Polar Beverages - 1901 To 1940s

1901 To 1940s

In 1901, Dennis M. Crowley, the great grandfather of the present owners of Polar Beverages, founded D. M. Crowley & Co., a wholesale and retail liquor business. Dennis, also known as “Boss Crowley,” was a second-generation American. His parents emigrated from Ireland because of the Great Irish Famine. The top selling product in those days was Crowley’s Ball Brook Straight Whiskey. In 1916 the Crowleys acquired the J. G. Bieberbach Company. The combined wholesale-retail liquor companies were very successful. In 1918 Dennis continued to expand the business by purchasing the Leicester Polar Spring Company, and the combined businesses became known as the Bieber Polar Ginger Ale Company. Changes in our Nation’s capital greatly impacted Polar’s business. In the 1920s the 18th Amendment was added to The Constitution of the United States. This amendment prohibited the sale of alcohol, and thus Polar’s most profitable business was forced to cease, leaving Polar to focus on its ginger ale and spring water company. In 1933 the 18th Amendment was made null with the 21st Amendment, which allowed the Crowleys to resume their liquor business as “rectifiers and wholesalers;” however, the company remained focused on soft drinks and water as it is today.

In the early years of the company, the sale of bottled water accounted for a large percent of its business. The acquisition of the Leicester Polar Spring Company was important because its assets included the rights to the use of a pure spring located in Spencer, Massachusetts. This spring water was used for the company’s bottled water; and because of the exceptional quality of the spring water, flavored soft drinks were added to the plant's production. Among the first flavors produced were Golden Ginger Ale and Pale Dry Ginger Ale.

The company’s headquarters remained at the site of the old Bieberbach firm at 113 Summer Street, Worcester, until 1968. At various times in the company’s history, Polar’s beverages were bottled at other Polar- owned plants in Boston, Massachusetts; Hartford, Connecticut; and warehouse was maintained in Springfield, Massachusetts.