Bottles on the Border: The History and Bottles of the Soft Drink ...

the merger with Purity to form Empire Bottling Works in 1912. The office moved to 125-127
San Francisco St. by 1909 (possibly late 1908) and remained there until the company dissolved
(Figure 5-17) (EPCD 1907-1909).
A few other changes occurred at the company
complex by 1908 (Figure 5-18). The old ice house
/refrigerator at the corner of Fourth and Chihuahua
was now a bottle storage area, adjacent to the bottling
works, and a new building had been built just north
along Chihuahua for more bottle storage. The office
was no longer in evidence (Sanborn Fire Insurance
Map 1908).
Even though Houck & Dieter terminated its
production of carbonated beverages with the advent
of the Empire Bottling Works (see Chapter 5b), the
firm continued in the liquor trade until 1918.
Although Heineman continued to serve as president
of Empire, Hugo Eichwald became president of
Houck & Dieter in 1916 and held that position until
Figure 5-18 – Houck & Dieter Company
(Sanford Fire Insurance Map 1908)
the corporate dissolution two years later. Despite the break with Empire, Houck & Dieter
continued to distribute mineral waters until the firm closed (EPCD 1908-1918).
On July 15, 1918, a new Texas law went into effect that created a state of Prohibition in
El Paso. The law required that all sales and manufacture of alcoholic beverages cease withing
ten miles of a military reservation. Since all of El Paso was, at that time, within ten miles of Fort
Bliss, the State effectively legislated local Prohibition. The El Paso Times (6/16/1918) described
what happened at Houck & Dieter:
At Houck & Dieters, the big wholesale house on San Francisco street, the stock
was so depleted that buyers had to take what they could get during the evening
hours. The last bottle of “Black and White” was sold by 10 o’clock and other
Scotch whiskeys were equally hard to get. American whiskeys were also sold
heavily, and sales in the evening were confined to odd lots of wines. Officials
were loath to estimate the quantity of goods sold, but put it in the thousands of
dollars.
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