Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by. One of the things I love about driving across the country is that you have the opportunity to stop at any place you want. It might be a historical site or a National Park or in my case a museum. Not any museum mind you but a very specialized one, dedicated to one of America’s amazing inventions, the soft drink . Some call it soda pop or soda and even Coke in some parts of the country. But I’m talking about Dr Pepper. Dr Pepper is the first soft drink ever created in America. It was invented by the chemist Charles Alderton in Waco Texas in the 1800’s. By 1885 it was sold at Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store and other soda fountain owners bought the syrup to make the soft drink. Morrison the owner of the drug store was given the recipe by Alderton and began making it in large quantities with the help of Robert S. Lazenby, a young beverage chemist. It became very popular after the 1904 World’s Fair where it was served to 20 million people. Soon Dr. Pepper was being sold all over the world. No one knows how the name came about but Morrison is credited with inventing it’s name, which in my opinion is much better than what it was originally called, “The Waco”.
The Museum is located in downtown Waco in the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company building built in 1906. The 115 year-old building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as the “Home of Dr Pepper.” Here the history of Dr Pepper can be explored. I found the intertwining of American soft drinks to be of interest, as Coca Cola and Pepsi and 7up all had a piece of the Dr. Pepper company at one time.
The Museum is also home to the W. W. Clements Free Enterprise Institute. The Institute was created in 1997 for the purpose of educating school children as well as adults about the economic system that underlies American life. The program uses the soft drink industry as a model to teach students about developing, producing, and marketing products.
There’s a lot of interesting things to do at the Museum from learning about Dr Pepper to Ghost tours and even making your own soda pop! The general admission is $10 but if you’re a crazy Dr Pepper fan you can take the Extreme Pepper Experience for $125! This gets you behind the scenes, merchandise from the gift shop, making your own soda and it’s an exclusive hands on experience limited to only 6 people per tour. I didn’t take that tour but I know a few dedicated Dr Pepper fans that might one day.
All in all it’s an interesting piece of America and something I think most people would enjoy doing. I’m still amazed at how much soda pop the world drinks daily. There’s been numerous law suits and bargaining going back and forth between all of the major soda companies and that alone is fascinating. It’s also fun to know that Dr Pepper was the first soft drink and to me it feels strictly American. Maybe that’s because if you grew up in the south or western United States you grew up with Dr Pepper. My son would always order it when we went to Arizona. I guess it’s still not as popular in the Northeast but it is available. They certainly have catchy commercials and slogans.
Pulling out of the parking lot I felt happy I took the time out for a quick stop. Breaking up your desired route can make for great memories and give you something you can’t get by flying to your destination. On to Austin folks so stay tuned! If you have any questions or if you’ve ever been to the Dr Pepper Museum please drop me a line and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Oh, and to sneak in a little foodie thing, Dr Pepper can be used as a marinade for ribs or brisket, and its also been an ingredient in a pretty good BBQ sauce. I’ll try and get the recipes out. Until next time, Boone Appétit!
I didn’t know Dr. Pepper was the original. I was dimly aware of it when my family moved to New England in 1957, but mostly knew of Coca Cola, Pepsi and Fanta. There, I saw an rusty metal sign on the side of a defunct store that promoted Frosty root beer, with its skinny Santa Clausy mascot with the long white beard and earmuffs. There was also a local favorite, Moxie, flavored with gentian, that is still around. I mistakenly heard it was sasparilla, which was the soft drink favored by teetotalers in saloons of the old 1930s Hollywood westerns. According to its wiki article, Moxie was around almost 10 years before Dr. Pepper, as “Moxie Nerve Food” but wasn’t carbonated and made into a soft drink until about the same time Dr. Pepper was marketed.
Hi Barko, I’ve heard of Moxie but have never had one. There were other drinks coming along at the time mixing fruit syrups into wine or other beverages but from what I’ve been able to find it was Dr Pepper that was credited as the fist soft drink in America.I do think most were marketed as a sort of tonic at first and early version of Coke had Cocaine in them. The soda wars are actually incredible, check out the story of how Coke killed Pepsi Clear.
Thanks for posting.