April 1, 1911 – The Mendocino Beacon reported that John Bowman and Frank Pacheco had begun manufacturing soda at the recently reopened Mendocino Bottling Works plant on Evergreen Street. This building was located on the now empty lot just south of Cafe Beaujolais. A soda factory had operated intermittently at this location since 1882, and John’s father, George H. Bowman, had managed the Mendocino Bottling Works company here from 1894 until his death in 1908.
East Side of Mendocino at Pine Street, 1929 – 1937. A postcard showing an elevated view of the east side of the town of Mendocino looking south across the bay toward Chapman’s (Kent’s) Point. The photograph was taken at a spot that was later re-graded for the realignment of Highway 1. The roadway in the foreground running left to right is Pine Street. The large two-story, hip-roofed house with the single dormer is the H. H. Brown house, demolished in 1965. To its right is the Susie Walbridge House with two visible attic dormers, built by the Browns for their daughter Berniece and her husband, D. R. Davis. Next to that is the Packard-Gibbs House on the corner of Evergreen Street. Right of that is the house known as the Packard-Johnson House, on the property where J. D. Johnson’s spring was located. Near the center of the image, the barn-like structure to the left and in front of the Presbyterian Church with a water tower standing in front of it is the Mendocino Bottling Works on Evergreen Street, now gone.
John and Frank also posted a notice to the public in the same issue of the paper. “A report is being circulated by certain unscrupulous persons that the water we use in the manufacture of our carbonated beverages is impure and the drinking of the beverages will produce ill effects. We wish to inform the public that the water we use in the making of our soft drinks comes from Mr. J. D. Johnson’s famous spring, located about two hundred yards north of our bottling plant. Mr. Johnson recently sent a sample of this spring water to one of the leading chemists in San Francisco to be analyzed. After a very careful analysis of this water the chemist pronounced it one of the purest spring waters in the State.” This spring was located on the property at the southwest corner of Evergreen and Pine Streets.
The notice also stated that all of the extracts, flavors, colors, and chemicals they used were guaranteed under the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. “We guarantee all our drinks to be absolutely pure and to conform with both the National and State Pure Food Laws, also that the drinking of our beverages will have no ill effect upon any one. The Public is cordially invited to inspect our bottling works.”
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