# Christy & Huggins Ice Co. Murfreesboro TN



## CreekWalker (Sep 17, 2018)

I dug a bottle this weekend, and after a web search, found more about the bottler than the bottle. I just placed the bottle in a vat of white cleaning vinegar, to see if it dissolves the rust streak in a couple days.


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## CreekWalker (Sep 17, 2018)

Here's the history of the company , they started in 1902, after Christy and Huggins bought out the coal company in Murfreesboros Tennessee and decided to sell coal and ice to the public. Makes sense right?  But something peaked their interest in bottling, so they joined the bottlers association, and paid for a subscription to the trade magazine. They were on their way.


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## CreekWalker (Sep 17, 2018)

Well, they struck gold in 1908 and purchased a Coca-Cola franchise. Thanks Rutherford Co. history excellent web site.


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## CreekWalker (Sep 17, 2018)

In the early 1920's , after unloading a bunch of 1910 amber coke and obsolete 1915 bottles, they parked their wagon and bought a truck!


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## CreekWalker (Sep 17, 2018)

They realized , they needed a bigger and better business. So they built one. Notice also, they still had the wagon parked.


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## CreekWalker (Sep 17, 2018)

When Christy & Huggins, and company wasn't selling , coal , ice and sodas, they became prominent citizens in Murfreeboro. William T. Christy served several terms as a city alderman in the mid-1800s. S.B. Christy was a founder of both the First Methodist and St. Mark's United Methodist Churches in Murfreesboro. Addie Collins Christy was instrumental in establishing the first Catholic congregation in Rutherford County. Jonathan and C.B. Huggins served as city aldermen during the 19th century, and W.S. Huggins was a founding trustee of Soule College in Murfreesboro. So the partners stopped selling block ice in 1962, because nearly every one had a refrigerator by that time. So to recap all of this:   [FONT=&quot]_The Christy & Huggins Ice Plant was located on Maney and S.E. Broad Street on the present day site of the Children‘s Discovery Center, near Murfree Spring.In 1902 Mr. Simeon B. Christy, Sr. and Mr. Jesse W. Huggins purchased the Read & Perry Coal Co. and started operations of an ice plant, as well as selling coal. The construction of the ice plant building was of solid 16-inch thick brick. The bottling works, which later became Coca Cola Bottling Co., began in the same building about 1908. The front of the building was remodeled in 1932, doing away with any remaining wooden structures. The Coca Cola Bottling Co. was closed in the late 1985 and the Discovery Center was built on the site. On August 3, 2002, the Children’s Museum Corporation of Rutherford County opened the 18,000-square-foot Discovery Center Museum at this location. Since then, the adjoining 20-acre Murfree Spring Wetlands area has been opened for public use._[/FONT]​


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## CreekWalker (Sep 17, 2018)

Great stuff, all this info. Now about this bottle, it's light aqua , 10 and half inches tall, and looks like a beer bottle. So I come to the question, I think is important to ask. Did they bottle beer? thanks.


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## CreekWalker (Sep 17, 2018)

One last piece of information, the heel is embossed: NBBG Co. , which is North Baltimore Bottle Glass Co. North Baltimore , OHIO , circa. 1885-1930. This is the only bottle I've dug with this maker, as almost all dug in this era, and in this area is ROOT Glass Co. , Ball of Muncie, Ind. or Chattanooga Bottle and Glass Co.


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## Canadacan (Sep 17, 2018)

Wow great post!...congrats on your find! Definitely different that its a beer bottle style. I have a bottle in the beer style that had lemon drink concentrate, it was Malkin's Best...but a newer bottle from the 40's-50's.
I also have my eye on a 1910's soda brand, bottle is beer style with paper label and blue toned glass, so I guess some companies used that style.
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## CreekWalker (Sep 18, 2018)

Thanks,  I considered  the possibility that, the bottle may have been used for a flavored drink. Also that glassmaker was from 1930 back , so there was other type of bottling going on, during prohibition. Really a mystery, the bottle  must have been very short-lived. I did not find it on my bottle list from Tennessee. It was found 150 miles from its origins.


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