# Curious about Front Royal, VA and its 7-up Bottling Plant?  Any help please?



## GeorgePMR (May 31, 2021)

Hi just started collecting bottles from my hometown of Front Royal, VA.   I got one now off ebay (Nu-Icy) and I'm hooked, not sure if this is pc but filled it with mountain dew and found a nos cap and bottled it for display!   I'm going to lite it underneath later.

But I was trying to find out about the 7-up bottling plant in Front Royal and there's literally nothing on the internet about it?  Apparently the Front Royal Coke bottle is really rare (Scarce +) all that's left is the Coca-Cola sign in town still looking good!  

Here's an older pic of the sign...


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## GeorgePMR (May 31, 2021)

Here's what it looks like today (Google Maps)


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## GeorgePMR (May 31, 2021)




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## GeorgePMR (Aug 6, 2022)

Well I finally found a Coke bottle last weekend from Front Royal here.  In pretty good shape.  The bottle is from 1916-1928 and marked Pat 'D Nov 16, 1915.


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## GeorgePMR (Aug 6, 2022)

And found a little more information on the bottling plant here in town.


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## GeorgePMR (Sep 30, 2022)

Well this is where I'm at now, I've found 4 Front Royal Bottles so far.  The first one I randomly picked up in an antiques store after searching for over 12 years. That's the one shown above.  Went to Bill Porter's house and obtained a David Lyon '26 Graham in mint condition, and a '25 in near mint condition as well.  Had a blast meting Bill and seeing his impressive collection with variants that will make your head explode!  Great making a new friend.  Learned so much about the hobby from him, a lot of information that is not easily found on the interbews.  Just purchased another off flebay for $20 and almost got a traffic ticket driving to go get it, the kind Officer let me off with a warning thankfully.  I had a FroRo bottle cap but gave up on ever finding a bottle and lost it to my Brothers abyss of a home...were looking for it. lol  Also reached out to the Warren County Heritage Society to help find out more information on this FroRo bottling plant that supposedly burnt down in the late 20's.  As far as I can tell it only Bottled Hobbleskirts 1915's and 1923 Christmas Cokes.


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## GeorgePMR (Sep 30, 2022)

David Lyon's Bottle tags and the tiny brighter one is Bill's.  The wire rack is pretty rare, it reminds me of the Andy Warhol 3 Cokes print.  I painted it and added soft red Velcro strips (loops side) on the inside to cushion them so it wouldn't scratch the bottles for display.


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## hemihampton (Sep 30, 2022)

What's a David Lyons 26 Grimes????????????


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## GeorgePMR (Oct 1, 2022)

hemihampton said:


> What's a David Lyons 26 Grimes????????????


Sorry typo Graham is the bottle manufacture dated 1926.  David Lyon was a large collector of Coke bottles here's a killer article about him and Bill Porter.


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## hemihampton (Oct 1, 2022)

Interesting Article, Thanks, Leon.


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## GeorgePMR (Oct 7, 2022)

Here is the only known picture of the Coca~Cola Front Royal, VA Bottling Works here in town.  Of course there's a pretty lady in the picture.  Built in 1922 *after* a fire burned down 15 buildings on Main St. and then the plant moved to another location in 1961.


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## GeorgePMR (Oct 7, 2022)

Here is a picture of the wood building that burned down prior to them rebuilding it into a brick structure at 501 E Main St.


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## GeorgePMR (Dec 16, 2022)

I found some interesting 1920's news articles about the Front royal, VA Coca-Cola Bottling Works'


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## GeorgePMR (Dec 16, 2022)

...more


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## GeorgePMR (Dec 18, 2022)

Killer 1926 FroRo Coke advertisements, seems like the plant got bought out by the Central Bottling Company in the late 1920's.


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## GeorgePMR (Dec 18, 2022)

...


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## GeorgePMR (Dec 18, 2022)

I have now a 1923, '24, '25 & '26 Hobbleskirt Cokes, Worthpoint shows a 1929 Christmas Coke sold from here.  Also found a beautiful aqua Soda Water from FroRo, it's a 1929 Graham.  In 1930 seems like the managers all left Front Royal, VA onto bigger plants.  The FroRo plant must have been turned into a warehouse or something, explains why there's no Pat-D's and on from here.


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## GeorgePMR (Dec 18, 2022)

7-Up Front Royal, VA bottling plant established in 1946.


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## GeorgePMR (Dec 18, 2022)

Some articles about the early Cristo-Cola Front Royal, VA bottling company.


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