HutchBook.comKolaWars: Birmingham
KolaWars: Birmingham by Dennis I. Smith
Front Cover
In 1913, the residents of Birmingham drank more Coca-Cola than those in any city in the world. Crawford Johnson’s Birmingham Coca-Cola Bottling Company had a capacity of 40,000 bottles a day and surpassed even Atlanta in the number of bottles sold.
But the citizens of Birmingham and Jefferson County were drinking more
than Coca- Cola, they were also drinking Ala-Cola and Alpha, Cafa-Cola
and Cola-Nip, Fan-Taz and Glee- Cola, My-Coca and Nifty-Cola, Pep-To-Lac
and Pepsi-Cola, Rye-Ola and Wiseola. No city in the country could
compare with the number of brand name and proprietary soft drinks that
were produced in the city of Birmingham prior to 1920.
Many of these beverages were homegrown: developed locally by Alabama men
and women and sold across the United States. Rye-Ola was bottled
as far as Oregon, My-Coca from Pennsylvania to California. Others
found markets regionally in Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi,
and other nearby states. Ala-Cola was bottled in Europe and
Celery-Cola was sold in Canada, Mexico, Panama, Cuba, and as far as
Australia.
Birmingham is also unique in the number of brand name beverages bottled
in embossed Hutchinson bottles: Ala-Cola, Celery Cola, Coca-Cola, Dope,
and Wiseola.
Some of these beverages were intended to ride on the successful
coattails of Coca-Cola and found themselves in court as a result.
Whether selecting a similar name such as Cola-Co or Fletchers Coca-Cola
or using stolen bottles with the Coca-Cola trademark, these imitators
found the Coca-Cola Company ready to protect its trademark and business
in court.
Several local soft drinks were caught up in a sting operation run by the United States Department of Agriculture out of New Orleans. They were brought into Federal Court on violations of the Pure Food Act of 1906 and their reputations tarnished but brands survived.
Many of these drinks were sold in bottles with the trade names embossed
or applied. Examples of bottles with trade names embossed are pictured
herein. Others were in bottles with simply a company name and
flavors were identified by paper labels and caps. Bottles, labels, and
advertising are pictured here along with photos of many of the plants
where these drinks were bottled.
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KolaWars: Birmingham may be ordered direct from the author for $36.95 which includes free shipping via USPS Media Mail with Tracking to United States addresses only.
Contact and PayPal: books@kolawars.com
Dennis I. Smith, P.O. Box 1913, Buffalo, New York 14225