rare c. early 1850's deep cobalt blue soda bottle manufactured for chicago bottler william h. hutchinson. the low, tapering shoulders and long narrow neck are finished with an applied tapered blobtop collar that exhibits heavy whittling and slop. embossed on the front body with minimal casewear is "hutchinson & co / celebrated / mineral water / chicago". the asymmetrical off-round base has a deep kickup with some residue from the iron pontil. crudities are typical of the age and date of manufacture including allover seeding and bubbles, notable asymmetry and whittling. henry hutchinson moved to chicago in 1840 and in 1848 opened a small chicago bottling plant in a dwelling on west randolph, between clinton and jefferson streets. “hutchinson & company’s” first bottled products included spruce and lemon beers, cider, soda, and mineral water. oak barrels full of fresh water for carbonating were hauled by wagon from lake michigan. sodas and mineral waters were bottled in cobalt blue, long-neck, blob top, iron-pontiled bottles embossed “hutchinson & co”. these bottles are believed to have been blown by william mccully & company of pittsburgh, pennsylvania. in 1851 operations were moved to the corner of randolph and peoria streets (8 & 10 north peoria street). in the chicago city directories for 1852 through 1854, the focus of the hutchinson bottling business changed. the company likely operated only seasonally, and it is not listed in 1853. but in both 1852 and 1854, william is the junior partner in a "mineral water manufacturing" business that was headed in 1852 by andrew j. hutchinson and in 1854 by horace hopkins. at the time of the 1854 partnership, hopkins was proprietor of the bull's head hotel in chicago, and as an innkeeper he may have had an interest in developing the local mineral water trade. the hutchinson & company name was changed to “w. h. hutchinson & company” in 1855 and their new cobalt blue soda bottles were embossed w.h.h. / chicago. these newer bottles were similar to the earlier examples, but have smooth bases. some of them have “wm. mcc & co.” maker’s marks on the back heel, confirming their manufacture by mccully. the hutchinson family bottling works was in business with different partnerships and focuses until the 1880's, when they ceased beverage bottling and began manufacturing bottlers' equipment and supplies to the industry.