Charles Alderton

Charles Courtice Alderton (June 21, 1857 – May 29, 1941)[1] was an American pharmacist and the creator of the carbonated soft drink Dr Pepper.

Charles Alderton
Charles Courtice Alderton
Born(1857-06-21)June 21, 1857
Brooklyn, New York City, USA
DiedMay 29, 1941(1941-05-29) (aged 83)
Waco, Texas, USA
OccupationPharmacist
Known forCreator of Dr Pepper
Spouse(s)Lillie E. Walker (1884)
Emilie Marie Coquille (1918)

Early life

Charles Courtice Alderton was born (June 21, 1857, Brooklyn, New York), the eldest of five children to English parents.[2] 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",[3] which had a soda fountain.

Creation of Dr Pepper
"Drink Bottled Dr. Pepper" ad in 1906.
Dr. Pepper logo (1909)

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".[4] Alderton gave the formula to Wade Morrison, who 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 soda pop.[5] Its introduction in 1885 preceded the introduction of Coca-Cola by one year.

Corner Drug Store exhibit at the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco, Texas.

Completed in 1906, the building was the first building to be built specifically to bottle Dr Pepper and Dr Pepper was bottled there until the 1960s. The Dr Pepper Museum, located in the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company building at 300 South Fifth Street in downtown Waco, Texas, 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.[6][7]

Personal life

Alderton married twice. His first wife was Lilian "Lillie" E. Walker, whom married in October 1884. It was announced in the Galveston, Texas newspaper. They married at the residence of J. B. Walker (Lillie's father) with Methodist Rev. Mr. Young present.[8] Lillie died in 1916. He married Emilie Marie Coquille on 20 December 1918 in New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana.

Death

Alderton died in 1941. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Waco, McLennan County, Texas, in Plot: Section B-1 Lot 425.[9]

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References
  1. Charles Alderton – NNDB
  2. Hallett, Anthony; Hallett, Diane. "Entrepreneur magazine encyclopedia of entrepreneurs". Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  3. "Dr Pepper FAQ". Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  4. Donovan, Tristan (2014). Fizz : how soda shook up the world. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Review Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-1613747223.
  5. Dr Pepper museum – The 1904 World's Fair
  6. Waco's Dr Pepper Museum and its holographic ghost Houston Chronicle. Retrieved October 8, 2019
  7. Dr Pepper Museum – Waco, Texas – Gastro Obscura. Retrieved October 8, 2019
  8. Charles Courtice Alderton (1857–1941) – Wacomasomic
  9. Find a Grave Charles C. Alderton
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