American pharmacist and inventor of Dr Pepper
Charles Alderton
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Born
| Charles Courtice Alderton
(
1857-06-21
)
June 21, 1857
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Died
| May 29, 1941
(1941-05-29)
(aged 83)
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Resting place
| Oakwood Cemetery
Waco, Texas
, U.S.
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Occupation
| Pharmacist
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Known for
| Inventor of
Dr Pepper
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Spouses
|
- Lillie E. Walker (1884)
- Emilie Marie Coquille (1918)
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Charles Courtice Alderton
(June 21, 1857 ? May 29, 1941)
[1]
was an American
pharmacist
and the inventor of the carbonated soft drink
Dr Pepper
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Charles Courtice Alderton was born June 21, 1857, in
Brooklyn, New York
, the eldest of five children to
English
parents Charles Alderton Sr. and Hephzebah Courtice.
[2]
[3]
Alderton attended
Framlingham College
in England, studied medicine at the
University of Texas
, and worked as a pharmacist in
Waco
, in a shop called "Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store",
[4]
which had a
soda fountain
.
Creation of Dr Pepper
[
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]
Alderton noticed that customers were tiring of the traditional flavors of
sarsaparilla
, lemon and
vanilla
, and so to try and revive sales, began experimenting with new flavor combinations, eventually settling on a 23 ingredient mix combined with
phosphoric acid
to give it tang. It was first sold on December 1, 1885, and was ordered by asking the soda attendant to "shoot a Waco".
[5]
Alderton gave the formula to the owner of Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store, Wade Morrison, who then named it Dr Pepper.
It was introduced to almost 20 million people while attending the 1904
World's Fair Exposition
in
St. Louis
, Missouri as a new kind of soft drink.
[6]
Its introduction in 1885 preceded the introduction of
Coca-Cola
by one year.
Completed in 1906, the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company, located at 300 South Fifth Street in downtown Waco, Texas, was the first building to be built specifically to bottle Dr Pepper and Dr Pepper was bottled there until the 1960s. The building now houses the
Dr Pepper Museum
, which opened to the public in 1991. The museum has three floors of exhibits, a working old-fashioned soda fountain, and a gift store of Dr Pepper memorabilia.
[7]
[8]
Personal life
[
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]
Alderton married twice in his life. His first wife was Lilian "Lillie" E. Walker, whom he married in October 1884. It was announced in the
Galveston, Texas
, newspaper. They married at the residence of Lillie's father J. B. Walker.
[9]
Lillie died in 1916. Alderton married Emilie Marie Coquille on December 20, 1918, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Death
[
edit
]
Alderton died on May 29, 1941 in
Waco, Texas
at the age of 83.
Alderton is buried in
Waco's
Oakwood Cemetery
.
References
[
edit
]