Introduction
The Chelmsford Spring Company dropped ginger beer and patent medicine products sometime before 1908 and started producing carbonated drinks. Flavors included Ginger Ale, Lemon, Orange, Sarsaparilla, Vanilla, and Tally Ho club soda. C. George Armstrong became sole owner of Chelmsford Spring Company this year and incorporated as the Chelmsford Ginger Ale Company.
Ginger Ale sales received a boost when the Volstead Act prohibiting sale of liquor became effective on January 17, 1920. As well as being a substitute for alcoholic beverages, it greatly improved the taste when mixed with home-brew liquor.
Consolidation
Nabisco Brands acquired Canada Dry Ginger Ale in 1923, and this acquisition led to the formation of Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc. They purchased the assets of Chelmsford Ginger Ale, Inc. in 1931 for an estimated price of $6 million. This photo print from a Facebook post, colorized, shows the Canada Dry office in the 1940s.
The Chelmsford plant was closed in 1959, and all operations moved to the Canada Dry plant in Waltham.
The RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company’s Del Monte Foods unit purchased Canada Dry in 1984. The RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company merged with Nabisco Brands in 1985, resulting in the formation of RJR Nabisco. RJR Nabisco sold its soft drink business, including Canada Dry, to Cadbury Schweppes in 1986.
Also in 1986, the Coca-Cola Company purchased Cadbury Schweppes including its Canada Dry subsidiary and Chelmsford Ginger Ale formula. Production of Chelmsford Ginger Ale in 2-liter bottles was assigned to the Coca-Cola Bottling plant in Londonderry, NH. Distribution was limited to New Hampshire plus northeastern Massachusetts east to Cape Ann, south to Concord, and west to Fitchburg.
Cadbury Schweppes discontinued Chelmsford Ginger Ale production in 2003. Polar Beverages Company of Worcester, an independent, privately held, family-owned soft drink bottler founded in 1882, purchased the Chelmsford Ginger Ale label but not the formula. They started making their version of Chelmsford Ginger Ale as a Market Basket branded product. (1)
Resurrection
A front-page article in the March 3, 2003, Lowell Sun quoted Bernie Ready and others complaining about the taste of the new Chelmsford Ginger Ale. To be sure, this got Polar’s attention, and on account of having no access to the original formula, they needed help. Polar sent their master brewer to Chelmsford in the hope that they could figure it out.
Bernie found two bottles of the original flavor in his father’s house for the brewer to analyze. Polar was very grateful for this, and after changes were made, Bernie judged the resulting flavor improved from 30 to about 65 with Schweppes the reference at 100. (2)
Chelmsford Ginger Ale is still available in 2025 at Market Basket stores in Chelmsford.
References:
(1) Website, Chelmsford Historical Commission, Timelines, Chelmsford Ginger Ale
(2) Conversation with Bernie Ready
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