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Proud to be an AmericanBy Charles David Head

In 1893, James Esposito and his brother,Vincent, who were emigrating to the UnitedStates from Casoli, Italy, were thrilled tosee the Statue of Liberty as their shipentered New York harbor.

After passing through immigration onEllis Island, the brothers made their wayto Philadelphia, Pa., where they found workas bakers in a predominantly Italianneighborhood. They boarded at FrankPolumbo’s halfway house at Eighth andCatherine streets. (Polumbo later opened apopular nightclub).

They worked hard and saved enoughmoney to open a bottling business at 706Fulton Street. In addition to becomingdistributors of Poth’s Beer, theymanufactured a wide variety of soda waters,selling them in a wide variety of CharlesHutchinson’s bottles embossed with anAmerican flag. Hutchinson was the son ofa Chicago bottler who patented his internalstopper system in 1879.

It was the brothers’ way of payinghomage to their adopted country, lettingeveryone know they were proud to beAmericans.

Their bottling business was successful,but about 1900 for reasons unknown, JamesEsposito, just 24 years old at the time,decided to pull out of the partnership andestablish his own soda water business. Hepurchased adjoining houses at 812 and 814Washington Avenue, with the larger, five-bedroom house at 812 serving as the

James Esposito, 60, founder of PRIMOBeverages from 1900-1938.

His son, Anthony Esposito, who ownedthe business from 1938-1974.

James Esposito holds his horses as a friendoccupies the wagon seat. Check out those

wooden Koca Nola cases.

family’s living quarters becausehe was married and hadfathered children. The housenext door sometimes served asa temporary residence for otherItalian immigrants whosometimes worked at thebottling business located in agarage between the twodwellings.

As his business grew, Jamesbuilt a large, two-story additionto the garage-bottling plant thatextended all the way to AlterStreet. During the renovations,the business was moved to 612-614 Fitzwater Street andHutchinson bottles bearing thataddress exist. Later, thebusiness returned to itsWashington Avenue addresses.

He continued the traditionof ordering flag-embossed Hutchinson andcrown-top bottles that saluted the country’sfree enterprise system. Only in Americacould a poor Italian immigrant achievegreat success at business through hardwork, honesty and shrewd business sense.

Bottles embossed Jiacomo Esposito andGiacomo Esposito, the equivalents of“James” in Italian, also exist. (Note: Thereis no “J” in the Italian alphabet, so Jiacomois a misspelling).

In the spring of 1905, James Espositobecame one of the first bottlers to beawarded a franchise from the fledglingKoca Nola Company in Atlanta.Entrepreneur Thomas H. Austin organized

the soda water company in February of thatyear. That same year, James also helpedorganize the South Philadelphia Sons ofItaly.

He probably sold more Koca Nola thandid bottlers of the drink in 15 other statesand the bottles in which it was sold havebecome collector’s items. The Hutchinsonscome in aquamarine, citron, straw yellowand honey amber. Later crown tops camein clear, aqua, teal and amber.

The Coca-Cola Company in 1912 tookJames to federal court to stop him fromusing the Koca Nola bottles because of thesimilarity in names. He lost the case andchanged the name to Espo Cola and laterTrio Cola, but the federal judge blockedthose names, too. So James again switchednames, to Primo Cola, and the judgeapproved the name. Perhaps there was afamily joke there. Primo in Italian meansfirst. James marketed Koca Nola through1913 when the Koca Nola Company beganclosing out its business. The Austincompany itself in 1910 lost its case afterbeing sued by the federal government forreportedly having cocaine in its formula.The appeals process kept it in business, stillshipping the syrup to its franchised bottlers,until 1914.

Later during the 19-teens, James beganbottling a lemon-and-lime soda he named“Primo Gassosa.” The second word meant

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carbonated soda in Italian and the syrups from which it wasmade were imported from Italy.

According to family members, the drink became very popularand James thought it was the best carbonated soft drink. Jamesbecame famous in his native Italy and in 1922 traveled backthere to accept an award for achievements in business at theItalian Manufacturing Exposition.

His daughter-in-law, Mary Cipollone, nee Esposito, was an

4. James Esposito and friends, each with a Koca Nola in their hands,celebrate circa 1910-14

artist who turned her talents into designingpaper labels for the company soda bottles,as well as many marketing items.

During the early 1930s, representativesfrom the 7-Up Company in New Yorkapproached James in hopes of interestinghim in a Philadelphia franchise. He turnedthem down, saying he would make hisPrimo Gassosa soda bigger and better thantheir drink.

In 1938, James passed away and his 37-year-old son, Tony, took over operation ofthe family business. Like his father, Tonywas an astute businessman who took pridein his work. He kept the business thrivingeven as other South Philadelphia bottlerswent out of business, no longer able tocompete with the big brands.

However, during the early 1960s, thefamily business started to decline as biggersoda bottling manufacturers were able tooperate more cheaply than Mom and Popoperations. In 1974, Tony Esposito closedthe business, ending the family’s 75-year-run.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: I am indebted to R.J.Brown of Tampa, Fla., for permission touse his images of the flag-embossed sodas;to Robert “Bob” Esposito, James’ grandson,for his Esposito Family History; to theSouth Philly Review story, “Bubbling Up,”by Lorraine Gennaro. Material also wasused from my story in the October 2004issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector,“J. Esposito, The King of the Koca NolaFranchise.” I would like to hear fromanyone with information about the JamesEsposito family and artifacts such as bottles,business envelopes, letterheads or billheads.Charles David Head, 23549-001, P.O. Box150160, Atlanta, GA 30315.