# Cheerwine from Asheville, NC



## morbious_fod (Apr 7, 2014)

This weekend I found a paneled Cheerwine bottle from Asheville, NC at a toy show in Johnson City. I can't find anything on it online. Any of you Asheville collectors know who was bottling Cheerwine down there in 1952?


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## Aloysia (Apr 7, 2014)

This hard-to-find vintage Caravan Soda Beverage Drink Bottle, made by Cheerwine Bottling Co., Charlotte, North Carolina. Cheerwine became a patented beverage in 1926, and opened a bottling company in Charlotte in 1927, but was sold to the Sun-Drop Company shortly thereafter.  Is this what u r asking about ?


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## 2find4me (Apr 7, 2014)

I assume you are talking about this paneled deco Cheerwine: 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





If this is your bottle it dates from around the 1920's.I have no idea who would have been the bottler from Asheville, although Cheerwine was bottled through out NC starting in 1926.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 7, 2014)

Morb This is just a shot in the dark, but do you suppose it's possible that the NEHI BOTTING COMPANY of Asheville also bottled Cheerwine? If you are not already familiar with this book, check out the picture of the Nehi plant in Asheville and you will notice they also bottled Royal Crown and Par-T-Pak. I'm not sure what year the picture was taken but it appears to be from the 1940s or 1950s. http://books.google.com/books?id=CiVDOcBTZAEC&pg=PA97&dq=asheville+north+carolina+bottling&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wh5DU_HoC-GEyAHbwIDACA&ved=0CGYQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=asheville%20north%20carolina%20bottling&f=false


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 7, 2014)

P.S. The text on the previous page says "Royal Crown Bottling" but the sign on the building says "Nehi Bottling" so I'm not sure which of the two references is the correct one. Maybe it was both. ???


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 7, 2014)

P.S. ~ P.S. I looked through numerous newspaper archives but this is the only listing I could find related to Asheville, North Carolina soda bottlers. ( If nothing else, it at least helps to answer one of my previous questions).  *The Church Advocate ~ Asheville, N.C. ~ August 13, 1943*


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## MichaelFla (Apr 7, 2014)

Cheerwine and Lime Cola were made by the same company. Cheerwine has been around since ca. 1917, and is still around today. Cheerwine


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 7, 2014)

Clarification ... I realize there were other soda bottlers in Asheville in the 1940s and 1950s, such as Coca Cola - Pepsi Cola - Orange Crush (and possibly others) but my search and recent postings are primarily focused on *Cheerwine* bottlers, which I have been unable to find any references for. At least not in Asheville, North Carolina.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 7, 2014)

This will be my last post unless I find something directly related to a Cheerwine bottler in Asheville in 1952 or thereabouts. Just for the record, from ... *1948*


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## MichaelFla (Apr 7, 2014)

I found a snippet in a book titled "Problems of American Small Business" (with a really long subtitle) from 1942 that says:"Location and names of plants temporarily closed because unable to obtain sugar, together with the names of sugar distributors or brokers who are unable to deliver the sugar:                      Asheville:                              Smoky Mountain Distributors, Food Brokers, Inc.                              Dr. Pepper, Pilot Brokerage Co.                              Tru-Ade, Avery Rhyne                              Cheerwine, Thomas & Howard, C. D. Kenny Division                              Seven-Up, Savannah Sugar Refinery, Savannah"


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## morbious_fod (Apr 8, 2014)

2find4me said:
			
		

> I assume you are talking about this paneled deco Cheerwine:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



You are correct that is the style of bottle I am referring to; however, those bottles were used into the early 1950's. Like I said mine is dated 1952. I know this for sure, because I am familiar with the dating on these bottles due to my research of my Johnson City Tennessee version which was dated 1951 and corresponded with the introduction ads I found in the local newspapers. In that case the bottler was the local Double Cola Bottling Company.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 8, 2014)

MichaelFla said:
			
		

> I found a snippet in a book titled "Problems of American Small Business" (with a really long subtitle) from 1942 that says:"Location and names of plants temporarily closed because unable to obtain sugar, together with the names of sugar distributors or brokers who are unable to deliver the sugar:                      Asheville:                              Smoky Mountain Distributors, Food Brokers, Inc.                              Dr. Pepper, Pilot Brokerage Co.                              Tru-Ade, Avery Rhyne                              Cheerwine, Thomas & Howard, C. D. Kenny Division                              Seven-Up, Savannah Sugar Refinery, Savannah"



Thomas & Howard along with C. D. Kenny Division were wholesale grocers, so it is likely that they were unable to deliver sugar to a Cheerwine bottler in Asheville; however, this is in 1942. 

I finally found a source for the Asheville City Directories. The strange thing is that a Cheerwine Bottling Company isn't even listed in 1940, 41, or 42, but that is beside the point.

The era we are looking for is around 1952, which is exactly the one that is missing from my source; however, we have 1951 and 1953.


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## cowseatmaize (Apr 8, 2014)

Maybe you can call and ask. http://www.marvwnc.com/#top17It can't hurt.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 8, 2014)

[attachment=1951.jpg]As my bottle is in almost mint shape it is possilble that it may have never been used. I'm speculating that we are dealing with a bottler that went out of business around 1952. Looking at the list I'd say we have some candidates. First there is the Asheville Beverage Company, generic name makes it very possible. Canada Dry Bottling of Asheville, my knowledge of Canada Dry Bottling in Bristol which started around the same time informs me that they weren't in the habit of taking on non Canada Dry sodas so I say they are ruled out. Orange Crush is possible as the one in Johnson City picked up that franchise from the Double Cola Bottling Company when they went out business in 1953; however, I don't know.

My money is on the Asheville Beverage Company which in 1948-49 were known as the Clicquot Club Bottling Company which makes me think they were searching for another leader after possibly losing the Clicquot Club franchise. You don't change your name for no reason. They weren't in existiance in 1947, so they were most likely another returning veteran bottling plant just like many started by G. I.s returning from WWII that only lasted a couple of years. Explains the relative scarcity of these Cheerwine bottles. [attachment=1953.jpg]  Seven up is still there in 1953, I just didn't want to bother with the next page.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 8, 2014)

I have found several ads for the Royal Crown Bottling Company in Asheville from the time period that list their sodas all of which are Royal Crown/Nehi/Par-T-Pak products. If they were bottling Cheerwine then I would bet the would have mentioned it.


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## MichaelFla (Apr 8, 2014)

[blockquote]"I finally found a source for the Asheville City Directories. The strange thing is that a Cheerwine Bottling Company isn't even listed in 1940, 41, or 42, but that is beside the point." [/blockquote]They aren't listed on the city directory but they were certainly there. Perhaps the bottling facility was actually located outside the city limits. I find this a lot in my area. In which case they would never show up on a city directory.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 8, 2014)

Morb I have hit a dead-end but wish you success in your search. I thought you and other Cheerwine fans might enjoy this ad for a future reference ... *The Gastoria Gazette ~ Gastoria, N.C. ~ June 19, 1957*


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## morbious_fod (Apr 8, 2014)

Ah, so the new bottle was released in 1957. I knew it had to be mid-1950's, but I wasn't sure.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 8, 2014)

MichaelFla said:
			
		

> [blockquote]"I finally found a source for the Asheville City Directories. The strange thing is that a Cheerwine Bottling Company isn't even listed in 1940, 41, or 42, but that is beside the point." [/blockquote]They aren't listed on the city directory but they were certainly there. Perhaps the bottling facility was actually located outside the city limits. I find this a lot in my area. In which case they would never show up on a city directory.



It could also be possible that The C. D. Kenny Division was bottling Cheerwine at the time. I noticed that in a 1951 ad in a year book from the area C. D. Kenny noted that they also manufactured food items as well. This may be why a Cheerwine Bottling Company doesn't appear in the city directories. I didn't have time to research too far into the C. D. Kenny Division, or Thomas & Howard, during the time period in question. Wholesale Grocers did bottle in some cases. The fact that both are mentioned in the information you posted suggests a connection, whether it is as owners or sugar supplies is the question.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 9, 2014)

Morb

I realize the attached snippet is thirty years earlier than the time period you are interested in, but because it is the only reference I could find that places Cheerwine in Asheville, I thought the names might lead to something helpful.

*Mint Cola Bottling Company ~ Asheville, N.C. ~ 1920 ~ Bottled Cheerwine *


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 9, 2014)

This is probably the best I'm going to come up with. At least it's from the right time period. Notice it mentions *six *bottlers located in Asheville ...

1.  Dr. Pepper
2.  Frosty Root Beer [Frostie]
3.  Royal Crown Cola
4.  Orange Crush
5.  Pepsi Cola
6.  Seven Up

Maybe it was one of these six that bottled Cheerwine in 1952. Note: There were other bottlers in Asheville in 1951, such as Coca Cola, but apparently these six were the only ones that increased their price. I haven't found anything related to the Frostie Bottling Company in Asheville, but I do know the company had their own bottling plants which started around 1947. 

From ...

*The Robesonian (Newspaper) ~ Lumberton, N.C. ~ January 10, 1951*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 10, 2014)

Morb

If the Gastonia, N.C. Orange Crush company, which is about 125 miles northwest of Asheville, bottled Cheerwine, do you suppose the Orange Crush bottler in Asheville might have bottled it too?

*The Gastonia Gazette ~ Gastonia, N.C. ~ December 1, 1949*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 10, 2014)

I haven't been able to find any specifics about the Asheville Orange Crush bottler yet, but I did find this about the Gastonia Orange Crush bottler ... *Gastonia Gazette ~ October 17, 1950*


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## morbious_fod (Apr 10, 2014)

Good catch. I had forgotten that there was a Mint Cola bottle from Asheville.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 10, 2014)

Frostie Root Beer could possibly be Asheville Beverage Company with another franchise, because it doesn't show up in the city directory as a stand alone company.

As for Orange Crush, I did mention that Johnson City's OC bottler also bottled Cheerwine after acquiring the franchise from the local Double Cola bottler after 1953, so anything is possible. Orange Crush of Asheville was once Biltmore Beverage bottlers of those great Biltmore Beverage acls. They also drop off the edge of the earth around 1952. I had thought of them, but I'm still thinking of the Asheville Beverage Company if the Frostie Root Beer mentioned is them then they were certainly actively searching for a leader brand while Orange Crush was a long established company that was slowly going out of business.

But that gives us two desperate companies trying to stay in business, each of which fail to do so by 1953 which puts a 1952 Cheerwine right in the realm of possibility for both.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 10, 2014)

Knowing that there is a connection between Orange Crush/Biltmore Club of Asheville, NC and Durham, NC, I tried that angle hoping it might have the elusive 1952 issue of the city directory which might help clear it up; however, it appears that the Durham branch didn't even make it to the 1950's.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 10, 2014)

morbious_fod said:
			
		

> But that gives us two desperate companies trying to stay in business, each of which fail to do so by 1953 which puts a 1952 Cheerwine right in the realm of possibility for both.



 Could you please clarify which two companies you are referring to? Thanks


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 10, 2014)

I did a follow-up on the Asheville Mint Cola Bottling Works and found the following ... ( But even though the 1920 snippet indicates they were located in Asheville and bottled Cheerwine at the time, it appears they were only in Asheville for about a year. ??? ) 1. 19202. September 1921


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 10, 2014)

Morb

I suspect you are aware of this website (or one similar to it) so this is primarily for other members who might like to do some searching of their own.

Asheville, N.C. City Directories ~ 1883 Through 1951

[URL=http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/books/asheville_city_directories/default_ashe_city_direct.html]http://toto.lib.unca.edu/..._ashe_city_direct.html


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 10, 2014)

P.S.

The link I posted in my last reply does not include a 1921 Asheville Directory but this one does. Mint Cola is not listed in the previous 1922 Directory but it does appear in this 1921 Directory.   

*1921 Asheville Directory ~ Includes Chero Cola - Coca Cola - Mint Cola - & Others *


*Super-long text but listed alphabetically ...  *

[URL=http://archive.org/stream/ashevillenorthca20mill/ashevillenorthca20mill_djvu.txt]http://archive.org/stream...northca20mill_djvu.txt 

MINT-COLA BOTTLING CO, 15 Carolina la — phone 3764, J J Dell  Mngr


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 10, 2014)

Morb

This one's for you! 

These guys have a 1952 Asheville directory but I'm not sure if you have to go to the university itself or if there is some other way of accessing it. They have an "Ask A Librarian" link that might be a place to start and/or possibly contact them by email.  http://www2.lib.unc.edu/ncc/ref/phone/phone.html


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 11, 2014)

Morb I called the University of North Carolina who has the 1952 Asheville directory and am in the process, via email, of finding out everything I can regarding bottlers, etc. Although I have not received any specific information yet, I wanted to let you know what I was up to so that both of us did not contact them at the same time about the same information. The directories are reference only and not transferable to other libraries. I am in contact with a library worker who is assisting me who I hope to hear back from soon. I will let you know just as soon as I hear from them. Bob


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 11, 2014)

Here's the copy/pasted message I sent to the University of North Carolina library. I hope I covered all of the bases. 
Good Morning:

I was given this contact address by a member of your staff in the hope you could assist me with the following.

I am seeking information from ...

1.  North Carolina Collection
2.  City Phone Directory
3.  *Asheville, N.C. ~  Buncombe County*
3.  *1952 Edition*
5.  Your online list shows the Call Number as  *Cp971.11  A82s2*

I am a collector/researcher of soda pop memorabilia and specifically interested in anything in the 1952 Asheville directory listed under ...

1.  Bottlers
2.  Beverages
3.  Carbonated Beverage Bottlers
4.  Etc.

I'm not sure exactly how they would be listed but would appreciate it if you could check at send me a list of all the Soda Beverage Bottlers located in Asheville, N.C. in *1952*. And especially if one of them includes the brand name of soda pop called *Cheerwine*. There might even be some advertisements in the directory that would be of interest to me as well. If you have the capability and time to scan any listings, I would welcome those attachments.   

Please contact me if you have any questions and/or need clarification on my request.

Thank you in advance for your assistance - it is very much appreciated.

Bob Brown
California


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 11, 2014)

The following is a copy/pasted portion of a message that I just received in response to my email inquiry ... "Thank you for your recent inquiry and for your interest in the materials held in the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Research and Instructional Services staff answer reference requests in the order in which they are received, and because of the volume of requests, the initial response may take up to fifteen business days (three weeks)." ~ * ~ So it looks as if I have no choice but to wait and hear from them and will post what they have to say once I receive it. In the meantime, I found this Cheerwine bottle cap that I believe is from the 1950s and has "Orange Crush Bottling" on it and is from Leaksville, N.C. I did a little research and discovered that the town name of "Leasksville" was changed to "Eden" in 1967. I also discovered that the Leaksville Orange Crush Bottling Company was in operation in 1952. My line of thinking is, if one North Carolina Orange Crush bottler was bottling Cheerwine in the 1950s that others, like the one in Asheville, also might have. ???


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 12, 2014)

*Another Mystery!*

I wonder why the *Sun Crest Bottling Company *of Asheville, who produced this *1951 2-Way bottle*, does not appear in the 1948, 1950, 1951, or 1953 Asheville directories?

Possible Answer:
Because the previously posted bottler's listings are from the Business/Yellow Pages section of the directories, I suspect businesses had to pay extra in order to be listed there. It's possible that some bottlers either didn't want to pay the extra fee or possibly would have paid but missed the publishing deadline. However, I checked the white pages of the 1951 directory and the Sun Crest Bottling Company was not listed there, either. So I really don't know what to make of it!


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 12, 2014)

*Directories ~ Business/Yellow Pages ... ( No Sun Crest Bottling Company )* *1.  1948**2.  1950**3.  1951*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 12, 2014)

*4.  1953*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 12, 2014)

Here's a direct link to the 1951 directory. If you type *Bottling *in the search box (and wait a moment) it will pull up all of the listings in the directory that use the word "Bottling" and will include those in the white pages as well as the those in the yellow pages. The various listings will appear at the bottom of the page in the form of small, yellow teardrops. From there you can slowly move your cursor-arrow over the teardrops to see the listing or else click on a particular teardrop and it will take you directly to that particular page. However, if you type "Cheerwine" in the search box, it will say "No Matches Were Found." The same result occurs when you type in "Sun Crest." The closest wording to Sun Crest anywhere in the directory is the word Sunset ...  Be sure to use the *+ *symbol or the "Full Screen" option to enlarge ... https://archive.org/details/millersasheville1951hill


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 12, 2014)

Hey, Morb Look at what I found ... (Close, but no cigar, yet) [] http://www.oldtelephonebooks.com/state/North%20Carolina *June of 1952*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 12, 2014)

P.S. Morb: In case you're wondering why I'm "bombarding" your thread, the main reasons are three-fold ... 1.  I enjoy a good research challenge.2.  I was born in 1952.3.  I'm nursing an infected foot, can barely walk, and have been stuck inside for a week now. I hope you don't mind and will be sure to post the info about the 1952 directory just as soon as I hear from the University. However, in the event the 1952 directory is no different than the 1951 and 1953 directories and does not contain any useful clues, that will pretty much take us back to square-one. Which I am prepared for and why I am focusing my current searches on the Orange Crush Bottling Company. Based on everything I have seen so far, there appears to have been more North Carolina Orange Crush bottlers that handled Cheerwine than anyone else. I realize this is inconclusive and unconfirmed, but even with that said, my current money is on Orange Crush. If nothing else, I have to believe there is a Asheville Cheerwine *bottle cap *out there somewhere that will have the bottler's name on it and hopefully solve the mystery. Bob


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 12, 2014)

Lastly ... (For the time being) Where do the 1940s-1950s "Asheville, Tip Bottling Company" bottles fit into the equation? Tip is not listed in the directories, either. I'm beginning to think the Asheville directories are not 100% accurate and for some unknown reason do not include bottlers that should be there. ??? There's an Asheville, Tip bottle on eBay right now, but I'm not sure of the date. Check it out! http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASHEVILLE-NC-TIP-ACL-SODA-BOTTLE-10-OZ-/281307863376?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item417f415950


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## MichaelFla (Apr 12, 2014)

Again, consider the fact that they might have been outside the city limits. City directories in my area did not include businesses adjacent to but outside the city limits. Not sure if this holds true everywhere but I have found it very frustrating here.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 12, 2014)

Correction ... Here's the base of the Tip bottle where I just now noticed the LGW (Laurens Glass Works) mark. But I still can't tell what the first number is. The two numbers are the date. So it must be either 1935 - 1945 - 1955 *?  LGW  5*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 12, 2014)

MichaelFla said:
			
		

> Again, consider the fact that they might have been outside the city limits. City directories in my area did not include businesses adjacent to but outside the city limits. Not sure if this holds true everywhere but I have found it very frustrating here.



 Michael: Thanks for the reminder. It must be something like that because nothing else seems to make sense. I might contact the Buncombe County records department and see if they have anything. There's gotta be a record somewhere!


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 12, 2014)

Instead of messing around with the Buncombe county records, I went straight to the source and sent the following message to the current Cheerwine headquarters located in Salisbury, North Carolina ...  Can you please tell me who bottled Cheerwine in Asheville, N.C. in the 1950s? And especially in 1952?  I have looked everywhere online, including old directories, but I cannot find a Cheerwine bottler located in Asheville in 1952, nor one located there anytime in the 1950s. The reason I ask is because a friend of mine has an older "panel-embossed" Cheerwine bottle that is marked Asheville, N.C. and that also has a 1952 date code, but we cannot figure out what bottler in Asheville or in Buncombe county that might have produced it. I am hoping your records might shed some light on this.   Any assistance you can extend me in solving this mystery will be very much appreciated. Thank you, Bob Brown


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## morbious_fod (Apr 12, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> morbious_fod said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I told you both of them in the exact same post Soda. Asheville Beverage Company and the Orange Crush Bottling Company.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 12, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> Morb
> 
> I suspect you are aware of this website (or one similar to it) so this is primarily for other members who might like to do some searching of their own.
> 
> ...



Yeah that links to the Internet Archive where I found them.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 12, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> The following is a copy/pasted portion of a message that I just received in response to my email inquiry ... "Thank you for your recent inquiry and for your interest in the materials held in the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Research and Instructional Services staff answer reference requests in the order in which they are received, and because of the volume of requests, the initial response may take up to fifteen business days (three weeks)." ~ * ~ So it looks as if I have no choice but to wait and hear from them and will post what they have to say once I receive it. In the meantime, I found this Cheerwine bottle cap that I believe is from the 1950s and has "Orange Crush Bottling" on it and is from Leaksville, N.C. I did a little research and discovered that the town name of "Leasksville" was changed to "Eden" in 1967. I also discovered that the Leaksville Orange Crush Bottling Company was in operation in 1952. My line of thinking is, if one North Carolina Orange Crush bottler was bottling Cheerwine in the 1950s that others, like the one in Asheville, also might have. ???


Anything is possible, but I'm sure that Cheerwine wasn't an exclusive to Orange Crush bottlers, but there certainly seems to be quite a few of them bottling Cheerwine.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 12, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> *Another Mystery!*
> 
> I wonder why the *Sun Crest Bottling Company *of Asheville, who produced this *1951 2-Way bottle*, does not appear in the 1948, 1950, 1951, or 1953 Asheville directories?
> 
> ...



I doubt it. If I believed the back of every bottle there would be a Hires Root Beer Bottling Company in Johnson City Tennessee when I know it was being bottled by Quality Orange Kist. There would be a Tru-Ade Bottling Company there as well even though Tru-Ade was being bottled by Dr. Pepper. Also pertaining to this inquiry, there would be a Cheerwine Bottling Company when I know that they were being bottled by the Double Cola Bottling Company, Orange Crush Bottling Company, and Tri-City Beverage respectively. The franchise got passed around as the companies went out business and sold.z 2 Way is a product of the National Nugrape Company, which also owned Sun Crest. I could have swore that in one of those annuals I looked through Nu-grape, thus related products, was being bottled by the local Dr. Pepper bottler.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 12, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> Lastly ... (For the time being) Where do the 1940s-1950s "Asheville, Tip Bottling Company" bottles fit into the equation? Tip is not listed in the directories, either. I'm beginning to think the Asheville directories are not 100% accurate and for some unknown reason do not include bottlers that should be there. ??? There's an Asheville, Tip bottle on eBay right now, but I'm not sure of the date. Check it out! http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASHEVILLE-NC-TIP-ACL-SODA-BOTTLE-10-OZ-/281307863376?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item417f415950



Most of the bottlers of Tip were Pepsi-Cola Bottling Companies, especially down in North Carolina. In fact when the Tip Corporation was sold to Pepsi-Cola in 1964 there were only 16 non-Pepsi bottlers bottling Mountain Dew.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 12, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> Correction ... Here's the base of the Tip bottle where I just now noticed the LGW (Laurens Glass Works) mark. But I still can't tell what the first number is. The two numbers are the date. So it must be either 1935 - 1945 - 1955 *?  LGW  5*


That bottle wasn't introduced until 1948 so my guess is 55.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 12, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> Instead of messing around with the Buncombe county records, I went straight to the source and sent the following message to the current Cheerwine headquarters located in Salisbury, North Carolina ...  Can you please tell me who bottled Cheerwine in Asheville, N.C. in the 1950s? And especially in 1952?  I have looked everywhere online, including old directories, but I cannot find a Cheerwine bottler located in Asheville in 1952, nor one located there anytime in the 1950s. The reason I ask is because a friend of mine has an older "panel-embossed" Cheerwine bottle that is marked Asheville, N.C. and that also has a 1952 date code, but we cannot figure out what bottler in Asheville or in Buncombe county that might have produced it. I am hoping your records might shed some light on this.   Any assistance you can extend me in solving this mystery will be very much appreciated. Thank you, Bob Brown



Let's hope that old timer is still around who helped me figure out that Cheerwine was being bottled by Orange Crush of Johnson City, because the rest of them will have no clue. Yeah I've done this before, just not for Asheville.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 13, 2014)

Morb

Thanks for the replies - they really help to clarify things and little by little add more pieces to the puzzle. If the newspaper archives I subscribed to had more Asheville papers, I probably would have found the answer by now. But, unfortunately, the archives for Asheville only go to 1915 and there are no listings later than that. I have to rely on newspapers from surrounding communities but those rarely have any specifics about Asheville, especially regarding bottling companies.

Your comments sparked some new questions, which I will post later just as soon as I organize them.  In the meantime, and because I know you have done some research on Chero Cola, I couldn't pass up sharing the following that I hope you and other Chero Cola collectors will find both interesting and helpful. I found it in one of the 1915 Asheville newspapers and it contains some specific details about the Chero Cola Bottling Company located there. The map is a bonus from 1917 and shows the Chero Cola Bottling Company on South Side Avenue.

I realize Chero Cola is off topic but I also know how hard it can be to find stuff like this and wanted to share it   

Chero Cola newspaper article from ...

*The Asheville Gazette-News  ~  April 17, 1915*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 13, 2014)

morbious_fod said:
			
		

> Orange Crush of Asheville was once Biltmore Beverage bottlers of those great Biltmore Beverage acls. They also drop off the edge of the earth around 1952.



Morb I stumbled onto these two bottles while searching for information regarding the Asheville Orange Crush Bottling Company. But it wasn't until after I found them that I remembered your above comments and thought I'd share them. Notice they are identically styled bottles except that ... 1.  The bottle on the left is embossed with "Asheville-Durham Biltmore Club." Whereas ... 2.  The bottle on the right is embossed with "Asheville Orange Crush." I don't know the dates and the descriptions did not say. But I find it interesting that both bottles are the same style and from the same time period, which I suspect are from the 1920s or 1930s. Question: What year did Biltmore Beverages change to Orange Crush?


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 14, 2014)

I found this "page turning" directory to be quite interesting. Check it out! *North Carolina Directory of Manufacturing Firms ~ 1952* *https://archive.org/details/northcarolinadirnort *


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## morbious_fod (Apr 14, 2014)

Good find.
I honestly have no clue when they changed the name of Biltmore Club.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 14, 2014)

I just received this from the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina. Because the attachment was sent to me in a pdf format, I had to print/scan/save it in order to achieve the following results. Unfortunately, it does not list Cheerwine as a stand-alone company, but it does list other companies that are possible canditates. Notice the Dr. Pepper listing also includes Suncrest and 2-Way. Plus, it includes other bottlers and distributors not previously discussed. Although I do not see it myself, perhaps others will see some clues here that will hopefully lead to other clues. 1.  Cover2.  Beverages Section


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 14, 2014)

P.S. I sent the following reply to the individual who emailed me the directory ... 
Matt:

Thank you very much - extremely helpful. However, the real frosting on the cake would be some type of listing for a brand of beverage called "*CHEERWINE*."  I suppose its possible that one of the other bottlers handled it but that it's just not listed as such. In any event, I will work with what you sent unless you happen to have the time to take another look and can find something related to Cheerwine / Asheville / 1952.

Thanks again

Bob Brown


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 14, 2014)

Just for the heck of it, I thought it would be interesting to show the 1951, 1952, 1953 directories side-by-side for comparison ...


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## MichaelFla (Apr 14, 2014)

Asheville Beverage Company is listed in the 'page turner' directory, but not on the page from the university library


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 14, 2014)

MichaelFla said:
			
		

> Asheville Beverage Company is listed in the 'page turner' directory, but not on the page from the university library



 Michael Good observation. Both of these attachments are from the 1952 manufacturers directory. Perhaps there is a clue connected to the address on 402 Southside Ave.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 14, 2014)

P.S. My guess it that the 1952 North Carolina manufacturers directory is inaccurate and they just carried the information over from 1951. I'm thinking the 1952 phone directory was up-to-date at the time and accurate.  ???


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 15, 2014)

I just received this ... and plan to contact the Buncombe county library as he suggest. Mr. Brown, 

I searched the directory under the headings you provided, as well as Cheerwine directly, the Caroline Beverage Corporation and headings like "soda fountain supplies," etc. Within the scope of my search in this directory, I was unable to locate Cheerwine proper. I've also checked the 1951 and 1953 city directories, without success.

Perhaps as a next step, you might consider contacting the NC Collection at the Buncombe County Library. They may hold more locally specific materials that are relevant to your search! 

Best wishes,
Matt Karkutt  
 
Research & Instructional Services Department
Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CB# 3948, Wilson Library
Chapel Hill, NC USA 27514-8890


North Carolina Collection  Rare Book Collection  Southern Historical Collection  Southern Folklife Collection  University Archives


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 15, 2014)

P.S. I searched "Green Spot Beverages" until I was blue in the face but did not find a single reference connecting the company to Asheville.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 15, 2014)

I sent this message to the Buncombe county library ... 
Good Morning:

I was given this contact address by a staff member at the Wilson Library/NCU in the hope you could assist me with the following.

I am seeking information from ...

1.  North Carolina Collection
2.  Asheville, North Carolina ~ Buncombe County


I am a collector/researcher of soda pop memorabilia and specifically interested in anything related to a *Cheerwine Bottling Company ~ Asheville, North Carolina.*

Possible references might be listed under ...  

1.  Cheerwine Bottler ~ Asheville
2.  Cheerwine Beverages ~ Asheville
3.  Cheerwine Carbonated Beverages Bottler ~ Asheville
4.  Cheerwine Distributor ~ Asheville
5.  Etc.

To help narrow down the search, I am specifically interested in references from *1952*, but would welcome any reference from the 1950s.

I'm not sure how the company might be listed but would appreciate if you could check and send me anything (Tax Records, Etc.) related to the Cheerwine Bottling Company located in Asheville in the 1950s. There might even be a reference for Cheerwine listed under another bottling company such as Orange Crush, etc.  

Please contact me if you have any questions or need clarification on my search request. Attachments are welcomed.

Thank you in advance for your assistance - it is very much appreciated.

Bob Brown
California


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 15, 2014)

A Buncombe County Library staff member sent me this link, but my initial search did not produce any results. Perhaps others can give it a try. The staff member said it might contain some of the information we are looking for. http://registerofdeeds.buncombecounty.org/external/LandRecords/protected/v4/SrchName.aspx


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## morbious_fod (Apr 15, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> P.S. I searched "Green Spot Beverages" until I was blue in the face but did not find a single reference connecting the company to Asheville.



Soda, it you notice Green Spot Beverages were distributed by Smokey Mountain Distributors, it isn't a company name in itself. You will also notice that there is a listing for a Nehi Bottling Company as well as a Royal Crown Bottling Company both at the same address. There is some doubling up to show where some sodas were being produced rather than new company names.

As for the Dr. Pepper having Sun Crest and 2-Way listed, totally called it. That being said I did end up calling the Frostie Bottling Company wrong, at 407 Southside it shares the same address as the Vess Cola bottling company, so Asheville Beverage wasn't producing that. Asheville Beverage Company appears to have closed between the time that the company directory was published and this city directory. Note that the city directory in question was a monthly, or quarterly one, published for June 1952.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 15, 2014)

With this attention to detail pertaining to what each of them bottled, there is no mention of Cheerwine, and Asheville Beverage is gone. If Orange Crush were bottling it one would think that it would be noted. Not definite proof, but I would love to find more of this type of city directory when Asheville Beverage was still in business to see if there is a notation of what they were bottling, a March 1952 perhaps.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 15, 2014)

A quick bit of research satisfied my suspicions about Smoky Mountain Distributors being a beer distributor. They were distributing Schlitz in Asheville. http://books.google.com/b...ibuting%22&f=false


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 15, 2014)

*Long story short ...*

I am temporarily discontinuing my searches for a Cheerwine bottler and/or distributor located in Asheville proper and will be focusing on the following ...

I posted this article earlier but I did not crop or emphasize the part about *territories*, which I would like to draw your attention to now. Notice in the article where it says that Mr. Nanny had "13 trucks in *four counties* of his *territory*." Also be reminded that Mr. Nanny was an Orange Crush bottler who also handled Cheerwine.

I realize this particular bottler's territory did not include Asheville or Buncombe County, but it does suggest to me that bottlers outside of Asheville might have had territories as well and that one of them might have distributed Cheerwine in Asheville. I'm thinking it's also possible that an outside bottler might have had special bottles produced for a particular town and that this might explain the Cheerwine bottle embossed with Asheville, N.C.

It might even be that a nearby Cheerwine Bottling plant produced the bottle and distributed it in their *Asheville territory*.

Especially notice my numerous uses of the words "might have." But I think it's a possibility worth looking into.

*The Gastonia Gazette ~ Gastonia, N.C. ~ October 17, 1950*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 15, 2014)

P.S. According to the North Carolina Manufacturers Directory, there were only three stand-alone Cheerwine Bottling Company plants located in North Carolina in 1952, which were located in ... 1.  Charlotte2.  Greensboro3.  Salisbury So this is where I intend to start and will try to figure out who they distributed to and anything else I can find regarding distribution - territories - and possibly even find every non-Cheerwine bottler who might have bottled it. Because there isn't squat to indicate that anyone in Asheville bottled Cheerwine in 1952, or anytime in the 1950s, explains my reasons for searching outside the box and hopefully find someone else, possibly even in another county other than in Buncombe county, who supplied Asheville with Cheerwine. If it was someone in Asheville proper, I just gotta believe that something would have turned up by now. In the meantime, here are a couple of cool, old-time pictures I found. I think the banner in the first picture says "Mint Cola." I do not know the location of the first picture, nor the dates, but the second picture is of their main plant in Salisbury.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 15, 2014)

Just for the record and future reference ... Here's a paneled Cheerwine bottle from Gastonia, N.C. which is currently on eBay. Notice by using the zoom that the base is embossed with ... *Cheerwine Bot. Co. *... which I suspect is incorrect and that it actually came from the Orange Crush bottler (Mr. Nanny). I also suspect there never was a Gastonia Cheerwine Bottling Company, at least not during the time period under examination. With my point of emphasis being, that certain bottles are not always what they appear to be, just as Morb pointed out regarding Dr. Pepper vs. Sun Crest vs. 2-Way. In other words ... I am beginning to think that Morb's Asheville Cheerwine bottle did not "originate" in Asheville but instead came from some "other" source. ???  <<< Please notice the question marks  []   eBay Link:   http://www.ebay.com/itm/Green-Embossed-Eight-Sided-Windowpane-Cheerwine-Soda-Bottle-Gastonia-LGW-1940s-/261451419753


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 15, 2014)

P.S. I forgot to mention ... In case you didn't notice, the 1952 Manufacturers directory is categorized by counties. In 1952 there was no stand-alone Cheerwine Bottling Company in either Gaston County nor in Buncombe County. However, in 1952 there were Orange Crush Bottling Companies in Gaston county as well as in Buncombe county. (See Below) Question: Is it possible that Morb's Asheville Cheerwine bottle came from some other bottler in another county but is embossed with Asheville because that's where it was intended to be sold? 1. Orange Crush ~ Asheville ~ 19522. Orange Crush ~ Gastonia ~ 1952


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 15, 2014)

If you think I'm crazy and going off the deep end - that's okay - because you're right - I am and have!   []

So with that said, let's take a closer look at North Carolina and see if we can make sense of a few things. In one of my earlier post I stated that according to the manufacturers directory there were only three stand-alone Cheerwine Bottling plants located in North Carolina in 1952, which were in ...

1.  Charlotte
2.  Greensboro
3.  Salisbury

I also posted a newspaper article from 1951 that stated Mr. Nanny's Orange Crush territory included four different counties. The article also said that Mr. Nanny used to operate in Cabarrus county but gave it up. Of course I'm just guessing and don't know for certain which four counties Mr. Nanny operated in, but when you look at the map you will see that I outlined the counties that I'm guessing were in his territory with Gaston county right in the center. I decided against Mecklenburg county to the east because that's where Charlotte is located and Charlotte had their own Cheerwine bottler and no doubt covered Mecklenburg county.

Which brings us to Asheville way out there to the west by itself. Based on my calculations, it is about 100 miles from Gastonia to Asheville, and possibly, but in my opinion, not likely to be in the Nanny territory. Assuming for the moment that Asheville was not in Nanny's territory, that leaves us with the quandary of determining just who did provide Asheville with Cheerwine? At the moment I am not aware of any Cheerwine bottlers closer to Asheville than the Nanny Orange Crush facility in Gastonia, although there might have been. The four counties I am guessing were in Nanny's territory were ... 1.  Catawba County2.  Cleveland County3.  Gaston County4.  Lincoln County

Even though this might look as if we are back to square one, I am hopeful of having shed some light on two distinct possibilities ...

1.  There was in fact a Cheerwine bottler in Asheville proper in 1952. Although who it was is currently unknown.
2.  The nearest Cheerwine bottler to Asheville in 1952 (that I'm aware of) was the Orange Crush Bottling     Company in Gastonia, with Asheville possibly being a 'leg' of the Nanny territory.

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 15, 2014)

P.S. If anyone is currently aware or in the future finds a 1950s Cheerwine bottler that is closer to Asheville than the one in Gastonia, please let us know. Thanks SPB


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 15, 2014)

So far I have found pictures of the following 'paneled' Cheerwine bottles from North Carolina and the town names that are embossed on them. Those within about 100 miles of Asheville are noted accordingly. I will add to this list as I and other members find more bottles. AshevilleBurlingtonCharlotteGastonia > About 100 miles from AshevilleGranite Falls > About 150 miles from AshevilleGreensboroLenoir > About 120 miles from AshevilleRocky MountSalisbury*Statesville*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 16, 2014)

I added "Statesville" to the list of 1950s North Carolina Cheerwine bottles and have an interesting story about it that I will post later. (Statesville is in Iredell County which is north of Gastonia/Gaston County and about 150 east of Asheville). In the meantime, check out this article about the Cheerwine Bottling Company located in Burlington, N.C. You will recall my saying there were only three stand-alone Cheerwine plants in North Carolina in 1952 (that I was aware of) and that they were located in Charlotte, Greensboro, and Salisbury. Well, we can add Burlington to the list of stand-alone bottlers, except that it was established in *1953*. However, I am not suggesting that they distributed to Asheville because they were too far away. I just thought it would be interesting for the record.    Article from ... *The Daily Times ~ Burlington, N.C. ~ April 17, 1953*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 16, 2014)

*The Statesville Story ...*

Figuring this one out was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. It started during various newspaper searches where I kept finding a lot of 1950s Cheerwine advertisements from the Statesville Record & Landmark newspaper. But in none of the ads did it indicate exactly who in Statesville was bottling and/or distributing Cheerwine. But somebody definitely was because of the numerous ads that were being published. So I did a little detective work and discovered there were at least two bottlers (and possibly others I couldn't find) that were in operation in Statesville around 1952, which were Coca Cola and Orange Crush. However, no sooner did I find several references for an Orange Crush bottler in Statesville, which dated all the way back to the 1920s, when the trail totally petered out around 1951-1952.  And yet, well into the 1960s, someone was definitely bottling and advertising Cheerwine in Statesville. But who? So that's when I knuckled down and really started searching in earnest. It took several hours of searching, but at long last I finally found the two articles below. But before you read them, please note that in neither one of the articles does it specifically use the word Cheerwine. However, as I said a moment ago, someone was definitely advertising and/or bottling Cheerwine in Statesville at the time. And based on my findings, I'm confident that it was either Coca Cola or else the "new" bottler mentioned in the articles. Also please note that I did an extensive search and have yet to find a credible connection between Cheerwine and Coca Cola, although there might have been that I am not aware of. Consequently, I am of the opinion that it was Orange Crush who bottled Cheerwine in Statesville originally and bottled later by the newly named "Statesville Beverage Company."

Of particular interest is found in the first article where it states ...

"*Mr. Benfield bought the Orange Crush Bottling business some time ago and has developed that into the Statesville Beverage Company*."

And farther down ...

"*The company handles eight varieties of franchised drinks in a territory that includes Alexander, Iredell and Wilkes counties*."

Although this is purely speculative on my part, I cannot image one of the eight franchised drinks not including Cheerwine, especially when we take into account the almost endless number of advertisements I have seen from Statesville by "someone" who was advertising Cheerwine during the 1950s and 1960s.

At this juncture I would like to address something that I'm sure has crossed many of your mind's, which is; What does a possible Cheerwine bottler located in Statesville have to do with a possible Cheerwine bottler located in Asheville? And my answers to this are ...

1.  Because I'm convinced that many bottlers had territories that included multiple counties.
2.  Because not all bottlers included their company name in their periodical advertisements.
3.  Because there are no readily available references to indicate who bottled and/or distributed Cheerwine in    Asheville.
4.  Because of the numerous references connecting Cheerwine and Orange Crush.
5.  Because I'm confident, despite any confirmed evidence, that the Statesville Beverage Company bottled    and distributed Cheerwine in Statesville and that the same occurred in other North Carolina towns.  

In other words ...

6.  I am currently of the opinion that Cheerwine was bottled and distributed in Asheville by the Orange Crush Bottler located there in the 1950s and 1952 in particular!

There, I said it! Now all I have to do is prove it.

( I just hope this isn't regrettable like Jerry Maguire's crazy mission statement )(Lol) []    

Respectfully,

SPB

~ * ~

The attachments are as follows ...

1.  Statesville Record & Landmark ~ Statesville, N.C. ~ November 3, 1952
2.  Statesville Record & Landmark ~ Statesville, N.C. ~ October 16, 1953
3.  Phone Directory ~ Asheville, N.C. ~ June, 1952


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 16, 2014)

This is in regards to the Statesville Orange Crush Company and Cheerwine ... I'm a little hesitant to post this article because it takes speculation into a completely new realm. But I will bet you dimes-to-donuts that the word "Cheery" was supposed to be "Cheerwine" but the reporter or someone in the print shop made a typo. I suspect they never heard of Cheerwine and thought Mr. Johnson said Cherry. I also suspect it might have been Cheerwine that caused his sales to increase.   From ... The Statesville Record & Landmark ~ August 2, 1935


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 16, 2014)

*BINGO!* Here's my needle in a haystack and it only took me five hours to find. At least it establishes that the Statesville Orange Crush Bottling Company bottled Cheerwine in 1926 and "probably" continued to bottle it in later years. Now that I feel good about finding this, I'm going to keep digging and digging and see if I can find something similar for Asheville.   From ... The Statesville Record & Landmark ~ July 1, 1926


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 16, 2014)

And here's a little bonus to 'cap' off the Statesville story ... Statesville Record & Landmark ~ August 20, 1931


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 16, 2014)

Morb

It looks like I have hit another dead-end. The main problem is, the Asheville newspapers only go up to 1917. And searching through thousands of editions of newspapers from the surrounding communities is extremely time consuming, which wouldn't be so bad if they produced results, but unfortunately they don't. Searching outside of the box is how I got sidetracked with those other bottlers and the more I looked into it, the deeper and deeper I got drawn into no man's land. But that doesn't mean I'm giving up the search. Instead, I am now searching for any reference I can that might explain why so many Orange Crush bottlers also bottled Cheerwine. At the moment I refuse to believe it was just a coincidence. So now I am looking for things like contracts and agreements that will hopefully shed some light on things. I will try my best to stay focused on Asheville but will likely post whatever I find if it states some form of direct connection between Cheerwine and Orange Crush. If nothing else, I am happy to have been able to provide your thread with the 1952 phone directory.

Later,

Bob


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 17, 2014)

I don't know the specifics yet, but I stumbled onto a name whose common denominators are ... 1.  Asheville2.  Chero-Cola3.  Cheerwine The name is ...  *Chester Brown*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 17, 2014)

More Chester Brown ... Somewhere among my jillions of searches I distinctly recall seeing the name Chester Brown in connection with Cheerwine. I remember it because my last name is Brown. I dismissed it at the time because I could not find a town connected with the name. But now I have discovered that Chester Brown's business activities centered around Asheville. There is no question now that he was the owner of the Chero-Cola Bottling in Asheville in the 1920s, but I'm having difficulty placing him in later years other than a scanty/unconfirmed reference connecting him to Nehi in 1946. But it's the Asheville/Cheerwine connection I am currently searching for. I know I saw it somewhere but just can't remember where. If nothing else, at least we know now what the C. B. stands for on the 1917 Asheville map ... 1.  1921 American Bottler2.  19253.  1917 Map


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 17, 2014)

Meet ... *Chester Brown* *http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/brown_chester/default_brown_chester.htm *


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 17, 2014)

I think I'm getting close, but no cigar yet ... *Asheville City Directory ~ 1945-1946*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 17, 2014)

We better not count our chickens just yet! I spent the past two hours trying to connect Chester Brown with Cheerwine but cannot find the earlier reference I mentioned. I'm finding tons of stuff about Chester, his wife Mary, and their son Chester Jr., except that everything connects them to Nehi and Royal Crown in Asheville but zilch with Cheerwine. Anyhoo, I'll keep looking and will post an update if/when I find anything.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 17, 2014)

I sent an inquiry to the Asheville / Buncombe County public records department. If those guys don't know the answer, then it's possible that no one does! Keep your fingers crossed!


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## morbious_fod (Apr 17, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> *Long story short ...*
> 
> I am temporarily discontinuing my searches for a Cheerwine bottler and/or distributor located in Asheville proper and will be focusing on the following ...
> 
> ...



Indeed bottlers have franchised territories; however, first off Asheville is part of Orange Crush of Asheville's franchise territory. While there are instances where some companies have franchises for sodas which overlap the franchise area of a fellow bottler of their leader brand, they most certainly wouldn't purchase bottles with a town name other than the one they are located in because the whole purpose of that is to get their bottles returned to the bottling plant they came from. Even if they had a warehouse in Asheville, which is highly likely because their leader product Orange Crush already has another franchise operating there, I have never seen an instance where they would put a warehouse location on a bottle.

The usual practice is to keep to your own territory.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 17, 2014)

That being said if Asheville Orange Crush were a branch plant of Orange Crush of Gastonia or any of these others you have mentioned then it is possible, but they were still bottling it in Asheville. 

I have a couple of cases in my area where branch plants were established and bottles ordered with the name of the branch plant town on them. Johnson City and Kingsport Coca-Cola, and Seven-Up of Bristol, Kingsport, and Richlands VA.
If you could find that Asheville Orange Crush was a branch plant of one of these others then you might have a leg to stand on with this theory.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 18, 2014)

morbious_fod said:
			
		

> I honestly have no clue when they changed the name of Biltmore Club.



 Biltmore Club Bottling became Orange Crush Bottling in late 1947 or early 1948


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## morbious_fod (Apr 18, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> morbious_fod said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



About the time the company closed its plant in Durham, NC it seems.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 18, 2014)

I found this from ... The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ~ May 9, 1947 (But can't figure out how to save/print it) http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VAQwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XWoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3285%2C2273729


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 18, 2014)

This is another slightly-off-topic subject but I found it interesting because it involves *territories*. Notice the first article is from 1923 and states that the "Lithia Bottling Works" in Lincolton, N.C. bottled Cheerwine and Nu Grape and covered "all parts of the county" (Lincoln County). And then in the 1950 article it states that Mr. Nanny of the Gastonia Orange Crush Bottling (which is south of Lincolton) ended up with Lincoln County as a territory. (Nanny's Orange Crush Bottling also bottled Cheerwine and Nu Grape). I haven't been able to find any details about the Lithia Bottling Company in Lincolton and don't know if they shut down or sold and changed the name, but I thought it was interesting that Mr. Nanny eventually ended up with Lincoln County as part of his territory. (Gastonia Orange Crush Bottling was established in 1924. Nanny and a partner bought it in 1929). (I looked everywhere for a Lincolton Cheerwine bottle but could not find one). 1. and 2. From ... The Lincoln County News ~ Lincolton N.C. ~ November 29, 19233. Gastonia Gazette ~ October 17, 1950


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 18, 2014)

P.S. I wrote Nu Grape instead of New Grape because I think that was a typo by the reporter/newspaper. The 1950 Nanny article has it right w/ Nu Grape ...


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 18, 2014)

P.S. ~ P.S. Morb Did you notice in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 9, 1947 article regarding Biltmore Club/Orange Crush where it says ... "*Territory, all of western North Carolina*." I realize we still don't know who bottled Cheerwine in Asheville at the time, but if it was Orange Crush after about 1947-48, this might explain a few things. I am currently searching to see if I can find exactly who was bottling and/or distributing Cheerwine in western North Carolina in the 1950s. If you already know the answer to this, please let me know and I will discontinue my search. Thanks Bob Here's the North Carolina counties map again for people like me who sometimes need visuals to see things clearly ...


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 18, 2014)

Speculation/Clue ? If Biltmore Club was bottling Cheerwine when the plant was being sold in 1947, I can't help but suspect they would have listed Cheerwine in the classified ad. I'm thinking Cheerwine was a popular brand in North Carolina by that time. There was no mention of Cheerwine in the ad but it did headline "Red Rock Cola" and "Orange Crush." (Just food for thought). []  Incidentally, the 1947 Asheville directory list Biltmore Club Bottling but not Orange Crush Bottling. Whereas, the 1948 Asheville directory list Orange Crush Bottling but not Biltmore Club Bottling. [light]


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 18, 2014)

P.S. Because there are no known examples of Asheville Cheerwine bottles prior to about 1952, at least none I can find or am aware of,  I'm wondering if Cheerwine maybe didn't make it's appearance in Asheville until after 1947?  (Hint-hint)  []


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 18, 2014)

As a follow up to my last reply, I wanted to point out that I haven't forgotten this from a previous post, which establishes Cheerwine in Asheville as early as 1920. But what I can't figure out is what became of Mint Cola Bottling in Asheville and/or if/when it was sold and/or changed names or what? Maybe this was already discussed and dismissed - if so, I guess I forgot about it.  From ... The Beverage Journal ~ October, 1920


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 19, 2014)

Regarding my question about what became of the Asheville Mint Cola Bottling Company, I forgot (Page 2 ~ Post 28) that Mint Cola shows up in Asheville in 1920 but was purchased in 1921 by the "Old Dominion Beverage Corporation" of Richmond, Virginia and relocated to Newport News, Virginia. But because Mint Cola bottled Cheerwine at the time, I'm still trying to determine who might have picked up the Cheerwine franchise/contract/rights after Mint Cola moved out. A Mr. J.J. Dell managed Mint Cola in Asheville in 1920-21, but I'm not sure if he relocated to Virginia or stayed in Asheville. If he stayed in Asheville and can be found there in later years, this might be a clue to a possible Cheerwine connection, especially if he can be found associated with another Asheville bottling company.   

Another clue I looked into was the address for Mint Cola Bottling in Asheville in 1921, which was located at ...

*15 Carolina Lane*

As you will see below, Carolina Lane is actually an alley located in the downtown area between Broadway and Lexington. I already checked the phone and manufacturing directories from later years but could not find any bottlers with an address on Carolina Lane. Nor do I know who used the Carolina Lane building after Mint Cola moved out.

The latest map I could find showing 15 Carolina Lane is from 1917 and shows the building as a combination Wood Works/Auto Repair. The legend associated with the map indicates the building was constructed of brick and had concrete floors which, apparently, was a plus for Mint Cola Bottling when they used the building in 1920-1921.

The real questions here, which sort of takes us back to square one, are ...

1.  When Mint Cola Bottling moved to Newport News, Virginia in 1921, who in Asheville
      nabbed the Cheerwine bottling and/or distribution rights?

2.  Or was there a gap in years and it wasn't until much later that Cheerwine was bottled
     and/or distributed in Asheville again?

At the moment, the biggest question for me is ...

3.  How many and which bottlers were in Asheville in 1921 when Mint Cola moved out?

I haven't determined the answer to this yet but hope to soon. I'm thinking that whichever bottler(s) were in Asheville in 1922 or a little later, that one of them might have nabbed the Cheerwine rights. ???

~ * ~

The pictures are as follows ...

1917 Asheville map(s) ~ Red arrows point to the building located at 15 Carolina Lane. Green arrows point to Carolina Lane (Alley). Shows the building as a Wood Works/Auto Repair at the time.

(More pictures to follow on next page).


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 19, 2014)

1.  Google Earth aerial. Red teardrop is building located at 15 Carolina Lane. Red arrow is the alley.

2.  Google Earth street-view. Looking down Carolina Lane (Alley). The brick building on the left is the old     hardware store shown on the 1917 map.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 19, 2014)

Here are the Asheville directory listings for bottlers in 1922 - 1924 - 1925

(The 1919-1920-1921-1923 directories are not included on the site. The listings only go to 1951). 

If a bottler acquired the Cheerwine account soon after Mint Cola moved out in 1921, there's a "possibility" it was one of these.

I searched every directory between 1922 and 1951 using the keyword Cheerwine but every result came up "No Matches Found." 

Here's the link again ...

[URL=http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/books/asheville_city_directories/default_ashe_city_direct.HTML]http://toto.lib.unca.edu/..._ashe_city_direct.HTML 

The directory attachments are dated appropriately ... Take your pick as to who "might" have nabbed the Cheerwine account.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 19, 2014)

In the event that one of the 1922-1924-1925 bottlers did acquire the Cheerwine account and bottled it throughout the years non-stop, here's the 1952 directory listing again to show who was still around when Morb's bottle was issued ...


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 19, 2014)

*If* it was one of the 1922 thru 1925 bottlers who acquired the Cheerwine account and bottled it throughout the years, the only two still there in 1952 were ... 1. *Coca Cola* 2. *Orange Crush*


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 20, 2014)

Morb

I stumbled onto this book and thought you might be interested in it. (Providing you don't already have it). Rutherford County, N.C. is due is east of Buncombe County and shares borderlines. I looked around but could not find a copy for sale and it appears to have been published in a limited quantity of only 300 copies. However, I did discover that the Rutherford County Library has a copy. But whether it is transferrable to other libraries, I don't now. I thought because it has a history of Cheerwine in Rutherford County that it might include something about Asheville in Buncombe county. 

[URL=http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/signed-crown-jewels-antique-embossed-435118732]http://www.worthpoint.com...que-embossed-435118732 

"Crown Jewels or Antique Embossed Crown-Top Sodas Found in Rutherford County, NC, with a History of the Local Bottling Industry by Todd Lavender and Grant Hardin, c.1996, 9x11, plastic comb binding, 104 pgs, black/white and color photos, privately published, NC. This copy signed by both authors on title page. Features histories of Rutherford County’s bottling industry including Budwine, Cheerwine, RC Cola and the Laurens Glass Works, Nu-Grape and Cool Springs beverages, Red Rock Cola, Sun Drop Bottling Co, Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Includes black/white photos of numerous bottles that are also described and rated as to scarcity plus additional black/white and color photos of buildings and advertising related to soft drinks bottled in the region. Scarce reference book - I was told by one of the authors that only 300 copies were printed."


1.  Cover of book
2.  County map w/Rutherford and Buncombe connected


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 20, 2014)

I'm still doing my homework on Cheerwine but have discovered their first bottle was straight-sided, had CW embossed on the shoulder, and had a paper label. According to the Cheerwine website, the first paneled bottle was introduced in 1920 and had three cherries embossed on the shoulder. I have read where the cherry-embossed bottles are extremely rare. As you can see, I still have some homework to do ...

1.  Straight-sided Bottle w/ CW on shoulder and paper label = 1917 to 1920
2.  Paneled Bottle w/ cherries on shoulder = 1920 to 19??
3.  Paneled Bottle w/ CW on shoulder = 19?? to 195? 

~ * ~

Apparently, Cheerwine's first slogan was "For Health and Pleasure." I looked but could not find an original (1917-1920) paper label. The closest thing I could find is the tin sign pictured below that has "For Health - For Pleasure" on it. Notice the bottle pictured on the sign is the paneled version and has CW on the shoulder, which I'd say dates the sign to sometime in the 1920s. ???

~ * ~

http://www.cheerwine.com/history 

1917
In Salisbury, L.D. Peeler wanted to create a soft drink of his own, and bought some very interesting cherry flavor from a traveling salesman from St. Louis. He experimented, mixing cherry with other flavors, and stumbled upon this singular flavor sensation, and Cheerwine was born. Anyone who tasted it, loved it. And soon, the Legend began to spread. In 1920, glass bottles etched with three cherries and the Cheerwine name were produced to replace the original paper label. Shortly thereafter, similar cherries appeared on slot machines and three cherries became synonymous with good luck. Coincidence? Doubtful. 

After outselling another L.D. Soft drink (Mint Cola) in 1924 the company name was changed from Mint Cola Bottling Co. to Cheerwine Bottling Co. The change came as no big surprise to anyone, except for Herbert Von Kennel, who was Salisbury's only mailman at the time.  ~ * ~  The company’s first slogan: “For health and pleasure.”  When the Mint-Cola Bottling filed for bankruptcy, Peeler bought the franchise and used it to found the Carolina Beverage Corporation.  [URL=http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/282/entry/]http://www.northcarolinah...ncyclopedia/282/entry/  Pictures ...  1.  Newspaper Article ~ The Enterprise ~ Albemarle, N.C. ~ May 3, 1917 (The earliest one I could find)2.  Early Cheerwine Bottles 3.  Cheerwine Sign


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 20, 2014)

I especially like this ad and couldn't pass sharing it. You wouldn't believe the numerous typos I have seen in these early newspaper ads. Notice in this one where it say "Fleshly" picked instead of "Freshly" picked. The rest of the wording is funny, too, and they sure were trying to promote it. This must have been one of the first bottlers of Cheerwine. From ... The Enterprise ~ Albemarle, N.C. ~ May 24, 1917


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 20, 2014)

For future reference ... Salisbury in Rowan County and Albemarle in Stanly County share borders and are about 50 miles apart.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 21, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> In the event that one of the 1922-1924-1925 bottlers did acquire the Cheerwine account and bottled it throughout the years non-stop, here's the 1952 directory listing again to show who was still around when Morb's bottle was issued ...


That is a very large assumption. Just because there is a franchise for Cheerwine covering the area at one point doesn't mean that they actually bottled it continuously until 1952. The Depression killed a slew of these independent bottlers off leaving franchise territories in limbo for decades, or indefinitely in many cases. Around 1951 there seems to have been a large push by Cheerwine to franchise which is when they entered the Johnson City Tennessee market for the first time. I would surmise that this would have been the same period that Cheerwine was re-established in Asheville after a long hiatus. The proof of this being that we don't have evidence of continued production of the brand from the 1920's through 1952 in the form of advertising or artifact evidence (bottles).

If someone were producing it during this period these bottles would be quite common.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 21, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> Here are the Asheville directory listings for bottlers in 1922 - 1924 - 1925
> 
> (The 1919-1920-1921-1923 directories are not included on the site. The listings only go to 1951).
> 
> ...



Moved out may not be the proper phrase here, and the actual phrase would give a clue to why these other businessmen might not have been so keen to grab the Cheerwine franchise. The proper phrase would be "went out of business", and no businessman worth his title is going to go with a soft drink which couldn't sustain a company with its sales. If a leader brand couldn't sell enough during the boom decade of the independent bottler then it would be viewed as sales poison. There were thousands of such sodas that came and went during the 1920's.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 21, 2014)

Just tried to pay a visit to one of the best sites for Cheerwine history, www.blakescheerwineoldies.com, and it's gone. This cat was a huge Cheerwine fan and collector, but a quick look on the wayback machine revealed that he didn't stray too far from the history of the parent company. Guess I'm going to have to strike that link from my site now, but I'll wait to see if it comes back first.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 21, 2014)

morbious_fod said:
			
		

> Around 1951 there seems to have been a large push by Cheerwine to franchise which is when they entered the Johnson City Tennessee market for the first time. I would surmise that this would have been the same period that Cheerwine was re-established in Asheville after a long hiatus. The proof of this being that we don't have evidence of continued production of the brand from the 1920's through 1952 in the form of advertising or artifact evidence (bottles).
> 
> If someone were producing it during this period these bottles would be quite common.



 Morb I edited portions of the above post and left the parts I think offer the best explanation so far as to what might have actually occurred. But what about "after" 1951-1952? Do you have any thoughts on that?


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 21, 2014)

P.S. In other words ... I have been trying to place Cheerwine in Asheville for almost two weeks now and cannot find a single reference from "any time period" including the 1950s and 1960s (other than the one from the 1920s). Do you have any evidence of Cheerwine being connected to Asheville other than your bottle? Thanks Bob


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 21, 2014)

Here's a link to more Asheville phone directories, including some from the 1950s and 1960s. I have not checked every one of them yet, but of those I did check, there were no listings for Cheerwine that I could find.  https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Asheville+%28N.C.%29--Directories.%22


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 21, 2014)

Morb Another long story short ... Because there are no readily available records, including extensive searches involving taxes - licenses - pictures - books - newspapers - directories - etc., etc., that indicate there was ever a bottler in Asheville that bottled Cheerwine, I am strongly leaning toward the possibility that your bottle originated someplace else and not in Asheville proper. By "someplace else" I'm thinking from a bottler/distributor in some other town and possibly even from some other county. My current observation is based in part on there being no references for Cheerwine in the 1950s and 1960s phone directories, which I believe would have included something if it was bottled there.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 21, 2014)

P.S.

The majority of the Cheerwine ads among the newspaper archives that are closest to Asheville are the ads found in ...  

The Gastonia Gazette ~ Gastonia, N.C.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 22, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> Morb Another long story short ... Because there are no readily available records, including extensive searches involving taxes - licenses - pictures - books - newspapers - directories - etc., etc., that indicate there was ever a bottler in Asheville that bottled Cheerwine, I am strongly leaning toward the possibility that your bottle originated someplace else and not in Asheville proper. By "someplace else" I'm thinking from a bottler/distributor in some other town and possibly even from some other county. My current observation is based in part on there being no references for Cheerwine in the 1950s and 1960s phone directories, which I believe would have included something if it was bottled there.



I don't have any more evidence than the physical evidence of the bottle; however, I am only trying to help ground you through what I have learned of the bottling business over the years of research. One thing I have learned is that no one just ordered bottles with a town name on them for a town in their franchise territory unless they had a branch bottling plant there. Not every bottler listed all the products they bottled in the city directories, to the point that a researcher gets excited when he lucks out and finds one that does which is rare.

There are sodas known as leaders which are the flagship product of a given bottler, and in many cases the bottler will name their operation after that product. That doesn't mean that the leader in question was the only product they produced. There are several bottlers in North Carolina that have Cheerwine as their leader, but that doesn't mean that if there isn't a Cheerwine Bottling Company listed in a town that the brand wasn't bottled there. If I went on that assumption then my website wouldn't be worth a hill of beans, because I would have several more bottling plants listed with only a name and a bottle, or in one case an ad, to show. Includeing Johnson City Tennessee which has a Cheerwine bottle, and there is no listing or Cheerwine anywhere except for the newspaper ads, which don't list a bottler.

I have only Cheerwine's parent company's word for who was bottling it in Johnson City, which came from one of its oldest employees who used to deliver syrup to the plant. I only trust that because he also mentioned the beer that they distributed correctly. Which wouldn't be common knowledge to someone living in Salisbury, NC.

I have the same issue at the moment with the recent discovery of a previously unknown early twenties straight side Nu-Grape bottle from Johnson City. There wasn't a Nu-grape related bottler in the town until 1928 when the Nu-Icy Bottling Company opened, which would have been long after this bottle was replaced by the more common Nu-Grape deco bottle we all know. My best guess at the moment is the local Coca-Cola bottler who I know bottled Orange Crush. When I observe the bottle we suspect was bottled by Coca-Cola, due to it pre-dating the local Orange Crush Bottling Company by around four years, I noticed that the name on the bottom of the bottle seems to match the Nu-Grape bottle in question.

Thus I am currently speculating that it is possible that Coca-Cola was bottling it as we have proof that they were bottling other franchise sodas at the time in question, and that the bases seem to match each other which may indicate a similar slug plate, which may have been chosen by the bottler, was being inserted for both by the glass maker. It's a long shot, but the ads covering this period that I have found, nor the City Directories list what they are bottling, but the next couple of years do; however, Nu-Grape isn't listed. It isn't much to go on, but it is a working hypothisis which I will be working on trying to prove or disprove in the future, which is why it hasn't been posted on the site yet.

Another example of a mystery that I eventually wound up solving was the Royal Crown Bottling Company of East Tennessee bottles. There was only one mention of the company in all of my years of research, and that was a "foreign business" registration in a Virginia corporation book, but it gave no details of the company beyond it starting in 1945. There was already a Nehi/Royal Crown Bottling Company in Johnson City, Tennessee which had started in the 1920's, so why would there be another? After a chance find of a photo of the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company plant with a Royal Crown Cola sign on it, which due to their being a competitor to Pepsi was very odd, I suspected them of bottling Royal Crown products for territory in Virginia due to them being listed as a "foreign Business" (which means they are incorporated in another state but doing business in the state noted). The owner of the plant was from Roanoke, VA.

I finally found my answer by going to the county courthouse and searching the incorporation records there. The Royal Crown Bottling Company of East Tennessee was the exact same as the Royal Crown Bottling Company of Johnson City, but had restructured in 1945 with the new name. They continued to purchase bottles in three forms at the same time, Royal Crown Bottling Company of Johnson City, Tennessee, Royal Crown Bottling Company of East Tennessee Johnson City Tennessee, and Royal Crown Bottling Company of East Tennessee (which it appears were being bottled at their plant in Bristol, VA) which was leading us to speculate there were two separate companies. We were wrong.

The strongest evidence of all is artifact evidence (bottles, bottle caps, etc), with archival evidence next (period resources like books and newspapers), and anecdotal (personal testimony) being the least trust worthy as people tend to distort the facts to fit their view/story over time. This is one thing that I have found over and over again in my research, and as usual eventually you find that smoking gun. As I said there are certain things that I have learned about the business which doesn't jive with your theory of one bottler purchasing bottles with the name of another town on them unless they have a branch bottling plant there. All we have to go on is a bottle that fortunately does have a date on it, many don't which have confused things greatly in the past.

Don't take my points the wrong way Soda, I'm not attacking you, I'm just pointing out things that I know usually don't happen based upon what I have learned over these years of research. I myself have gotten the wrong end of the stick so many times that it isn't even funny. It happens when you are speculating based upon scant evidence, which we have an abundance of in this line of questioning. If we had access to the Asheville Newspaper I'm pretty sure we could prove that Cheerwine is being bottled in Asheville in the early 1950's through ads, but even then we may not know by who.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 22, 2014)

Morb Gracias' Amigo Kudos on your well researched and worded post. I agree, Asheville newspapers will surely hold the answer if they can be found and accessed. In the meantime, here's a little more food for thought. ~ * ~ 
My current focus is trying to make sense of and possibly explain the following ...

In the October 17, 1950 newspaper article, which I posted earlier and re-posting a portion of here, it states that Mr. Nanny (who bottled Cheerwine in Gastonia, Gaston County) had thirteen trucks and distributed in four counties. Those counties were ...

1.  Gaston County
2.  Lincoln County
3.  Mecklenburg County
4.  Union County

~ * ~

Additionally ...

1.  The city of Charlotte is located in Mecklenburg County and is the county seat. 

2.  According to the 1950 Charlotte Phone Directory, there was a stand-alone Cheerwine
     Bottling Company located in Charlotte at the time.

[URL=https://archive.org/details/hillscharlotteme1950hill]https://archive.org/detai..illscharlotteme1950hill 


~ * ~

Question ...

How do we explain there being a stand-alone Cheerwine bottler located in Charlotte (Mecklenburg County) in 1950 and at the same time Mr. Nanny having Mecklenburg County as one of his four territories?

~ * ~

1.  Portion of October 17, 1950 newspaper article
2.  1950 Charlotte phone directory listings
3.  County map showing Nanny's four territories


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## morbious_fod (Apr 22, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> P.S.
> 
> The majority of the Cheerwine ads among the newspaper archives that are closest to Asheville are the ads found in ...
> 
> The Gastonia Gazette ~ Gastonia, N.C.



The purpose of town names on bottles was to make sure that the bottles you invested in get returned to your bottling plant. Why would anyone have a bottle with a name other than the town their plant was located on the bottom of the bottle? You would have people trying to return the bottles to a bottling plant that doesn't exist.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 22, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> Morb Gracias' Amigo Kudos on your well researched and worded post. I agree, Asheville newspapers will surely hold the answer if they can be found and accessed. In the meantime, here's a little more food for thought. ~ * ~
> My current focus is trying to make sense of and possibly explain the following ...
> 
> In the October 17, 1950 newspaper article, which I posted earlier and re-posting a portion of here, it states that Mr. Nanny (who bottled Cheerwine in Gastonia, Gaston County) had twelve trucks and distributed in four counties. Those counties were ...
> ...



For one thing sometimes counties are split between bottlers. I have several instances of this in my own area.

That being said, did you think that there might be a possibility that Gastonia might have been branch plant of the Charlotte Cheerwine Bottling Company, which I am given to understand was a branch plant of the parent bottling company in Salsibury NC? Branch plants were common when a bottling company held a large territory which they couldn't cover from one plant.

Four counties is a small territory for a stand alone bottler.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 22, 2014)

"CHEERWINE quickly began to grow and became a popular drink thoughout the peidmont of North Carolina. As the company's success grew, Mr. Peeler had the CHEERWINE trademark registered in 1926. Peeler knew he was onto something special and started focusing on the company's future. In 1927 he started another bottling company in Charlotte, NC (which was later sold to Sun-Drop Bottling in 1976) that helped extend the market." www.blakescheerwineoldies.com via the wayback machine. Unfortunately his site is down.


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## morbious_fod (Apr 22, 2014)

I stand corrected. The Gastonia bottling company in question wasn't a branch plant of Cheerwine of Charlotte. It was actually established as a Bludwine franchise in 1917 according to their own history, so it appears they and the Charlotte plant shared the county in question as I suggested.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 22, 2014)

Morb All things considered, why are the Asheville, N.C. Cheerwine bottles so rare? In fact, the only one I am currently aware of is yours, plus some unconfirmed references to a few others. If you look on eBay and other picture-providing sites, Gastiona N.C. Cheerwine bottles are in relative abundance. But no Asheville bottles! Why?


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 22, 2014)

P.S. I checked population totals for 1950 and 1960 and found ... (Even Numbers) Asheville1950 = 53,0001960 = 60,000 Charlotte1950 = 134,0001960 = 200,000 Gastonia1950 = 23,0001960 = 37,000 Please note, this is just an observation and nothing more. Shouldn't a larger population translate into more bottles? Asheville had a larger population than Gastonia in the 1950s and 1960s, and yet there are more Gastonia Cheerwine bottles available today than Asheville bottles. How do we explain this?


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 22, 2014)

Just for the fun of it!  [] 
I realize this isn't entirely fair because the newspaper archives for Asheville only go to 1917, but I still found it interesting. 

The archives contain Cheerwine ads as follows  ...

1.  Grand Total Entire Archives = 857
2.  North Carolina Only = 812
3.  Gastonia Only = 333
4.  Asheville Only = 0

Of the newspapers on the site, the Gastonia Gazette has more Cheerwine ads than any other newspaper. So much so that in some cases they appear almost daily, but mostly once weekly. The Gastonia Cheerwine ads start in 1947 and end in 1974.

The one pictured here was very popular and ran many, many times during the mid 1950s.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 23, 2014)

I wanted to post this link before I lost track of it and thought others might like to tap into as well. It contains more information than I have time or megabytes to spare at the moment. Maybe there is something among these files that will help solve the mystery. Check it out!   https://archive.org/search.php?query=asheville%20AND%20collection%3Aamericana


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 23, 2014)

This is dated 1969 but I thought it fit the criteria and had some pertinent information. From ... The Gastonia Gazette ~ May 23, 1969


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## morbious_fod (Apr 26, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> Morb All things considered, why are the Asheville, N.C. Cheerwine bottles so rare? In fact, the only one I am currently aware of is yours, plus some unconfirmed references to a few others. If you look on eBay and other picture-providing sites, Gastiona N.C. Cheerwine bottles are in relative abundance. But no Asheville bottles! Why?



Most likely because the company who bottled it didn't bottle it very long, which is why I speculate that the company that bottled it went out of business by 1952, while Gastonia bottled it for quite a long time. It's the same reason Pat-D Coca-Cola bottles from Kingsport, Tennessee are as rare as they are. The company started in 1951, and by 1953 the bottle had changed to the "in patent office" bottles. Instant rarity.


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## SODAPOPBOB (Apr 27, 2014)

morbious_fod said:
			
		

> SODAPOPBOB said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That seems to make the most sense and would explain a lot. Have you been able to narrow down which of the Asheville bottlers that might have or did go out of business around that time?


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## morbious_fod (Apr 28, 2014)

SODAPOPBOB said:
			
		

> morbious_fod said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I have given possible suspects at least twice in this thread.


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## cheerwineguy (May 8, 2014)

I have a Cheerwine bottle from Asheville, NC and I am an avid Cheerwine collector who lives in Gastonia, NC.  Cheerwine began being bottled in Gastonia in the 1920's and is still bottled here today by the Choice USA Beverage Company.  Choice USA is the successor to Sun-Drop Bottling Company of Gastonia, Orange Crush Bottling Company of Gastonia and Bludwine Bottling Co.  Charles Nanney moved to Gastonia in 1917 and started with the Bludwine Bottling Co. I do not know who the Asheville bottler was but their time was short lived and thus the reason the Asheville bottles are much harder to find than some of the other Cities.  I have octagonal Cheerwine bottles from 25 different cities covering five different states.  There are also some octagonal bottles that do not contain a City name on them.


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## morbious_fod (May 20, 2014)

Thanks for confirming that it is one of the harder ones to find. I was just guessing based on the fact that I've seen most of the others aside from Asheville. Would you mind looking at your Asheville Cheerwine and seeing if you can spot the date on it if it has one? It should be around the heel of the bottle. Mine was above the lettering.


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## cheerwineguy (May 29, 2014)

My Asheville, NC Cheerwine bottle is dated 1952.


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## morbious_fod (Jun 3, 2014)

The same date as mine.


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## Ashevillebottleguy17 (Sep 12, 2021)

morbious_fod said:


> This weekend I found a paneled Cheerwine bottle from Asheville, NC at a toy show in Johnson City. I can't find anything on it online. Any of you Asheville collectors know who was bottling Cheerwine down there in 1952?


Is it for sale?


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