chicago residential backyard privy pit yields several 19th century "blob top" glass soda bottles

a very deep, brick-lined backyard privy pit was discovered on another job site yesterday where the house on the lot was constructed in the late 1880's according to city records. as of late, the brick-lined holes we have come across where originally used as privy pits, but with the introduction of indoor plumbing (where installation varied widely), the deep holes were thoroughly cleaned of debris in preparation for use as cisterns or water wells with multiple glazed terra cotta pipes draining into them at various levels.

this particular privy pit was simply filled with trash and "capped" off sometime after the turn of the century. the usual abundance of fragmented chinaware and/or glazed earthenware, along with a few smoking pipes, animal bones and heavily corroded axe heads and the like, were removed and documented. the more unusual facet of this discovery and unearthing of objects from the past were the sheer number, variety and intactness of "blob top" soda and mineral water bottles found from top to bottom (the greatest concentration was towards the very bottom). the aqua green and blue embossed bottles were all chicago-based, employing hutchinson's internal metal wire stopper.

very few of the intact bottles escaped heavy discoloration and surface wear, but no major chips, cracks or broken tops were found in/on the bottles shown below. once we hit bottom, consisting of a thick wood floor, we filled the hole and will return when demolition of the house begins next week.