Pure Spring Company facts for kids

The Pure Spring Company Ltd. was a super popular soft drink company based in Ottawa, Canada. They made many different kinds of drinks, like Pure Spring Ginger Ale, Minted Grape, Swiss Cream Soda, Honee Orange, Grand Slam, root beer, and a mix called Gini. Their drinks were sold all across Canada, from Alberta to the Maritimes. This made Pure Spring the biggest independent soft drink company in Canada!

Pure Spring Ginger Ale was incredibly popular. It sold more per person than any other ginger ale in all of North America. This shows just how much people loved their drinks!

A Big Canadian Company

At its best, Pure Spring made about $50 million in sales each year. They had around 50 trucks to deliver all their drinks. One of their truck drivers was a person named Paddy Mitchell. In the 1960s and 1970s, Pure Spring actually sold more soft drinks in Eastern Ontario than even Coca-Cola! This was a huge achievement for a Canadian company.

How Pure Spring Started

The Founder: David Mirsky

The Pure Spring Company was started by a man named David Mirsky. David's father, Jacob Mirsky, was a very important person in Ottawa. He was the city's first rabbi, a religious leader and scholar, who came from New York City in 1894.

From Newsie to Bottler

When David (who lived from 1890 to 1962) was a teenager, he was a newsie. This meant he sold newspapers, magazines, and snacks on the Canadian Pacific Railway's Gatineau line. David was very clever and started collecting empty bottles. He would return them to Bradings Brewery and even made a business deal with them.

By 1920, David was selling bottled water. He got this water from a natural spring at the bottom of a place called Nanny Goat Hill. Soon after, he started adding soft drinks to his business. The Pure Spring Company officially became a company in 1925.

Passing the Torch

David's son, Mervin Mirsky (who lived from 1914 to 2010), took over the company later on. Mervin had served in the Canadian Forces in Europe during World War II. After the war, he had a short career as a lawyer with his twin brother, Jack, before joining the family business.

Company Changes and Innovations

Sale to Crush

The Mirsky family sold Pure Spring to another big soft drink company called Crush in the mid-1960s. Even after the sale, Mervin Mirsky continued to manage Pure Spring until about 1987.

Cool New Ideas

Pure Spring was known for bringing new ideas to Canada. They were one of the first companies to introduce soft drinks in cans. They also brought the twist-cap to Canada, which made opening drinks much easier!

New Production Facilities

Pure Spring first opened a factory on Aberdeen Street in Ottawa. This area was known as the heart of Ottawa's Italian community. As the company grew and became more successful, they needed a bigger place.

In 1968, Pure Spring moved into a large, new facility on Belfast Road. This new factory had two bottling lines. One line could fill 40 bottles at a time for smaller pint-sized drinks and non-returnable glass bottles. The other line could fill 60 bottles at a time for larger 30-ounce glass bottles and the new 750ml glass bottles.

In the mid-1980s, Crush sold the company to Eastcan Beverages Limited. A new machine was added to fill 100 cans at once! Later, PepsiCo Canada bought the facility. They made it even bigger in 1987 and 1989. Production at the Belfast location stopped in 1997. Now, PepsiCo sends all the drinks for the Ottawa area from their factory in Mississauga, but they still use the Belfast building as a warehouse.