Dr. Pepper's origins?

[NW Mailing List]

We need not forget RC (Royal Crown) Cola......especially if accompanied by a Moon Pie.  Any true Southerner will understand!

I have many Wythe County ancestors going back to the Revolution so I like to believe it was in Rural Retreat.  I well remember, as a child, my paternal Grandmother and Great-aunts (from Draper in Pulaski County) telling me that Dr. Pepper was invented in Rural Retreat.


What is the true story of Dr Pepper*

There are a few different versions of how this beverage was conceived and named.


>From the Wythe County Bicentennial Book authored by Mary Kegley:


There are varying stories, but most accounts agree that the name was given to honor Dr. Charles T. Pepper who was said to have concocted the drink. His clerk at the store, Wade Morrison later went to Waco, Texas where he reproduced the drink naming it Dr. Pepper. Some say Morrison created the drink in Texas. After Morrison became the owner of the drug store in Texas, Charles C. Alderton of New York was hired to handle the soda fountain and mixed fruit flavors, finally blending the favorite drink now so popular. Robert Sherman Lazenby (1867-1941) president of DR. Pepper Company for many years is also credited with perfecting the flavor with a blend of 23 fruit flavors. The drink was probably introduced to the public on a regular basis about 1885, was first bottled in 1886. In 1888 it was bottled in Waco, TX by Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company.

Dr. Charles T. Pepper also had a son, Louis or Louie, an optometrist who was also known as Dr. Pepper. He worked part time in his father's drug store and also claimed to have developed the formula for the drink.

Another story is that Morrison had romantic aspirations on Dr. Pepper's daughter. Dr. Pepper was not in favor with the match and that is why Morrison left for Texas. This story is probably not true because within the time frame, Dr. Pepper's daughter would only have been around 5 at the time Morrison left.

Ed Painter - Narrows, Va currently living in Russellville, AR.



From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 11:07 AM
To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Subject: Re: Dr. Pepper's origins?

I recall Dr. Pepper as being "only a Southern pop" like Nehi. Dr. Pepper's screen-door icon and roadside signs depicted a clock showing the times to take a a Dr. Pepper were 10, 2 and 4. I lived in Cleveland, but spent all my summers in Pulaski County, VA - both Nehi and Dr. Pepper were special summertime treats for me; they never showed up in Cleveland.

John Carnahan
Columbus, OH

PS: My Wythe County (Va.) uncle always told me that Rural Retreat was the cabbage-and-sauerkraut capital of the world, but I don't recall his mentioning Dr. Pepper.


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