturing of maple syrup. He purchased raw syrup from local farmers and processed it for sale in city markets.
J.M. Abraham’s grocery business was a great success. An article in the Bellefontaine Republican in April 1889 stated the following:
“One great secret of the success of Mr. Abraham is that he never misrepresents anything. His instructions to all customers is that “If the goods you have bought do not prove to be as represented, or if anything is wrong with them, return the same to me and your loss will be made good, or the money refunded to you”. This fact is well known to the people, and as they know that the word of this gentleman can be relied upon, they flock to his store by the hundreds.
The stock of goods carried embraces every article that comes under the head of groceries, with all the novelties in the line. A special feature is made of canned and bottled goods of which he carries an exceptionally large and fine assortment. He pays particular attention to foreign fruits, such as bananas, oranges and lemons. Vegetable and berries receive special attention during their season. He also handles stoneware and crockery in a wholesale way. He also stocks queensware and glassware which he will be closing out”.
Metal mold for maple sugar loaf from J.M. Abraham Co. Logan County History Center Collections.
In January of 1900, Abraham and F.N. Johnson organized the F.N. Johnson Grocery Co. with Mr. Abraham serving as Vice President and his son, Kenneth Abraham, secretary. They had an extensive grocery business and manufactured and marketed maple syrup.
1934 Pittsburgh Press advertisement for Abraham’s Ohio Chief Maple Syrup, only $1.79 for a full gallon can.
In December 1908, the J.M. Abraham Co was granted a charter at Columbus, Ohio. The incorporators were J.M. Abraham, Kenneth Abraham, Duncan Dow, Charles S. Hockett and Frank Dowell. The company was capitalized at $25,000. They were to engage in the wholesale grocery, maple syrup, and produce business. The new company was located in a brick building on Garfield Ave. owned by Mr. Abraham.
Excerpt from the 1914 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for Bellefontaine, Ohio, showing in pink the J.M. Abraham Apple Butter Plant on Garfield Avenue.
In January 1909, Mr. Abraham sold his stock in the F.N. Johnson grocery Co. and began business as the J.M. Abraham Co. Mr. Abraham served as President and his son, Kenneth, was secretary and treasurer. The J.M. Abraham business was very successful and in 1912 a new larger building was erected at 405-407 Garfield Ave. The new larger building provided more storage capacity and modern steam equipment was installed for the manufacturing and storing of apple butter.
1947 Pittsburgh Press advertisement for Abraham’s Old Home blended cane and maple syrup.
Their Ohio Chief brand apple butter was very popular. Most of the apples they used for apple butter came from New York state. Their annual output was over 75,000 gallons. For many years the plant was known as “the old apple butter factory” and the aroma of cooked apples could be smelled in the air. Their maple syrup business also grew. At the time they produced the most maple syrup in Logan County. Raw syrup was shipped in from New York, Vermont, and northern Ohio to meet their demand. Abraham’s two main maple syrup brands were Ohio Chief and Snow Bound. They also manufactured a blend called Old Home. During the season they had numerous salesmen on the road selling thousands of gallons of maple syrup.
Examples of bottles of Abraham’s Sunrise cane syrup and Ohio Chief pure maple syrup. Source: Scott Abraham and the Logan County History Center.Example of a half can can with paper label showing Abraham’s Old Chief Pure Sap Maple Syrup.
After James M. Abraham passed away in 1932 the Abraham family continued operations at the J.M. Abraham facility. In about 1939 they scaled down their business and just dealt with the processing and sale of maple syrup. In May 1964, the Abraham family sold the J.M. Abraham Co to the American Maple Products Corp. from Newport, Vermont. They purchased all the assets including the trademarks, labels, molds for maple sugar patties and equipment used to produce maple products. The Vermont firm was to continue carrying the Abraham name on their products. The sale did not include the two-story brick building on Garfield Ave.
Robert Abraham, grandson of J.M. Abraham, in the Abraham Company plant in 1962. Source: Scott Abraham and the Logan County History Center.
After the J.M. Abraham business was sold, Robert Abraham, grandson of J.M. Abraham, continued to get maple syrup from the buyer and deliver it to family, friends and former clients. In the mid-1970’s the former J.M. Abraham plant suffered a devastating fire, and the old brick portion of the building had to be removed. A newer metal-sided addition to the building didn’t receive too much damaged and was saved. Later another metal-sided addition was added where the original brick building once stood. The building was leased by Super Foods for many years and most recently used by Mobile Instrument Service & Repair.
Examples of some of the paper labels and brands used by the J.M. Abraham Company for packaging maple butter and maple products. Source: Scott Abraham and the Logan County History Center.
