The Illustrated History of Hires Root Beer

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1954 

(Figure 1954-01, Billboard, April 10, 1954)

(Figure 1954-02, The American Bottler, April 1954)

This plastic desk thermometer was a promotional giveaway supporting the "Your sales go higher and higher with Hires" marketing campaign theme.  The front bears a facsimile signature of Courtland D. Ferguson who was likely either a Hires sales employee, an independent wholesale distributor, or a Hires bottler.  The base was rounded so the thermometer would "rock" when pushed. 

(Figure 1954-02.5, plastic desk thermometer, 4.0" high)

The company-owned bottling and syrup plant in Dallas, Texas was closed in May, 1954.

(Figure 1954-03, Look, May 18, 1954)

(Figure 1954-03-5, Hires to You! Volume 8, Number 3, June, 1954, front cover)

(Figure 1954-03-5, Hires to You! Volume 8, Number 3, June, 1954, back cover)

(Figure 1954-04, Saturday Evening Post, 12.75” x 5.0”)

(Figure 1954-05, Saturday Evening Post, June 5, 1954)

(Figure 1954-06, Saturday Evening Post, July 12, 1954)

(Figure 1954-07, cloth back patch, 7.0” diameter)

(Figure 1954-08, tin wall sign)

(Figure 1954-09, paper soda jerk hat, 11.0” x 3.5”, right side)

(Figure 1954-09, paper soda jerk hat, 11.0” x 3.5”, left side)

This extra large-sized pencil combined the "Hires to You!" slogan with the newly introduced "Since 1876" logo.  

(Figure 1954-09.5, large-sized pencil)

The company-owned bottling plant in Columbus, Ohio was closed in July, 1954.

This paper label was for containers of Hires Root Beer Concentrate used in vending machines.

(Figure 1954-10, paper Vending Concentrate label, 5.0” x 5.0”)

Hires Root Beer Finished Fountain Syrup paper labels were used in the preparation of individual fountain drinks.  The “Since 1876” logo was updated, but the directions continued to refer to “Hires R-J Root Beer.”

(Figure 1954-11, paper Finished Fountain Syrup label, 5.0” x 5.0”

The weathered Finished Fountain Syrup paper label on this clear, one gallon Duraglas jar matches the previous image.  The original, threaded metal jar lid has a Hires check mark logo rather than a “Since 1876” logo.

(Figure 1954-12, Duraglas jar, 10.75” x 6.0” diameter, and lid)

The Chicago Stamping & Manufacturing Company in Chicago, Illinois manufactured this “Dispense-Rite” metal syrup jar holder that was attached to a counter via an adjustable clamp built into the base.  A plastic spigot was screwed onto the mouth of a one gallon jar of Hires Finished Fountain Syrup jar and the inverted jar placed into the holder.  This made it more convenient for a soda jerk to dispense an ounce of Hires syrup into a fountain glass before adding carbonated water and serving the finished drink of Hires Root Beer to a customer.  A Hires “Since 1876” logo is cast into the side of the holder. 

(Figure 1954-13, Dispense-Rite metal syrup jar holder, 5.0" x 12.0")

The available assortment of wooden Multiplex keg dispensers were updated with the new "Since 1876" logo for 1954 (see Figure 1953-10, page 4).  This single faucet, Model 8MPX keg held eight gallons of Hires syrup and measured 21.0" tall with a 13.0" diameter base.  The pictured example is missing the knob on top of the lid. 

(Figure 1954-13.5, Model 8MPX Hires Multiplex keg dispenser)

Janis Plastics, Inc., 2048 W. North Avenue, Chicago 47, Illinois, manufactured this 18.0" x 13.5", 3-D, barrel-shaped, hard plastic wall sign illuminated internally by an electric, clear, 25 watt, showcase lamp.  

(Figure 1954-14, barrel-shaped plastic wall sign, unlit)

(Figure 1954-14, barrel-shaped plastic wall sign, illuminated)

Riedel & Freede Associates in Clinton, New Jersey produced a styrene plastic “Play Soda Fountain” that Hires promoted for $1.30 plus two Hires crown caps.  The carton advertised it “Really Works – True Replica! – Unbreakable!”  Note the accurate Hires logo on the barrel.  It wasn’t a big seller.

(Figure 1954-15, styrene plastic Play Soda Fountain)

This aluminum picnic cooler was manufactured by Cronstroms Manufacturing, Inc. in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  It has an embossed Hires “Since 1876” logo on the front panel.

(Figure 1954-16, aluminum picnic cooler, 21.5” long, 12.5” wide, 13.0” tall)

This cardboard carrier held two 26 ounce Family Size bottles of Hires Root Beer.  This example was manufactured by the Atlanta Paper Company in Atlanta, Georgia.

(Figure 1954-17, cardboard carrier, front and side)

This cardboard carton held six 12 ounce bottles of Hires Root Beer.

(Figure 1954-17.5, cardboard six-pack carton)

The paper label affixed to this Family Size bottle specifies the contents included “carbonated water, sugar, dextrose, caramel, plant extractives of birch, sassafras, licorice, vanilla, spikenard, sarsaparilla, hops, wintergreen, pipsissewa, ginger & flavor.”

(Figure 1954-18, clear, Family Size Hires bottle, 11.5” tall)

These two large, tin, wall thermometers appear identical at first glance, but they are actually different.  In addition to slightly different heights, note the lettering sizes and positioning of the word "Hires," and the background coloring. 

(Figure 1954-19, tin thermometer, 27.0” x 8.0”)

(Figure 1954-19.5, tin thermometer, 29.0” x 8.0”)

For the fiscal year ending September 30, 1954, Hires reported net sales of $9,657,669 and a $353,633 net profit. 

The April, 1954 advertisement in The American Bottler was revised slightly and reused for the November, 1954 issue of the newly renamed The American Soft Drink Journal.  The previously illustrated angels were replaced by two happy men in a hot air balloon, but the copy still reminded bottlers they “can set a new sales record in 1954.”   

(Figure 1954-20, The American Soft Drink Journal, November, 1954)

During the Christmas season Hires utilized a Santa Claus image on carton inserts to promote sales of the styrene plastic Play Soda Fountain.

(Figure 1954-21, Play Soda Fountain carton insert, December, 1954)

Charles E. Hires, Jr., Chairman of the Board of The Charles E. Hires Company, authored and recorded an essay entitled “The Heart of Life Itself” for a This I Believe radio program first broadcast in 1954.  The original recording was posted on the Internet as a This I Believe Podcast on October 5, 2015.  Here is a transcription of the introductory comments provided by legendary news commentator Edward R. Murrow, a photograph of Charles E. Hires, Jr. and the text of his essay, and summary comments.  You can listen to the radio program at https://thisibelieve.org/essay/16643/:

Edward R. Murrow: “This I Believe.  Charles E. Hires, Jr., for almost 30 years head of the Hires beverage manufacturing and sugar company.  As soon as he graduated from Haverford College, he entered the business and in 12 years was president of three companies.  A few years ago he retired.  He has recently been in India studying social tension.  Here is Charles E. Hires, Jr.“

The Heart of Life Itself

After the loss of his wife, businessman Charles Hires, Jr. found a sense of purpose late in life by helping young people find theirs.

Charles E. Hires, Jr.

 

Four years ago when Mrs. Hires died, the bottom seemed to have dropped out of my little world. Our children were now grown men with their own problems and lives to live. We had been a very close family and greatly bound up in each other’s welfare and happiness, and this love for each other seemed all that really mattered.

Continued interest in my business activities appeared so inconsequential and unimportant that I retired from active work after having put nearly forty years of my life in what I believed to be creative. For the following two years, most of my time was spent on my land, working with my hands, building houses, clearing land, and making roads. The nights seemed to be pass more quickly when I was physically exhausted. Gradually I came to realize that I had cut myself off from the heart of life itself, human relations, and that as long as I lived, I had a duty to perform toward my fellow man. Surely there was some way I could give to others, something of value that I had gleaned from my sixty-two years of living. But just what had I learned and what did I believe? Well, this in part is what I do believe.

I believe each one of us is something more than our private selves and needs to develop interests beyond our small personal satisfactions. For there is little true satisfaction in exclusive possession of material things, as they are of value only if we have used our imagination to bring them into being for the good of others, and so experienced achievement. I believe that satisfaction in living depends upon the worth of our living, for we either take from our fellow men or give of ourselves to them. I believe individual success can be measured only by what we have done for others, not what we have taken from them.

In looking back over my life, I feel that if I had only realized the truth in these beliefs when I was starting on my career, I would have been much more successful in the true sense of the word. And so, when Dr. Gilbert White, President of Haverford College, asked me if I would help with college students who were having difficulty in making up their minds as to what they were best fitted to do, I felt that it was a real opportunity to be of service. These young men welcomed the chance to discuss their problems, providing I do not lecture or offer advice, which would be presumptuous for me to give. But I do try to act as a sounding board for their thoughts in order to open up vistas as to what business or professional life can hold for them, providing they have some definite aim or goal which is in line with their beliefs and that offers something of value to others.

Many men are so frustrated through introspection and lack of assurance that they do not realize that the best way out is through action, action in taking a job that offers opportunity to put their creative talents to work, no matter how small they seem, and so gain faith in themselves and their ability to be useful members of the community.  To sum it all up, I believe that the answer to the age-old question, “Why are we here on Earth?” will only be found by breaking out of our own little world and using our creative talents to help our fellow men.

Charles E. Hires, Jr. worked his way up through his father’s company and was president for thirty years of the Hires Root Beer manufacturing company. He was a Philadelphia native, a Quaker, and a graduate of Haverford College. He often stated that he had only loved two women in his life -- his mother and his beloved wife, Ilse Keppelmann, with whom he had three sons. Hires never remarried and died in 1980 at the age of eighty-eight.

 

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