Coca Cola in the Magnolia State

 

Located off Washington Street or US Highway 61 (also known as the Blues Highway) in Vicksburg, Mississippi, is the Biedenharn Coca Cola Museum, home to the first Coca-Cola bottle.

As you enter the structure, which is in its original form, take a deep breathe as you will smell the wonderful odor of nostalgia. The plethora of Coca-Cola merchandise displayed along the walls of the gift shop will you bring back into the world of Norman Rockwell. While walking around the gift shop, a soda pop display is wrapped around you.

A woman at the register will point out that the beginning of the tour is through the first door to the left. Upon passing through the first room, one will find a large sign displaying the town of Vicksburg and the year 1894.

 

From there a slew of Coca-Cola items ranging from calendars to advertisements dance
along display cases. Across the unique collection one will see how the bottles were produced.

 

From there you will be able to see more collectables until you make a left and go out the door and into a reproduction of an 1890's soda fountain room with period soda fountains and seating. The tour will finish up in the gift shop where you will see various Coca-Cola bottles from different periods along the wall and display case.

Where did it all begin?

Joseph Biedenharn, a Vicksburg native, was born in 1866. His father Hermann was the owner of a candy store called Biedenharn and Brother. After Joseph took over the business, the name of the business became Biedenharn Candy Company. In 1890, they built a two-story brick building on 1107 Washington Street. A feature of Joe's candy store was a soda fountain that provided a plethora of soda fountain drinks to customers. As the story has been told, "Uncle Joe" wanted to provide Coca-Cola to his customers in the county the same way he sold his other bottled soda beverages.

Overtime, he sent one of the first cases of "bottled" Coca-Cola to chief operator Asa Candler, who purchased the soda's ingredients from John Pemberton and ran the company. After receiving his blessing, the Biedenharn's interest in the soda company augmented, which resulted in holding the bottling rights in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas. It was here where Coca-Cola's first bottles were produced in 1894 when Joseph thought of bottling Coca-Cola the same way as he was bottling soda water. Each bottle was sealed with a rubber disk, which was pushed into the neck of the bottle and held with a wire. After a week, the rubber had to be changed due to the change of the beverage's flavor.

At the turn of the century, Joe switched to the straight-sided crown bottles, which maintained that classic Coca-Cola taste. They were hand blown in molds until 1910 when bottles were machine made and standardized. The straight-sides were carved with "Biedenharn Candy Company, Vicksburg, Miss." The Biedenharns continued to bottle Coca-Cola until 1938 when the plant moved to 2133 Washington Street. After they sold the candy and soda pop shop several years later, the building was used for various commercial uses until 1979. At which point, a family purchased the store and began rehabiliating it by using historic photographs to restore the buildings spaces and installing exhibits tracing the history of its Coca-Cola heritage. Shortly after, the family donated the place to the Vicksburg Foundation of Historic Preservation.

 

Biedenharn Coca-Cola Museum
1107 Washington Street Vicksburg, MS 39183
Biedenharn Coca Cola Museum