Coshocton, OH
The Meek & Beach Company was established by J. F. Meek in 1887 located in Coshocton, OH originally under the Meek Company name. Meek Co. started out producing advertising items such as school bags, grocer’s aprons, fans, and other smaller advertising items. With a growing demand for advertising and promotional items during the time, Meek merged with a local competitor to formed the Tuscarora Advertising Company in Coshocton, OH.
In 1888, Henry Daniel Beach established Standard Advertising Company located in Coshocton, OH. Standard Advertising Co. was another local publisher and rival of the Tuscarora Advertising Company which offered much the same type of merchandise. Standard Advertising was the first in the world to produce full color lithography on metal signs in 1890. This new process for manufacturing metal signs was developed by the company. Standard Advertising also first specialized in making oil cloth school bags made of gum muslin, wood yardsticks, paint paddles, metal signs, displays and cloth aprons which carried the customers name and message.
Instead of competing against each other, the two companies of Standard Advertising Company and Tuscarora Advertising Company merged into the Meek and Beach Company in 1901. Naturally due to the rivalry between the two owners, the merger did not last long and the partnership was dissolved and companies split again in 1905; the H.D. Beach Company and the Meek Company were from there then formed. In 1909 Meek changed the name of his company name from the Meek Company to the American Art Works.
A second corporation, The Beach Enameling company, was formed in 1912 to manufacture and produce tin and porcelain enamel thermometers for outdoor advertising use. A consolidation of these two corporations was made in 1940 and the new corporation was named The Beach Company. In 1952, the Beach Co. was purchased by the Guy S. Meek Calendar Company; from there and the name was changed to The Beach Company.
Various industries and companies across the country used these manufacturers at one time or another to produce promotional items like signs and trays to promote their company, brand, and products. Among those industries were breweries, cigar makers, spirit distillers, and dairies just to name a few. Meek & Beach Company produced both large and small advertising signs for larger companies like Texaco, Shell, Gulf, Firestone Cedar Springs Hotel Company, and Goodyear just to name a few. They also produced advertising serving trays, tip trays, tins, lights, and venetian plates for breweries, bottling companies, and soft drink companies such as Yuengling, Rettig, Reading, Kaier, Erie, Lauer, F&S, Stegmaier, Hudepohl, Miller, Anheuser-Busch, Pabst, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Moxie just to name a few.
The Beach Company is still in business to this day as a family business under the operation of in it’s fifth generation and continues in the promotional advertising business.
Below are a few examples of both Meek & Beach Co., Meek Co, Standard Advertising Co., and Beach Co. Signs and Trays:
