W & T, 57 Downing St., N.Y.

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Soda water manufacturers, the proprietors were William Wills and Anson B Taylor.

The business is first listed in the 1859 NYC directory as Wills, Taylor & Co., with an address of 49 Greene Street. In 1865 the name of the business in the listing was changed to Wilson & Taylor and around the same time they moved to 57 Downing Street where they remained through 1874.

Anson Taylor continues to be listed individually as waters through the early 1880’s with an address of 119 East 124th Street.

On a side note, Anson B Taylor played baseball for a pioneering baseball club called the Mutual Baseball Club. Organized in NYC in June 1857, they were named after Mutual Hook and Ladder Company #1. A book entitled “Baseball Founders: The Clubs, Players and Cities of the Northeast that Established the Game”provided the following brief biography of Taylor:

Anson B. Taylor was born in Connecticut around 1827. He played a few games for the Mutuels in 1858, then was a regular for the next three seasons. He had served as club treasurer while an active player and began a four year tenure as club president in 1861. Taylor, who was partner in a mineral water business, died in New York on June 2, 1884.

The bottle I found is an 8 oz pony with an applied blob top finish. It’s embossed “W&T” with the 57 Downing Street address so it most likely dates between 1865 and 1874.