I am happy to share a recent article I wrote on the origins and unique history of the use of a round metal can for packing maple syrup in the province of Québec. Unlike the United States and most other Canadian provinces, where syrup was packed in rectangular shaped metal cans for many years, in Québec the use of a round can was introduced in the 1950s and has continued to be used ever since, eventually becoming an iconic cultural symbol identifed with Québec.
The article was published by Fédération Histoire Québec in Volume 30, Number 1 of their imagazine Historie Québec. As an article focused on a decidely Québecois topic, this article is written in French. You can download a PDF copy of the article at this link or by clicking on the image or the article above. Or you can view each of the three individual pages of the article below.
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.
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.
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.
Packaging maple syrup in plastic jugs is now commonplace and jugs are the primary container for retail sales. However, sixty years ago there were no plastic jugs and syrup was either packaged in metal or glass containers. When first introduced to the maple industry, plastic was modern and novel, but it was also an untried and unproven material. In time, the industry found what types of plastic worked best and settled on the familiar shape of a jug with a handle for its plastic containers. In getting to that point there were a few earlier, less well-known attempts at bottling syrup in plastic containers. Prior to the introduction of the jug shape there were a few other examples of plastic maple syrup containers.
The unique and instantly recognizable shape of the modern plastic maple syrup container got its start in the early 1970s when a pair of New England inventors and their companies introduced a new container made from a stiff, unbreakable plastic that could handle the requirements of hot-packed syrup and hold up to the rigors of shipping and transport.
Following the introduction of plastic jugs and increasing popularity of using plastic containers for packaging maple syrup in the 1970s, a group of new manufacturers entered the picture to meet the growing demand. It was during the decade of the 1980s that the plastic syrup jugs most commonly used by syrup makers today got their start, as well as some other manufacturers that operated on a smaller scale or for a limited duration.
1960s
Harry Chapman
Plastic squeeze bottle for maple syrup introduced by Harry Chapman in 1962. From the Collections of Matthew M. Thomas.
The earliest example of bottling with plastic containers was the efforts of sugarmaker Harry Chapman of South Wallingford, Vermont. In 1959 while still an engineering student at the University of Vermont, Harry began experimenting with different available plastic containers and settled on a polypropylene tubular squeeze bottle used for condiments and by the honey industry. In an interview with Harry, he shared that starting in 1962 he purchased bottles from an Albany, NY wholesaler in half pint, full pint, and quart sizes, and added a two-color, yellow and dark green, label on the clear containers using a silk screen set-up he built himself. Beside bottling syrup from the Chapman family sugarbush in the squeeze bottles, for a couple of years, Harry drove around Vermont selling the bottles to other syrup makers with roadside syrup stands and made numerous presentations promoting the use of this new technology and container.
Vermont Maple Orchards – Frank Rees
Carol Brown, Vermont Maple Queen in 1962 is show examining the Vermont Maple Orchards plastic syrup container in the shape of a sugarhouse. Image appeared in the Brattleboro Reformer – September 29, 1962.
Beginning in the spring of 1962, Vermont Maple Orchards of Essex Junction, Vermont began selling syrup packaged in a miniature plastic sugarhouse. This container was about a half pint in size and made from clear plastic with a pour spout fashioned to look like the smoke stack of the sugarhouse. The company promoted the benefits of plastic as being unbreakable and free from the threat of rusting. Frank Rees, General Manager of Vermont Maple Orchards at that time, was a chemist by training and was a part of the research in the 1930s to identify the sources of lead in maple syrup. As a result, he was sensitive to potential risks of solder leaching from metal cans into syrup and quickly embraced the potential of plastic as a packaging material. Tom Rees, the son of Frank Rees, recalls that the plastic sugarhouse was not a successful item and only sold for a couple of years, in part because the plastic used at that time, probably polypropylene, was not suited to the hot packing of maple syrup and soon after became brittle and hard. In fact, in a August 1962 letter from Malvine Cole, a spokesperson for Vermont Maple Orchards, to Frank Rees, she noted that when left in the hot sun in her car for a few hours, the plastic appeared to have softened and leaked syrup. Little is known about these plastic sugarhouses, such as where and how they were manufactured or who designed them. Their novelty at the time and short lifespan has made them a rarity and essentially unknown among collectors of vintage maple syrup containers.
Robert Bramhall and Robert M. Lamb
Pint sized plastic container for maple syrup introduced by Robert Bramhall in 1965. From the Collections of Tom McCrumm.
A third early plastic container was introduced in 1965 by Robert “Bob” Bramhall, Sr., the woodlands manager for the J.P. Lewis Company (JPL) working out of Beaver Falls, NY. Bramhall, who supervised JPL’s maple sugaring operation began experimenting in 1963 with the idea of bottling in plastic before settling on a square shaped container with a maple leaf design embossed on the side. Bramhall worked with the American Plastics Corporation in nearby Bainbridge, NY to manufacture the opaque cream and peach-colored containers. In the first year he had 50,000 pint-sized containers made with a quart size added the following year. According to Butch Bramhall, Bob Bramhall’s son, one of the reasons Bob looked at plastic was the shortage in the availability of metal syrup cans in the early 1960s.
The Bramhall plastic container came in pint and quart sizes. Photo by author from the collections of the International Maple Museum Centre.
Bob’s daughter-in-law Pat Bramhall added that Bob wanted to have a container that was smaller and easier for housewives to handle and use than the large half and full gallon tins that were most common at that time. After offering the containers for sale for about one year, in 1966 Bramhall transferred the sales of the containers to Robert M. Lamb’s growing plastic tubing and sugaring supplies company in Baldwinsville, NY. Lamb continued to advertise the container for sale through the end of 1969 when they were replaced by the new plastic syrup jugs coming out on the market.
1970s
Kress Creations – Elmer Kress
Examples of Kress Creations plastic jugs in one pint and a half gallon sizes. Photo by author from the collections of the International Maple Museum Centre.
Elmer Kress got his start as a potter when he opened Kress Ceramics in Seymour, Connecticut in the 1950s. According to his daughter Sarah Jean Davies, Elmer developed health problems related to exposure to ceramic dust and needed to make a change in his business. He sold the pottery business in 1967 and decided to give the manufacturing of plastic maple syrup containers a try under the name Kress Creations.
Kress had previously dabbled with producing small, novelty size stoneware jugs for maple syrup sales, so he had a familiarity and design idea in mind that resembled an antique loop handled stoneware jug.
Elmer and Mary Kress – Source: Maple Syrup Digest, March 1982.
Kress invested in his own blow molding equipment and made his containers from a new plastic called XT Polymer developed by the American Cyanamid Corporation out of Wallingford, Connecticut.
Early 1970s advertisement from ALCOA featuring the Kress syrup container and its use of the ALCOA pilfer-proof screw on metal cap. From the collections of the author.
XT Polymer was chosen by Kress because it could handle the hot packing of syrup. Kress jugs also featured a metal tamper-proof cap made by the ALCOA Company. Kress’ daughter tells that her father did not want his jug to look like cheap plastic, so he specifically used a heavier, glossier plastic that looked more like ceramic. XT polymer was more expensive, but Elmer felt it looked nicer. As an artist, Elmer Kress drew his own designs for the exterior sugarbush scene and did the one-color screen printing on site at the Kress Creations factory.
Elmer Kress working the screen printing machine – Source: Maple Syrup Journal, March 1982.
Kress jugs were originally released in early 1970 in pint and quart sizes, with half gallon and a unique three-quart sizes added later. The company outgrew the plant in Seymour and moved to a new facility in Oxford, Connecticut in 1975. The Kress operation was a true mom and pop business with the Kress family often taking weekend road trips around New England to peddle their containers out of the back of their car. Kress sold the plastic jug company in 1990 to a Southbury, New Hampshire firm, who in turn sold the molds to Pioneer Plastics in Greenville, New Hampshire who continued to manufacture and sell the Kress jug until around 2005. Elmer Kress passed away in 2005.
Bacon’s Sugar House – Charlie Bacon
Example od the iconic Bacon’s Sugar House plastic jug in one quart size. Photo by author from the collections of the International Maple Museum Centre.
As a syrup maker from Jaffney Center, New Hampshire, Charles “Charlie” Bacon was dissatisfied with metal syrup cans bursting when he shipped syrup across the country. Deciding plastics would be a better option, around 1967 he began researching food grade plastics that could handle hot packing of syrup. According to Bacon’s son, Jim Bacon, Charlie settled on high density polyethylene as the best option and, working from a simple sketch, had a wood form made in the shape of an old-fashioned crockery jug which was then made into a durable metal form for blow-molding by Hillside Plastics in Sunderland, Massachusetts. Early examples of Bacon jugs featured a metal cap with an interior heat activated seal.
Charlie Bacon – Source: Maple Syrup Journal, June 1982.
The first Bacon jug was available for sale in early 1971 in a one-quart size followed by a half gallon and a pint a few months later, and lastly, a one-gallon jug in 1973. Jugs were screen printed and distributed from the Bacon farm. Eventually, they were available in five sizes with either a standard one-color screen-printed design or option to do custom designs. Adoption of Bacon jugs spread quickly with the assistance of a network of dealers located around the maple region to more directly connect with nearby syrup producers. By 1980, Bacon was manufacturing a million jugs a year. Jim Bacon shared that his father never obtained a design patent on his jugs. Although he considered it, Bacon realized that it was not worth the expense of filing the patent paperwork since another maker could come along with a slightly different design that was virtually identical, and there was nothing Bacon could do about it.
Assemblage of different sizes of Bacon jugs from mid-1980s, including the short-lived salad dressing shaped bottle.
Bacon became concerned with the quality of manufacturing at Hillside Plastics in the early 1980s. In response, in 1983 he took his molds to the Hussey Molding Corporation of Manchester, New Hampshire for production. Bacon sold the jug manufacturing, printing, and sales to Hussey around 1986. A few years later, a sales agent for Hussey that knew Hussey was interested in getting out of the screen printing and sales portion of the syrup jug business, recognized that both Dave McClure’s Honey and Maple Products and Roger Ames‘ American Maple Products of Newport, Vermont were each buying a lot of jugs. The agent put McClure and Ames in touch and in 1988 McClure and Ames partnered to purchase the painting and sales portion of the Bacon Jug Company, opening a shop in part of the old Cary Maple Sugar Company warehouse in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Hussey continued to serve as their jug manufacturer. A few years later McClure bought out Ames and moved the printing and distribution to a new facility in Littleton, New Hampshire. McClure himself sold the Bacon Jug Company in 1997 to Dutch Gold Honey, Incorporated and its subsidiary, Gamber Container, out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who continue to own and operate the Bacon Jug Company from the Littleton location. Under the ownership of Dutch Gold and Gamber, manufacturing of the Bacon jug was moved from Hussey to Hillside Plastics of Turners Falls, Massachusetts. Charlie Bacon passed away in 2006.
R.M. Lamb – Bob Lamb
Examples of R.M. Lamb plastic jugs in half liter (16.9 ounces) and 1 liter (33.8 ounces) sizes. Photo by author from the collections of the International Maple Museum Centre.
Robert “Bob” Lamb, inventor and manufacturer of Lamb Naturalflow plastic tubing, also offered a blow molded plastic jug for maple syrup in the 1970s and 1980s. Described as a “pot bellied plastic jug” by Lamb, this container was shaped and colored to look like a stoneware loop handle jug with very rounded shoulders and a tapered base. These were made from XT Polymer plastic, similar to the Kress jugs, and silkscreened with a one color, old-time sugarbush scene created by an unnamed “famous French artist” according to information in a 1973 letter from Bob Lamb to Fred Laing at the University of Vermont. When first released, the Lamb jug featured a metal ALCOA tamper-proof cap, like the Kress jugs, and later replaced by a plastic cap. Not a lot is known about the Lamb jugs. They were released in 1973 in two metric sizes of 125 and 500 milliliters and were targeted for sale to Canadian maple syrup producers. Lamb felt that we were all going to be going metric in North America and it was wise to make his containers in metric sizes from the start. In 1975 Lamb expanded his line to include 1-liter and 2-liter jugs.
Lamb jugs were made of XT Polymer plastic, the same material used by Elmer Kress, because Lamb thought it made for a better looking container; however, the Lamb jugs were slightly more expensive than the Kress containers. The Lamb jug appears in advertisements in the Digest from 1973 through 1977 and in Canadian equipment sales catalogs in the early 1980s before being discontinued by 1985.
Fairfield Plastics – S. Allen Soule
Allen Soule, the Vermont inventor of the first lithographed metal can for maple syrup producers in the late 1940s, got into the plastic jug making business in 1975 when he purchased a blow molding machine for the manufacturing of small sized polypropylene plastic containers. Soule’s containers were designed for sales in gift shops and the tourist trade. Most of Soule’s jugs were made for use in bottling syrup from his Fairfield Farms brand pure maple and blended syrups. In addition to making containers for his own maple products, Soule sold containers to syrup makers under the name Fairfield Plastics. Soule’s containers resembled small ceramic jugs with short necks and loop handles and in some cases were made from a bright yellow plastic. According to John Soule, son of S. Allen Soule, Fairfield Plastics ended production in 1987 when the molding machine and molds were destroyed in a fire at their Fairfield, Vermont bottling plant. Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate examples of the S. Allen Soule jug to illustrate here.
1980s
P.H. S. Syrup Jugs – Peter Stransky
Examples of Stransky jugs in 375, 250, and 100 ml sizes. Image Source: Photo by author. Photo by author from the collections of the International Maple Museum Centre.
Peter Stransky entered the maple business in the 1960s, selling maple syrup equipment out of Collingwood, Ontario, later adding syrup buying, packing, and sales to the company activities. Between 1967 and 1979, Stransky saw early success as the primary distributor of the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association orange, white, and green metal cans. Stransky realized that if he made his own plastic containers, he could cut out the middleman for container purchases and have better control over quality and availability. In 1978, Stransky had molds designed for five smaller sizes of jugs, ranging from 3.4 ounces to a quart. His jugs were made by Olympus Plastics, a blow-molding company in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The containers were a round jug shape with a loop handle, a pronounced shoulder break, a reinforced ridge near the lip, and were painted with one color screen printing of a traditional maple sugaring scene. Stransky’s primary intent was making containers for his own packaging, but he also offered the containers for sale, primarily to Ontario and U.S. syrup producers. Manufacture and sale of the Stransky jugs continued until 1998 when Peter Stransky retired and closed his equipment and syrup sales business without selling or transferring the molds for his containers. Peter Stransky passed away in 2020.
Sugarhill Maple Containers – Dick Haas
Examples of Sugarhill containers in five sizes. Image Source: Brookfield Maple Products website.
Hillside Plastics got its start in 1967 as a small family-owned plastics company operating out of a horse barn in Sunderland, Massachusetts, blow molding containers for apple cider and fluid milk. As a young man in his twenties, Richard Haas began working as an employee at Hillside Plastics in 1969. In the early years, the company struggled and was not always able to cover Dick’s salary. Instead, Dick was occasionally paid in company shares, which ultimately led Dick and Janet Haas to purchase the company in the mid-1970s.
Hillside Plastics first made plastic jugs for maple syrup in 1970 when Charlie Bacon contracted with Hillside to do the blow molding of his new Bacon Jug (see Part II of this article in December 2021 issue of the Digest). When the Bacon Jug company decided to take their business elsewhere in 1980, Hillside Plastics, having learned a great deal about the plastic syrup jug business, formed Sugarhill Containers to manufacture and sell a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) maple syrup jug of its own design. According to Peter Haas, Dick’s son, demand for plastic jugs really increased in the 1980s when the large wholesale club stores on the west coast began to shift to shipping and selling syrup packed in plastic.
Haas family in early 1990s with Sugarhill containers, left to right Kate, Peter, Janet, Dick, and Greg Haas. Image Source: Peter Haas.
The company grew to a workforce of over fifty employees producing 60,000 jugs a day, necessitating a move in 1993 to a larger and new 47,000 square foot building up the road in Turners Falls. In addition to maple syrup jugs and even a plastic cabin-shaped container in 1995, Hillside Plastics expanded their catalog to manufacture blow-molded containers for a variety of other industrial, automotive, and food products; however, maple syrup jugs were always the centerpiece of their business.
Sugarhill Containers grew so popular over time that Dick Haas noted in 1997 that they were making more containers in one day than they made in an entire year in the early 1970s. The Sugarhill Containers are noted for being the leaders in developing and patenting the Extended Life (XL) exterior coating as a measure to reduce the air and moisture permeability of the plastic and better preserve the color grade of the syrup inside. Hillside has come up with other materials and design innovations, like developing a material for labels that would not wrinkle and could expand and shrink with the hot filling and cooling of plastic syrup jugs. In addition to producing Sugarhill Containers, Hillside Plastics does contract molding for other brands of maple syrup jugs, such as the Bacon Jug in the 1970s and again in the 2000s. Following the death of Dick Haas in 2010, the company continued to operate under the leadership of his wife Janet, and three children Peter Haas, Greg Haas, and Kate (Haas) Colby. The Haas family sold the business in 2015 to its current owner, Plastic Industries, Inc. and its parent company Carr Management, Inc.
T.A.P. Farm, Inc. – Chris Audley
Chris Audley seated with Bacon Jugs printed in French for Canadian market. Image Source: Maple Syrup Journal, issue 1, 1981.
Chris Audley, a Quebec syrup maker, became the Bacon Jug distributor for Canada in 1979. In 1980, at roughly the same time the Bacon Jug company made a shift in manufacturers away from Hillside Plastics to Hussey Plastics, Charlie Bacon and Chris Audley realized that importing American made jugs into Canada was too expensive. Instead, Charlie Bacon had a set of molds sent to Audley to begin manufacturing Bacon jugs in Quebec. Audley found a blow-molder near Montreal, Quebec and ensured jugs were printed in French and English as required for sale in Canada. Audley formalized his container business in 1982 when he formed company called T.A.P. Farm, Inc. with the T.A.P. name an acronym for Ton Acériculteur Provincal, meaning “your provincial sugarmaker.”
Audley’s T.A.P. Farm, Inc. unfortunately went bankrupt in 1983 when it unsuccessfully tried to launch 250 ml and 500ml foil-lined, cardboard containers for packaging maple syrup. Later that year, Audley sold the plastic jug portion of the business to Gerard Filion, a hardware store owner in St. Andrews East, Quebec who carried maple syrup making supplies and sold a good amount of Audley’s Canadian Bacon Jug.
Les Cruchons J.U.G.S. – Gerard Filion
Earliest Les Cruchons JUGS with looping handle and stepped shoulder. Image source 1983 Dominion & Grimm catalog.
In the late 1970s, Gerard Filion and his wife Lise were running St. Andrews Hardware store in St. Andrews Est, Quebec. Their store specialized in the sale of maple sugaring supplies, including the Bacon Jug supplied to Filion by Chris Audley, the Canadian distributor for Bacon Jugs. In 1983, Filion purchased Audley’s T.A.P. Farm, Inc. syrup container company and entered the plastic jug manufacturing business, calling his new company Les Cruchons J.U.G.S. Since he did not assume Audley’s Bacon Jug distributorship, one of the first things Filion did was develop his own jug design and molds.
Catalog image of Les Cruchons JUGS showing two jug designs. In the front row is the earliest variation with the stepped shoulder. In the back row is the later variation with an angled shoulder and squared handle. Image Source: 1994 Dominion & Grimm catalog.
His first jugs featured a step on the shoulder of the jug and a looping handle and were made under contract by a Montreal blow molding firm. In 1992, Filion purchased his own silk-screening machine and was doing the printing on the jugs in the back of the hardware store. Around 1994, Filion introduced a new jug design featuring a more angled shoulder and a squared loop handle. By 1996, this design replaced the stepped shoulder jugs and became the Les Cruchons jug shape that is still in use today.
Examples of the current Les Cruchons – Ampak jugs available and in wide use by syrup makers today.
The popularity of Les Cruchons syrup jugs grew fast and in 2000, Filion made the move to go into the jug manufacturing business full time and compete with the American manufacturers for a piece of the syrup jug market. That year he purchased a large warehouse production facility just across the border in nearby Hawkesbury, Ontario where corporate taxes were lower than in Quebec. He also began to do his own blow-molding of HDPE syrup jugs, as well as a variety of other food, pharmaceutical, and detergent containers. By 2005, sales had grown to include around five million syrup jugs a year produced in eleven shapes and sizes. Wishing to see the company grow, Filion made the decision in 2005 to sell Les Cruchons J.U.G.S. to Salvatore Nicastro and the AMPAK Corporation, investors from Montreal with experience in the plastics business and the necessary capital to fund the expansion. Gerard Filion and members of his family stayed on to assist the company for another 5 to 6 years. In 2014, Les Cruchons J.U.G.S., Inc. formally changed its name to Ampak Plast Inc., and continues to manufacture and distribute the Les Cruchons plastic syrup containers from their Hawkesbury facility.
As illustrated in this article, the story of the development and introduction of the jug-shaped plastic container for packaging maple syrup spanned three decades, from the 1960s to the 1980s. Although the industry continues to evolve and grow, the largest manufacturers in the modern syrup jug market can trace their origins to the 1980s and the earlier efforts, events, and individuals that paved the way for them.
This article first appeared in 2021 in three parts (Part I, Part II, Part III) in three separate issues of the Maple Syrup Digest. It has been condensed into one updated article here with the addition of a few more images, some images in color that were in black and white in the Maple Digest version, and few new details and lines of text.
Two examples of the iconic Québec maple syrup can. Photography by Amy Cavanaugh.
In Québec, it is common for maple syrup to be packaged and sold in a unique round, flat-topped metal can, similar in size and shape to a large can of soup or crushed tomatoes. In other parts of the maple syrup producing region in Canada and the United States, maple syrup is more commonly packed in plastic jugs with handles, fancy glass bottles, or rectangular metal cans of various sizes. Today, Québec cans are filled with 540 milliliters of syrup, about the same as 19 fluid ounces, a little more than the 16 oz. American pint. When these cans were first introduced in 1952, they were marked with their container or net weight of 26 oz. and when Canada converted to metric in 1980 the cans began to be labeled in liquid volume of 540 ml.
A contemporary example of the iconic Dominion & Grimm design on the Québec can. The bands of ridges around the can are known as beading and add strength and stability to the walls of a round can. Source – Amazon.com listing.
Although, plastic, glass, and rectangular cans also see limited use in Québec today, maple syrup makers and consumers in Québec have hung on tightly to the Québec round can since its introduction, almost as a sort of identity marker and a reminder of their role as world leaders in the modern maple syrup industry. In fact, one could say this can, in particular the version with the design artwork of the Dominion & Grimm Company, has become iconic in Québec. So much so, that one can find the image of the can in pop artwork, on greeting cards, coffee mugs, refrigerator magnets, body tattoos, and even as a central theme of popular Montreal street artist Whatisadam!
Yet, there is a bit of mystery surrounding the details of the origins and introduction of this can. As recounted over the last few years in a few Québec publications, the Québec can was introduced as an option for syrup makers in 1952 following a 1951 contest asking participants to design a new and attractive label for this special sized can. That such a contest was held was known to be true, but beyond that, the details of the contest were thought to be lost.[1] It was a mystery who won, what the winning design looked like, and if that design was ever put to use . . . until now. My research with the digital collections in the National Archives of Québec has brought forward a number of important documentary sources and previously unreported details related to this contest. But first, some background on the introduction of the 26 oz. Québec can.
In the 1950s, Jules Méthot, chief of the honey and maple products division at the Québec Ministry of Agriculture, wanted to take advantage of the growing shift to buying goods from grocery markets. Méthot felt that the maple syrup industry in Québec would have greater success if they packaged syrup in smaller containers than the traditional one-gallon can. Méthot argued that the gallon sized can was cost prohibitive to the average household, and packaging syrup in smaller cans that could be consumed in a shorter period of time and would better preserve the unique flavors of pure maple syrup.[2]
June 1951 announcement and invitation to submit entries to the label design contest. Source – L’Action Catholique, 14 June 1952, p 10.
Under Méthot’s leadership, a concerted effort began to promote the use of smaller cans for syrup. In 1951, the Ministry of Agriculture partnered with Les Producteurs de sucre d’erable du Québec, the influential maple syrup cooperative out of Plessisville, Québec, to sponsor a label design contest held at that summer’s annual Provincial Exposition in Québec City. It was no surprise that Méthot was working hand in hand with the cooperative. As a syrup maker himself, Méthot was involved in the formation of the cooperative from the very beginning and managed the cooperative’s Plessisville plant from 1928 to 1940.
In June 1951, announcements for the contest appeared in various newspapers calling for submissions of the most interesting designs for labels that could be attached to No. 2 and 2 ½ size metal food cans. These sized cans were round in shape and generally held about 26 oz. Moreover, the Continental Can Company and the syrup producers cooperative each contributed $50 for the cash for prizes to be awarded to the three winning entrants.[3]
September 1951 article describing the awards event and the names of the winners of the label design contest. Source – L’Action Catholique Quebec, 6 Sept 1951, p2.
My research has uncovered that over forty designs were entered in the contest, and on September 5th, 1951, the winners were announced at a reception at the Agricultural Pavilion at the Québec Expo before an audience of guests and government officials including Méthot; the Honorable Senator and Director of the syrup cooperative, Cyrille Vaillancourt; J.H. Lavoie, Director of the Horticulture Services at the Ministry of Agriculture; and Dr. Georges Maheux, Director of Information and Research Services at the Ministry of Agriculture.[4] According to news accounts of the reception, first prize was awarded to Mrs. Henri Brunelle of Batiscan, Second prize to Mr. Lionel Bégin, of Lévis, and third prize to Mr. H. Jacques, of Limoilou. Additional genealogical research suggests that Mrs. Henri Brunelle’s full name was probably Emilliana St-Cyr Brunelle.[5]
Furthermore, I was also able to locate a pair of photographs in the National Archives of Québec, taken at the 1951 Québec Exposition by noted Québec photographer Omer Beaudoin that illustrate a display of the entries of in the syrup can label contest.
First of two photos showing the left side of the case displaying the entries and winners of the label design contest at the Provincial Exposition. Photo by Omer Beaudoin – BANQ – – E6,S7,SSI,P88159Second of two photos showing the right side of the case displaying the entries and winners of the label design contest at the Provincial Exposition. Photo by Omer Beaudoin – BANQ – E6,S7,SSI,P88160
If one zooms in closely, it is possible to see that three of the entries have unique tags attached to each of them, which probably mark the three winning entries. Unfortunately, the photos available online are not clear or close enough read the names on the tags or distinguish the labels.[6]
Syrup producers’ cooperative announcement for new 26 oz. round cans that appeared as early as February 1952. Source – Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs, 1 February 1952, p 80.
Following the results of the label design competition the previous summer, in February 1952 the producers’ cooperative began announcing to maple syrup producers that a new No. 2 sized sanitary can that will hold 26 oz. of syrup was now available for purchase to package and sell their syrup. Each can was produced with a color glossy lithographed label featuring Mrs. Emiliana St-Cyr Brunelle’s winning design. When using the new cans, syrup producers only needed to indicate the grade of the syrup and their name and address, which could be completed with a special stamp and ink the cooperative was happy to provide.[7]
A newspaper article from March 1952 indicated that the new 26 oz. tins were lithographed with three colors, red, white, and green. As it turns out, a number of maple antique collectors have preserved examples of these original 26-ounce yellow, red, and green lithographed cans.[8]
Well-preserved example of the 26 oz. can introduced by the cooperative in 1952. Photos courtesy of Réjean Bilodeau.
UPDATE: Since publishing this story, my friend and Québec maple historian, Réjean Bilodeau was kind enough to share with me photographs of an example of the 1952 can from his collection of maple syrup antiques. As can be seen in the photos, the can shows the same design as in the cooperative’s newspaper announcements with the above mentioned red and green colors, along with either a white that has discolored with age, or a creamy yellow. Also, as became standard on Canadian syrup cans, one side appears in French and the other in English.
Updated section added 1 December 2021
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Early image of actual 26 oz, No. 2 size cans in use with a maple leaf motif on the label design. Source – 1952 Ministry of Agriculture Bulletin No. 169. Original photo caption – “Display of maple products along our highways”.
Another early photographic of what appears to be a 26 oz. tin can be found in a 1952 Ministry of Agriculture Bulletin (No. 169) co-authored by Jules R. Méthot and Napoleon Rompré titled, L’érable à sucre du Québec. The bulletin includes a photo of two individuals examining a display of 26 oz. syrup cans with a caption that translates to “display of our maple products along our tourist routes.” The cans in this image do appear to show a maple leaf design, but one that looks different than the maple leaf design in the cooperative’s announcements for the availability of the new cans and does not look like it features a yellow background. At present. this is a new mystery can and maybe there are examples of this can sitting on a collector’s shelf . Perhaps another design entry from the 1951 competition?[9]
Photograph of a 1957 display of Citadelle brand syrup in bottles and cans, including the 26 oz. Québec can. Source – Citadelle website.
The cooperative had been packaging its syrup for many years under the brands of Citadelle and Camp. Through the 1930s and 1940s, their syrup and maple butter was packaged in both bottles and cans of various shapes and sizes. For the most part, cooperative members delivered the majority of their syrup in bulk barrels to the cooperative to be blended, marketed, and sold under the Camp and Citadelle labels. Advertisements show that by July 1952, grocery stores in Canada began to sell Citadelle brand syrup in 26 oz. tins. According to a history presentation on the cooperative’s website, the producers’ cooperative changed its Citadelle label in 1957 to a distinctive design of a red, white, and blue shield over yellow and white vertical stripes.[10]
Example of the producers’ cooperative Citadelle brand syrup in the 26 oz. Québec can featuring a red, white, and blue shield logo over vertical yellow and white stripes. Source – Worthpoint online auction site.
However, a film dating to 1955 and produced by the cooperative and available in the BANQ archives clearly shows the yellow and white stripe motif with the red, white, and blue shield in use on rectangular metal cans and more importantly on round 26 ounce cans.
Frame shots from the Cooperative’s 1955 film titled “Sucre d’érable et coopération”. source – https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/2280556
Cooperative members were also free to engage in local and direct sales of their syrup, packed in containers of a gallon or less in size. Although the announcements for the new 26 oz. cans were placed in newspapers by the producers cooperative, these cans were not meant for exclusive use by cooperative members. In fact, Méthot and the Québec Ministry of Agriculture wanted all syrup makers, whether or not they belonged to the cooperative, to start using them to sell syrup to customers. These cans were printed without any brand names and included a space for the syrup maker to add their name and address.[11]
In the US, unbranded, lithographed cans were introduced for filling for direct sale by syrup producers by S. Allen Soule out of Fairfield, Vermont in advance of the 1948 season. In contrast to the Québec can, Soule’s cans were all rectangular in shape and initially came out in larger sizes of quart, half-gallon, and full-gallon volumes.[12]
Advertisement from 1926 for maple syrup packed in round sanitary cans by the L.L. Jenne Maple Syrup and Sugar Company out of Sutton, Québec. Source – Ottawa Citizen, 7 December 1926, p 13.
The Québec can was not the first use of a round colored lithographed metal can in sizes less than a quart for packaging maple syrup in Canada or the US. Prior to this time, a number of syrup packing companies sold both pure and blended maple syrups in round cans of various sizes under their brand names. For example, the L.L. Jenne Maple Sugar and Syrup Company, LTD., out of Sutton, Québec sold syrup in 2 ½ and 5 pound round sanitary cans as early as the 1920s.[13] The cooperative itself sold tall round cans with a screw top under the Camp brand in the 1930s and 1940s. However, the Québec can in interest here was Québec’s first unbranded and generic lithographed can for individual syrup makers to pack their syrup for direct or local sale.[14]
Advertising cover from 1932 booklet published by the producers’ cooperative showing Camp and Citadelle branded maple syrup containers, including tall round cans with a pour spout and the Camp label.
It should also be pointed out that these No. 2 cans holding 26 oz. did not replace the one-gallon metal cans, they merely added a new sized and shaped container that made it easier for producers to get their syrup on the grocery store shelf, and easier and more attractive to those purchasing syrup. In fact, the larger sized cans in sizes of 5 liters or less, have never gone away as an option for Québec syrup makers to fill and for consumers to buy. Unlike the larger sized tall rectangular cans that had a screw-on cap and a pour spout, packaging syrup in these round sanitary cans required syrup makers to close and seal the can by attaching a lid over the entire top portion of the can. This form of closure required syrup makers to invest in a specialized can sealer, either hand powered or the more expensive power-operated can sealer.
Dominion & Grimm, Inc., advertisement from 1955 announcing the introduction of a new gallon sized lithographed can for packing maple syrup. Source – Le Bulletin des Agriculteurs, 1 December 1955, p58.
Although it was the cooperative, with the nudge from Méthot at the Ministry of Agriculture, that led the way in promoting and making possible the introduction of the 26 oz. tin, by no means was the producer’s cooperative the only source in Québec for 26 oz., No. 2 cans for packing syrup. The most iconic design to appear on these sized tins was introduced in 1955 by the Dominion & Grimm (D & G) maple syrup equipment company.[15]
Excerpt from the 1961 Dominion & Grimm maple syrup equipment and supplies catalog showing both rectangular cans and the round 26 oz. Québec can with the iconic D & G design.
Their design features a square red banner with the words “Pure Maple Syrup” above a sugarbush scene with a sugar house painted red. Dominion & Grimm first introduced this four-color lithographed design on tall rectangular -shaped one-gallon tins in 1955, but a few years later were offering the design on rectangular gallon, half-gallon, quart cans, and the infamous 26 oz. round cans. The earliest dated example I have found so far of the D & G round can is from their 1961 catalog. D & G’s beloved design continues to be in use after over sixty years.[16]
It is interesting that Dominion & Grimm did not appear to get on the band wagon for a 26 oz. sanitary can for maple syrup in Québec sooner than sometime after 1955, considering that the Dominion Company (before it combined with Grimm Mfg. LTD in 1953) had been selling canning and sterilizing equipment for years and was selling sanitary cans, for packaging honey, including the No. 2 size can, as early as 1953. [17]
Excerpt from 1981 advertisement for sale of Peter Stransky’s maple syrup cans. Note the Québec style can in the lower left. Source – 1981 Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association Annual tour booklet.
For the greater part of the 1960s and 1970s, the only Québec cans available were manufactured by D & G. In the 1980s, a few Ontario based can makers and equipment dealers, such as Peter Stransky and Robson-Smith Sugar Bush Supplies introduced their own 540 ml round cans presumably for the Québec market, although those particular Québec cans did not appear for very long in their advertisements.
Although the producers’ cooperative led the way with introducing the size and shape of the Québec can, the D & G design became the iconic and most recognized design. But who is to be credited with that design!? One Québec historian described the D & G can as one of the most celebrated commercial designs in Québec history![18] In essence there were two mysteries of the Québec can, first who submitted the winning designs in the contest to introduce the Québec can and how were they used, which I have solved. The second, the question of the artist behind the most famous and lasting D & G image on the Québec can, still eludes us.
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UPDATE: Since posting the original article further research uncovered additional information about who may be credited with the design of the Dominion & Grimm can. See my post from February 11, 2022 for more details.
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With a little deeper digging and maple history detective work, I was able to learn a bit more about the story of the design contest that jump started these cans. With this knowledge, we are permitted to re-congratulate the winners, Emilianna Brunelle, Lionel Bégin, and H. Jacques and acknowledge the role they had in the origins of the famous maple syrup can Québec.
Updates – 1 December 2021 and 11 February 2022 and 23 September 2023
Acknowledgements: Special thanks to Québec maple historian, Pierre Rheaume, for sharing information related to this story and also to Ontario maple industry expert Bev Campbell for sharing information and images of containers from Ontario. Additional thanks to Réjean Bilodeau for allowing me to share photographs of a preserved example of the cooperative’s original can from 1952 and thanks to Maxime Caouette for calling to my attention the 1955 film by the Citadelle cooperative.
I am happy to share a recent article I wrote on the origins and unique history of the use of a round metal can for packing maple syrup in the province of Québec. Unlike the United States and most other Canadian provinces, where syrup was packed in rectangular shaped metal cans for many years, in Québec the use of a round can was introduced in the 1950s and has continued to be used ever since, eventually becoming an iconic cultural symbol identifed with Québec.
Chris Audley, a Quebec syrup maker, became the Bacon Jug distributor for Canada in 1979. In 1980, at roughly the same time the Bacon Jug company made a shift in manufacturers away from Hillside Plastics to Hussey Plastics, Charlie Bacon and Chris Audley realized that importing American made jugs into Canada was too expensive. Instead, Charlie Bacon had a set of molds sent to Audley to begin manufacturing Bacon jugs in Quebec. Audley found a blow-molder near Montreal, Quebec and ensured jugs were printed in French and English as required for sale in Canada. Audley formalized his container business in 1982 when he formed company called T.A.P. Farm, Inc. with the T.A.P. name an acronym for Ton Acériculteur Provincal, meaning “your provincial sugarmaker.”
