For sale is an original 1908 STAMPED URBANA WINE COMPANY BUSINESS LETTER. The business letter is from the Urbana Wine Company, in Urbana, NY and is dated May 23, 1908 and is typed on the company letterhead. The letter was mailed to Mr. D.O. Trimmer, Chittenden Hotel, Columbus Hotel, Ohio. The vintage envelope includes an embossed red oval two cent George Washington Stamp. The letter envelope was postmarked in Urbana, NY on May 23, 1908.
In 1865, John W. Davis, H.H. Cook, and A.J. Startzer established the Urbana Wine Company. In 1881, the winery was reorganized under the name of “New Urbana Wine Company”. The company was among the earliest and most successful wineries in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Urbana’s claim to fame was its widely popular Gold Seal Champagne and other sparkling wines. They dominated regional wine production during the Gilded Age. On 1896, the company was renamed the “Urbana Wine Company”. The company had to reorganize again after the Volstead Act was ratified which outlawed the drinking of alcohol. The winery survived passage of Prohibition and both World Wars closed in 1984.
