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The headquarters of Dixie Coca-Cola
Bottling Company from 1900-1901
National Register photograph by Yen Tang
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The Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling Company is the oldest surviving building
associated with the early days of "Coke," the soft drink that has
been called "the holy water of the American South." From 1900 to
1901 it was the headquarters and plant of the Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling
Company, parent of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company. The building
represents Coca-Cola's transformation from strictly a fountain treat
to primarily a bottled drink. Until the mid-1890s, Coca-Cola was
sold only at soda fountains. At that time the head of Coca-Cola
, Asa Candler, was not interested in bottling.
Candler was approached by several individuals who wanted to bottle
the soft-drink for him in different regions. Benjamin Thomas and
Joseph Whitehead secured a contract with Candler for exclusive rights
to bottle Coca-Cola for the Southeast, Southwest and Midwest, with
Candler supplying the syrup. This contract has been heralded as
one of the most valuable contracts in the annals of American business.
Thomas opened their first plant in Chattanooga. It was Whitehead,
with investor John Lupton, who opened the second plant in Atlanta,
originally known as the Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Whitehead
assumed the responsibility of marketing their bottled product and
the operation expanded so quickly that they outgrew the plant on
Edgewood Avenue within a year. Whitehead and Lupton began selling
franchises to other bottlers, first in Atlanta where 16 franchises
were established, and then nationally.
Sketch depicting the Coca-Cola
plant c. 1901
Courtesy of Coca-Cola Company, from National Historic Landmarks
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The bottling plant itself is an interesting Victorian commercial
building. Constructed in 1891, the two-story brick building was
irregularly shaped to fits its angled corner lot. It originally
provided space for shops on the lower floor and living quarters
above, before being adapted for a bottling plant. The eclectic features
of the building include a Dutch stepped gable with oval attic window,
a wooden balcony under a pedimented gable roof, Italian Renaissance-inspired
arcade, round-arched windows, square turret, and a pyramidal hipped
roof. During its time as the Coca-Cola bottling plant headquarters,
there was an automated factory in the basement where the Coca-Cola
syrup was produced, and offices on the upper floors. Today it houses
the Georgia State University Baptist Student Union. The property
was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1983.
The Dixie Coca-Cola Bottling Company is located at 125 Edgewood
Ave., at the corner of Edgewood Ave. and Courtland St.
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