HÜCKELS, Alexander

Notes:

Thanks to Linda Seccaspina
and Mr. Jan Krijff and Karen Green.



Jaan Kolk

In 1901, A Huckels and Co. was at 326-328 Queen street, with about 8 employees. By 1909, Huckels and his company had moved to nearby 181-185 Lyon Street.
The company was established in Ottawa in 1894.
In 1912, The A. Huckels operation was taken over to become the Ottawa branch of major beverage producer J.J. McLaughlin Ltd. (of Canada Dry Ginger Ale fame), retaining the same 1082 phone number. From the Citizen, Mar. 29, 1912 I could not find much mention of Alexander himself in the papers, except for this incident you might find amusing, Linda: Alexander was assaulted by Johnny “Dixie” McDowall, “America’s oldest newsboy.” From the Citizen, Aug. 25, 1910

Linda Seccaspina

According to a research book the A. Huckels & Co. were one of Ottawa’s larger bottlers and operated from 1894-1911 and then seem to disappear. Their bottles were also smaller from the typical soda water bottle possibly 6 ounces or 7.5 ounces in size. The Huckel family was well known in the Ottawa area and when I get a chance I will write about Benjamin and the tragedies he went through. Alexander Huckels was of German descent and as Jaan Kolk said given that the flagship product was “German Seltzer”, the flag in the trademark may have represented the National and merchant flag of the German Empire. Mr. Davis was noted as one of the managers of the company. Huckel’s was once located at 326-328 Queen Street in Ottawa-328 Queen St. E. has been vacant for more than a decade. It was extensively damaged in a 2009 by a fire that was blamed on faulty wiring.

David Helwig

Not much is known about his private life but in May of 1907 he began building a lovely home on Slater Street for a mere $4000.