Union Bottling Works, El Paso — Three Rivers Glass Customer (Bill Lockhart, Bottles on the Border)

• Source URL: https://secure-sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/EPChap9a.pdf
• Ingested: 2026-07-26
• Note: This is a focused excerpt. The full chapter (“Bottles on the Border: The History and Bottles of the Soft Drink Industry in El Paso, Texas, 1881-2000,” © Bill Lockhart 2010, Revised Edition, Chapter 9a, “Francisco Dominguez & Co. And the Union Bottling Works”) covers the bottler’s complete history and all its bottles; only the Three Rivers Glass-relevant passages and enough bottler context to stand alone are extracted here.

Bottler context: Union Bottling Works (1916-1935)

Francisco B. Dominguez entered the soda bottling business as Francisco Dominguez & Co. ca. 1915, at 409 S. Virginia St., El Paso. Per Lockhart:

As noted above, Francisco B. Dominguez had renamed his business as the Union Bottling Works in 1916. The plant remained at the 409 S. Virginia St. location, and Dominguez sold it to Joe Salcido in 1918. Gus Nicholson purchased the business from Salcido the following year.

Constantino P. “Gus” Nicholson (born in Greece about 1870; family name originally Nicolopolos) took John Beys as a partner in 1921. In 1925 Beys bought out Nicholson’s share (Nicholson left to found the Nicholson Bottling Works — see Chapter 9b). The Beys brothers operated Union Bottling Works as a subsidiary of Beys Brothers & Co. until its dissolution in 1935:

Beys continued to operate the Union Bottling Works until its dissolution (along with the U & I Café) in 1935 (probably due to the Great Depression).

Bottle 1: 6.5-oz paneled bottle, base-marked “(star) 3 RIVERS (star)” (ca. 1925-ca. 1930)

Machine-made, colorless, 19.4 cm (h) x 5.9 cm (d), crown finish, 6.5 oz. Design: “Cylindrical at heel, shoulder, and neck but divided into four vertical panels at the body and just above shoulder. The body and neck panels were further subdivided to form a total of eight vertical panels extending around the body.”

Body: Panels were embossed, PROPERTY OF / UNION / BOTTLING WORKS / 409 SO. VIRGINIA ST. / EL PASO / TEXAS / CONTENTS / 6½ FL. OZS. […] Heel: Bare Base: Embossed - (star) 3 RIVERS (star)

Manufacturer: Three Rivers Glass Company (1925-1937) Dating: [ca. 1925-ca. 1930] Although the container made by Three Rivers could not have been manufactured prior to 1925, bottles of this style may have only been used during the 1919-1925 period when Nicholson owned Union Bottling Works. Texas Bottling Works used similar containers (with no manufacturer’s mark) from 1924-1934 (see the section on El Paso’s small bottlers). Collection(s): Mike Morrison Collection; Richard Chavez collection; author’s collection.

A slight variation of this bottle has no manufacturer’s mark; its heel is embossed “1148 28, almost certainly a model code and date code for 1928.”

Bottle 2: 7-oz eight-rib “checkerboard” bottle, heel-marked “(star) 3 RIVERS (star)” (1930s)

At some point, probably ca. 1930, Beys replaced the short bottle with a taller, thinner one. Machine-made, colorless, 23.5 cm (h) x 5.8 cm (d), crown finish, 7 oz.

Overall Bottle Design: Cylindrical with eight embossed vertical ribs extending from heel to neck, creating eight panels that were embossed with evenly-spaced stippling to form a minute checkerboard effect Front Description Body: A countersunk horizontal rectangle on the body front was embossed, UNION / BTG. WORKS Heel: Embossed - (star) 3 RIVERS (star) Back Description Body: No labeling Base: Embossed - EL PASO / 7 OZ. / TEXAS Manufacturer: Three Rivers Glass Company (1925-1937) Dating: [1930s] Bottles of this type were almost certainly used later than the shorter bottles. First use may have begun as early as 1929. This style may only have been ordered once. In 20 years of collecting and researching El Paso bottles, I have only seen a single example.

The Paris, Texas Dr. Pepper connection (Smith 1989:50)

An almost identical bottle was also made by the Three Rivers Glass Co. for the Dr. Pepper Bottling Co. at Paris, Texas (Smith 1989:50). The photo appears to show this bottle without the countersunk label. The countersunk label on the Union bottle is somewhat unique, and Three Rivers probably only offered it for a short period. Although the recessed labeling area formed an unusual and eye-catching bottle, the squared section protruding inside the container was almost certainly a dirt catcher and created a virtually impossible cleaning condition. Beys was probably happy when the supply was exhausted, and he could return to the use of more normal bottles.

A later 7-oz variation (diagonal parallelogram label, not countersunk) was made by Owens-Illinois Glass Co.; that individual bottle was manufactured in 1932 and was probably Union’s last bottle order.