Hurricane Irene has come and gone, leaving a fair bit of cleanup in its wake. Some people went out to find their cars had been destroyed by trees, others simply had to sweep up a few extra leaves that had been blown around. Jeremy Kenney and Megan Smith were among the latter group, and were cleaning up their yard when they moved a brick – and discovered a piece of Hill history: A bottle from the Standard Bottling Works, at 7th and G NE.
Intrigued, they contacted a Hill is Home writer, who passed on their find to me. Leo A. Finn was born in DC in 1879. He grew up with his parents, Mary and William Finn, on Lincoln Avenue (today Lincoln Rd) a few blocks north of Florida Avenue. Finn, who had graduated from the Business High School, learned the respectable trade of accountant. In his early 20s, he became the accountant for a brewer, the Abner Drury Brewing company, a respected Foggy Bottom brewing company that had been founded in 1898.
Finn married Katharine M Border in 1907, and they went off to Atlantic City for their honeymoon. Their son, also named Leo A, was born in 1908. Back in DC, Finn ran the Northwestern Bottling Company, but wanted more – even becoming the secretary-treasurer of the Soda Water Bottler’s Protective Association wasn’t enough.
Instead, he arranged to buy a long-standing bottling plant on the corner of 7th and G Streets NE. This plant – which was on G Street, halfway down the block, had been built by John D O’Meara, along with the house directly on the corner. It was an excellent setup: Home was on the corner, his business was in his back yard. And the Taylor School was right next door, though that probably had little influence on the business one way or another.
The Standard Bottling Works today. Only the large doors on the alley - now bricked shut - and the small windows on the left attest to its old industrial use (Tim Krepp)
As a new business-owner, Finn felt obligated to make as big a splash as possible. He had new bottles made, bottles that not only named the new business: Standard Bottling Works, but also had his name and address prominently marked on them. Shortly after this, he also registered the trademark “Gridiron Club” for beverages. On January 25, 1914, he proudly ran an advertisement in the Washington Herald proclaiming the value of his “Red Apple” cider. This ad ran repeatedly over the next year. At the same time, he began running ads for Gridiron Club Ginger Ale, which he insisted was the best available. In short, it appeared that he was on to a good thing, with a bright career ahead of him.
Finn’s happiness would change the next year, when his wife died on August. In spite of this setback, he soldiered on, even going as far as to buy a new truck late the next year. However, the ads that he has been running assiduously in the local papers dry up shortly thereafter, and though he continued to be associated with the Gridiron Club brand, he seems to have pulled back from the business, referring to himself as a merchant in confectionary in the 1920 census.
It was also in 1920 that he had a further tragedy, when he ran over a child on D Street NE. The child suffered a broken leg and was taken to Providence Hospital. Although Finn does not seem to have been charged with any crime in conjunction with this incident, he seems to have disappeared from public life thereafter, and, in fact, may well have left DC then.
In any case, a sad and quiet end to what had all the appearances of a bright career at one point.