EARLY ROYAL CROWN GINGER ALE PAPER LABEL

[SODAPOPBOB]

I don't want to split too many hairs here, but ... I forgot about the 1907 address copy/pasted below from one of the histories. It's confusing because the 1906 American Bottler article says 1906 is when they built the new bottling plant at Twelfth Avenue and Tenth Street. The American Bottler also says Twelfth Ave. and Tenth St. is where their "wholesale grocery house" was located on the "recently bought adjoining property." 1901 Basement ~ Eleventh Street Between Broadway and Front Avenue1903 Hatcher Grocery ~ Near the Corner of Tenth and Front Avenue1906 Cole-Hatcher-Hampton Co. ~ New Bottling Plant ~ Twelfth Ave. and Tenth St. From History: In 1907 the grocery firm moved to its present location at Tenth Avenue and Tenth Street which was to become an International soft drink headquarters. One of the references is most likely a typo. I suspect the history reference is wrong and the 1906 American Bottler article had the correct address of 12th Ave & 10th St.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

We may never know which of the addresses our labels came from and whether they are from the grocery store or the bottling plant, but I am comfortable with them dating sometime between ... Circa 1903 & 1906

 

[dbv1919]

Thanks again Bob, you are too kind.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

Brad: I like the black frame - it really highlights the label. Eventually I plan to get a larger fame like yours and Rich's so it doesn't look so crowded. In the meantime here are ... "The Three Amigos"

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

As time allows, I'm going to dig a little deeper into this and see if the following is accurate where it says ... "In 1905, he produced the first bottle of Royal Crown ginger ale" ( With the key words being "1905" ~ "First" ~ "Bottle" ) From ... The Edwardsville Intelligencer ~ Edwardsville, Illinois ~ September 4, 1962

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

I'm also in search of one of these bottles ...

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

This link is to a 1907 Sanborn Fire Insurance map for Columbus, Georgia ... http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/sanborn/CityCounty/Columbus1907/TextIndex.html Navigating the 52 Pages is kind of tricky but I was able to find what should be the Hatcher Grocery Store located ... "Near the corner of Tenth and Front Avenue" ( Where I placed the red star on the attachment ) I have been unable to locate the bottling plant at 12th Ave. & 10th St. and not sure it is even in this particular map. Maybe someone with more experience with these types of maps will have better luck. I was able to locate 11th Street where the basement was (Between Broadway and Front), but because the information is vague, I do not know which building it is nor what side of 11th Street it was on.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

MELO I'm currently researching and looking for "anything" related to these Melo / Chero-Cola bottle caps, which was a flavor line the Hatchers introduced before Nehi and should date from the early to late 1920s ... By the way, based on what I've seen regarding these caps, they are considered extremely rare and valuable.

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

P.S. Here's where I found the Orange Melo bottle cap. I don't know who Dee Lander is, but they value the cap at ... $250.00 http://www.beershowcase.com/capsccc.html

 

[SODAPOPBOB]

In order to narrow down the basement address I went back to the history site where I was reminded that ...
http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/hatcher13430gph.txt


He set up a small laboratory in the basement of the wholesale grocery firm and began experimenting with carbonated beverages.

From the basement of the Hatcher Grocery Company, then located on Eleventh Street between Broadway and Front Avenue, came the first bona fide Columbus Soft drink creation to achieve status - Royal Crown Ginger Ale.

~ * ~

I had forgotten the basement was in the Hatcher Grocery building, so with this information in mind I went back to the Sanborn map for 1900 and found the only wholesale grocer located on 11th Street between Broadway and Front. The result is the attachment below where I placed the red star, which is the building where Claud Hatcher performed his first experiments and developed Royal Crown Ginger Ale ...


1900 Sanborn Map ~ North side of 11th Street between Broadway and Front