Londonderry Lithia Water

1902 Harper's Bazaar advertisement

Near where I live in Londonderry, New Hampshire there once was a spring for lithia water located near the intersection of Route 102 and High Range Road.  It was first discovered by the Native Americans, and at one time a commercial operation collected the water and had it bottled in nearby Nashua.  Until about ten years ago there was a rest area nearby on Route 102, with a public pump for the spring water.  On weekends there was a wait to collect the water, as motorists brought bottles, jugs and giant containers to fill.  This water was cold and delicious.  We must live on the same aquifer, because our home well water is very tasty. 

The images above and below are from the book

Londonderry, by Acadia Publishing, 2004, pages 109 and110

The pump house at the Londonderry Lithia Spring
This building is no longer standing

The land in Londonderry was originally owned by the Greely family in the early days of Londonderry.  Later it was the Avery family that operated the spring between 1882 and 1920.  The water was brought to the bottling plant in downtown Nashua by horse drawn wagons.   In 1886 the land was sold to the bottling company.  Nearby the spring location you can still see Greely Road and Avery Estates (on Rossini Drive) named for these early families.   The bottling plant in Nashua was located behind the city hall on West Hollis Street, near the Maynard and LeSieur tire company today. 

Photo from the "You know you're from Old Nashua if..." Facebook group
courtesy of John R. Bolduc
Look behind city hall to see the Londonderry Lithia bottling building

The Londonderry Historical Society and many local bottle collectors have saved the pottery jugs and glass bottles from the Londonderry Lithia Water Company.  The jugs are the oldest, and then glass bottles were introduced.  Most of the water was sold (still or sparkling) and advertised as mixers for alcoholic drinks, so by 1920, and prohibition (1920 – 1933) the company went out of business.  

I find lots of Londonderry Lithia advertising art at the eBay website.  I’ve also found it just by accident in old magazines (my husband loves to collect old magazines like National Geographic).   The following advertising art for Londonderry Lithia water was all found at eBay.    Imageability, a local business in Londonderry (also now located in the spring water neighborhood), sells reproductions of the advertising art.

For more information:

Londonderry, by the Londonderry Historical Society, Acadia Publishing, 2004, pages 109 - 115.

Londonderry Lithia Water website  http://www.londonderrylithia.com/

Read about “Annie Londonderry”, and her bicycling trip around the world, promoted by Londonderry Lithia Water in 1894- 1895 at this link:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/annie-londonderry-and-her-extraordinary.html

Or you can read this book about “Annie Londonderry”, it has a lot of historical information about the Londonderry Lithia Water bottling company:  Around the World on Two Wheels, by Peter Zheutlin, Citadel Publishers, New York, 2007.

Imageability, a business in Londonderry, New Hampshire    http://www.imageability.com/ also produced the website above for the Londonderry Lithia Water

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To Cite/Link to this Blog Post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Londonderry Lithia Water", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 6, 2014, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/londonderry-lithia-water.html: accessed [access date]).