hard to find lightly cleaned c.1858 dark amber ale bottle manufactured for michael keeley. the large body has steep shoulders and a wide neck sloping to the tapered collar and single ring finish that is intact except for a single chip at the ring. the front body is embossed at the shoulder with bottler's name arching over the location, "m. keeley. / chicago. / ill". the base is smooth with seams evidencing manufacture with a keyed hinge mold. crudities are typical of the age and date of manufacture, including seeding, whittling, and surface wear or discoloration or irridization. michael keeley moved out of his cellar ale & porter depot at 43 s. water street and relocated his ale bottling operation to 60 w. lake in 1858. the following year, he established a soda water bottling operation at 291 s. canal. the 1860 industrial census for chicago lists michael keeley as a soda and ale manufacturer with an annual production of 3,000 barrels (since the soda would have been bottled, it is unclear how this was figured into the estimate). keeley bottled at both locations until 1867, when he consolidated his bottling operations into a series of structures at 289-295 s. canal and ceased ale bottling activities to focus on soda water. from 1862-1864 he also served as cook county treasurer. there are no keeley-embossed chicago bottles that date after the time of the chicago fire. all of the embossed ale, porter and cider bottles listed were manufactured and used between 1858 (after the keely & brother operation closed) and 1867 (when keeley stopped bottling ale and focused on soda).