For sale is a collection of three different vintage Hearth Club Baking Soda Cans in varying conditions. Each can still contains 10 oz of baking powder made by the Rumford Chemical Works, Rumford, RI (no longer fit for human consumption). All three cans provide insight on how the company has changed its packing over the last century. The oldest can features a roaring hearth (fireplace), a common means to heat a home in the 1800s. In the early 1900s, the company kept its name but changed its logo to a sliced cake which it still uses today. The oldest can boasts a Good Housekeeping guarantee Hearth Club Promotional Coupon on the label and a great graphic of a housewife with period correct dress and hair style. This can stands 4 and 1/2 inches tall. The early cans both have a press fit lid. The modern can has a plastic lid and of course a bar scan code. The “Rumford Chemical Works” also changed its name to “Rumford Company” which is a good idea for a maker of an edible product. Nice display items for your vintage baking soda collection or antique kitchen motif.
Rumford Chemical Works started producing and shipping baking powder across the nation and around the world in 1856. At its height of activity around the turn of the century, Rumford Chemical included 300 acres of working farms and communities to sustain the factory workers, and the Village of Rumford was called the “kitchen capital of the world.” The Rumford factory in R.I. closed in 1968.
Older Rumford baking powder cans are dated on the bottom using a five digit code. The first two digits represent the year. The last three represent the day of the year using a Julian calendar (1 to 365). The oldest can with the Hearth graphic is stamped “04156” which means it was manufactured on June 5, 1904. The can with a cake and metal press lid is stamped “09229” which means it was manufactured on August 17, 1909. The modern can was made in August 1995.
