The Milkint family, who built the building at 172 Spruce Street in Thomas, WV sometime between 1903 and 1910, also owned the bottling facility two doors down, which later became the Royal Crown Cola bottling facility. This glass bottle from the fabulous @ellaandcompanywv (coolest store in Thomas!) has the original Milkint name.
A long history
The building at 172 Spruce Street in Thomas, WV was built by a Lithuanian immigrant called Charles Milkint. I've been doing some research on the Milkint family, and I found that Charles Milkint (born 1859) and his wife Elizabeth Varatinskis (born 1860) came to New York, NY from Lithuania in 1889, together with their sons John and Tony, who were four and two years old at the time. Three more sons, Joseph, Charles Jr. and Peter, and two daughters, Annie and Elizabeth, were born in the United States. By the time the youngest child, Elizabeth, was born in 1904 the family had arrived in Thomas, WV. They built the building on 172 Spruce Street sometime between 1903 and 1910; most records indicate 1905 as the building year. In the 1910 census, Charles is listed as being a “Dry Goods Merchant,” and his sons John and Charles, Jr. are listed as “Merchant at a Dry Goods Store" and “Clerk,” respectively. By 1930 census, John is listed as owning the store and his brothers Tony and Joseph are listed as working at the store. They are all listed as living at the address, along with two other families. Other records refer to the “Milkint Bros,” which appear to be John, Tony, and Joseph. Charles, Jr. is listed in later census as owning an automotive repair shop, which was the Milkint Garage at the other end of Spruce Street. The original business licenses are still tacked to the wall in the retail space and they show that the general store stayed in business up until the mid-1960s.
Original photo
Thanks to John at Purple Fiddle for pointing out this photo that he has on his wall. It's clearly taken of the inside of the Milkint Store. Notice the potbelly stove and the location of the counters.
