Conestoga Coffee, Lancaster, Pa.

"Conestoga Coffee Blend, one pound net, Lancaster Wholesale Grocery Co., distributors, Lancaster, Penna."

Although the landscape surrounding the Conestoga wagon in this illustration from the front of a paper coffee bag depicts the rugged terrain of the American West, early settlers actually used a different type of covered wagon (often just a simple farm wagon enclosed in canvas) to travel westward.

The Conestoga wagon originated in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and its name may have come from the county's Conestoga Township or Conestoga River ("Conestoga" originally referred to a Native American group now more commonly known as the Susquehannocks). It was a sturdy vehicle capable of handling large loads over the undeveloped dirt roads in Pennsylvania and surrounding states during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Given the local origin of the Conestoga wagon, it's not surprising that the Lancaster Wholesale Grocery Company chose the name for its coffee. And it's certainly more dramatic--through not accurate--to see the wagon traveling through a mountainous Western landscape rather than slogging through the muddy roads in the eastern United States.

See also Howard C. Frey, Refurbisher of Conestoga Wagons.