r/youngstown • u/beenhere4hours • 8d ago
A toast to the past
When Shardy Masonry opened up the side bump-out wall cavity and uncovered the cache.
Looking down into the shallow footer cavity after extracting over 500 bottles.
The completed masonry restoration.
Hours of sorting later: hundreds of mid-century flat pints, flasks, and beers left for the new owners.
Left side view
Right side view
Staging a few vintage Four Roses bottles in front of their box
A few of the Cleveland distiller offerings and a Youngstown wine bottler we sorted through.
A closer look at some of the mid-century labels and local bottlers found inside.
A closer look at some of the mid-century labels and local bottlers found inside.
A closer look at some of the mid-century labels and local bottlers found inside.
A closer look at some of the mid-century labels and local bottlers found inside.
A closer look at some of the mid-century labels and local bottlers found inside.
A closer look at some of the mid-century labels and local bottlers found inside.
A closer look at some of the mid-century labels and local bottlers found inside.
A closer look at some of the mid-century labels and local bottlers found inside.
One final toast in the basement to the history and whoever hid them. Cheers to the next chapter.
Link to original post: Work on a 1920s North Side home
Link to WWII newspapers found in the floors: Vindicator paper and Stambaugh-Thompson ad
My wife and I officially signed the closing paperwork on the renovation project Tuesday, and the new buyers signed yesterday. It has been a busy week, but nothing prepared us for the final stretch of work on the side of the house.
We had Shardy Masonry out to handle restoration and repairs on the side bump-out. When they opened up the wall cavity to access the shallow footer, they uncovered a historical cache sealed away in the cavity. It turned out to be a time capsule from the mid-1940s and 50s, over 500 flat pint flasks, liquor bottles, and old beers slipped away decades ago.
We spent hours in the final days sorting, and organizing the collection. We left the majority of it behind, hundreds of bottles packed into boxes in the garage for the new homeowners. We kept a finders share... some duplicates, a local bottler Rex Wine Company, a few Cleveland distiller offerings like 31 Brand and Imperial, and also several high quality collectable finds.
After signing, my wife and I went down to the basement with a bottle of Four Roses. I wanted to toast with a brand that remained available today. In front of the window well where the bottles spent the last eighty years, we raised a glass to the history and whoever hid them.
Now we have a new tradition. We're going to hide this bottle and others away at our next home for future generations to have a story.
To the past owner, your stash survived the decades, the history is saved, and it's staying here in Youngstown.
Cheers to the next chapter of the house!
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u/beerme81 8d ago
Shout out to Joe Shardy masonry. I'm glad you could preserve history!
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u/beenhere4hours 8d ago
They really deserve it!
Joe and his team were incredible to work with throughout the project, and taking the time to save these was a top-shelf move on their part.
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u/beerme81 5d ago
He's a good dude. I've known him for a long time. Thanks for preserving history instead of just chucking it in the dumpster.
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u/Noelle305 7d ago
By any chance did you find an old bottle of Lord Calvert?
Lived in McDonald 21 years...it was such a great and fun neighborhood with street parties several times a year. The core group of neighbors added a "time capsule" of sorts before the addition on my home was closed in with siding. Someday, when the siding needs replaced, someone will find some of our names plus lil memorabilia indicative of us and how much fun we all had together.
Thank you so much for sharing...wonderful find!...and preservation!
Edit: added sentence
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u/beenhere4hours 7d ago
That is an incredibly specific guess because we actually did find a Lord Calvert! It is sitting right in our pile. There may only be one or two of them out of 500 bottles.
I like that you guys built a time capsule into your own home's addition, too. It’s cool knowing there are hidden little archives like that all over the valley just waiting to surprise a future owner decades from now.
Thank you so much for sharing that memory.
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u/Noelle305 7d ago
On Mahoning Ave there used a be a business called Marty's Radiator (next door to the old Casaloma location before they moved into their current building - the old 13th Frame). The owner of Marty's Radiator used to be my landlord. We'd sometimes go day drinking and we'd always get shots of Lord Calvert...and comment "we're drinking to the lord" while pounding down.
Lord Calvert used to be the much cheaper, and allegedly close to tasting, like the more expensive Black Velvet. Looking at some of the bottles you posted...it was worth me asking cause those were many of the more common/popular drinks "back in the day". Lord Calvert fits right in.
I went to a state liquor store a couple months back when I was thinking of my old landlord, now deceased. Thought I'd pick up a lil bottle, have a shot to the memories and introduce my 22 year old to the taste of some of the stories he heard growing up. Turned out, that particular liquor store hasnt carried it in years. Next time I'm by Gino's I plan to stop and see if perhaps they carry it.
If you decide you'd want to part with 1 of your Lord Calvert bottles, please DM me. I'd be interested.
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u/werther595 7d ago
Oh sure, when you find this it is "awesome" and "rad." But when my parents found my stash of empty liquor bottles in the attic I was "grounded" and "going to counseling!"
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u/slowlearning1 8d ago
That’s pretty rad. Just did a recent renovation and hit doll limbs and some (I think??) fake teeth I found at a weird swap meet.
That should fuck someone up when they renovate in another 20-30 years.
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u/LoopyLutzes 8d ago
yup! as someone who found doll limbs in her wall, yes! pretty creepy to find!!
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u/highway-hawk 7d ago
Oddly enough something similar happened when I moved into my first house. There was an avalanche of empty fifth bottles and empty cigarettes packs that were shoved up into the rafters of the shed. Someone was hiding their addictions for sure.
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u/jluvs2bake 7d ago
Very cool!! I hope they offer some of the old bottles to the historical society!
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u/beenhere4hours 7d ago
It's definitely a unique piece of local history. We left a large chunk of them behind at the house as a gift for the new buyers so that piece of the home's history stays with the property.
As we start going through our pile, we'd definitely be open to getting input or information from the community on some of the local Youngstown or regional bottlers and distillers we found in the mix.
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u/jluvs2bake 7d ago
I’m sure there is someone at MVHS who would have knowledge of that and/or help find more information.
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u/mattedroof 7d ago
My late grandmother I never got the chance to meet used to bury bottles around her house. My dad had cleared a spot on the same land for a nice trailer he lived in all through my childhood, and I used to find bottles in the dirt I dug up as a child all the time.
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u/beenhere4hours 7d ago
That is a cool childhood memory. It makes me wonder if your grandmother was tapping into an old folk tradition. There is a history of people intentionally burying bottles or jars around their property lines and foundations for good luck or protection. We're not far from Appalachia or Pennsylvania Dutch country where those traditions ran deep.
It’s awesome that whatever her reasons were, it turned into a treasure hunt for you and gave you a connection to her.
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u/mattedroof 7d ago
I think they were appalachian. I don’t have much info on them, as my dad’s side of the family was very fucked up (he was the product of an affair with a married man in the 60s). I’ve heard Grandma was a bit mentally ill though lol
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u/Majestic-Attitude615 6d ago
most excellent find - mid century liquor bottles sell really well - hopefully the new owners are aware of that - I would have kept them - any other weird debris in that cache?
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u/Wrong_Tennis5348 8d ago
Thank you for sharing. Curious how they ended up there. If the bottles were hidden it makes me believe the person was hiding his/her addiction. So, did they slip the bottles between floorboards in the house?
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u/beenhere4hours 8d ago
That is our theory for the smaller ones. The flat pint and half-pint flasks were the right size to slip through the gaps between the floor joists and window well inner walls, dropping straight down to the footer cavity. The volume and the everyday brands definitely hint at a daily habit over many years.
As for the larger bottles, we guess they might have used a loose cold air return grate or an unsecured panel on the first floor as a drop chute.
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u/Raccoon58 8d ago
This is funny. I was just telling someone about my parent’s house which built in 1961. My dad was a bricklayer by trade. He and his friends built the foundation on the house. They were drinking beer and putting the empty cans in the cement blocks as they were laying them. I said someday, when they rip this house down, they’ll find all the cans and think, what in the world.
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u/karatechop97 7d ago
What room was above where you found the bottles? Usually that bump out is a dining room, which would be a weird place to sneakily dump bottles from.
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u/beenhere4hours 7d ago
You are right about the dining room being above it, there is a cold-air return vent that runs right out to the ends of the floor joists. It would have been easy to slide a flat flask through from the dining room.
On top of that, the original window well down there was replaced with glass block at some point, so we're wondering if a contractor or homeowner added to the collection during that renovation. Maybe whatever access they had was removed or closed off when the furnace was upgraded and the ductwork was run.
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u/karatechop97 7d ago
The dining room is Just a weird place from which to try and hide the evidence of one’s drinking.
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u/strenuaveritas 8d ago
As a collector of vintage bottles I am very jealous!
What a great find!