Did you know that Alto once had a soft drink bottling plant? I knew, because my late father-in-law, Grady Singletary, had told me about it. So I was very excited when my daughter Anne found and purchased on Ebay this bottle from the Artesian Bottling Works Alto, Texas, 1915.
A search of the online Alto Heralds yielded more information. The whole thing began in May of 1914 when A D Lesterjet arrived from Nacogdoches with a well-drilling outfit and a crew of four men and began operations at once to bore for artesian water for a city water works for Alto. At two to three hundred feet they hit a strata of the hardest kind of gumbo, but felt confident that at 700 – 800 feet there would be ample artesian water flowing.
On January 28, 1915 the editor reports that the Artesian Bottling Works has begun production and has brought the newspaper office a free case of each drink. Too bad he doesn’t tell us what the various drinks are, but he makes the point that they are made with the water from the artesian well “which already is making itself famous for its purity and healing nature”.
From then on through most of 1915 there was a sizeable advertisement in every issue, letting readers know that the Artesian Bottling Company did not sell retail, but urging them to buy from one of the distributors at 75 cents per case. Soon they had added ice cream to their products (hopefully made from milk and not artesian water).
A front page story on July 22 reads in part: The Artesian Bottling Works which was installed on Busy (Bee) street at the beginning of the present season is now shipping its drinks to all parts of the county, besides the large amount that is consumed by the home people. The Artesian drinks are being called for at all places where soft drinks are sold. ….. This is a home enterprise and merits the patronage of home people”.
The next week, a small story headed WE MAKE IT suggested that the Artesian Bottling Works was making and selling coca cola (small letters). Try our much improved “coke” it said. This was at a time when the Coca Cola company was trying desperately to protect its product from copycats. It is when the company designed the distinctive shaped bottle to identify authentic “Coke”.
Incidentally, at this same time, Dr Pepper was being produced by a company called Artesian Bottling Works. It is unclear whether there was any connection but it seems unlikely, since the Alto Artesian Bottling Works was touted as a “home enterprise” and a ½ interest in the company was sold to a Louisiana man in May 1915.
Surprisingly, before the year was out, no more mention is made in the Herald of the Artesian Bottling Works. Did it close? Or was it so popular that it felt no more need of advertising? We may never know.
Originally Published in the Cherokeean April 17, 2013