Big changes came to the bottling industry when Michigan officially went dry in May 1918 and the nation followed in January 2020. When Matt Hirvonen bought the Marquette Bottling Works from Frank Frei in April 1919, the Mining Journal article about the sale described the company as “one of the oldest business concerns in the city.”  It was an auspicious time to be in the soft drink busin

Matti Matinpoika Hirvonen was born in Finland in 1885. In 1907 he and his parents came to the U.P., originally settling in Ishpeming. By 1913 he was living in Gwinn and was a partner in the Gwinn Bottling Works, located in the basement of a clothing store. The Marquette Regional History Center has a photo in the museum’s main gallery that shows Hirvonen driving a horse-drawn delivery wagon for the G

The relationship between Temperance and soda sales is not as clear as it might appear at first.  Coca Cola was marketed as “The Great Temperance Beverage,” as early as 1886. Temperance leaders believed that the “fizz” of soda could substitute for the “burn” of hard liquor. And, indeed, in the first six months of Prohibition, soda sales nationwide doubled and continued to increase steadily until the Great Depression. 

But although there is no question that some people switched to soda from alcoholic beverages, it is also true that soda conveniently helped cover the bitter taste of high-proof bootleg liquor. In a four-year period, for example, sales of Canada Dry Ginger Ale went from 1.7 million bottles in 1922 to 50 million in 1926. It was estimated at the time that three fourths of those 50 million bottles were used to mix with alcohol. 

The recently discovered Kawbawgam bottle is pictured. (Photos courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center)

There were, however, soft drink makers who were skeptical that Prohibition alone could make them successful. One of these was C.J. Howel of the Orange Crush Company. In a September 1920 article in The American Bottler magazine, he declared “It is a mistake to think that a man in the habit of consuming hard drinks would turn to soft drinks as a substitute. That is exactly what he will not do…The very thought of a soft drink annoys him. In his present state of mind, he looks upon a soft drink the way a regular he-boy regards white stockings.”

Instead, Howel declared, bottlers must double down on advertising. The Orange Crush company led the way, with a $1.25 million advertising campaign readied in advance for the 1920 “soft drink season.” The campaign included showing the planned ads to bottlers to encourage them to order more concentrated syrup, establishing a magazine called The Orange Crush Bottler to keep bottlers informed and engaged, preparing mirror and window signs for soda fountains, and, most importantly, buying hundreds of thousands of dollars of advertising in local newspapers, each of which would include the name of the local bottler. 

Matt Hirvonen and the Marquette Bottling Works were enthusiastic partners with Orange Crush in this advertising campaign. The first ad in the Mining Journal came on Wednesday, May 5, 1920.

Taking up a full quarter of the second page of the paper, it showed a golfer with his clubs over his shoulder and a bottle of Orange Crush in his hand. “Like oranges? Drink Orange Crush.” “There are few golf clubs at which Orange Crush and Lemon Crush are not the favorites at the 19th hole.” And then, “Bottled in Marquette by Marquette Bottling Works, Matt Hirvonen, prop. 117 N. Third St. Telephone 72.” 

There were ads every week for the rest of the month and then more through the summer and for decades afterwards. They featured not only golfers, but young baseball players, horseback riders, and attractive young women.

By 1930, the front of the Marquette Bottling Works plant on Third Street had a picture of a bottle of Orange Crush painted on the bricks above the company name. At some point, the bottling works also had a basketball team named the Orange Crush, with shirts, shorts, and jackets embroidered with the name, and, in the case of the jacket, an image of “Crushy,” a figure who looks somewhat like a present-day emoji. 

Hirvonen also did his own advertising, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas, when families were encouraged to order a case to have drinks available for guests. He also attempted to combat the ubiquitous advertising of Canada Dry Ginger Ale, by developing, bottling, and trademarking his own “Marquette Pale Dry Ginger Ale.” In addition, he bottled and distributed root beer, “iron beer” (a Cuban soft drink that is said to taste like a fruity Dr. Pepper), and Old Colony brand beverages. He was the local distributor for the “Mt. Cabin” soft drinks produced by the Leinenkugel Brewing Company. After Prohibition ended, he distributed Grain Belt Beer as well. 

But Hirvonen did not rely on advertising alone. He also made repeated investments to upgrade his plant and equipment.  In August 1921 he bought his second Dodge delivery vehicle, a one-and-a-half-ton truck. In 1924 he installed a new carbonator and a new bottle washing machine that made it possible for him to bottle up to 450 cases per day.

At the same time, he was building a new garage, adding a new syrup room, and installing a new heating system. In 1927 he installed a new water filtering system and noted that he now had three delivery trucks and a new filling and capping machine. He was elected president of the Cloverland Bottlers Association, a trade group of 42 U.P. bottling companies, in 1921 — just two years after he acquired Marquette Bottling Works. 

In 1933, Michigan became the first state to ratify the 21st amendment repealing Prohibition. By that time Marquette Bottling Works had outlasted most other soda bottlers. The company continued in the family long after Matt Hirvonen’s death in July 1943. 

And that Kawbagam bottle?  We know there were at least three bottles from Marquette Bottling Works labeled “The King of All Beverages” with Kawbawgam’s name and portrait, but that’s all we know.

Perhaps they were used for his own Marquette brand beverages? Perhaps they were used for sale at the Klub Kawbawgam, a dance hall that existed for a few years in the early 1930s?  We do not know.