Millyard Museum opens new exhibit on Manchester bottling

“All Bottled Up!  The History of Bottling in Manchester” will run through August 17, 2025. Visit manchesterhistoric.org or call 603-622-7531 for more details.

MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Historic Association (MHA) on April 16 opened a new exhibition: “All Bottled Up!  The History of Bottling in Manchester” at the Millyard Museum as part of the organization’s 129^th Annual Meeting.

Bottling was a prominent industry in Manchester for many years.  In the early twentieth century, wines, liquors, and beers were bottled and sold at dozens of businesses in the Queen City, including Quirin Brothers, P. Harrington Sons, and N. J. Pichette.  Many of these businesses came to an abrupt end in 1920 with the start of prohibition.  Others were able to shift and begin producing carbonated soft-drinks instead.

By the 1940s, larger companies like Lafayette Beverages and Silver Brothers/Cott Beverages operated bottling plants in the city, bottling millions of cases of soda a year.  The dairy business was also prominent in the early to mid-twentieth century, with several dairies operating in Manchester, delivering milk and cream to the city’s residents.

“All the objects on display in this exhibit are reusable or disposable containers for liquor, soda, milk, medicine, or other liquids: what many would have considered trash.” said MHA Executive Director Jeff Barraclough.  “And yet they have survived, telling us something about how people lived in years past, and about this important but often overlooked Manchester industry.”

With over 200 glass bottles from Manchester on display, representing over fifty different bottling businesses, this exhibit looks at the history of the many liquor, soda, dairy, and other bottling businesses in the city over the years.  The exhibit also includes an original board game, “Manchester Milk Man Madness!” that can be played in the Marylou Lazos Kids Corner at the museum.

Founded in 1896, the Manchester Historic Association is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization with the mission to collect, preserve and share the history of Manchester, New Hampshire. The Association operates the Millyard Museum and the Manchester Research Center, both of which are open to the general public.  The Association presents a variety of public programs including lectures, walking tours and concerts, and also school programs for students from kindergarten through college.  Call (603) 622-7531 for more information, or visit www.manchesterhistoric.org.